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I was really blown away by volume 1 of Burst Angel, it exceeded all my expectations action-wise and didn't get hung up on generic comedy and romantic situations, and so I expected great things from volume 2. Thankfully it delvers. I must admit though to being considerably thrown by the start of the volume, where, for no initially apparent reason, we find Meg attending an all-girls boarding school. Luckily though the series hadn't gone all romantic high school comedy on me, instead Meg is masquerading as a pupil to try to discover why a girl from the school had been driven insane by drug induced hallucinations. There is something strange going on behind the polite and cultured veneer the schoolgirls project, and it is up to Mega and Jo to get to the bottom of it. This isn't the only thing on their plate though, a gigantic crow robot is kidnapping girls in Ikebukuro for some unknown end and Meg is one of its victims. However, the operator of the robot is after something else, a nano-machine created for assassination that has been injected into the hapless chef Kyo. With her friend in danger Jo disobeys the Bailin organisation she works for and takes Kyo with her in an attempt to rescue Meg, but can she escape from her colleagues as well as defeat her enemies? Once again Burst Angel not only comes up trumps in the action stakes but avoids all of the usual clichés of anime actioners. There are no comic misunderstandings or jokes about breast sizes, just action, drama and some really interesting story elements. There are loads of questions popping up and plenty of intriguing characters - what is Jo's past? What is security agency RAPT up to? Who is behind the school drugging and crow robots? The questions come thick and fast but you find that you really want to know the answers. The animation is absolutely stunning once again, skilfully blending CGI into the action in a way that enhances it rather than clashing with the normal animation. But by far the best thing about Burst Angel is its style. It simply oozes style from every frame, whether the visuals or excellent Cowboy Bebop-esque music, and the design of the future Tokyo is just breathtaking. There are a couple of things that bothered me though. The first two episodes were a little out of kilter with what had gone before and after, dropping the action in favour of tension and drama. They were still extremely good but it did trip me up a little. The other thing is why is the ditzy Meg in this highly skilled team of agents? The quality and complexity of the series is such that I'm sure there is a reason, but at the moment it seems a bit inexplicable as all she seems to do is get kidnapped a lot. I'm intrigued to see how the series explains her in future volumes and if she will come into her own a bit more. Other than that though, Burst Angel vol 2 is another great instalment of what is becoming my favourite series of the year so far. Packed with action and intrigue, as well as great visuals and sound, the series so far has impressed me greatly. It has a style of its own, something that is increasingly rare in modern anime, and has characters that you really want to learn more about. Burst Angel is a series that I highly recommend for all of these reasons, and the amount of extras also make it great value for money. But it. Extras: Extras are similar to volume 1, with trailers and clean opening and ending songs (including one for the closing song sung in English). However, this time round there is also an audio commentary for episode 8 from the English dub director and principle voice actresses, and the Japanese radio shows return! The Japanese radio shows are some of the most bizarre things you will ever hear, as the Japanese voice actresses for Meg and Jo ad-lib wildly and go off on weird tangents. A superb set of extras once again. Ratings Feature:
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