Angelic Layer, Vol. 3

Angelic Layer [エンジェリックレイヤー] #3

by Clamp

In the future, the most popular game in the world is Angelic Layer. Contestants must raise and train their own "Angels" (or fighting dolls) to compete in tournaments. Enter Misaki Suzuhara, sixth grade Angelic Layer prodigy. With her speed-type angel, Hikaru, many people think Misaki stands a chance at winning the championship. She'll have a lot of help along the way, but the road to victory will be not be an easy route, especially for someone as young as Misaki.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Comics, Fiction, Shonen

200 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Ōkawa Nanase 大川七瀬
[born: 2 May 1967; Ōsaka, bloodtype: A]

Mokona Apapa もこなあぱぱ
[born: 16 Jun 1968, Kyōto; bloodtype: A]

Nekoi Mick 猫井みっく
[born: 21 Jan 1969, Kyōto; bloodtype: O]

Igarashi Satsuki 五十嵐さつき
[born: 8 Feb 1969, Kyōto; bloodtype: A]


CLAMP originally began in 1989 as a twelve-member dōjinshi circle, but by 1990, the circle had diminished from twelve to seven. Of the remaining seven, Tamayo Akiyama, Sei Nanao, and Leeza Sei left the group during the production of the RG Veda manga. Other former members of CLAMP also included Soushi Hishika, O-Kyon, Kazue Nakamori, Yuzuru Inoue and Shinya Ōmi. Currently, there are four members in the group.

In 2004, CLAMP's 15th anniversary as a mangaka group, the members changed their names from Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona Apapa, Mick Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi to Ageha Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi (her name is pronounced the same, but written with different characters) respectively. The August 2004 issue of Newtype USA, a magazine specializing in events of the anime and manga subcultures, reported that the members of CLAMP simply wanted to try out new names. In a later interview with Ohkawa, it was revealed that initially Mokona wanted to drop her surname because it sounded too immature for her liking, while Nekoi disliked people commenting that her name was the same as Mick Jagger's. Ohkawa and Igarashi, wanting to go with the flow of Nekoi's and Mokona's name changes, changed their names as well.

In 2006, they made their first USA public debut at Anime Expo in Anaheim, California. They were well received at the convention, with 6,000 fans in attendance at their panel.

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

The action picks up in this volume. Misaki continues her winning streak. Towards the end of the book, her weakness is finally revealed. Will she be able to overcome it and continue her winning streak? Still not the best CLAMP series I've ever read, but it has its moments.

[Sinistre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horroroso.

Llevan tres cómics que trata de una novata super talentosa que juega su primer torneo de Angelic Layer (básicamente lucha de marionetas) y es una crack por algún motivo. Lo nunca visto vamos...

Todos los personajes son super típicos y por alguna razón, todos los personajes han configurado a sus angels para ser superágiles, ya que la mayoría de personajes son mujeres. Es obvio que las CLAMP relacionan mujer = ágil y grácil. Y ya.

Tres tomos con el mismo torneo, donde ella, a pesar de haber perdido sus dos primeros enfrentamientos llega a la final (????????????????????????) y pasa por delante incluso a la perdió al principio. Creo que las CLAMP han jugado a pocos torneos lol

Me quedan dos tomos para terminar esta roña y me voy a dar un descanso de las mangakas más sobrevaloradas de la historia.

[Moi Self · Rating 4 out of 5]

In questo volume, abbastanza di transizione, le CLAMP si auto-citano nuovamente con il nome di un Angel in particolare: Shrahime (come Shirahime-syo che qui in Italia è stato tradotto come "la principessa bianca" - trovate la mia recensione sulla scheda di quel manga).

Il punto debole di Hikaru verrà detto nel prossimo volume quindi...ci vediamo sulle recensioni del volume 4 ❤

[May · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a nice read, the characters, even the opponents, are shown to be likeable, normal people.
The story has nice slice of life-esque bits as well as action battles. Misaki is a lovely protagonist and her friends are all lovely and I'm mad about cliff hangers, but glad I own all the volumes.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for complete series

Moving to Tokyo doesn't only introduce Misaki to city life, but also the popular electronic game Angelic Layer. She wastes no time in procuring her own Angel doll with which she can compete in battle against other players.

Angelic Layer is qualitywise definitely not the worst of CLAMP's works, however, I found it incredibly boring. To be fair, I've never been interested in these kinds of electronic or virtual games in manga, but this one's overreaching plot is minimal and not well executed.

The entire 5-volume series features Misaki and her Angel competing in two competitions - she's a natural and picks things up easily. The rules and system behind the game aren't developed well enough - new rules, criteria or techniques just crop up as the story progresses - where are the limits of this game? And all characters keep going on about how Misaki is talented and wins because she loves the game. Her reasons for winning often strike me as luck or just the authors writing out the story in a convenient way.

I also didn't like Misaki particularly much. She's the naive type that just doesn't work for me - I mean, manga often feature naive characters, but there are some that are just unrealisticly so. Misaki is not the worst of the lot, but she falls in line with CLAMP's other characters like Hikaru (Magic Knight Rayearth) and Hina (Suki). I also don't really understand why every other character likes her so much.

Other than Misaki wanting to win the competitions, the overreaching plot is bringing her back together with her mother. Misaki has been living with her grandparents for long enough to not remember her mother who is working in Tokyo and too busy to see her. It turns out that her mother isn't busy, she's just too shy to see her own daughter. I mean, I know people can get shyness to the point where it's paralyzing, but seriously, it's her own daughter, that's just ridiculous and lousy parenting.

As much as I love CLAMP's art, this is also not their best. It's pretty, but not as nice as many of their other works. I think it's mainly because the lineart is quite thick, it just doesn't look as smooth. Anyway, I'm rating this above my actual level of enjoyment, mainly because a lot of it comes down to this simply not being my cup of tea. Someone who enjoys gaming stories might appreciate this a lot more.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zum Inhalt:
Misaki Suzuhara möchte ihre Kampftechniken noch verbessern und nimmt bei Kotaro Karate-Unterricht, um beim großen Angelic-Layer-Turnier in Kanto ins Finale zu kommen. Als das große Turnier dann endlich stattfindet, kann es Misaki noch immer nicht ganz glauben, dabei zu sein. Doch schon bei den Vorausscheidungen merkt sie schnell, dass ihre Gegnerinnen aus einem größeren Erfahrungsschatz schöpfen können. Misakis Puppe Hikaru wird bei einem Kampf schwer verletzt, doch Misaki-Li gibt so schnell nicht auf...

Um ihrem Schwachpunkt auf den Grund zu gehen will sich Misaki mit ihrem Freund Kotaro treffen und ihm beim Karate-Training zusehen. Für Misaki steht danach fest, dass sie es schaffen wird den anderen erfahrenen Spielern die Stirn zu bieten. Doch als der große Tag gekommen ist, muss Misaki feststellen, dass sei doch nicht so gut vorbereitet ist, wie sie es dachte, denn ihre Gegner sind nicht ohne. Hikaru wird bei den Kämpfen schwer beschädigt und Misaki sieht ihr letztes Stündlein geschlagen, doch dann kommt ihr eine zündende Idee. Und auch die kleine Kohaku - die Schwester von Kotaro - muss sich einem Gegner stellen, der das kleine Mädchen an seine Grenzen bringt.

Wieder einmal präsentiert das Autorinnenquartett CLAMP nicht nur einen wunderbaren und kindgerechten Manga, sondern vermittelt mit ihm auch Werte wie Fairness und Kampfgeist. Misaki verkörpert alles in einem. Sie weiß, was sie erreichen will und versucht dafür alle möglichen Register zu ziehen, die ihr zur Verfügung stehen. Trotzdem ist sie dabei von Grund auf ehrlich und genau das macht den Charakter so liebenswürdig. Sie hegt einfach keine schlechten Gedanken, sie ist ein echtes Goldstück, im Gegensatz zu ihren Konkurrenten, die zwar ehrlich kämpfen, dabei aber keinerlei Skrupel gegenüber ihren Gegnern haben. CLAMP begeistert in diesem Manga neben detaillierten Zeichnungen vor allem durch die bildliche Bewegung. Sie schaffen es ihre Zeichnungen so lebendig aussehen zu lassen, dass man auch ohne lesen eine gute Weile Spaß an dem Manga haben kann. Als Lehrbuch zum Manga-Zeichnen ist der Manga also ebenfalls durchaus gut geeignet.

Empfehlen möchte ich den Manga allen, die einfach mal abschalten wollen oder etwas für die jüngere Generation suchen. Hier geht es nicht um Mord und Totschlag, sondern um Kampfgeist und Willen. Misaki ist wie das kleine Mädchen von nebenan, weshalb sich wahrscheinlich besonders die jungen Leserinnen sehr gut mit ihr identifizieren können.


Taschenbuch
Verlag: Carlsen (2001)
Sprache: Deutsch
ISBN-10: 3551749639
ISBN-13: 978-3551749635
Vom Hersteller empfohlenes Alter: 8 - 10 Jahre
Größe und/oder Gewicht: 17,8 x 11,6 x 1,9 cm

[Santiago Bueno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Llegamos a la mitad de la historia y la verdad que me está gustando. Me agrado sobretodo el principio de este tomo. Nos deja tomar un respiro del torneo por un rato, para despues meternos de lleno a las semifinales y a la final del torneo. Las batallas fueron bastante emocionantes, aún cuando el estioo de dibujo de las Clamp no presta tan bien para dibujar peleas. Igualmente hasta ahora es el que tiene las mejores, las que mas se entendieron. Solo quedan dos tomos para el final y no sé que mas podremos llegar a ver.

[Emmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I've finally surpassed what I read as a kid when I picked these up the first time. Good stuff, interesting story, and I'm curious to see how it all ends. The plot is a little simplistic, however, and I think it would have been better as an anime. But, we'll see how everything ties up in the end.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suspenseful and awesome! Clamp really makes you feel like you are there with the competitors! What's next?!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Waiting for secrets to be revealed.

[Camilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Ikayuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pacing is much better in this one, and the fights much more enjoyable. This is where we start to find some drama in the story, and it just keeps getting better!

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another re-read c:

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Están un tanto más interesantes las peleas, aunque no hay mucho amor, acción y demás de lo que siempre hay con CLamp.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Misaki is an extremely cute and adorable heroine. I loved her enthusiasm for playing Angelic Layer and her determination to strive to do her best. Reading this story made me want to have a doll of my own. I loved all of the cool technology that went into the plot and characters making the story more enjoyable to read.

I did see the anime and truthfully I liked that better because the characters were so much more present. They had past lives and a lot more feeling than CLAMP was able to bring into the manga.

Note: This review is based on Volumes 1-5.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love every manga from CLAMP and this one is no exception !

I was so intrigued by the weakness Lumina might have ! I was excited and scared for her but I'm like all the other characters and I was rooting so much for Misaki. I think, deep down I kind of imagine that she's not supposed to lose, which is why I root for her all excited, because I know she'll win but it'S HOW that makes it so much fun.

[Kirsten Simkiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot definitely picks up a little, though not all that dramatically. The art has made a definite improvement overall and the characters are beginning to mesh better and better with each other. While it's still very much geared toward children, I still think the story is delightful and cute, though repetitive.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, lovely art. Another great series from CLAMP.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición argentina que probablemente repite el ISBN de la española.

[dot · Rating 3 out of 5]

sigue en su línea, pero me he costado menos terminarlo

[The Third Place A Teen Library]

F CLA
al
vol. 3

[Ricardo Marín]

3.5 / 5

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread in 2019