Review of Angel Sanctuary
What can I say about this without being too harsh or too nice. I'll be honest here. I only watched this because I was intrigued by the idea of Setsuna being the reincarnation of Alexiel, but that seems to be where it ends for me. STORY: The story isn't bad by any means, but I did do a bit of research before and after watching the anime and they left a lot out. It ends with a cliffhanger, which could be good since it allows the viewer to choose what happens to Setsuna in the end. However, I was pretty confused while watching. I'll give them propsfor a realistic depiction of what would happen if an incestual relationship were to happen in real life. In other incest stories, the two committing incest are somehow always able to keep it a secret from everyone so we never see how other people react. In this anime, both of them realize how wrong it is - the fact that they do end up together just shows that they truly do love one another (and that it's not just lust like some other incest anime makes it seem). It also felt a bit short, but that's common with OVAs.
ART: The art could have been better. It fit this series particularly well. However, it doesn't look like it was produced in the 2000s, looks more like a 1990s production - but that can be overlooked since it was just the beginning of the new millenium. The art seems to work better in the anime than in the manga, though - for the early volumes of the manga, that is, based on the few scans that I've glanced at.
SOUND: Rosiel sounds like a creep and his voice left me wondering if he was going to sneak into my room and take my virginity. However, since I've only watched the OVA, I feel like it fit him. The other voice actors didn't really fit well with their characters, in my opinion - aside from Kira.
CHARACTER: Probably the best part of the OVA, in my opinion. You've got Kira who has a hard time admitting that he is, in fact, a human being - despite the fact that Rosiel's blood makes him immortal. Then you've got the delinquent big brother, Setsuna, who is actually the reincarnation of the angel Alexiel; this same guy also seems to be in love with his sister, and, although he tries to hide it, he will do anything to see her happy. Rosiel's a creep - do I really need to say more? The second I saw him, he just gave off an evil vibe. Sara, although she bored me at first, ended up being a pretty decent character - althought I don't think I would ever say I like her. Katan does a very good job at being Rosiel's sidekick, and I like the idea of the fact he believes he's doing the right thing in trying to save heaven - when the series makes the angels still residing in heaven look like the bad guys. It's not really something I'm used to. Instead of heaven and the angels being on the side of good, they're the antagonists in this - which is part of the low story rating.
ENJOYMENT: I did enjoy watching this OVA. However, I felt like they could have done more with it. While watching, to me, it seemed like they had a pretty bad budget.