Galaxy Angel Party

Reviewed by Chris Hori
October 15, 2007

Artist(s): Various Author(s): Various Publisher: Broccoli Books Genre: Bishojo, Comedy, Sci-fi Website: Click Here

Following up an earlier review of Galaxy Angel comes Galaxy Angel Party.  Once again the 5 members of Angel Troupe have adventures in space, flying their Emblem Frame Ships, and getting into trouble.

This time, Galaxy Angel Party is a short story, 3 volume manga.  Each manga contains multiple short stories written and drawn by a different artist.  Officially Galaxy Angel Party takes place in an alternate universe, so nothing that happens in these stories affects the main plot of Galaxy Angel.  In addition, where the main plot of Galaxy Angel is a serious action/romance story, Party is much lighter and more comical in nature.  The stories themselves concentrate on different characters as well, often focusing on the favorite characters of the artists.  Finally, the writers were free to make use of any character within the Galaxy Angel universe, so some of the stories feature characters previously only seen in the anime or games.

The individual stories themselves are pretty good, and if you keep in mind that each is a stand alone story, then they are fairly enjoyable.  The characters for the most part stay true to their nature, though their actions and words are all open to the way the artist sees them and so there are slight differences between each story.  With so many different artists drawing, the art style varies noticeably between each chapter.  Some people attempted to mimic the original style, while others used their own distinct style of drawing.

Galaxy Angel Party is definitely for fans of the Galaxy Angel series.  There is little explanation for those new to the series and as such new readers will probably be lost as to whom these characters are and why they act the way they do.  If you are interested, then I recommend at least reading the first few volumes of Galaxy Angel to become more familiar with the characters themselves.

As previously stated, Galaxy Angel is a multi-platform series spanning games, anime and manga.  There is definitely something for everyone.

Galaxy Angel Party is essentially professional fan fiction (stories and art by fans rather than work by the original writer/artist).  As such, fans of the series will most likely enjoy G.A. Party a lot, as they can see their favorite characters, often in comical situations.  Also since the stories and art are done by other well known manga artists who are fans of the series, their quality is good and faithful to the original work.  All 3 volumes of Galaxy Angel Party are now for sale in the U.S.

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