Plot: What’s it about?
Ai and Mai are twin sisters and the latest in a long line of female warriors, ones charged with a most important task indeed. These two sisters must battle the forces of darkness and also watch over a demonic presence, not exactly simple demands, to say the least. The demon is called Onimaro and while young, he possesses a great amount of potential strength and is approaching a crucial stage in his demonic evolution. Onimaro has become quite taken with the sisters and follows them wherever they venture to, but that just frustrates the girls at times, instead of making their task any easier. As Onimaro is headed toward an important juncture in his demonic development, Ai and Mai have to be on guard at all times to ensure the forces of evil don’t capture the young demon for their own purposes. This could happen too, as Onimaro could choose to follow the path of darkness and if he does, he would become the next Demon Lord. As the Demon Lord, he would have immense powers and slant the cosmic scales in favor of evil, which means unless Ai and Mai can ward off the dark forces, evil could take control forever…
A story driven hentai release from the creators of the infamous La Blue Girl, Twin Angels is an unusual release, but one that hentai fans should be pleased with. As expected, you’ll see ample flesh as the girls drop their clothes on a frequent basis, but Twin Angels isn’t a non stop naked parade, it also has a keen focus on the material. So yes, you’ll see gifted nude ladies and demonic forces go head to head, but it isn’t always about sex, at least not in practice. It has some pretty bizarre and extreme sequences, but they’re not as frequent as I expected. Twin Angels has a solid premise and then follows it with some good writing, so it has appeal beyond most hentai releases, as more open minded mainstream anime folks might even be interested. This is still a little too out there to score new fans to the hentai realm, but for those already into the genre, Twin Angels is a more than solid release. The pace moves at a brisk clip, with few slow points in the two hour duration, which covers both volumes, each of which clocks in at about an hour. Anime 18’s disc looks and sounds good, plus has some cool supplements and runs an affordable price. So if you’re into hentai or unusual anime, I more than recommend Twin Angels.
Video: How does it look?
Twin Angels is presented in a full frame transfer, as intended. The visuals here come across well, though not with quite as much vibrance as I had expected. I found colors to be bright, but not too rich in hue, which could have been intentional, though I’m not sure. The contrast is smooth and well balanced however, with accurate black levels and no murkiness to mention, so detail is never buried here. I saw minimal flaws with the source materials, as few marks were present and debris is never an issue. This is a good overall presentation and while the colors aren’t quite as rich as I’d like, the material is still very well presented.
Audio: How does it sound?
This disc houses dual soundtracks in Japanese and English, with the original Japanese option being the natural choice, of course. The audio isn’t that memorable, but it sounds good and never falters, which is all we can ask in this case. The music comes through in clean and bold form, while the various sound effects are well placed and effective. The dialogue is sharp and never hard to understand in both soundtracks, though as I already mentioned, the original Japanese track is the one to go with. This disc also includes optional English subtitles, just in case you don’t happen to speak Japanese.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes a selection of Twin Angels artwork, character profiles, an introduction to anime, and a brief interview with creator Rusher Ikeda.
