Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan

"Violent", "Vulgar" & "Weird"--the three final keywords above--provide a pretty exact summary of this show. But somehow "Comedy" is appropriate, too--how's a person to explain such a show? Some of the most difficult reviews to write are the ones for shows which you love, but which haven't exactly gotten a great reception from other critics. It's an uphill battle, in which you have to act as a sort of apologist, both responding to negative criticisms plus explaining why your own unconventional views should be taken seriously. I've been trying to come up with a review for Bokusatsu Tenshi, which is paradoxically both an ultraviolent yet sometimes hilarious show. It hasn't been easy. How might I inspire some interest among those who are unfamiliar with it, yet avoid making myself seem like some sort of sick weirdo (which would tend to invalidate my opinion in a lot of people's minds)?

First of all, I had to figure out why I like such an off-kilter show myself. I've been trying to detect a connection between this show and my theory that comedy results when things happen which you don't expect, yet which make sense when you think about them. I finally noticed a link to my favorite quote regarding anime comedy, written by critic Kevin Gilvear:

"Oh the perversity. Let it not be said that the Japanese don't know how to put together the most politically incorrect and taboo filled shows in the world... and it's oh so hilarious."

"Taboo" subjects are naturally kept quiet, so you don't expect to hear about them, yet they definitely exist, so when you do hear about them, they make sense--in other words, Taboos are tailor-made for comedy! This is something the makers of Bokusatsu Tenshi must have realized:

--An invention that will make the dreams of anyone with a lolicon fetish come true;

--Some sexual education for teenage boys courtesy of "Gregor Zamuza";

--A classmate who has been transformed into a dog "introduces" himself to a cute Angel;

and

--What happens to Angels who lose their halos.

Not since the Inachu Ping Pong Club have I seen such scandalous yet hilarious humor! The fact that Dokuro-chan is a "slaughtering angel" (with a dangerously unstable temper) makes this show inherently absurd. I am no fan of realistic violence in the anime I watch, but this sort of hyperviolent slapstick doesn't bother me at all. Believe it or not, I don’t think Bokusatsu Tenshi trivializes violence—at least not to nearly the same extent as, say, Girls Bravo. It's kind of funny, but when I see Fukuyama in that series repeatedly suffer injuries that could easily kill or cripple him, but somehow don't, and furthermore have mysteriously healed ten seconds later, I am not amused. Yet, when Sakura gets the top of his head taken off, it does kill him, and it takes the intervention of an Angel (albeit the same one who did him in) to revive him good-as-new. At least a pseudo-plausible explanation for his recovery has been provided, so it “makes sense”--which, you’ll recall, is a requirement of my theory about the nature of comedy. As a result, I laugh. The de-facto immortality that Sakura has been granted reminds me of Yakumo in 3x3 Eyes--I found it funny there, too.

I guess you could say that Bokusatsu Tenshi takes what's been described as the "shotgun approach" to comedy; that is, it's jokes vary wildly between those that are laugh-out-loud funny and those which just make you groan. The thing is, in my experience this is sometimes the price you have to pay for the ones which totally crack you up. I don't want to imply that the show's writers just got lucky--this show is far too good to be explained that way. More likely, they have a weird, twisted sense of humor--just like me. How else could anybody come up with concepts like what's liable to happen when you "badmouth curry"? Or a strange physical education game "which ends when nobody is left able to move"? Maybe BTDc appeals to me because it's both off the wall and politically incorrect.

When dealing with unconventional shows of uneven quality, a big question is how well the concluding episode(s) will be handled. Fortunately, I would say the makers of BTDc did a pretty good job of wrapping things up. Since this is quite an off-the-wall show it was clearly concentrating on being funny, yet this final episode did have a touch of sentimentality to it. But it wasn't taken it too far and remained believable--which was kind of surprising. The episode probably ended the way it had to, and the best way it could have, by taking slapstick violence to a new, unheard of, level. In my opinion, a good anime has got to do one of two things: A)be satisfyingly dramatic or B)be funny. A really good one could do both--and, to a certain extent, this one did. Don't miss the bit after the ending credits!

I had originally rated BTDc as a "Buy" but since I haven't rewatched it more than twice that was probably an exaggeration. But I'm still delighted to learn that more episodes are in the works, and can't wait to see them. I've got a feeling American distributors of anime will pass on this show. As avant-garde as Adult Swim pretends to be, there's no way in hell anything like this would ever get aired over here! To sum up, don't expect anime to conform to Western standards (and thank God it doesn't). As Gilvear put it, "if you’re into anime then you have to take it on the chin and just accept it for what it is".

My favorite line: "Geez, you promised me this morning that you wouldn't beat me to death anymore" --Sakura-kun

Drama : Low
Comedy : High
Action : High
SciFi : Low
Ecchi : High

Watch the censored version of this first. It's much more funnier than the DVD version which shows the blood and guts of Sakura's head coming off. Unlike Girls Bravo the censorship is very deliberate and very funny. The uncensored made me a bit sick and wasn't really appealing.

BTW Why is his name Sakura? Isn't that a Girls Name?

3rd and 4th - They toned down the graphical portion of the violence (IMHO) and I still like this show. I don't think it's worth a 'Buy' but I sure enjoy laughing at it. 5th and 6th - I didn't really like the 5th at all. It didn't have the 'flow' the others had. The 6th was better but I prefer the original 4.

BTW Did anyone take a real good look at the pillow Dokuro-Chan sleeps on? OMG!

The first episode is out (as a fansub) on this very sick and very disturbing series. While I will admit that I enjoyed the series Elfen Lied (with all it’s gory details), this series exceeds even Girls Bravo in its gratuitous and senseless use of violence and fanservice.

Dokuro-chan while appearing to be a very cute middle school student, comes across more as an incarnation of the angel of death. Every few minutes, she gets pissed at Sakura-kun (for whatever the reason) and bashes his head open (Spray! Spray! Spray of blood everywhere!!) And then she puts on a smile, mutters a simple spell and Sakura come back to life for another few minutes. Otherwise, she is out to just torment this poor sap. Every time he tries to get some homework done, she is interrupting him by wanting to play cards or pulling up her blouse to distract him.

When another angel appears to actually kill Sakura (lets not ask what Dokuro-chan has been doing so far?), it is explained that when Sakura is older, he ends up developing a virus that stops women from growing or developing older than the age of twelve, and has granted them immortality, which has really pissed off all of the gods. Dokuro’s true goal is to disrupt Sakura’s life to the point that he never develops the virus, and she is willing to go to any extreme to succeed.

Blood, gore, violence, fan service and with even a loli-angle tossed in, now if only it had a vaguely interesting story line.