Angel Heart

More information is available for Angel Heart at it's wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Heart_%28manga%29.



To be brief, the story takes place in an alternate universe, where the story of City Hunter has changed:

Spoiler:

The story begins with a Taiwanese assassin named Glass Heart who murders a man sitting on a park bench. As she walks away, a little girl carrying 2 icecream cones runs past her and in a horrible instant, Glass Heart realizes she has just murdered a little girl's father. Unable to continue killing for her organization, she throws herself off of a rooftop.

Around the same time back in Shinjuku, Kaori Makimura runs in the rain, already late for her appointment to take wedding photos with Ryo. Suddenly she sees a truck round a corner directly into the path of a little girl trying to cross the street. Without hesitation, she throws herself into the path of the oncoming vehicle just barely pushing the child out of the way. Hit by the truck, Kaori manages to stay alive until Ryo finds her, wearing the tuxedo he was so reluctant to wear for the photos. She dies in his arms.

One year later, Glass Heart wakes up and discovers that instead of dying, she has her damaged heart transplanted. Woken up by her dreams, she seeks to find the man who had haunted her dreams for the past year, Ryo Saeba.

I've more or less preferred following the manga as opposed to the anime simply because I don't like the anime style. The character design pretty much sucks because it's so inconsistent. Xiang Ying and Ryo look so different in individual frames and scenes. The art team doesn't seem to know how people walk since they keep people walking faster then they're actually moving or vice-versa.

It's mostly little things but they really stand out for me. To it's credit, the anime does seem to address some problems that aren't mentioned or explored in the manga, such as in episode 19....

Spoiler:

....how both Xiang Ying and Xin Hong can't eat with others as a result of their training and ingrained habits. During her time waitressing in Chen's restaurant, Xiang Ying is perplexed in why people seem to enjoy sitting down to a meal together. "Why do they look so happy?" she wonders. It's only when Ryo actually forces her and Xin Hong to eat a meal with him prepared by Chen that they begin to understand.

By and large, I've always thought that anime would have the advantage over manga in that animation could always better express the humor or the humility of any situation. Action would come out better, pain could be expressed better. Unfortunately, that's sadly lacking in the Angel Heart anime. Go for the manga instead.





P.S. I forgot the anime does have some cool insert songs that I've been trying to find. The OST for the insert songs was released in June but I haven't even seen it shops let alone on the net. Is it really not that popular?

:eyebrow:

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hey, just a quick question for anyone who has been following the anime or the manga.....

...in Angel Heart, were Ryo and Kaori actually married?

I ask because: (spoilers obviously)

Spoiler:

....we know Kaori died on the way to have her wedding pictures taken with Ryo, but wedding photos are usually taken before the actual wedding, right? (At least, that's what I always thought....).

Also, in the last episode of the anime and in the 20th volume of the manga (or was it the 19th....?)....

Spoiler:

....we learn that since Kaori's death, Ryo has been wearing her wedding ring on a chain aound his neck. He gives the ring to Xiang Ying on Christmas Eve, just moments after leaving the wedding reception of a friend of Kaori's. Ryo also reveals that Kaori's engagement ring was never found at the scene of the accident.

Wouldn't it then be safe to say they were only engaged? I see a lot of people still refer to Kaori and Ryo as a married couple though....am I missing something?



There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yeah, yeah, I remember something else in the manga! During the wedding reception (probably same scene in the anime) while the newly weds are lighting the candles on all the guests' tables.....

Spoiler:

....Ryo suddenly thinks, "......a wedding dress, huh......" and asks something (don't know what exactly) to Xiang Ying, but calls her "Kaori". When Xiang Ying turns to ask if Ryo had just said something, Ryo doesn't reply and is looking away. He seems to be smiling but his eyes are covered by his hair so we can't see them.

Yeah, seems they may have only been engaged. Cool story nevertheless!!




This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.