As good-natured and big-hearted as their action/adventure series can be, "Angel Links" creators slap-dash through positive
messages without a firm grasp of logic. Potent criticisms of capitalist corruption, racial intolerance and natural
preservation elbow their way into a script designed to do little more than feature the Angel Links massive cannon at work - a
shallow sheen to gloss the repetitious fight scenes.
In the opening of episode two, Meifon goes through a list of prospective clients each of which she refuses free security
outright on the basis of their insincerity or affluence. However, other security company presidents, such as the president
of Gordon & Co., the competing security firm across the street from Angel Links, complain that the free security service is
robbing them of business. If Meifon is highly selective, then it appears that Angel Links' charity service in no way
jeopardizes the free market system. However this marketplace animosity is the basis for one of the narrative arcs - a
logical conundrum that dismantles the credibility of the creators' argument.
And even though Gordon is being tailored as the central antagonist of this tale, he does nothing that ever positions
him as a formidable hurdle to Meifon's philanthropy
The same kind of thoughtlessness dissolves the emotional impact of Liam, a humanitarian optomist, orating on the
importance of children in society, or Kousei asserting that gender and ability are mutually exclusive to an assemblage of
condescending businessmen, or Meifon's defense of Duuz as a valuable member of her crew. Humanitarian sentiments are shot
as full of holes as the space pirates that Angel Links murders mercilessly at the core of every episode.
Some intriguing characters, therefore, carry this weak effort into the hope that future episodes will settle down long
enough to let them breath. Meifon and Liam exchange deep, penetrative glances at one another (and the opening credits depict
them in a passionate kiss) but no other development of their love affair surfaces in this inaugural offering. Re-current
flashbacks of the same moment in Meifon's childhood, though gimmicky, stir questions of early trauma. Valeria, Meifon's
blonde, surly second in command, plays the militaristic yin to Meifon's adolescent yang. And Duuz's Commander Worf-like
loneliness among a culture so unlike his own only gets lip service in the fourth episode. But all at least hint at a deeper
story to come.
And a pervasive dark humor also toys sardonically with more typical dynamics, the most obvious being the passive Duuz
standing still, intoxicated with the beauty of a work of art, as humans argue heatedly about how Dragonites are so
disagreeable. And Meifon's bountiful bosoms protected by a winged, fanged feline, which leaps from her cleavage whenever
dishonorable dexterous digits aim to defile both, shamelessly draws attention to this minor's sexuality and cleverly
weaves it into the mystical elements of the story.