he angel Chihaya has dark hair, dark wings and a naive but kindly attitude toward humanity. His partner Kagetsuya is blond, light-winged, and uncompromisingly cynical about the "Earthians." Together, they've been sent to Terra from Planet Eden to walk around in human form, tallying up the positive and negative aspects of humankind and reporting back to Archangel Michael. The results will determine the angels' next move: "To live with you, or..."
This is anime, of course, so the angelic duo has ended up in Japan, where they bicker fitfully about whether humanity is essentially good or evil. The debate seems to have been going on for a long time--angels have been watching Earthians for five billion years, but since the angels' physical coloration seem to determine their outlooks on life, neither one is about to suddenly switch hair color or alter his opinion.
But Chihaya renders the debate academic when he exposes his angelic nature to a weeping man in Hong Kong, then fights to rescue an oddly similar-looking woman in Japan. What all this actually has to do with judging humanity is anyone's guess, since the twins aren't actually human--they're bio-humanoids, newly escaped from the lab and ruthlessly pursued by their creator's minions. If they're captured, they face torture and death. If they aren't captured, the woman's unstable nuclear core will explode and kill a lot of innocent people. It's a nasty moral quandary, certainly worthy of an angel. The question is, which of the two angels gets to decide?
Wings of Desire this ain't
Earthian's biggest flaw is that it's too short. This first installment in a series of four doesn't get much setup accomplished before launching into the bio-humanoid subplot, which is exciting in a traditional anime way (martial arts and all), but still seems largely irrelevant. The conflict is also quickly resolved, which makes it even more lightweight. And it takes up a lot of time that could have been used to address a few basic questions, like the nature and limits of angelic powers. It's difficult to worry overmuch about the characters' safety when there's no reason to believe they're even mortal.
Still, the protagonists are well-drawn (in a typical shojo pretty-boy fashion) and curiously engaging. The dynamic between boyish, sensitive, reckless Chihaya and grave, world-weary, overprotective Kagetsuya quickly becomes a worthy focal point. The odd detail of their contrasting color schemes and its effect on their attitudes rings a little strange, especially when presented matter-of-factly as a commonplace truism about angel biology. But it neatly illustrates an interesting theory presented by Antonia Levi in Samurai From Outer Space: Japanese animation tends to portray dark-haired people as more sympathetic souls, while blondes are "usually a sign of trouble if not actual evil."
Cultural trivia aside, Earthian may make a lot more sense as a complete set, but the next one is not due out till September. Until then, what viewers have is a prettily animated but spottily plotted melange of weird religious pastiche and lackluster action, given weight by a pinch of comparative philosophy.
