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Why Angel Cop sucks (but is still awesome)
by Jon Snyder, 11/07/2009
Why Angel Cop sucks (but is still awesome) photo

Ichiro Itano's 1989 OVA Angel Cop is anime at its absolute worst. It's an explotation piece attempting to masquerade as social commentary, rife with over-the-top violence, extreme gore, nationalistic jingoism and, worst of all, antisemitism. The absurd plot makes no sense, the characters are eminently unlikeable, and the animation looks like it was copied directly off a 16mm print. In other words, it sucks. HARD.

So, what could possibly make this unwatchable piece of sh*t "awesome"? The answer can be summarized in two words: THE DUB.

We're going to do a quick thought exercise. I want you to think back on all the dubbed anime you've seen, and pick out the worst one. Think of the dub with horrible voice acting... the one that made you cringe, cry and roll up into a ball on the floor in the fetal position. You got that in your mind?

The Angel Cop dub is WORSE.

Don't take my word for it. Experience a short sample after the break.

 
This clip is only the tip of the iceberg. When Manga Entertainment decided, for unfathomable reasons, to adapt this anime for English-speaking audiences in 1994, they elected to cram as much profanity as possible into the dialogue in an attempt to make the series more "adult". The result is characters dropping f-bombs in the most inappropriate of places, making it sound like the script was written by an eleven-year-old who just learned a bunch of dirty words and wanted to use them wherever possible. This leads to lines like "Don't look so suprised. I'm your f*cking backup!" and the timeless malediction "F*CK AND PISS!" All this profanity is poorly juxtaposed against the dub's sillier lines, such as "If this is justice, then I'm a banana!" Throw in blatant mispronunciation of Japanese names and stilted acting, and you have Angel Cop's dub in a nutshell.
 
This makes the series one of the most entertaining of all time, in a "so bad it's good" kind of way. In my opinion, Angel Cop places alongside such past greats as Plan 9 From Outer Space and Battlefield Earth in terms of sheer unintentional hilarity. If you're a fan of ludicrous violence and gore, horrendous voice acting or just bad films in general, you'll enjoy this OVA... just be prepared for it to leave a bad taste in your mouth.





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Legacy comments:

luluko

sounds like an abridged series, or an awful fandub.

nobody can hate on 4kids after this. at least their voice actors can... act.
 
Rewarp

I heart-fully disagree.


 
Jon Snyder

The main problem with the Star Wars Holiday Special was that it was so damned BORING. Sure, it had the occasional hilarious WTF moment... but, for the most part, it just put me to sleep.
 
Trebz

DON'T BE RIDICULOUS I CAN FEEL THE FLAMES WHERE I'M STANDING THE GIRL'S RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF ME

I need to watch this entire thing. I didn't know someone could actually read dialog from a script and sound THAT awkward.
 
floppy

Same here.

I wish Manga Entertainment had a video streaming site, so that I can watch this dub, as well as Ninja Scroll and Golgo 13.
 
BGFUSAB

Wow, that was... hilarious. When the girl start speaking I couldn't help but laugh.
 
SasugaRIVAL

kepawayfromme pleasekepaway myquarrelisnotwithyouIwishyounoharm

BUT YOU ARE GUILTAH AND MUST DAI! BLEARGH!!!
 
Snukastyle

Demon City Shinjuku was just as bad. A friend had the VHS releases of both sub and dub versions. The American release had the main character preoccupied with sex/perversion and every other line had the F-word in it...
 
Jon Snyder

Demon City Shinjuku, huh? Perhaps I should watch it...
 
Mahina

I haven't laughed that hard in a while. That girl's face at the end...wow. Exorcist moment.

 
SeancetheBLADE

I can not stop laughing... oh wait now I'm done
 
AdzPearson

I enjoyed JoJo's hilarious dub, so I'm definitely checking this out at some point. I love stuff that's unintentionally funny.
 
Baka_no_Dan

I couldn't disagree more. Watch it in Japanese minus the terrible Manga ENT dub and you'll find that it's actually a visual masterpiece. Some of the action sequences are absolutely epic and the detail and shading are top tier. The bit with the bridge being torn apart is fantastic from an animation standpoint. The much reviled antisemitism really is hardly there at all (an internet rumour which spread and spread) and is basically just that the terrorists are Jewish extremists. Seriously... every other nationality has been portrayed as terrorists in Hollywood over the years but when they're Jewish it's so terrible..?
 
ChubbyHuggs

This seems like it could be turned into a real life movie featuring Sylvester Stallone.
 
Jon Snyder

@Baka_no_Dan: Actually, the bad guys in the original Japanese dub are a secret conglomerate of financial mastermind Jews (not terrorists) who took over America and plundered Vietnam and Iraq. These evil Jews want to use their influence to turn Japan into Asia's nuclear waste dump for their own monetary gain. Now, go to any Neo-Nazi message board (they're easy enough to find), and you'll discover long rants about the evil financial Jews who secretly control America's government and media, and are responsible for all of our woes. The parallels between Angel Cop and the racist rantings of anti-Semites are simply too large to ignore.

As far as the animation, there are a few visually impressive sequences, but there are others were the animation is complete crap. Some of the scenes might look pretty, but this work is far from a "masterpiece".
 


  

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