Angel Heart – episode 1

October 30, 2005 on 1:36 pm | In Angel Heart | 2 Comments

Wow. This show is so much better when I can understand all of it. I’ve only got a little bit to add to this article; mainly just some factual information that helps me understand the show better, and stuff that might not have been picked up on.

The best thing about having subtitles is that I got a bit more context, specifically in regards to time and space: Glass Heart was operated on in Taiwan, and she has been in her coma for more than a year. Periodically she hears from Kaori and is comforted by the figure of Ryo – that is, Kaori’s memories of him.

This emphasises more greatly the difficulty that Kaori has been having and her sheer determination to make her way back to Ryo. I said in that earlier review that it was difficult to feel for Glass Heart, but it becomes much easier when it is revealed exactly how her training works, and the introduction of the fact that she is but fifteen.
I stand by what I said about her being hit by a truck has less impact than if they had shown Kaori for the entirety of that scene, but now I understand that it’s kind of bad to see her die.

The year has also given justification for Ryo to go after the mokkori. Unlike in City Hunter, he’s actually been getting mokkori, just as he did before he knew Kaori. It is still a defence mechanism but it is comforting to know that Ryo did not start jumping into bed with women a scarce two weeks after Kaori died.
Which is the thing about Ryo: he introduces himself to women that he has had mokkori with as married. With the whole vaguely scientific notion of “organ memories” in his mind, Ryo thinks of Kaori as still alive, and he believes that she will return to Shinjuku. Which, of course, she will.

I really look forward to Glass Heart meeting Umibozu; his condition is the perfect foil for her introduction to the world of Cat’s Eye and all that follows.

I’ve always said you’ve got to fall in love with City Hunter each time you get back into it; for Angel Heart, I’m already there.

2 Comments

  1. Ohh this looks pretty good. I’ve read some of the Angel Heart manga and liked it a lot. Used to watch City Hunter back in… 1996-97 when I was in Taiwan. I always thought it was a silly show and only liked it for the action-y bit at the end. But there’s actually a lot more depth and character development than it first appeared.

    Comment by Annie — October 31, 2005 #

  2. Action has always been secondary to character for me, and when I realised that City Hunter‘s ensemble was pretty damned cool, it was all on for me.
    You can only watch a man shoot directly into the barrel of his opponent’s gun so many times, but mokkori is forever.

    Seriously, I must have written six billion words on the series.

    Comment by Alex Doenau — October 31, 2005 #

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