In Battle Doll Angelic Layer’s game world, girls get a chance to play.

Angelic Layer. V.1, Divine Inspiration. V.2, On a Wing and a Player. V.3, Idol Worship. V.4, Faith, Hope & Love. V.5, Deus ex Machina. V.6, Inherit the Layer. V.7, Seventh Heaven.
TV series (26 episodes), 2001. Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori. V.1-5, four episodes/100 minutes; v.6-7, three episodes/75 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: A.D.V. Films.

Young girls have always wanted to play with their brothers’ toys. That is the premise behind Battle Doll Angelic Layer (Kido Tenshi [literally Mobile Angel] Angelic Layer), the equivalent for girls of such boys’ gaming anime series as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Beyblade. This 26-episode TV series (April 1 through September 30, 2001, animated by Studio BONES) was based upon a popular manga by CLAMP, the creator of Card Captor Sakura.

Twelve -year-old Misaki Suzuhara has just arrived in Tokyo to live with her Aunt, and hopefully rejoin her mother whom she has not seen since she was five. At the train station, she gets her first glimpse on a TV newscast of the latest sports/game craze sweeping Japan: Angelic Layer, a martial-arts tournament in which young players manipulate action figures through a high-tech headband that projects their thoughts. Misaki, who is small for her age and poor at athletics, is fascinated by the concept of becoming a miniature gymnast/martial artist through a high-tech surrogate doll. “Age or size doesn’t matter for Angelic Layer;” it’s a matter of application of willpower and strategic study of your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. The Angelic Layer game is sci-fi, but any child will recognize it and its Piffle Princess toy store chain merchandiser as the equivalent of real games and Japan’s leading toy manufacturers. Misaki buys her own Angel which she names Hikaru, and begins rising through the ranks of Angelic Layer tournament players at the same time she enters middle school and makes new acquaintances among her classmates. She is unaware that the adults around her are secretly watching her much more intently than the average gamer, due to a subplot only possible in a convoluted soap opera.

The rules and fashions of Angelic Layer, as well as the super-attractive action figures, are developed to a degree that will make any child and many adults wish that it was real. It has both boy and girl players, but the anime series is primarily for girls so those aspects are emphasized. Each player must customize his or her own Angel. Not only Misaki’s Hikaru, but all the Angels as well as Misaki and her friends themselves look like they were costumed by leading fashion designers (thanks to CLAMP and character designer Takahiro Komori). Most episodes feature at least one suspenseful tournament bout, but the martial-arts action is always subordinate to intelligent strategy. Misaki is always encouraged to learn something new and to advance another step rather than just repeating herself.

Early episodes concentrate almost completely on the Angelic Layer tournament world, and develop a supporting cast from Misaki’s gaming supporters and opponents. Later episodes develop the personalities of these characters at school and in adolescent social situations (first date, beach parties), gently pointing out that life is about more than just a fascinating game. Misaki and her friends are turning from children into young adults, and Angelic Layer helps them in a wholesome manner.