These angels were funny, gorgeous, and just a dash of weird that we all loved them for years.
By: Nicole S. Castro on June 23, 2022 at 14:38 PHT
Have you been stressed lately? Then, it's time for some peak nostalgia and comedic fun in the form of beautiful female angels!
If you watched anime in the 2000s on TV channels such as AXN or Animax, we're pretty sure you still remember Galaxy Angel, which aired with four seasons spanning from 2001 to 2004.
About
Galaxy Angel (Japanese: ギャラクシーエンジェル) is a sci-fi media franchise starring a cast of bishōjo (beautiful girls). The franchise is composed of a TV anime, a manga series, a light novel series, and several dating sim video games. It was created by Japanese media company Broccoli in July 2000.
The TV anime adaptation was animated by studio Madhouse. It ran for four seasons (Galaxy Angel, Galaxy Angel Z, Galaxy Angel A/AA which together make season 3, the specials under Galaxy Angel S, and then Galaxy Angel X as season 4) from April 2001 to September 2004, totaling 126 episodes.
The manga series was written by Broccoli with illustrations by Kanan. It was serialized by several publishers (Broccoli, JIVE, Kadokawa Shoten, and Fujimi Shobo) and ran from April 2001 to March 2004 with a total of eight tankobon volumes. All Galaxy Angel books were published in North America by Broccoli Books.
Plot and Throwback (anime)
Before the throwback, can we just say the voice acting cast made all the opening and ending themes great? Here's Galaxy Bang! Bang!, the very first opening song from season 1.
The anime stars the pink-haired Milfeulle Sakuraba (CV: Ryoko Shintani) as the newest member of the Angel Troupe. True to her name (which comes from the French pastry mille-feuille), Milfeulle is fond of tea and good at baking, especially cake. She joins the Angel Troupe under the guide of her senior members: the sexy blonde Ranpha Franboise (CV: Yukari Tamura) and the eldest trigger happy woman Forte Stollen (CV: Mayumi Yamaguchi). However, Ranpha and Forte both have wild personalities, so it's up to the intelligent Mint Blancmanche (CV: Miyuki Sawashiro) and the shy healer Vanilla H (CV: Mika Kanai) to save them from sticky situations.
In the anime, Vanilla often carries Normad (also voiced by Vanilla's seiyuu, Mika Kanai), an AI recovered from a missile that was floating in space. Normad is later placed into a stuffed animal vaguely resembling a round, pink cat/penguin. Normad becomes a source of comic relief as he critiques the angels for doing dumb things. He is very biased towards Vanilla.
All four seasons feature the angels doing odd jobs ranging from searching for lost cats to to recovering lost technology. In season 4, the angels gain a sixth member in the form of Chitose Karasuma (CV: Saori Goto), a sickly, navy blue-haired girl who switches from a polite to an entitled personality.
How did the anime end?
The plot of the anime (along with the Galaxy Angel Party manga) is devoted to a more comedic storyline, while the games and the regular manga have more of the serious romance and action. This resulted in the anime concluding with a parody episode.
In episode 26 of season 4 (Galaxy Angel X), the characters break the fourth wall with their voice actors acknowledging the show has been airing for about three years, saying they are sad to see it end. But before taping finishes, the Transbaal capital is attacked. With the "real" Galaxy Angels nowhere to be found, the voice actors rise up to the challenge of saving the day.
Summary
We can't finish this throwback without singing a soft "Darling, darling you~" from the season 1 ending song, Horoscope Rhapsody, also sung by the angels. Thank you to this anime for being a part of our daily lives!
Anime viewers of the 2020s who are used to series with 12-24 episodes may find it hard to believe, but us viewers from the 2000s never got tired of Galaxy Angel across all the seasons and specials.
While the TV anime (the most accessible of the franchise) was typical slice of life comedy with a sci-fi twist, each of the angels were so unique, entertaining, and adorable that we all had hardcore favorites. Galaxy Angel is a must-watch for the nostalgia and for a rich variety of cast that gave viewers many chances to grow attached to them.
Digest by AniradioPlus
NICOLE S. CASTRO
Author
Nicole is based in the Philippines and works as a freelance Japanese Translator/Interpreter and copywriter (English). She is a JLPT N2 passer who watches anime to "study" for N1. She has a long career history on LinkedIn (with primary focus on media and translation), but her anime watchlist is much, much longer.
Comments