Line #52 Anime/BurstAngel


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/burst_angel_poster.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right: Jo, Sei, Meg and Amy]]
3	''Burst Angel'', also known as ''Bakuretsu Tenshi'', takes place in Japan [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in a not-too-distant future]]. A rise in criminal activity after a devastating earthquake has forced the Japanese government to legalize firearms for citizens to use in self-defense as well as establishing the [[LawEnforcementInc Recently Armed Police Taskforce]] (RAPT), to hunt down criminals with lethal force.
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5	The series follows an AmazonBrigade of mercenaries called Bailan, who have recently hired OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Kyohei Tachibana as their cook. The team's missions put them against [[BodyHorror mutated monsters with glowing brains]], HumongousMecha with glowing brains, and a corrupt RAPT (which is, naturally, involved with the whole "glowing brains" issue).
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7	Notable for being directed by [[Anime/MDGeist Koichi]] [[Anime/{{Genocyber}} Ohata]], although it shares relatively little of the [[{{Gorn}} qualities]] of his other [[SoBadItsGood (in)]]famous works.
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9	----
10	!!''Burst Angel'' provides examples of:
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12	* AccentAdaptation: In the English dub, Osaka is pretty much Texas. In the DVD commentary, this was explained as almost being out of necessity because of the strong Western influences of the story. And frankly the Osaka arc seems like it was actively written with Texas in mind. Also of note is the fact that up until this point Creator/FUNimation had tried as hard as possible to avoid doing this in any other shows.
13	* AmazonBrigade: You've got the main group with one male hanger-on, the biker gang that listens to Takane, and the [[spoiler: Genocide Angels themselves]].
14	* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler:Jo suffers from this trope, having forgotten her memories as a Genocide Angel test subject.]]
15	* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler:Jo, Maria, the other Genocide Angels.]]
16	* ATeamFiring: In the first episode. Jo and her current mark (a very twitchy [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation purple man]]) engage in a full-on [[MoreDakka Dakka]] contest in an alley. Kyohei ends up cowering in the middle of this leadstorm until his scooter is shot to pieces and the purple guy runs out of ammo.
17	* AuthorTract: Starting at six minutes and thirty-one seconds into the first episode, the author gives an anti-gun message, and the 3rd episode starts with an exposition dump of how the world went from a gun-plagued lawless hellscape of a city into a shiny dystopia with [[HumongousMecha mech-armed]] police (and still an insane gang violence problem). It doesn't stop.
18	%%* BadassBiker
19	* BadassLongcoat: Jo is a Badass Longjacket; Takane's a Badass Long-seifuku.
20	* BaitAndSwitchLesbians: The manga that serves as a prequel to the series has Meg basically out-and-out in love with Jo and desperately wanting to consummate their relationship at any opportunity. Jo gives some hints that she at, the very least, appreciates Meg's company and support. This is ''very'' toned down to the point of disappearing by the time the series begins and [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy Kyohei]] is added. And the same episode where we find out that Sei is a MafiaPrincess actually has Meg very interested in the handsome men that have shown up, which leaves her somewhere between this trope and AmbiguouslyBi.
21	* BarbieDollAnatomy: Averted right up to the point where this would have made the series AO. The artists did not shy from depicting how everyone wearing skintight clothing being coupled with no-one wearing a bra, reveals that you in fact have nipples. Shocking!
22	* BaseOnWheels: Sei's Cool Truck; it even doubles as a hangar for Django.
23	* BattleCouple: Theoretically, Meg and Jo are two romantically involved {{Action Girl}}s. (It's more obvious in the manga.)
24	* BeachEpisode: Episode 15, set at a water park. Look out for Sei's totally insane swimsuit and Meg spilling out of her top.
25	* BigDamnHeroes: While Meg tends to be useless in fights, she pulls through for Jo where it counts. Their partnership started because Meg stopped her from being messily eaten in their younger days.
26	* BigEater: Meg. The habit stems from her earlier days as an orphan.
27	* BloodFromTheMouth
28	%%** Poor Liang.
29	** Jo during her fight with Maria.
30	* BloodKnight: Jo. She's extremely bored with everything that doesn't have to do with shooting at things.
31	* BodyHorror: The experimentation that turns several [[VictimOfTheWeek Victims Of The Week]] into [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Week]].
32	* BornWinner: Jo, as far as every other gunman in the story goes. She was hired by Sei because of her 100% success rate as an independent mercenary.
33	* BoundAndGagged: Kyohei once, but more to the point, ''Meg''.
34	* ButtMonkey: Kyohei and Meg. He's a meek cook who the girls refuse to let go and she gets kidnapped on a daily basis and seemingly can't fight at all.
35	* CampGay: The "Tour Guide" in episode 10.
36	* CaptainErsatz: Visually, Jo; Meg and Kyohei resemble Rei; Asuka and Shinji from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.
37	* ChainedHeat: Jo does this to herself and Kyohei when she takes him hostage to try to trade him for a yet-again-kidnapped Meg.
38	* CloseCallHaircut: Meg gets a hole ''shot through her hair'' in one episode.
39	* TheComicallySerious: A good deal of humor in the series comes from Jo's deadpan reactions to the absurd stuff around her.
40	* CoolBigSis: Sei's role largely boils down to being this, and both her and Meg act this way for Amy.
41	* CoolOldGuy: Leo, who designed, built, and performs MrFixIt duties for Django.
42	* CorruptCorporateExecutive
43	* {{Cowgirl}}: Meg dresses like a cowgirl, complete with a cowboy hat and a revolver.
44	* CreatureHunterOrganization: RAPT. When these glowy brain creatures start getting more public, RAPT officially step in to deal with them.
45	* {{Crossdresser}}: Kyohei has to in order to sneak food (and equipment) to Meg during a few episodes when the latter is infiltrating an all-girls' school.
46	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Subverted during an episode where Meg has her "hunger" switched around with her will to fight. She spends the rest of the episode mopping up gangsters with impossibly cool kung-fu moves... And then later claims to have no memory of what happened at all.
47	* CulturalCrossReference: Jo's [[HumongousMecha Cybot]] Film/{{Django}} is a ShoutOut to the SpaghettiWestern film of the same name.
48	* DamselInDistress: Meg ''all the damned time'', with Jo usually coming for her rescue. To the point that she [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this.
49	* ADayInTheLimelight
50	** Even though he's the first character we're introduced to, Kyohei only really has a single episode where he's the focus character. And even then, he's the ButtMonkey.
51	** Amy's got one to herself, which doesn't involve as much violence as usual. She spends most of the time in [[CyberSpace the Internet]].
52	* {{Delinquents}}: Takane and her GirlPosse are all former female biker gang delinquents turned police officers.
53	* DecoyProtagonist:
54	** At first it ''looks'' like Kyohei's the lead, but then it very quickly shifts away to the point where he barely appears at all in later episodes.
55	** Similarly, the manga has a guy called Takeru. It becomes immediately obvious he does ''not'' belong in Jo's world though.
56	* DisposableWoman: Meg, except that she doesn't expire.
57	* EasterEgg: The hidden DVDCommentary (for the infamous BeachEpisode) in the English version.
58	* EveryoneIsArmed: In this setting, the Japanese gun laws were insanely relaxed in response to ever-increasing levels of crime. This means everyone can legally own and carry firearms at all times.
59	* EvilTwin: [[spoiler: Maria to Jo. Maria's "evil" because she's still obeying R.A.P.T. and doesn't have free will.]]
60	* FakeOutOpening: The prequel manga's first panels are all about Takeru's terrible school life --how he gets bullied while no one bats an eye and his teachers tell him to suck it (his bullies are the sons of influential people). Then, he finds Meg nursing an injured Jo in his bed and we go to high-octane action scenes almost nonstop while the focus shifts entirely to Jo and Meg. Thus revealing that this is not a harem TeenDrama but an action-packed, SciFi yuri.
61	* {{Fanservice}}: In case all the fanservicey tropes didn't clue you in, this series does not shy from indulging in cheesecake and occasional beefcake.
62	* FanServicePack: Sei and Meg go up several cup sizes about halfway through the series; the BeachEpisode actually uses both character designs in different parts of the episode.
63	* FauxActionGirl: Meg. She gets a SmallGirlBigGun shot in the opening sequence, and another during the Osaka arc, but is otherwise firmly entrenched in the DamselInDistress role. One of the trailers for the show actually showed her beating up mooks with the same skill she showed in the Bai-Lan party episode. Averted in a small segment of the OVA that takes place [[FlashForward five years after the end of the series]], showing a [[TookALevelInBadass more competent and more badass Meg]].
64	* ForkFencing: Played with in the Osaka arc. Jo mouths off to Takane one too many times in the Hanshin P.D.'s holding cell, and Takane tries to stab Jo with her bokutó. Eating a meal at the time, Jo catches the sword with her fork and holds it in place with one hand.
65	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Jo is Choleric, Meg is Sanguine, Sei is Melancholic, Amy is Phlegmatic.
66	* FragileSpeedster: Django in comparison to the other Cybots. Every Cybot emphasizes [[MightyGlacier huge firepower and armor]], while Django was specifically made to be fast and agile at the expense of armor.
67	* FullFrontalAssault: Episode 24 sees Jo and Meg being attacked by {{Mook}}s while they're HangingOurClothesToDry, prompting Jo to have to fight them in the buff, with her having BarbieDollAnatomy if she's not shown with ToplessnessFromTheBack or ShouldersUpNudity.
68	* GangstaStyle: Jo, both when aiming her actual guns and those of her HumongousMecha. She really ought to know better.
69	%%* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
70	%%* GiantFlyer: Meg gets abducted by one.
71	%%* GovernmentConspiracy
72	%%* GratuitousEnglish: In the ThemeTuneRap. Still pretty catchy, though.
73	%%* GroinAttack: Threatened by Jo against Kyohei, with a ''Desert Eagle''.
74	* GunsAkimbo: Jo ''and'' Django. Maria's Cybot uses [[MultiArmedAndDangerous hidden arms]] to fire ''four'' "guns" at once.
75	%%* HackerCave: Amy has one on-board Sei's trailer.
76	* HandCannon: Somehow, Jo has the [[RequiredSecondaryPowers necessary arm and shoulder strength ]]to dual wield '''Desert Eagles''' without any kind of exhaustion. For reference, these guns are supposed to be held with both hands, and can cause hefty men to fall over if not properly braced before firing.
77	* HumongousMecha: All Cybots, including Django.
78	* IceQueen: Jo. Anyone who is not Meg will get a chilly reception worthy of the Antarctic.
79	* TheIdiotFromOsaka: Takane, when she visits Tokyo. All the Osakan characters use the "southern accent" version of the accent trope in the dub.
80	%%* IdiotHair
81	%%** Meg, and to a lesser extent, Jo.
82	%%** Takane has three of them.
83	* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Just about everyone. For instance, Jo's chaps alone should cost several thousand dollars if they're made of real suede, not to mention Amy's chest... ball... thing.
84	%%* ImprobableAimingSkills
85	* LawEnforcementInc: RAPT. Also Hanshin Police Department, Inc., owned by the same company as the second oldest baseball team in Japan, the Hanshin Tigers (thus explaining why tigers are emblazoned on their ''everything'').
86	* TheLeader: Sei is the leader of the mercenary group and the one who hired the other girls into the team.
87	* LineOfSightAlias: Jo must give Takane her full name, so after seeing someone eating some rice with curry, she comes up with "Jo Kareraisu" ("Jo Curry Rice"). This may also happen because Jo has OnlyOneName. (In the English version, Jo says "Jo Mamma".)
88	* MafiaPrincess: Sei is the daughter of a powerful Chinese family who runs a criminal syndicate called the White Orchid Clan. She's much more benevolent than most other examples.
89	* MagicSkirt: Meg's doesn't do the obvious even when she's hanging upside down from a moving train.
90	* MindRape: The brain creature that disguised itself as [[OneeSama Nadeshiko]] (in "Wash This Courtyard With Blood") was doing this to Jo when Meg ventilated it with Jo's [[{{BFG}} BFPistol]].
91	* MoreDakka: Jo lives by this, as does Meg to a lesser extent. Jo considers this to be a good approach to get ''a cat out of a tree''.
92	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''Genocide'' Angels.
93	* NonActionGuy
94	** Kyohei, while talented in the kitchen, is a serious coward. {{Justified}} in that he's a civilian that never experienced violence before getting roped in as the girls' cook.
95	** Amy as well, seeing as she's eleven years old and the computer girl.
96	* OffScreenTeleportation: Meg somehow ends up on top of the departing R.A.P.T. train in episode three, despite being shown on the station platform just a few seconds ago. It's rather jarring as it's not played for laughs; it's as if the production team just left a scene out.
97	* OneWingedAngel: The later monsters that show up usually pull this off to make things complicated.
98	* ParentalAbandonment: The main four have this. Meg never talks about where her parents are, beyond a melodramatic aside that someone with her genes shouldn't be in poverty. Amy's aren't mentioned either and she seems to be self-reliant. Jo doesn't remember if she has any, and Sei's got her grandfather without her father and mother showing up.
99	* PerpetualPoverty: While Jo and Meg were running Jack of All Trades in the manga, they were never able to get enough money to cover their expenses. This was mainly due to Jo's aforementioned More Dakka habit.
100	* PhlebotinumRebel : [[spoiler: Jo. This was an accidental rebellion at first; Jo was blown off the ship where the final Genocide Angel tests were taking place. By the time she woke up in the river in New York, she didn't remember how she got there or what she was. Thanks to the time she spent away from her creators, she then fully embraced the rebel part of the trope.]]
101	%%* PlayfulHacker: Amy
102	* ProfessionalWrestling: "Mega Rider" from the Dai-Osaka arc combined this with a ''Franchise/KamenRider'' parody. And bore an odd resemblance to ''Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel''. Notably, Jo is very surprised to discover that it isn't real.
103	* PowerTattoo: Appears when Jo is in combat, triggering when she's pushed close to death or getting angry. Purple with lighter "shimmering".
104	* PsychoLesbian: [[spoiler:Maria becomes strangely attracted to Meg, and starts to think that she'll be spoils of war if she defeats Jo.]]
105	* PsychopathicManchild: What Jo amounts to; a cold-hearted assassin who is only really enjoying herself when fighting and who spends all her free time watching ultra-violent movies in an effort to find some way to amuse herself.
106	* RedBaron: Jo has a bit of a reputation in the Tokyo underworld. Her moniker is "The Angel from Hell".
107	* RedOniBlueOni: Meg (red) and Jo (blue).
108	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Maria finally breaks free of her mental conditioning just to get gunned down by [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill a squad of R.A.P.T. cybots]]. Her only consolation is that she distracted them long enough for Jo and Meg to fall off the boat]].
109	%%* RedEyesTakeWarning: Jo.
110	* RefusalOfTheCall: After the double-kidnapping fiasco in the first two episodes, Kyohei tries to quit the job he accepted as the cook for Sei's group; unfortunately for him, they ''really'' liked the meal he cooked as an apology...
111	* ReiAyanamiExpy: A little game for you. Take a look at [[http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz55/pandorasPix/video/Burst%20Angel/Burst_Angel_Jo_Cosplay_s2.jpg these]] [[http://media-wallpapers.theotaku.com/caption-587276-20090725100619.jpg two]] images and guess which one is Jo. We'll wait. One episode has another expy who is even closer to the Rei archetype than the blunt and forceful Jo.
112	* RidiculouslyAverageGuy: Kyohei is really only there because apparently someone felt that normal everyday Japanese young men wouldn't watch the series if [[ThisLoserIsYou one of them]] wasn't in it. He's billed as the central character and TheProtagonist, but could be written out completely without even trying.
113	* RollerbladeGood: Django has motorized wheels in its feet for highway travel. When not in use, they look like spurs.
114	%%* RuleOfCool
115	* ScarfOfAsskicking: Jo wears a yellow one. It keeps veering between yellow and red for promotional artwork. For the finale, she gets a red one.
116	* SceneryCensor: When Meg removes her bra in a locker room, she throws it towards the camera, blocking the view of her chest until she's dressed.
117	* SequelHook: While unlikely to ever get fulfilled, the ending left a surprisingly subtle one. [[spoiler: When Meg found Jo's scarf in the ruins of R.A.P.T. H.Q., that scarf was ''tied'' to the pole]].
118	%%* SixthRanger: Leo, Takane.
119	* SmartMark: Parodied in the first episode of the Dai-Osaka arc, during the "Mega-Rider" show.
120	* SociopathicHero: Jo would be classified as dangerously violent in pretty much any society on Earth, though she avoids InsaneEqualsViolent.
121	* TheSpartanWay: [[spoiler: The Genocide Angels were trained this way, culminating in a ThereCanBeOnlyOne "final exam".]]
122	* SpiritualSuccessor: The plot has certain similarities to ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis''.
123	* StreetUrchin: [[spoiler: Meg, during her younger years]].
124	%%* StormingTheCastle
125	* TheStoic: Jo is emotionally dead when not engaged in extreme violence. Sei is, to some degree, the permanently chill version of this.
126	* {{Stripperiffic}}: How do they not get arrested? Sei's getup in particular is a [[TheissTitillationTheory wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen]].
127	* SuperSoldier: [[spoiler:Jo, Maria, and the other "Genocide Angels".]]
128	* TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler: "Take Up My Desert Eagles" ia strongly implied to be Meg's eventual destiny after Jo's apparent death and the destruction of RAPT.]]
129	* TalkativeLoon: Wong is affected this way by the Hanode drug.
130	* TeamChef: Kyohei's one quality is being quite the cook for his age and level of education. He's capable of cooking a good variety of national styles.
131	* ThemeNaming: The three younger characters [[ShoutOutThemeNaming share names with characters from]] ''Literature/LittleWomen''. Sei is the OddNameOut.
132	%%* TokenMiniMoe: Amy
133	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Tomboy Jo to Girly Girl Meg.
134	* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: Bai-Lan. They act as a sort of mission control for the main characters, giving them jobs and requests to hopefully fulfill.
135	* {{Tsundere}}: Meg. Very quick to distrust absolute strangers, and only really cools off with people she's known after awhile.
136	* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler: Jo's body wasn't found by Meg in the rubble at the end of the anime]].
137	* {{Underboobs}}: Sei's outfit show this, which she wears nearly all the time.
138	* UndressingTheUnconscious: After Meg and Jo escape an R.A.P.T. ship by diving into the ocean, they end up on an island and Meg strips off hers and Jo's clothing and [[HangingOurClothesToDry leaves them out to dry so they won't get sick]] and get them under some blankets. When Jo awakens, she only has a few moments of peace before they're attacked and she has to go on a FullFrontalAssault.
139	* VaporWear: Bras have seem to have gone out of fashion by the time the story starts, as absolutely every woman is clearly not wearing one. Meg has a semi-justified reason revealed in the manga series: her skin is too sensitive to wear anything thicker than her normal attire.
140	* VillainHasAPoint: The son of a mafia group rivaling Bai-Lan tries to steal the emblem of their clan to reunite the two factions, saying that it belongs to someone who acts by their own decisions and has adapted to the modern times rather than clinging onto family obligations and old traditions. [[spoiler:It comes back later when most of Bai-Lan turns on Sei and teams up with RAPT to support their interests. Under the guidance of her grandfather, and already disgusted by the jobs she did for RAPT, she decides to hunt down both groups.]]
141	* TheVoice: Bai-Lan (offscreen, relayed through Sei).
142	* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Sei and Amy.
143	* WeHelpTheHelpless: A great deal of this mercenary group's jobs are helping people or hunting down monsters that threaten their city.
144	* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Episode 14 and the ''Infinity'' OVA, both of which revolve around Meg first meeting Jo before they both started working for Sei.
145	* {{Wooden Katanas Are Even Better}}: Takane kills Hideki with one in ep 13. Complete with GlowingEyesOfDoom.
146	* WretchedHive : The "anarchy district" which is the ruins of Shibuya after a massive earthquake wrecked the area. The government abandoned the area, and the police refuse to go there unless something huge happens. It's only populated by cyborg criminals and black market dealings.
147	%%* YeahShot

Context Anime / BurstAngel