Anime: Galaxy Angel Rune

Important: This review is based off of Kar subs. So all sound issues and animation issues will strictly conform to what i have seen in their releases. Also note that all my reviews are done after watching the series at least two times. Additionally, this review will make many comparisons to the anime that this "succeeds-" Galaxy Angel.

Premise: I really wanted to like it, so why couldn’t I? The answer is simple: the anime was just dull, poorly produced, and not really good enough to be even called a “rough draft.” Overall Galaxy Angel Rune is not even close to being a successor to the original Galaxy Angel.

Background: In case you have never watched Galaxy Angel before, I will give a relatively brief synopsis. First off, Galaxy Angel takes place in the far future where space is no longer as vast as we think it is now. Secondly, the story is about a military troupe in the Transvaal Empire called Galaxy Angel. The troupe consists of five girls, all under 21, who work to recover “lost technology.” Galaxy Angel Rune focuses on the Galaxy Angel Rune troupe who are the successors to the now split up Galaxy Angel troupe. Each “angel” has some kind of connection to the original troupe members, but it is only really emphasized in one or two episodes. The most important thing you need to know is that, the anime has no plot and is a straight up comedy. For example, if a character dies in one episode, the next episode will not only feature the same character but also be about something completely different.

Animation: In short, extremely inconsistent. For example, the space scenes were very high in quality but the rest of the scenes seemed very dim and overall very low in quality. My friend told me that he felt as if the space scenes were plagiarized from another anime, and I can’t say I disagree. The space scenes felt very familiar and out of place. In the original Galaxy Angel series, space scenes felt consistent with the scenes on planets. Galaxy Angel Rune was made two years after the original Galaxy Angel aired, there is absolutely no excuse for it being worse in quality.
In addition to the space scenes, character design was even more inconsistent. At times I began to ask myself “who is this character?” that is how inconsistent the characters looked. I think within the span of thirteen episodes, only one had at least fifteen consistent minutes of animation. This is not something you can call well animated or even averagely animated. Coloring choice for the whole anime was very poor as well. The colors made the anime feel even more dull and washed out. The original Galaxy Angel colors were much more suited for the comedy genre and in general much better.
In regards to movement, the characters moved convincingly and relatively fluidly. If anything, this would be one of the only redeeming factors of the animation. The only other redeeming factor would be the OP. Chances are, you have seen a snippet of the OP before. If you have ever seen a gif or jpg with caution tape saying “Keep Out” and girls thrusting their hips to the side, then you have just sampled the OP. Honestly though, the OP is nothing special, it’s just average, which, in Galaxy Angel Rune’s case, is as good as being top quality. The ED though, is completely thoughtless. You get some chibis bobbing up and down while the background images recap the episode.

Overall: The anime came out two years after the original series aired. It is unacceptable that the quality should drop at all. Score: 3

Sound: In the original Galaxy Angel, there was a great variety of BGMs and character songs, what about Rune? Rune had BGMs, but no character songs. Having no character songs is ok, but redundant BGMs is not. Throughout the series it felt like I was listening to the same three BGMs just remixed and edited a bit. Upon my second watch, I confirmed this. For a thirteen episode series, though, having very limited BGMs is fine. I just felt like they could have varied it a bit more rather than just remix tracks.
The OP and ED are average. I enjoyed listening to them, but they weren’t amazing. I was happy, though, that the whole cast sang the opening just like in the original Galaxy Angel. But I was a bit displeased that the ED was sung by a completely unrelated person. Seriously, if they had money to spend on an unrelated singer, the least they could have done was spend some money on the animation and songs to make them even one percent better.

Overall: The OP and ED were average and the BGMs were dull and recycled. Score: 4

Story: Most episodes actually had an entertaining story. Whereas in the original series, the serious episodes were really boring and easily skippable, the one serious story in Rune is probably one of the best episodes. I would say that the beginning episodes were very weak, and the last episode was the worst one. The anime reached its peak in the middle and then lost its momentum. One of the best episodes was the cameo episode, where all of the former Galaxy Angel troupe members make an appearance. I think that the last episode should have been replaced with the cameo episode, it was so much more appropriate. In fact, upon watching it a second time, I tried ending it with the cameo episode, and actually found myself enjoying the anime more than the time I finished with the real last episode.

Overall: The story was the best thing about this anime. Unfortunately, it went from weak to above average to weak again. A good anime should not have this inconsistency. But when Rune was enjoyable, it was definitely enjoyable and vice versa. Score: 5

Character: The characters were very interesting. In fact, they made the series almost worth watching. Their interactions were reminiscent of the original Galaxy Angel, which is a good thing. In the end though, their actions were reminiscent rather than transcending or matching the originals. Sure, I felt like I was watching a new cast of characters, but it felt more like I was watching a lesser version of the original cast. All in all, I am not sure what I would have preferred, characters that were more like the original cast or characters that were different but just amusing. Honestly, I am not sure if the producers even knew what they were going for. But what they did produce was not at all uninteresting, just not very good.

Overall: The characters were entertaining but not very good. The characters feel similar to the former cast, which can either make you happy or sad. Score: 5

Value: I am glad that I refrained from buying this anime. While it had its entertaining episodes, the poorly done episodes drag the overall value down. As a comedy, it is barely valuable. There are a few episodes that will make you laugh, especially if you watched the original series, but there are still episodes that will make you hate the anime. A good anime should not ever be in this kind of dilemma.

Overall: Though some episodes are worth watching again, the anime was poorly produced and is ultimately not worth the buy. Score: 4

Enjoyment: I enjoyed seven-thirteenths of the anime. Meaning I only really enjoyed seven episodes. Even when I was trying to enjoy the anime, constant inconsistencies made me remember that I was watching a poorly produced anime. Watching the series a second time was overkill, which is a huge disappointment. The original Galaxy Angel was so easy to rewatch, I am not even sure how many times I have rewatched all four seasons. Rune on the other hand is not easy to rewatch.

Overall: Galaxy Angel Rune has very little appeal and is very difficult to enjoy when you are being bombarded by less than average everything. Despite that, I still enjoyed about half of the series. Score: 5

Conclusion: I am not sure if you could tell from this review, but I am a Galaxy Angel fan. I have played all of the visual novels, bought all of the manga, bought art books- heck I even have figures. If I am rating a Galaxy Angel product this lowly, this should tell you something. Galaxy Angel Rune is, too me, a waste of time and energy. But if you really, really, want to watch it, I would suggest watching from episode four or five and end at around episode eleven. Otherwise, erase this abomination from you memory or you will have nightmares. It really, pains me to write all of this negativity about Galaxy Angel, but, hey, I only speak the truth.