To me, Angel Cop is a classic among vintage Japanese anime. However, anime fans remain divided on it, with some calling it boring and others calling it a staple of 80s Japanese animation. One thing everyone agrees on about Angel Cop is the English dubbed version dialogue is bad. Like real bad. But it’s so damn funny, wtf.
Angel Cop is a six-part original animation created and directed by Ichirō Itano. A manga adaptation is written and illustrated by Taku Kitazaki. In addition, the collection was serialized in 1990. The story follows Angel (dubbed by Sharon Holm), a special forces officer in a futuristic world of terrorists and Hunters (individuals with telekinetic powers). Angel and her new partner Raiden (dubbed by John Hunter) are desperate to rid the streets of corruption and terrorism—but when Raiden is critically injured, Angel has to take on the Hunter, Lucifer (dubbed by Lorelei King), on her own.
I had a hard time finding the subbed version because the anime dub version is so popular. However, when I finally managed to get my hands on the original subbed version, I was shocked to discover a slightly different film as it had other goals and is less comedic. Didn’t read the manga, so not sure how the animation strayed from the original storyline.
After doing some research, I still can’t find out why it turned out this way. Unlike Noriyuki Abe’s anime series Ghost Story (Gakkô no Kaidan), where the English cast threw out the original script. What started as a drama/horror was transformed into a tongue-in-cheek comedy—but what’s the reason for Angel Cop?
The series is so tacky, and I want to dislike it, but how can you hate on an anime with a cursing compilation like this.
My favorite line is when Angel is shot at, and she yells: “F**K and Piss!” Because that’s totally something I would scream out when someone is trying to kill me.
Here is another video that provides a better sense of the story. A full three minutes and twenty-nine seconds of lousy acting, horrible dialogue, and many WTF moments.
If you know an English dub that isn’t Ghost Story, but is worse than this, PLEASE let me know. So far as I know, nothing tops this.
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