Angel's Feather

Private school uniforms, beautiful bishounen sharing dorm rooms, magic powers, long-lost twins, tragic pasts and giant, feather-dripping angel wings. With all of this and more packed into Angel's Feather, the hour-long anime introduction to the BL PC game of the same name, what more could a boys' love anime fan ask for? Well, a plot that made sense would be nice, and a bit of character development couldn't hurt, either. While a little bit of actual boys' love would tie the whole package up with a perfect little bow, unfortunately, we don't get a whole lot of that, either. The fact that Media Blasters released this title under the Anime Works label, their normal anime brand, and not Kitty Media, their hentai/yaoi brand, should be a big hint: there is no obvious boys' love, but enough teases and glimpses to mark it as a BL fan-pleaser.

The entire Angel's Feather OAV is very clearly bonus material for fans of the original PC game who are already familiar with the characters, setting and plot. While the storyline isn't difficult to pick up and follow along for those not already in the know, the characters are mere personality sketches with little depth or development to really connect with the viewer. The main focus of the anime is Hamura Shou, a happy-go-lucky busybody who transfers into the prestigious Yusei Academy on a kendo scholarship. He immediately begins meeting other boys and making friends with his outgoing attitude, and surprise! It just so happens that his best friend Naoto also attends the school. However, when Shou runs into the cool prince-type character Misouno Kei - who gets top grades and runs his adopted family's corporation between classes, naturally - Shou is convinced that Kei is the twin brother from whom he was separated in childhood. Although his feelings are conflicted about Shou, Kei insists that he has no brother, despite their similar appearance and matching strange pendants.

Right after Shou and Kei meet, strange things start to happen to the boys and their friends. The ground shakes, strange monsters appear out of nowhere, and when the weird creatures attack, Shou suddenly sprouts giant pure white wings. Could this have something to do with the fairy-tale book about the lost kingdom of Winfield that Shou's new friend Kyouhei carries around? Well, of course it does. None of the "mysteries" of the storyline are very mysterious at all, but they aren't meant to be. Angel's Feather is a simple story that follows many of anime's standard conventions, but considering that it's based on a BL game, that's not surprising. The object of the game is to achieve boy/boy pairings and relationships, after all, and the storyline of the long-lost magical kingdom and its angelic royal family is at least more creative and interesting than a trite slice-of-life schoolboy tale. The blending of fantasy, reality and BL give Angel's Feather the faint whiff of originality that it needs to stand on its own.

The digitally-animated visuals of Angel's Feather do a great deal to keep up interest throughout the two 30-minute episodes. Boys' love games are not usually animated and tend to employ a few static images, so watching the plot unfold in full color and motion is likely a treat for fans of the original game. The colors are strong and lovely, ranging from sun-drenched school scenes to spooky sunset palettes in the evil headmaster's office. Of course, the viewer is treated to plenty of eye candy: shirtless characters, emotionally-charged fight scenes and, best of all, the broad beautiful wings of the Winfield-associated characters. As any good fan of supernatural anime knows, angel wings shed like no bird in the universe, so transition scenes are often decorated with a light sakura-shower of fluffy feathers.

Visual hints about the characters - touches between unlikely pairs, lingering looks, suggestive scenes that cut away too quickly - tease at several boy/boy relationships that simmer under the surface, hinting that more could be revealed when playing the original game. While the story may be simple and the characters may have little to recommend them, these teasing glimpses and the beautiful visual displays help flesh out the romantic fantasy theme. However, don't expect more than a little tease - Angel's Feather is only rated for age 13 and up, so there is nothing more than a suggestive touch here and there, and one very brief kiss.

Pretty boys with angel wings appear so often in BL anime and manga that they are practically a sub-genre all their own, and true to its name, Angel's Feather delivers winged bishounen in spades. Perhaps with more attention paid to character depth, or the plot played out more gradually rather than in a long expository rush at the end of the second episode, Angel's Feather could have been something more than a bonus DVD for fans of the original game. As it is, the game may answer the questions the OAV leaves hanging, but the visuals in the anime far surpass what a game of this type can accomplish.