Aa Megami-sama: Tatakau Tsubasa Ep. 01
ああっ女神さまっ 闘う翼 Episode 01
Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings 01

SPOILER Summary:

In the Heavens, a security breach has happened and the Valkyrie, led by the megami Shinzoku, Rind, investigates. Several of them are taken out as Lind attacks. Meanwhile on Earth, the megami and their angels are having a tea party, which is observed by a depressed Skuld, who’s own angel had previously been returned to its egg. As they talk about what it will take for Skuld to be able to summon Noble Scarlet once more, a portal begins to open in the sky. Skuld is afraid that it will be another Mazoku (demon if you will) coming to Earth but Belldandy says the power is that of the Shinzoku (heavenly beings) and that the being is from the fighting squadron.

Lind arrives and announces that everything that has entered the Morisato residence in the last 24-hours has to be turned over to her. So, they begin to bring out literally everything they’ve acquired in the past 24-hours. After that, Lind erects a barrier over the entire temple grounds and explains about the Angel Eater, which is a creature which eats angels (naturally) and which has been stolen and apparently come to this place. Having established the barrier, Lind takes a position on the porch area to “stand watch” with the goal of capturing the Angel Eater. The other megami will have to take care to protect their angels.

Urd enters her room/lab to do some work when a strange noise causes her angel, World of Elegance, to emerge even though she had not been summoned. Urd collapses unconscious. When the others arrive, Belldandy explains that the forced separation of an angel from the megami host is a traumatic experience which is why Urd is unconscious. Lind suspects that the Angel Eater was already at the residence prior to her arrival or had been snuck in. However, the puzzle is why after being warned, Urd had her angel taken from her. Peorth begins investigating that very thing and learns that there isn’t a great deal of information on the Angel Eater. As she researches, the strange noise is heard again and despite the fact that she had told her angel, Gorgeous Rose, to stay put, Gorgeous Rose comes out just the same and is captured. Before losing consciousness, Peorth realizes that when Urd was attacked, the noise was the reason their angels came out without being summoned.

Lind is reflecting on her angel, which has but one wing, and her attempts at becoming more powerful. Belldandy comes out to talk with her as Lind is unhappy with herself over not being able to protect them despite being the most skilled of the Valkyrie. Belldandy attempts to cheer her up, talking of life and stuff and Lind, despite her very serious nature, reveals that she too has a soft side. It is then that Skuld discovers Peorth and Lind and Belldandy come running. It is decided that because of this latest attack, they can’t be alone. As such, if one is attacked, the other can capture the angel. Keiichi wonders about the Angel Eater attacking both Lind and Belldandy at once, but Lind doesn’t think that’s possible since if it could do that, it would have already done so. However, she tries to assure them as best she can.

Skuld is feeling pretty worthless even though Belldandy tells her she is their trump card. Keiichi tries to be creative and create an angel decoy cutout. Skuld shows off her own, more sophisticated decoy, which Lind has already rejected as they wouldn’t work. Belldandy decides to go and have a bath with Lind escorting her. Skuld asks Keiichi if they are worthless. She feels so because she can’t even summon her angel. Keiichi asks her why she still carries around the angel egg if she’s already decided she cannot summon her angel.

In the bath, Lind wonders why her attempts to reassure Keiichi and Skuld did not appear to work well. Belldandy tells her it is because she did not smile. As they talk, Lind gets a bad feeling and thinks of her two angels and her desire to meet them both and her drive to get strong enough to summon both of them. When she comes to, she finds feathers in the air and Belldandy unconscious. She immediately realizes the horrible truth and seals the bathroom shut as she is carrying the Angel Eater. When Skuld asks her why she even came to Earth, Lind has no idea and wonders if the Angel Eater had parasitized in the heavens.

A Mazoku portal opens within the bath and the child-form of Hild emerges. Lind summons her pole axe and attacks. Hild stops the blade with her fingers and tells Lind not to get violent with her, but Lind responds by slamming Hild to the wall and pinning her with the axe head buried in the wall. Hild explains her plan to implant a Tsukaima (a familiar spirit and in this case, the opposite of an angel, which Dark Horse called a “devil” in the original manga translation and “familiar” in the updated translation) within all of the megami to see if they will turn from Shinzoku to Mazoku. Hild summons the Angel Eater from Lind, where we see it is holding her one-winged angel captive. Lind informs Hild that a new barrier went active once Hild came through, designed to prevent Hild from doing what she wanted. However, Hild was already prepared for that and outside the bathroom where Keiichi and Skuld are in the hall, another Mazoku portal opens and Mara descends. However, Lind has one more card she can play.

Thoughts/Review: The Angel Eater arc is one of my favorite story arcs. I don’t like the anime design for the angel eater. In the manga, it looked like a pretty nasty critter but in the anime, it looks like a giant balloon with tentacles. Otherwise, the episode was a pretty good adaptation of the manga story thus far. Too bad the previous TV series strayed so far from the manga at times so as to become tedious.