For a surprising change, I found the sales line on the back of the ANGEL LINKS DVD to be rather accurate. So let us start off analyzing it:

Meifon Li is... ... the head of a major corporation ... the captain of a state-of-the-art space ship ... a formidable martial artist ... only 16 years old!

Meifon is an extraordinary girl, with an extraordinary tale to tell. Join Meifon as she and the crew of the Angel Links run a free pirate-fighting service. She's rounded up a crack staff of experts, including the master strategist Valeria and the unstoppable Dragonite Duuz. They're going to clean up the galaxy, and they're not afraid of getting their uniforms dirty!

So after reading a pitch like this, I hope you are not planning on seeing another LEGEND OF THE GALACTIC HEROES or epic mega-drama. Instead, this first volume of ANGEL LINKS is an episodic action show with the occasional comic element.

Meifon Li, the hero of the show, certainly has been designed to be the perfect hero. She is all that is advertised above, plus her character design is certainly catering to the fan service crowd with her rather large "assets." The crew of the Angel Links is also elite, or at least competent in certain fields. They were picked more for variety to round out the crew, from the reptilian anti-social Duuz to the pretty-boy assistant to Meifon Li.

Also introduced is Gordan Hoi and his protection company (which actually charges money instead of doing expensive charity work.) He fills the role of being a nemesis to Meifon, willing to play dirty to stop the Angel Links. However Gordon, much like many of the pirates, is not exactly the smartest cookie in the jar. Be prepared to see a good share of stupid enemies.

ANGEL LINKS, at this point, is very episodic in nature. These first four episodes act mainly as character introductions, and the plots tend to settle into a predictable formula. The creators were also really proud of the launching of their main ship. You will see a variance of that launch every episode, much like THUNDERBIRDS or other shows of old.

The plots of these episodes revolve around the Angel Links protecting ships from the apparently near 100% chance of being attacked by pirates. If you like shows where the heroes outclass the villains a thousand-fold, this volume of ANGEL LINKS is for you—their ship has a cannon that compares favorably to the "Wave Motion Gun" and other weapons of yore, they have an unlimited cash and tech supply, plus they kick major butt in most forms of personal combat.

The production values of the show are quite good actually, offering much better character drawing consistency than OUTLAW STAR ever did. This certainly comes through on this DVD only release, as the video transfer looked great on my setup. I found the voice acting to be fine on both the Japanese and English sides.

Overall though, the jury is honestly still out for me on ANGEL LINKS. There are good elements here, but I feel them to be weighted down by the repetitious nature of the episodic stories so far. In contrast, I found one of the strongest elements of OUTLAW STAR was how it thrust the viewer into a very continuous storyline. I probably will still check out the next volume to see how things progress. Just be sure to remember that even though ANGEL LINKS is set in the universe of OUTLAW STAR, it has a very different feel and should be judged on its own. Your own mileage my vary, and I would suggest ANGEL LINKS to viewers who want a space action show that does not take itself too seriously.