Angelic Layer

Angelic Layer
エンジェリックレイヤー (Enjerikku Reiyā)
Demographic	Shōnen
Genre	Action, Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction
Manga: Angelic Layer
Author	Clamp
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten Tokyopop
Other publishers: Editorial Ivréa Editora JBC Pika Édition Carlsen Comics Grupo Editorial Vid Seoul Publish Editorial Ivréa Komik Remaja M&C Comics
Serialized in	Monthly Shōnen Ace
Original run	1 July 1999 – 1 October 2001
Volumes	5 (completed)
TV anime: Battle Dolls Angelic Layer
Director	Hiroshi Nishikiori
Studio	BONES, Dentsu
Network	TV Tokyo
Other networks: Tooniverse ABS-CBN , Studio 23 , Hero TV ntv7 TV9
Original run	April 1 2001 – September 23 2001 [1]
Episodes	26

Angelic Layer (エンジェリックレイヤー, Enjerikku Reiyā^?) is a manga series released by Clamp. The manga is published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, and in English by Tokyopop.^[2] The manga was adapted into a 26-episode anime series titled Battle Doll Angelic Layer (機動天使エンジェリックレイヤー, Kidō Tenshi Enjerikku Reiyā^?, lit. Mobile Angel Angelic Layer) which aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 2001- September 23, 2001.^[3] Seven volumes of videos were released by ADV Films on VHS and DVD in 2003. It was re-released in 2005 as a five volume box set.^[4] Angelic Layer is related to Clamp's later work Chobits, which similarly deals with the relationship between humans, human-created devices, toys, and godlike power. Several characters also appear in Clamp's Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle including most of the main characters, as well as the angel Blanche.

Plot summary

The primary protagonist of Angelic Layer is Misaki Suzuhara, a seventh grader who just moved to Tokyo to live with her aunt, Shouko Asami. After arriving in the city, she watches the battle doll Athena on a big screen television outside of Tokyo Station and becomes interested in learning about Angelic Layer, a highly popular game in which players (called Deus) buy and custom-design dolls known as Angels. Angels can move by mental control when on a field called the "layer." Layers are very expensive; most users rent them by the hour in establishments resembling cybercafes. An eccentric man wearing a white lab coat and glasses, calling himself "Icchan" (いっちゃん), encourages Misaki to purchase and create her own angel. She names the angel Hikaru, after Hikaru Shidō from Clamp's Magic Knight Rayearth, which she was reading on the train to Tokyo, because she wants the angel to be "a short girl, but strong and happy" like Hikaru and herself (Rayearth is a manga in Angelic Layer's world; Misaki identifies herself with Hikaru). Even though she's clueless about the game, Misaki soon competes in tournament and is assisted and watched carefully by Icchan. Later, Icchan's identity is revealed as Ichiro Mihara, the co-creator of Angelic Layer. Misaki also begins studying in the Eriol Academy, an educational institution which includes grades from kindergarten through high school. There she becomes friends with Hatoko Kobayashi, a very intelligent and mature kindergarten girl who is a famous Deus and an Angelic Layer expert. Her incredibly fast angel Suzuka is a favourite contender in tournaments. Misaki also befriends Hatoko's older brother Kōtarō Kobayashi and his friend Tamayo Kizaki, a girl fascinated by martial arts. Both turn out to be Misaki's classmates. While adjusting to her new surroundings, Misaki is also gripped by her past. Her thoughts often dwell on her mother, whom she has not seen since pre-school. Eventually Misaki learns that her mother was key in the development of Angelic Layer, which she worked on in in an attempt to develop a perfect prosthesis for her multiple sclerosis, which has confined her to a wheelchair. Her mother is also the Deus of Athena and the champion of Angelic Layer. The manga series is set a few years before Chobits, a Clamp work in the same universe as Angelic Layer. In the manga, Icchan plays an important role in the Chobits storyline, but this connection was reduced to a single scene in the anime; he has a brief cameo but is not mentioned by name in the Chobits anime. Kaede's younger brother Minoru is also a Chobits character. In the manga series, Misaki's mother does not have multiple sclerosis, nor is she depicted in a wheelchair. The ending to the manga also has different couplings.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Angelic Layer

Production

Staff

For music, voice actor and books information, see Angelic Layer media information.

Reception

The anime won the Animation Kobe Award for TV Feature in 2001.

Other Clamp series

• Hikaru is named after the main character in "Magic Knight Rayearth". She also looks somewhat like her. However, in the anime version, Misaki says that Hikaru is named after her favorite doll, which she left at her grandparents' home in Wakayama when she moved to Tokyo.^[5]
• Piffle Princess is the store where Misaki buys supplies for Hikaru. This store is also found in other Clamp creations such as Cardcaptor Sakura, "Legal Drug", xxxHolic, and Chobits.^[6]
• Misaki uses "na!" or "eeks!"^[7] in her everyday language. The use of a cute exclamatory phrase is reminiscent of another young female Clamp protagonist, Sakura, who uses the word "hoe!" in Cardcaptor Sakura.
• In the manga, the pre-story pages show faux newspaper articles that mention tidbits up from other series.
• Ringo Seto's Angel Ranga looks very much like the characters of Princesses Tarta and Tatra from Magic Knight Rayearth. Ranga and Tarta and Tatra are dance warriors with nearly the same dress design and moves.
• Hatoko looks rather similar to Tomoyo Daidouji, Sakura's best friend from Cardcaptor Sakura.^[8]
• Mihara is a known last name to be used by two popular Clamp characters. Chiharu Mihara of Cardcaptor Sakura and Icchan Mihara. Chiharu's last name Mihara is used (or possibly is related to) by Icchan Mihara also suspected to be the late husband of Chitose Hibiya of Chobits. Chitose used the Mihara last name in another Clamp work Kobato.
• In page 16 of volume 7 of Chobits, Kaede Saito's story of her death was told by her brother Minoru. Misaki, Sai, and Ohjiro are in the background, standing by her bed in one panel and crying with her back turned after she dies.
• Kaede seems to be similar in appearance to Fuu Hououji, a character from Magic Knight Rayearth, another Clamp work.
• In volume 7 of Chobits, silhouettes of the legendary Angelic Layer dolls (Shirahime, Blanche, Wizard, Suzuka, and Hikaru) are shown as Chitose tells Motosuwa the truth about her husband's earlier works Angelic Layer.
• In volume 4 of Angelic Layer, Misaki sings cheerfully to herself as she is making breakfast; the words of her song are, "A field of peony pink..." She is singing "Poeny Pink," the theme song to "Clamp School Detectives."
• In episode three, the song that Icchan plays while Misaki is training is "Catch You, Catch Me", the first theme to another Clamp creation and popular TV Series, "Cardcaptor Sakura".^[9]

Clamp's crossovers

In addition to Angelic Layer being the prequel to the Chobits manga, many of its characters and institutions are shown in other Clamp works:

• In volume 9 of Cardcaptor Sakura, Kero-chan is reading an Angelic Layer book, which appears to be one for a computer game (though some think that he is reading the Angelic Layer manga).
• Tamayo, Oujiro, Shouko and the Angelic Layer announcer appear in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle in Piffle Country, while Kaede and Sai appeared in Rekord Country.
• In the country of Infinity in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, there is a tournament with similarities to Angelic Layer battles, where the Deus sits on an egg shaped chair and telekinetically controls the players (in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle they are called chess pieces instead of "Angels," however, and often normal people are the pieces.)
• Hikaru is introduced in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Chapter 144 as an "automata," a Chess piece which Eagle (who is a crossover character form Magic Knight Rayearth) uses in a one on one battle with Sakura and the real Syaoran.

References

External links

• Angelic Layer DVD official web site
• Animetric's Review of Angelic Layer
• TOKYOPOP's Angelic Layer web site
• The Angelic Layer Base