Angel Beats!

StupidWeeaboo

_FIRST IMRPESSIONS:_ Obviously, this anime is one of the most popular of them all, overhyped to all hell and at the centre of most weeb culture at the time. When it was at its peak, there wasn’t a time when I wasn’t hearing about how good this anime was. Overhyping a series directly, for me at least, causes my personal viewing experience to decrease in quality as a result of the high expectations and the vivid descriptions of the anime itself. That’s why I put off watching this for a few years I guess, only now jumping the gun and deciding to watch the first episode. The art and sound design aren’t necessary spectacular, but the sense of mystery conveyed is at least done so in a competent enough way to provoke some intrigue. The MC himself isn’t at all unbearable, just your typical normal amnesia protagonist, which can be kind of a negative though it does add to the mystery of the afterlife and the dynamic of its inhabitants. The biggest problem that I thought I would have with this first episode was the huge cast of characters introduced, but I guess this anime actually cares enough to describe each one. Usually these characters fall out of the limelight and become irrelevant, at least with short anime - which this is - and as such I think introducing so many may cause a problem. Though, if done right and these characters end up getting erased or otherwise, it may be a good driving plot device both if they are developed correctly and if it is in service of a decent plot. Anyways, I guess I’ll watch this anime and see what all the hype has been about. _REVIEW:_ I really thought that I would end up enjoying this anime all the way through, but the ending really ruins it for me. I feel as though the writer just got lazy and decided to end it all with a convenient antagonistic force combined with the various employed plot holes that defy the rules of the world that had been established over the course of the episodes preceding the ‘climax’ of the series. Sure, some of the characterisation is good, as well as the art and sound - but those aspects alone cannot carry this pothole ridden anime into greatness. The plot gets very confused and more often than not, this anime loses track of what it wants to be and is hurt by that. I’ll say that this anime was an 8 for me when it was dealing with more student life plotlines, but when it started getting into complex stuff about programming the ‘players’ of the Afterlife and the random villain that shows up in the end it really turns to shit for me. If it weren’t for those first few episodes, this anime would be at a much lower rating for me. Anyways, I’ll get back to the conclusion later. This anime takes place in a high school afterlife kind of zone (a grey area before the people there pass on), in which people find themselves there because of their personally troublesome childhoods - thus the high school acts as their springboard to enjoy a youthful life since they could not do so in their actual lives. Initially however, there is an establishment that aims to defy this ideal youthful life for fear of being ‘erased’ - the Battlement - as they call it. Most of the supporting cast and main cast end up in this Battlement, although there are some other characters, dubbed NPCs, which are just fill the rest of the high school with actual students and because this is some A rule established by this kind of zone that is integral to the plot and is the reason why the Battlement is driven to rebel against the pseudo antagonist of the series (Angel, the poster character for this series) is that once a person obeys the rules of the world and becomes a loyal student, they vanish from the world. An extension of this that is revealed a bit later in the series is that once the character is cleansed of all regrets, they vanish - serving no purpose in the world no longer. Within these bounds, the characters participating in the Battlement want to live and fight for as long as they can, making due in this afterlife zone thingy. The first ‘antagonist’ of the series is known to us as Angel, but just so that you can remember I’ll just call her by her actual name - Tachibana. The reason that she is established as such is because she wants the Battlement to follow the school regulations and essentially disappear. Angel as a character seems really out of place for the regulations of the world since she doesn’t act as an NPC, but she as a character is revealed to be also human. But this in itself doesn’t make that much sense -even the following ‘antagonist’ has more of a reason to be as such because of his elaborated backstory. That brings me to probably the largest problem that this anime has, bringing it down from an 8 to a 6 for me. The characters and the world-building. [Also, as a minor gripe, why the hell did the anime keep showing where the characters were with that shitty caption. It makes no sense as to why we as an audience need to know specifically where the characters are, like it serves no purpose at all]. Most of the characters in Angel Beats are mainly one note, most likely being as a result of there being too many introduced in the first couple of episodes as well as subsequent ones to conveniently drive the plot in some kind of direction. Though some of the one note characters are pretty funny, like TK and ‘CHRIST’ some of them are just too generic for the audience to even care about what happens to them such as Noda (the angry dude) and Matsushita (the dude that eats a lot) with most of them just becoming plot drivers and convenient ways to overcome the stupid conflicts that they find themselves in. The one-dimensional nature of most of the supporting cast not only weakens the impact that this show has on me, but because of their insignificance to the plot as a whole their impact just seems very small compared to the actual characters that get some screen time and dedicated development. Good examples of characters that get enough attention for me to care about them are Hinata and Iwasawa, with their motivations and reasons for being in that dimension being clear. They also initially would follow the rules of the world that they live in, though Hinata gets weirdly used as the best friend character for the main character Otonashi to bounce off of. Initially, I thought that this series was just going to be the entire cast disappearing one by one developing the backstory of each along the way (and although its formulaic, it probably would have worked better), instead it was a clusterfuck of plot holes and just laziness on behalf of the writer. The world itself was not fully utilised, with the rules employed by the anime itself being broken with its conclusion and further emphasising this issue is the introduction of unnecessary characters as well as characters not fully delved into (which is most of them admittedly the Guild master and most of the aggressive dudes with weapons). The introduction of new characters throughout the series just seems like such a huge excuse and it leaves too many unanswered questions, especially considering the series’ length being 13 episodes. Anyways, concerning the main character of the series: I think that he’s fine though at the end his character juts falls off and becomes sort of generic. The grounded nature of the developed characters was charming in a way, Otonashi’s search for a purpose in life, Iwasawa’s escapism through music, hell even Yui’s paralysis being her motivation for being so active. I feel like, in order for this series to become great, it would have had to focus on the characters rather than the convoluted world and plot that had been so half-assedly established in a rush to put all of these characters in. If the world was simpler to understand and the plot was just as simply stated before, the show probably would have worked a lot better. Instead, the plot becomes driven by a sequence of conveniences and stupid deus ex machina type situations like Tachibana’s OP programming that would basically break the world on its own. The conclusion in particular is full of those. In that case, I guess talking about the conclusion is necessary at this point. Firstly, the introduction of that ‘shadow’ villain, with the program glitching out is unnecessarily complex is such a stupid plot point that it shouldn’t have even been introduced in the first place. I think in general, the stuff about altering the programming of the world that they live in is such an unnecessary aspect to the show, just padding the otherwise slice of life kind of show with redundant action (and action that isn’t even that good mind you). This kind of plot dynamic was first introduced with Angel being able to program herself to perform certain functions and change the materials of the world to suit her purposes. It’s not even explored as to why only she can do that, and the show completely ignores that fact. An extension of this problem is with ‘the Guild’ creating the guns seen in the anime out of dirt and imagination - like what the hell is that supposed to mean. They just explain it with some throwaway exposition that it might as well have just not been in there and instead being explained through imagination on its own and so this afterlife would become kind of like a dreamscape instead of a program. Additionally, the Tachibana clone arc was such a stupid plotline that it might as well have just not existed as it was only there to act as conflict for the characters to grow closer. And although yeah, there is a case to be made that it was necessary so that Otonashi gets closer to Tachibana, but the fact that the aggressive nature of the clones never resurfaced in Tachibana makes it serve no purpose. I think it would have been a better climax if the Tachibana clones manifested themselves and made it so that everyone had to help to save her. But then it probably would have taken too long and as such the other characters wouldn’t have gotten any screen time, so idk. Just throwing ideas out there, but just saying that this series had a lot of ways to approach its conflicts and the development of its characters. Speaking of the development of characters, during the last episode the series just decides to ignore everything. Most of the characters’ resolutions are explained as “oh they just decided to leave!” after a time skip. Which is the stupidest resolution ever. Adding salt to the wound was another explanation of a character just resolving his situation with ‘strong will’ when the ‘shadow’ was first introduced, it is revealed that Takamatsu (the genius-lookin’ guy with abs basically) had been consumed by said shadow and as a result has been transformed into an NPC. This being explained off by ‘strong will’ is so incredibly lazy its infuriating. Anyways, the actual conclusion, the graduation ceremony for the four main characters Tachibana, Hinata, Yurippe and Otonashi (as well as Naoi - hell actually let me talk about that guy for a bit. He was basically the secondary antagonist of the series, and one of the characters I liked quite a bit, though his hypnosis powers were kind of stupid. His backstory was actually pretty well done I would say; crushed by the major expectations of his famous potter father, Naoi aspires to be like his brother whom is responsible for following very closely with his father and being the one that his father was the proudest of. After his brother’s death however, Naoi must fill those shoes and as such feels as though he lost his purpose, only now following his brother’s footsteps. Therefore, when he arrives in the afterlife high school, he wants to gain as much attention and power as possible because of how he felt in his youth, by exacting his plans against the Battlement by abusing his power as stupid council president after the Battlement sabotaged Tachibana’s reputation. In a flourish of battle, everyone is dying with Naoi’s plan being to erase everyone with his hypnosis powers. Otonashi to the rescue, having a mega speech and giving a new perspective on purpose for Naoi to then be followed by Naoi for the rest of the series. This adds Naoi to the main cast of people and he joins the one-dimensional club. I liked him before his joining the Battlement ☹ - from this actually I should probably talk about a huge gripe I had with some speech of Otonashi’s. It was probably the biggest speech of the series and in the anime, they just decided to cut to the end of it; it was basically Otonashi having to explain that disappearing is the better decision in moving forward, at least in a reasonable and satisfying manner. This was a minor arc where Otonashi tried to help everyone move forward with their regrets after finding out about his own past where he vows to help people, though it only resulted in him helping Yui being erased from the world anyways I’ll talk about his backstory later. I feel as though his speech being straight up cut, considering that it was such a major speech was so incredibly lazy and unforgivable. It really detracts from the impact that this should have had, and I think this is where it started to go downhill for me and my high expectations for what to come plummeted). Everyone leaves one by one, but this in itself opposes the rules established by the series itself where, in order for someone to disappear, they have to resolve all of their regrets and finally reach a satisfying youth. But them just leaving was such a stupid way to end the series just to pander and reach a ‘satisfying’ ending. But there are just so many unanswered questions, like who the hell is the ‘programmer’ and that dude that steals all of the computers? Just that plot point alone is enough to make me scream and grab at my hair. ANYWAYS, the actual conclusion - turns out that Tachibana is the one that receive Otonashi’s organs, saving her life and sure that does satisfy Otonashi’s plight to help people and allows him to leave later on. But Tachibana herself as a character has no developed motivations, so it kind of comes from left field when Otonashi confesses and Tachibana’s all like “I’ll disappear if I confess!”, like we don’t even know what she regrets in the first place. And then, on top of that, the ending ending shows Otonashi and Tachibana meeting IRL in some secondary life making the whole thing even more stupid. This is probably the worst ending I have ever seen in anime, because of the clumsiness and laziness that it presented to me. Though most characters are one dimensional, I think that Iwasawa and Otonashi being developed both in their deaths and their motivations were actually well done, though Otonashi’s character kind of turned to be a little bit too focussed on his goal and became a bit one-dimensional itself though that in itself is arguable. Anyways, I’ll start off with Iwasawa’s backstory. She’s a part of the ‘decoy team’ which is basically an excuse to put an idol band inside of the Battlement’s cast and she’s the centrepiece of said idol group. Her motivations behind it are pretty good as I said grounded, though this doesn’t necessarily mean that it held substance. Just a bit of actual character development, which felt fresh for this anime since there were so many characters that kind of served no purpose other than a gag or two here and there. To be honest it was pretty edgy, but after talking to the MC, Otonashi, after a nice transition from her drinking water to her father drinking alcohol (though it’s kind of lame I thought it was an okay shot), she tells the story of music being her form of escapism from the terrible family life which she was involved in. Then, after performing one emotional song (which was out of the ordinary for her rock band, Girls Dead Monster: GirlDeMo) her dream of providing some solace for someone with her music as the music she listened to did for her she vanishes. Contrastingly, Otonashi’s big reveal after being amnesic for the whole series before this point came about as a result of Naoi’s mind control powers being able to explore Otonashi’s mind and finally reveal to him the sorrows of his past. Turns out Otonashi was a shut in for most of his life, only working to keep his sister in check and to provide her gifts and entertainment. Throughout this backstory, it’s Otonashi who is narrating which doesn’t really make sense, but I’ll ignore it for simplicity, and he keeps contemplating his purpose in life. To be honest, now that I’m reflecting on this, it was a bit overexaggerated and edgy. But anyways, after he loses his sister he finally figures out that his purpose has been to serve his sister and achieve a satisfying “thank you” after giving her some gifts. He takes this and realises that he could achieve the same satisfaction and reach another purpose by helping others - so he decides to become a doctor. He studies hard and finally has the chance to get into university (to be honest, I don’t think many people would have this kind of resolve, especially after seeing his sister die as well as his NEET / dropout past, but yeah). But then, the train crashes. After this happens, the flashback stops only to resume later when Otonashi is waiting for Tachibana to recover from all of those clones that got merged into her. The next flashback / memory gain is probably what I enjoyed the most about Otonashi’s backstory. It was just a scenario taking place after the train crashes in which a select few people from the train, survivors, are in a situation where they cannot get out of a tunnel due to the debris blocking either end so Otonashi decides to take the initiative as leader. They manage to last a week since some dipshit drops all the water as a result of panic. During the final scene, Otonashi decides to circle the “donate organs” criteria on his health insurance as some kind of closure so that he can help someone even if he is dead. Sadly, after he dies everyone else gets rescued. I guess this backstory was pretty run of the mill, but I liked how it turned out. What I didn’t like was Otonashi’s transformation of character that comes after finding out about what happened, since he gets really attached to Tachibana and stuff and just yeah. It contrasted too much from his previous character and as a result muddled his motivations and as such we as the audience lose some form of relatability to his situation. Turns out also that since he dies with no regrets, knowing that he may have saved someone else, he will live in the world infinitely and yeah idk. To be honest, I thought that Otonashi’s organs being what saves Tachibana being such a stupid coincidence as well as their love for each other being the thing to make her disappear. It was just all trying to be such a wonderful conclusion only to be confusing, breaking the ‘realism’ and just being too dreamy of an ending for an anime that wanted to take itself quite seriously (with the ‘dark’ parts at least). If this anime was 25 episodes, I think that the ending and disappearance of all of the characters would have been a lot more impactful. Instead, this anime will forever be known for me as having the worst conclusion of them all. Though it will also be known in my mind that this anime has one of the best first few episodes embezzled with amazing art and sound. Just the slice of life vibe that I got, with some comedic elements thrown in was really charming. But it was all in service of such a stupid ending and one full of plot holes and questions left unanswered. Anyways yeah, that’s why this isn’t an 8 / 10, not sure why people claim that this is a masterpiece sure it did have a lot of potential, but it certainly did not deliver.

TheRealKyuubey

Yuzuru Otonashi has a problem. He’s just woken up on the ground outside of a strange school, to find out that his unconscious body has been guarded over by an even stranger girl wielding a gun that’s bigger than she is, and the only thing he remembers is his name. But before he can ask what the hell he drank last night, she explains that he’s dead. And she says this… while aiming her gun at another girl. She goes on to explain that this other girl, an apparent angel, is the mortal enemy of her and the group she leads… The Underworld Battlefront. Or the “Like Hell I’m Dead Battlefront,” depending on what version you’re watching. Believing this story to be bat-shit crazy, and who could blame him, the boy shrugs off her story, and decides to approach the other girl, who echoes the first girl’s claim that he’s no longer among the living. He asks for proof, so without hesitation, she stabs him through the heart, killing him. He wakes up in bed later on, his bloodstained shirt serving as a definitive reminder that he’s not in Kansas anymore. He’s not in Oz, either… Probably. He’s in some vaguely defined computer-based version of Purgatory where teenagers end up whenever they die unfulfilled. You can’t die in this world no matter what happens to you, you can magically build inanimate objects out of dirt, and if you take school too seriously, you’ll disappear. This is a lot of nonsense for our hero to take in, but it’s all real, leaving him no choice but to take his circumstances at face value. If the aesthetic of this series reminds you of famous Kyoto Animation titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad, you’re not too far off… Angel Beats was designed by the same people who created the original visual novels for those other shows. That’s where the comparison ends, however, as the animation was done by a company named PA Works… It’s a company that has a very small, but very impressive, production history. True to form, Angel Beats is right at the top of my list of the most well produced anime I’ve ever seen, and I’m not just talking about the visuals. If there has ever been an anime that I rushed to buy the soundtrack to, it’s this one. I haven’t heard an anime soundtrack that was this beautiful since Bastard. The compositions are diverse, inspired, and in many cases, you can tell exactly what scene a tune is from just by listening to it with your eyes closed. It’s that good, and it’s that memorable. The opening theme is probably one of the least skippable I’ve ever seen, with a mind-blowing piano score set to our title character rocking out on that exact instrument. The ending theme is also great, as it has a very melancholic tone, and the way it ties into it’s video won’t really be made clear until the end of the series. But the heart and soul of the music… As well as the heart and soul of this series in general… Is the fictitious anime band Girls Dead monster, a pulse pounding rock band formed by a handful of the students. This band has it’s OWN separate soundtrack, and trust me, they deserve it. When talking about the animation, the comparison to Kyoto Animation must once again be brought up… Angel Beats clearly had just as high a budget as the Kyo-Ani classics, with endlessly smooth and graceful movements from the characters and environment, but unlike most of those shows, it doesn’t waste it’s money on mundane slice of life activities… Oh no, they do SO much more with it. This show goes so all out with it’s big, epic Sci-fi action moments, smoothly blending CG with traditional visuals, that it even puts the first season of Haruhi Suzumiya to shame. Even the background characters… AKA the NPCs… Are well animated, and I’ve seen a ton of shows that didn’t bother to go that far. As for the characters? Well, I guess we should start with the title character. Angel… Or, as she comes to be known, Kanade Tachibana… Is a very problematic character, as some of the greatest flaws in the series revolve around her. She has a really unique motivation behind her actions, I’ll give her that, but it doesn’t make her a well written character. I can’t really delve too deep into my problems with her without going into some pretty heavy spoilers, so I’ll be saving my comments about her for my much more liberal post about this series next week. As for her co-star, Otonashi, well, I also have some mixed feelings about him… He’s not your typical Key lead, as he doesn’t make a habit of getting involved in other peoples’ problems, but he also doesn’t really do anything else to make up for it… Aside from commenting on the crazy things all the other characters do, his only role in the story is to form a relationship with Angel so he can pass on what she knows about this world to the Battlefront, but that wouldn’t be an issue if she had ever just told them herself… Which she totally cold have done at any time. Having said that, the development of their relationship is one of the better aspects of the show, so I can’t complain too much. Yurippe Nakamura(The girl with the gun), on the other hand, is a very compelling character. She’s active, she has clear motives supported by one of the cast’s most hauntingly tragic backstories, and she’s by far the only character who ever takes the initiative towards moving the story forward. She bears some similarities to Haruhi Suzumiya, both in her appearance and her attitude towards her followers, but she’s also a much more reasonable and intelligent character than Haruhi ever was. She’s strong and perceptive, and has quite possibly the best character arc in the whole show. As for our secondary characters, Hinata is the first person who really befriends Yuzuru, and the dynamic between them is pretty enjoyable, despite the forced “Bromance or Romance?” jokes. He’s constantly insisting that he’s not gay, and in a flashback, he proves it by showing us how terrible a catcher he is. Yui is the fast-talking air-head, and while her hyperactive and sometimes idiotic ways are a constant source of annoyance for Hinata, they do show a genuine affection for each other. Naoi makes for a pretty decent villain when he first appears, but after having his cruel ways changed by the power of fwiendship, he basically just becomes a constant gay joke that never gets a punch line. Iwasama is the original lead singer of Girls Dead Monster, and… Well, despite only appearing in three episodes, you could write an entire paper on her. In a good way. The rest of the cast barely deserves to be mentioned, if at all. Oda and Shiina make for some good visual gags from time to time, but TK is one of the laziest character ideas I’ve ever heard of. I’d really like someone to explain to me why he’s so popular. Those three included, everybody in th supporting cast is pretty much an interchangeable gimmick with a human face. You could swap any of them out with a girl who likes to skateboard while dressed like a crab, and nothing… Absolutely nothing… Would change as a result. Monolingual as I am, I can’t say too much about the Japanese dub… Just that it sounded really, really good. It’s leagues better than the English dub, which was written by the infamous Stephen Foster, and yes, it stinks opf all his trademarked awfulness. If you can stomach hearing an awkward line like “I thought you were just some gun-toting girl or something” and not switch languages, then you know less about how people talk than HE does. He takes a lot of unfortunate liberties with the dialogue, he’s probably solely responsible for the mispronunciation of the word ‘suplex,’ and it’s just an awkward time to be had in general. I’ll be honest, though, while I definitely noticed how bad the writing was, it didn’t really piss me off until he rewrote one of my favorite Yurippe quotes near the end. Having said all that, I can’t condemn the dub completely…. Like with most of Foster’s work, the writing may be awful, but the acting overall is actually pretty decent. Likewise, there were a few really impressive performances. Luci Christian is at the top of the class as usual. She’s made a career out of being one of the best emoters in the business, and even though she only gets a single episode of screen time as Iwasama, she still lets her veteran instincts bleed through with every word. Hilary Haag puts her signature hyperactive energy into her role as Yui, forcing me to wonder just how versatile her insidiously high pitched voice can be. Brittney Karbowski owns the role of Yuri, and as I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, she’s always a joy to listen to. David Matranga takes the subtle, humorous edge that he gave to his character in the lead role from Clannad and carries it over to Hinata, to stunning effect. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows… Blake Shepherd is the flat out terrible lead role, and for the life of me, I can’t wrap my head around why they trusted him with it. Emily Neves, in the role of Kanade… Um… Well, she doesn’t do a bad job, it’s just sort of mediocre. I mean, if you have three of the best voice actresses in the company in your cast, and give the ‘lead role’ to an actress who’s career highlight at that point was getting booted off of American Idol, it’s not a very flattering comparison. I would have placed this role in the hands of someone more capable, like Jessica Boone or Taylor Hannah, but to be fair, Emily’s talent HAS grown by leaps and bounds since this role. And TK shouldn’t have had an English voice actor at all, since his entire schtick is that he says nonsensical one-liners in Engrish. Personally, I’d recommend the sub, but if you’re a hardcore dub fan, then the acting in the dub should at least be satisfactory. The meat of Angel Beats can be difficult to talk about, so I think I’ll open by saying it’s an anime that you’re supposed to watch with your heart, and not with your head. It’s full of intense passion, strong emotions, and just enough gripping characters so that any viewer will find at least one to relate to and root for. The romantic melodrama and tear-jerking tragedy of this mysterious world is designed to grab you right by the heart and hold on for dear life, because if it should ever fail to keep that part of you engaged, you brain would kick in, and you’d notice right off the bat just how much of an unholy mess this story really is. One of the first things Yuri tells Otonashi is that he should just go with it, and accept things as they are. I’d like to think this advice goes double for the viewer… Turn your brain off, because this story doesn’t make a lick of sense. Now, don’t get me wrong here, a fictional story doesn’t have to make sense to our universe. It has to make sense according to it’s own universe. With nearly every single story element, we get an explanation of what it is, an explanation of how it works, and a direct contradiction within three episodes time. There aren’t a lot of examples I can give of this without dropping some spoilers… Once again, tune in next week for that rant… But you can take, for example, the Battlefront’s attitude towards Angel. In an early episode, Yuri explains that they have to be careful, and keep all conversations about their plans under wraps, because they don’t know whether or not Angel can hear them. Well, in only a few episodes time, they’re nonchalantly discussing their plans right on the other side of the classroom from her… She doesn’t seem to notice, and for the most part, they don’t seem worried that she’ll notice. And there are other examples… The other students who weren’t brought here from another life are called NPC’s, and while they’re supposed to turn a blind eye to the Battlefront’s antics, they show up in droves to a GirlDeMo concert, and line up for a monster fish meat give-away. The former of the two examples was pointed out by one of the characters… As a matter of fact, a lot of the inconsistencies in this show are pointed out by the characters, as if the writers thought that making the script self-aware of it’s own flaws would somehow make up for those flaws. The pacing of this anime is a serious issue. We get plot point after plot point after plot point thrown at us at break-neck speed, and with no build-up or development for any of them, they just fly by without making much of an impact. There’s little to no character development outside of the main cast, and as a result, more than three quarters of the cast go completely unexplored, existing only to spout off their assigned one-note-jokes and occasionally die for our amusement. I strongly feel as though both of these problems could have been solved if the show had a 24-26 episode run, like it was initially supposed to. We’re introduced to important details that quickly become forgotten or conflicted, plot points that are almost immediately made pointless, and the only explanations they ever stick to are the ones that sound like complete cop-outs. The incomprehensible nature of the world they’re in ultimately culminates with an underground scene between Yuri and some mysterious figure in a room full of computers. This is by far the most insulting moment in the entire series, as several of the questions we’ve asked about it are resolved with lazy answers ranging from “It was like this when I got here” to “The power of love.” And all of this culminates in a conclusion that’s emotionally powerful, as well as a relentless tear jerker, but upon closer inspection is nothing but a clusterfuck of plotholes… And no, i’m not just talking about the one plothole that everybody knows about. There are deeper, much more destructive plot holes that undermine the entire premise of the show, take the stakes completely out of the climactic final battle, and render the two strongest episodes completely pointless. And once you’ve realized them, they will probably make you feel like the biggest fool on earth for loving it as much as you did. And even as someone who genuinely does enjoy the series, it just can’t be forgiven for writing that lazy. Angel Beats is available from Sentai Filmworks. The DVD set has been out for a while, and it includes one of the few OVA episodes, which is worth a few good laughs. The set set can be found for a modest sum on Ebay, and at the time of this writing, it’s available for a bit cheaper as part of the Rightstuf.com December sale. It’s not available on Netflix anymore, but it IS still available on Crunchyroll. And as long as you’re a member, and don’t have to put up with six commercials per episode, Crunchyroll’s awesome. There are a handful of CD soundtracks that can also be purchased, and if nothing else,those are worth paying a pretty penny for. There’s apparently also a prequel light novel, but I haven’t read it, because it hasn’t been officially translated yet. Angel Beats is a very poorly written story that relies entirely on it’s spectacular visuals to distract you from the phenomenal lack of logic or consistency. It works masterfully on an emotional level, and despite the messiness that you’re supposed to overlook, it never feels hollow or meaningless… but the logical side of Angel Beats is just so infuriatingly bad. It’s easier to appreciate for what it isn’t than for what it is, though.. It doesn’t follow any clichés throughout it’s thirteen episode run, and none of it’s characters fit into any of the tired stereotypes that plague the anime industry, so I’m willing to give it some credit for originality and effort. But the talent, overall, just isn’t there. And do you want to know the absolute worst thing about it? The worst thing about this anime is that it is physically impossible to not enjoy it. It is relentlessly fun to watch, even for some stick-in-the-mud like me who kept his brain on full blast the entire time. There’s a lot of things it does wrong… Embarrassingly so, at some points… But when it does something right, it knocks it right out of the park. The overly complicated plot comes with a surprisingly simple, albeit poorly constructed, story. The humor isn’t as spot-on as it probably should be, but it’s inspired enough to keep you laughing just often enough. If nothing else, you’ll enjoy the hell out of the production values alone. I like to tell people this show is bad, or that I don’t like it, but upon a rewatch(Like, for the sake of this review), I find I just can’t stay mad at it. I give Angel Beats a 6/10

Revisionary

“Angel Beats”’ status as one of the most popular and well-known anime out there is indisputable. Anyone who is looking for a “sad anime” will undoubtedly run across this title in some form or another. As such, I went into this show with high expectations given the hype surrounding the show over the past few years since its initial release. Unfortunately, while “Angel Beats” is an admirable show that manages to be engaging to the end, it suffers from too many flaws in terms of its characterization and plot development to truly deliver a strong and meaningful impact that lasts long after thirteenth episode ends. Not even the show’s unique premise and high production values are enough to help the show reach its full potential. Had the show been 24 episodes rather than 13, I am sure that my review of the show would have been more positive. What could have been an amazing experience ends up falling flat. “Angel Beats” has a fantastic and unique premise that has amazing potential. Taking place in the afterlife, a group of individuals fight against God to continue their existence and not be “obliterated” (or otherwise pass on from the afterlife). Protagonist Otonashi finds himself in the afterlife with no memories of his past life and the circumstances surrounding his death. Joining the Afterlife Battlefront (SSS), he will continue to unravel the mysteries surrounding this new reality. But in spite of its action-packed description, “Angel Beats” is less of an action anime and more of a character-driven drama. Unfortunately, it is due to its nature as a drama that it falls flat. Due to the massive cast of characters introduced and the low episode count, many of the characters are underdeveloped and lack proper characterization. It’s a shame too, since many of the characters you meet have genuinely interesting traits that make me wonder what their backstories are. The show’s ending is generally lauded as one of the most emotional endings that will send viewers on a “feels trip,” but I feel that any tears that were shed as a result of this show were purely because of how effective the director was at generating emotion through excellent shot composition and music selection rather than the story itself. Without spoiling anything, I was extremely surprised by the ending for the completely wrong reasons. “Angel Beats” wants viewers to care about everyone in the story, but it fails to do so because it fails to give them a reason why. As mentioned before, it’s a character-driven drama, but ironically its weakest element is the characters themselves. As an action series, it excels with excellent cinematography, but that is obviously not the focus of the show. But it’s not a bad show by any means. There are genuinely good moments throughout, and when it attempts to deliver emotion for its primary characters, it does so extremely well. It may not necessarily be consistent in its execution, but “Angel Beats” does exceedingly well when it has a clear focus. Episode 10, in my opinion, is the highlight of the series and is perhaps one of the best written episodes in anime. The tonal shifts between comedy and drama work unlike many other shows. It’s never jarring and never feels off, which is refreshing especially coming from shows that don’t handle it nearly as well, such as “Your Lie in April,” which has shifts that sometimes ruin the atmosphere of the show as a whole. And in spite of its uneven characterization, the characters that are focused on properly are excellently written, each with their own compelling motivations that make it hard not to empathize with them. It’s just a shame this treatment wasn’t afforded to the rest of the cast. I firmly believe the show could have been better if the cast was either reduced or if the series length was extended. To conclude, I can see why “Angel Beats” is popular in the community. It’s hard to deny the appeal it has as an emotional drama, but it’s also hard to ignore the flaws that prevent it from being what it could have been. I don’t regret seeing this show, and I will continue to have fond memories of it, but if I had to compare it to other emotionally-driven works, it is nowhere in the same league.

HankMoody79

so this isnt going to be a typical review, (mostly because i suck at writing reviews) a lot of people have commented on the lack of episodes and the effect that had on over half of the characters being totally under developed due to time constraints (couldn't agree more), nor is this going to be a comment on the music in the show (which was very good) or the animation quality (again very good animation) im not even going to go into the story all that much SPOILERS while all these are important features to an anime and some aspects including length of the show stopped this from being a 10/10, this isn't what i want to spend time talking about, because for me these things were not what made Angel Beats one of the best anime i have ever seen This show is one of the rare anime i have seen that got an actual emotional response from me (mainly because i watch comedies) it made me continually hit the next episode button causing me to stay up til 6.30 this morning (something my boss didnt appreciate at all) i have only really been into anime for a little over 12 months now but have been watching anime films and shows for over 20 years as a very casual viewer and have about 150 shows under my belt, most in the last 12 months (not that i have become addicted or anything). I mention this because i missed all the hype about the show so the only thing i knew after i read the synopsis was the show was about a guy who wakes up to find out out he is dead from a girl with a big gun. this brief synopsis led me to believe this was going to be an action comedy all be it a very good one from the rating of 9th most popular anime of all time Shockingly what i got instead was a heartbreaking story about loss and regret, pain, powerless and above all love and redemption disguised as a comedy action i probably wouldn't have watched this if id have known what this show was actually about.(opting to stay in my planned queue for the rest of eternity) Ive never seen Clanned/after story and am avoiding it like the plague. i dont like shows like this. i watch anime for escapism, not to sit there thinking about my own personal regrets or times when i was powerless in my life or the times when life was just utterly unfair (i play poker so that's quite often) i think the character that stood out most for me was Yui a young girl that was kind of on the outside of the main group who wanted to be a singer, a wrestler, hit a home run and fall in love and be married. she seemed to be a mirror of the show, full of life, fun but with a truly deep and touching aspect to her, My heart broke when Hinatoa confessed his love for her overall this show was beautiful looking, great well written characters, funny, charming, far too short and i am so glad i didnt know anything about it before watching it, well worth watching if you have not seen it if i was to recommend something else similar it would be hinamatsuri, more comedy and less dark but still hits you in the feels more than once

Iryi

Here we go, with another review! I am going to die, oh wait I can't because its angel beats woop! So what is this story about you may ask? (I'm hoping you already know the story because if you don't, why are you looking at reviews that are filled with spoilers you baka?!) Meet our main character Yuzuru Otonashi, we start with him in the real world. Were he is constantly worrying about his sister since she has cancer, so I can keep this short she dies! And loses his will to live, but then magically he gets woo! he tries to become a doctor and gets on a train were he is going to take an exam for doctor stiff, tdlr: train crashes, gets buried in tunnel, works together with the survivors to stay alive, eventually runs out of resources, takes out a donor card and circles everything and all the survivors do the same, then he dies once he has done that, but at the same time the survivors are finally getting rescued (i kept that short and brief as possible because the beginning is nice and all but we need the main story) so in the world he gets transported to, a place were teens go to, so they can live a happy teen life, and they are only sent there to do just that. And he meets the leader of a group who refuses to take part in the regular school life, they are trying to defeat a person who they call angel, and hell goes down from there( in a good way) Other than the horrible plot explanation above, the story I found to be entertaining. As our MC and the group he is with go through this adventure and gets rid of angel once and for all, they find themselves bored and they soon find a new enemy that an NPC made(NPC's are other students or teachers that aren't actually real people) but in the end they also get defeated. Which the second enemy just seemed like filler to me in the end, what really stuck out to me is how the MC goes on a path of freeing everyone from the world that all those people are in, and he succeeds in that. But really the ending... the ending gives out a lot of emotions and rounds off the series quite well ( i have said a lot of spoilers already, but I am not going to say what the ending is) I can say that the series was worth watching, although I was mainly expecting a music anime, that wasn't what I walked into at all. instead, I found an anime that shows you many perspectives on the world that they are in and stories of how they're life went, with eventually finding peace. I'm going to give this nice heartfelt series a 95/100, it's not perfect because of the second enemy, but it makes up for it quite well.

Amiki

***Spoilers Of Course*** Angel Beats! will have you laughing for minutes on end, yet it will also have you sobbing for hours on end. Angel Beats! is another of Key's wonderful stories, for the most part, it is a comedic drama with a few action scene here and there, throughout the 13 Episodes, we mostly follow along with the Shinda Sekai Sensen's (SSS) activities in this afterlife world. As for the aforementioned anime's setting, is an Afterlife world, where no one can die, this place is inhabited by NPCs, which have no soul, and go around doing what an Ordinary Highschool student would, they have no soul. Of course, there is *life* in this world, the *real* people here, are mostly teenagers or young adults who died young, with an incomplete wish. This Afterlife world, is suppose to be a place where these young adults and teenagers can complete their incomplete wishes from their life, but our characters are unaware of this purpose, they believe they were sent here by "God", and Tachibana Kanade "Angel" (Our presumed antagonist), is some sort of worker of god. Here is an Important part of the plot, if our characters complete their wish one way or another, they get "obliterated" as they say in the anime, by that, it just means they disappear, our characters are still unaware that this world is suppose to fulfill their wishes, they believe "Angel" obliterates people if they have fun. Of course, due to this, one of our protagonists, Yuri Nakamura, want's to fight god, and believes that if they defeat "Angel" they can fight god. Plot aside for now, let's get on with how they execute the comedy. Throughout the 13 episodes, we follow Yuri, Otonashi, and the rest of the SSS on their so called "Operations", such as blowing away NPC's Lunch tickets, or attempting to open a gateway to god (OVA for the latter if you are unaware). A lot of the comedy revolves around our cast either getting hurt or "Dying", since they only die for a brief amount of time, while this joke could get repetitive, they always manage to put a twist on their "Deaths" or Injuries, we can go from someone simply drowning, or getting cut up by lasers, to Yuri attaching a jet engine to the bottom of someone's chair and launching them to the ceiling. A bit of plot here, but nearing the end of the series, Episode 7 or 8, Otonashi realizes "Angel" is in fact, not a worker for god, and is simply another person like them who has an unfulfilled wish. While on a fishing trip with the SSS, Otonashi notices "Angel" planting vegetables in the school garden, he takes the opportunity to convince Yuri and the rest of the SSS to let her on the fishing trip. Hesitantly, Yuri allows her, this leads to some pretty hilarious interactions between Angel and the rest of the SSS, such as Angel throwing someone, let's say, to space, and of course Angel cutting up a giant '"Fish" which honestly appears to be the size of a humpback whale, but hey, anything's possible in the afterlife. As for the action scenes, well, I'm not really into action so I'm not one to judge them here, all I can say is that they are fairly brief. Around Episode 9 or 10, Otonashi becomes fairly attached to Angel, and he learns the true purpose of the Afterlife world, he realized he and the SSS have been wrong all along. He starts helping Angel obliterate people since it's the right thing to do, to fulfill the wishes of everyone. One of Otonashi's close friends, Hinata, realizes this and is also convinced its the right thing to do, he ends up helping obliterate Yui. After a few episodes, Yuri too realizes she was in the wrong the whole time, Angel wasn't a worker of god, she wasn't obliterating people, nor was she trying to be hostile at all, she simply wanted to help everyone else fulfill their wishes. Now this part is where it got emotional, for me at least. Yuri tells the SSS to say there final goodbyes to eachother and obliterate themselves when they want to. The final members, Otonashi, Yuri, Kanade (Angel), Hinata, and Naoi hold a "Graduation" ceremony, since Kanade died before she got to experience one. One by one they say their goodbyes, and disappear. Kanade and Otonashi are the last ones, they go outside and Otonashi confesses his feelings for Kanade, shortly before she disappears as well. The Series ends there and it is unknown whether or not Otonashi himself disappeared or not, though there is a very brief scene at the very end of the episode which shows Otonashi and Kanade possibly reuniting in the real world. Now that we've talked about the plot, comedy, and other various things, let's get to the characters. There are several characters with different personalities, some dumb, some are serious, while other's are noisy and exotic. Yuri herself is a strange character, we can see her intentions and why she does what she does, though she can seem very villainous at times, especially in the OVAs. The cast is quite vast, with many female and male characters, with their aforementioned different personalities. They stick to their personalities quite well, rarely breaking it, even in critical situations, one of my favourite examples is TK, whether he is in the briefing room or in battle, he will always be dancing along with his English one-liners. In conclusion, Angel Beats! is a well thought out, emotional, comedic, and albeit short good anime, lots of laughter, and many tears were shed throughout this anime.

Vollerei

https://anilist.co/anime/6547/Angel-Beats/ After rewatching this anime, I can confirm that this one is an anime to behold. Angel Beats! is an anime that you’ve probably heard or been recommend A LOT of times, and for good reason. While the beginning might of felt slow for some, it had consistently kept a comfortable pace with the storyline that was filled with both humor and dramatic moments. With both action AND slice of life moments, it’s no surprise that this anime as well as the manga is held in such high esteem. It masterfully tells the stories of each character that makes us sympathize with them, making them more than just supporting characters. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself crying over this anime, because it definitely has those moments. Anyways, let’s get into the review! Art and Animation: 8.8/10 - For it’s time, this anime definitely had some beautiful animation. The character designs were both unique and fun to watch, especially with the comedy that was thrown in from time to time. While the art and animation was solid throughout the anime, I never found myself breathtaken beyond words. It definitely had its moments, but overall it wasn’t a masterpiece in art and animation. Storyline and Character Progression: 9.3 - This is where this anime shone the most. Almost every character was given time and attention to develop and be a part of the main storyline. When their stories were told, it had meaning to it. It wasn’t just another side characters story, but much more than that. You were able to feel the emotions of them, and sometimes even related to them. Throughout the anime, solid character progression was always there as you saw the environment in the school change and everyone’s thinking was starting to become affected by it. There was even some comedy thrown into it, and it never felt forced. One of the best parts of this anime was undoubtedly the end, which will ALWAYS hold a spot as one of the best ending episodes in all of anime to me. The closure that you received was just breath taking it HURT, it left you feeling at peace with yourself and satisfied. Not many anime execute an ending very well, and even less do so as masterfully as Angel Beats! Soundtrack and Audio: 9.2/10 - With a title like “Angel Beats!” it better have a good soundtrack! And BOI it did. From the OP to the ED, this anime had it all. Even the songs in between the anime were so entertaining, never once did I think to myself “Here we go again” as they fired up the stage for a performance. All of the songs carried a message that could resonate with all of us, and this message carried more weight as you progressed deeper into the anime. It’s no understatement to say that Angel Beats! has one of the best soundtracks in anime, it’s one of the best I’ve ever heard. And there you have it! With exceptional art/animation, masterful character development/storyline, and a soundtrack that you can play over and over again, Angel Beats! proves that it deserves a spot as one of the best with a score of 9.1/10. I’d highly recommend watching it if you haven’t already, many would say that it’s a classic that every anime watcher should have under their belt, and I’m in full agreement. You’ll be sure to enjoy everything this anime has to offer, both action and slice of life. ~~~~~Streaming Platform: Crunchyroll~~~~~

planetJane

~~~All of my reviews contain __spoilers __for the reviewed material. This is your only warning. ~~~ ------- ~~~_“Rebels against the God”_ --inscription on the Afterlife Battlefront’s membership patches ~~~ Where were you in 2010? *CLANNAD* creator Jun Maeda was making *Angel Beats!*. It was one of the first true hit anime of the new decade. With its *Haruhi*-influenced setting, and an absolutely golden sensibility that combined a modern structure with a purehearted sentimentality at its core, it would’ve been weirder if *Angel Beats! wasn’t* popular. This one’s for the emo kids, in the best way possible. img880(https://i.imgur.com/sDOHfgt.png) Of course, a few months later (and as pointed out in __[this](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/this-week-in-anime/2019-12-17/.154470)__ column, which inspired me to watch the show, and consequently, write this one), *Madoka Magica* hit the western anime fan community like a hurricane, and proceeded to influence much of the next decade while eclipsing that first year pretty hard. If you got into anime during or after 2011, it is entirely reasonable that you’ve never even heard of *Angel Beats!* Indeed, in all ways--visually, thematically, in terms of writing and characters--*Angel Beats!* strikes more as the last 2000s Anime than the first hit 2010s Anime. It has left no obvious influence on any other popular or well-acclaimed shows. It was the endpoint of a zeitgeist--not the beginning of one, and it was the last hit its creator had before life, as it often does, got in the way. *Angel Beats!* is a full stop in anime form, despite its enduring (if often quiet) popularity. The premise is simple, if completely bonkers. Otonoshi, our protagonist, awakes in the courtyard of a nameless highschool next to a purple-haired girl (Yuri) wielding a sniper rifle. The high school is purgatory, the girl the founder and leader of The Afterlife Battlefront, a group of rebels who fight against the white-haired “Angel”, a girl with superpowers who wants them to all behave and live ordinary high school lives so they’ll eventually move on to the next world. Yuri finds this objectionable, mostly because of her tragic backstory that we learn a few episodes in. Hence the "rebels against the God" mantra, yeah? img880(https://i.imgur.com/zsOVEzg.png) Fittingly, given the “supernatural high school” genre it is something of a capstone to, *Angel Beats!* is **wildly** ambitious. It’s one of those; a show that crams 3 or 4 whole genres’ worth of tropes into a blender and sees what the resulting smoothie tastes like. Yet, here’s the thing. That approach, at its best, can yield moments of shocking brilliance, both overt and subtle, and *Angel Beats!* is pretty damn close to “the best”. The character arc of Iwasawa, early in the series, is one such example. The leader of GirlDeMo, the high school club band (who are, again, a clear riff on *Haruhi Suzumiya*’s ENOZ), Iwasawa’s earthly life was defined by having to cope with a pair of abusive parents. As one might expect, she turned to music--the band named is a pretty clear pastiche of early 2000s emo-rock, something that’s quite fitting--before having it all cut short by a head injury suffered at the hands of her father. As part of GirlDeMo, she premieres a ballad at the climax of the third episode, finally singing a song that she knows will mean as much to others as that band did to her, and suddenly, at the song’s conclusion, she quietly vanishes. img880(https://i.imgur.com/FQdh3bq.png) This moment is mentioned in many reviews of *Angel Beats!*, and there’s a very simple reason for that; it is *devastating*. I knew about it beforehand and it still struck me. Not only is it one of the iconic tropes of 2000s high school life anime--the climactic school band concert--being simultaneously turned on its head and laid to rest, it’s tied to the character’s own passing on. It is a eulogy for itself, and a beautiful one at that. The image of the unheld guitar, sitting on the floor, is still quietly moving ten years later, and I suspect it still will be in 2030, 2050, and 2100 too. img880(https://i.imgur.com/ThJvJ5n.png) It’s hard not to get meta with *Angel Beats!*, because we again have to remember, *this artistic movement largely ended here.* That guitar could just as easily have been a paintbrush. Iwasawa finally saying what she wanted to say and moving on is reflected in the entire work itself, because in many ways, *Angel Beats!* **is** that “thing you want to say” before moving on, and that’s what makes it work on a deeper, more human level. Iwasawa vanishes in a moment of earned inner peace and contentment, we would all be lucky to go out that way. By the 9th episode, it becomes clear that this is in fact *Angel Beats!* core thesis. There is a running theme about giving of yourself to save someone else. Students “graduate” from the high school when they finally have no regrets. The setting itself is a prescient interpretation of the endless everyday cycle that defines high school life anime reinterpreted as a literal purgatory for those deprived of a happy youth. All of those “*Azumanga Daioh* takes place in Limbo” theories that used to float around the internet? *Angel Beats!* takes that idea and puts it into the text itself. img880(https://i.imgur.com/ZYKuZtO.png) *With a lovely lack of subtlety, it must be noted.* ------ The show, from then on, builds on what it means to help save someone who perhaps does not necessarily *want* to be saved. Yuri, in particular, holds out ‘til near the show’s very end, as her own life--rocked by a senseless, violent tragedy--has left her bitter and misotheistic, not without reason. As a sidenote, making a character who initially appears to be a Haruhi Suzumiya xerox into someone who blames the divine for her fate is impressively clever. All of this might give the impression that *Angel Beats!* is a bit dour. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. The series has a strong comedic sensibility--sometimes slapstick or running gags, sometimes marginally more subtle character humor--that helps counterbalance its heavier moments. The fourth episode actually directly parodies the “graduation” mechanism, proving that AB isn’t afraid to even skewer itself a little bit. This is a hard thing to juggle, and it doesn’t always pull it off. There is, for instance, a running gag about our lead thinking another character is gay. Something which would, rightly, probably not fly today, but by and large, the series balances itself well here. img880(https://i.imgur.com/6rToLTM.png) _This happens in an episode that will also make you cry your eyes out._ ---- Other kinks in the rope come from *Angel Beats!* exploring the consequences of its own worldbuilding. Iwasawa vanishes on her own terms, but just a few episodes later, we’re introduced to Ayato Naoi, who for the duration of his arc takes over the school as a dictator. His plot to hypnotize other students into an *un*-earned inner peace, and have them disappear that way, is the result of an evident god complex, and it’s rightly presented as horrifying. Here though is where the show’s single-cour structure fails it a bit. Ayato is introduced, becomes the school dictator, pseudo-massacres (they can’t actually die, given that they’re already dead) The Afterlife Battlefront, explains his motivations and backstory, has his plan foiled, and his character redeemed all in only about 40 realtime minutes of footage. By the next episode, he’s just part of the main cast. It’s a lot of weight for such a small segment of the show to carry, and in that unfortunate sense, *Angel Beats!* is *very much* an anime of the 2010s, as this kind of hyper-compressed storytelling has only more become the norm over time. img880(https://i.imgur.com/8Hd0CfX.png) img880(https://i.imgur.com/2LgcsV8.png) *Get you a guy who can do both?* ------------- But at the end of it all, *Angel Beats!* goes out with the kind of wonderfully melodramatic finale that is, maybe, the *most* fitting sendoff its era of anime could possibly have had. The final two episodes see Yuri conquer her inner demons with her love of her friends, and see Otonashi and Kanade resolve their relationship. The final scene, with Otonashi scrambling to hug a just-disappeared Kanade, should *not* work as well as it does. It’s cheesy, it’s corny, it’s cloying, and it’s astoundingly sincere in its simple belief in the power of love, in all its many forms. And with a wide shot of the high school, an era ends. img880(https://i.imgur.com/m7vMz5n.png) Indeed, if *Angel Beats!* understands one thing very well, it’s that everything--friendships, stories, lives--comes to an end. That’s a theme that is so universally applicable that it almost feels like cheating at writing. More importantly, the sheer amount of sincerity really sells the whole thing. You can forgive its flaws because it’s strengths are so strong. It’s true that It’s probably not quite long enough, and the pacing is at times awkward such that even moments that work (such as the end of episode 10) are still working against it. There are a few unfortunate jokes (as mentioned) and some iffy elements in character backstories, but these are all more quibbles than major flaws. More than most, when I talked about how I was watching *Angel Beats!* for the first time, I got supportive comments--some from total strangers--here on Anilist and elsewhere around the internet, hoping that I’d enjoy it and telling me to buckle up for the emotional rollercoaster. And it’s easy to see *why* that cult fanbase has endured. *Angel Beats!*, warts and all, speaks to people. If you listen closely enough, you can still hear it singing. ------------ And if you liked this review, [why not check out some of my others here on Anilist?](https://anilist.co/user/planetJane/reviews)

Antimony

WARNING: Contains spoilers. I'll be upfront: I don't like crybait anime. It's not that I don't feel emotional responses to works of fiction, and yes, some anime have even gotten me to tear up a bit, but there's a certain kind of work of fiction that tells you how to feel rather than merely expressing itself. While billing itself as a supernatural comedy about teenagers duking it out in the afterlife, Angel Beats is ultimately infamous, along with original anime like _Anohana_ or _Your Lie in April_, for making people cry buckets. Despite everything else going on in this anime--and there's a lot of disparate elements--almost any mention of Angel Beats will involve how damn _sad_ it is. Still, _Angel Beats_ is undeniably an ambitious passion project. Helmed by Jun Maeda, founder of the Key visual novel brand known for titles such as _Kanon_, _Clannad_, and _Little Busters_, _Angel Beats_ would be his first original anime project. Even before its airing in the Spring 2010 anime season, however, _Angel Beats_ encountered problems in its production process. Despite Maeda's desire for a 2-cour (24-26 episodes aired over two seasons) anime, _Angel Beats_ would only receive 13 episodes, which producer Hironori Toba admitted in a 2009 interview published in _Dengeki G's Magazine_ was not enough to tell the full story as Maeda imagined it. This is an unfortunate and fairly common pitfall of original anime--ambition that the studio is not willing or able to fully support, resulting in a compromised product. Some original anime overcome this or are able to tell a cohesive story in one cour; _Angel Beats_ does not. And in a way, a work which strives for greatness and flops badly is, while not necessarily worse, certainly a more spectacular failure than something which is just plain mediocre. Thus, in 13 episodes, _Angel Beats_ attempts to a lot at once, creating some awkward juxtapositions at best and a total disconnect from its audience at worst. For the first six or so episodes, it is primarily a light-hearted comedy with passable, if very repetitive, gag humor. Yet in the second episode, the tone abruptly and awkwardly shifts to an incredibly bleak one, as the club leader Yuri (who is definitely not a bargain bin Haruhi Suzumiya) divulges her backstory to the protagonist Yuzuru (who receives, admittedly the best development of the series, but ultimately isn't particularly interesting either), as the brutal murder of her three younger siblings by armed burglars who act like trained professionals in a country with next to no gun crime. No prior indication is given, either in this episode or the prior one, that something like this is coming up, other than the fact that everyone is in the afterlife. Compared to a much better purgatory-themed anime like _Haibane Renmei_, the execution is clunky and heavy-handed. _Angel Beats'_ worldbuilding is also quite lazy and scattered--while we get some information on the backstory of Tenshi and the nature of their afterlife in later episodes, it all feels quite artificial and too-perfect to appeal to the otaku audience that prior Key visual novels had been so successful with, and the way Yuzuru interacts with the rest of the cast makes it feel like almost nothing was going on prior to his arrival. What suffers most of all, however, is _Angel Beats'_ ultimate emotional impact in its final few episodes. The way Angel Beats wants you to cry is simple--the character has found a satisfying way to cope with the trauma they faced during their lives and, now in peace, is able to pass on into reincarnaiton. This could have worked with an extra dozen episodes and better writers, but when _Angel Beats_ tried to be a quirky gag comedy, it failed to properly develop the bulk of its ensemble cast. Most of these characters are two-dimensional comic relief and/or exist to check off an archetype, and without more time for proper development beyond these rules, the impact of the climax is heavily muted. The strongest episode in the series, specifically the third episode, offers only a single full episode of fleshing-out to a character before sending her off into the next life. Thus, after dealing with awkward mood shifts and a narrative that cuts corners, _Angel Beats_ falls apart as all of its ambition dies with a whimper. Certainly the anime has its strong points, particularly in its above-average animation, solid shot compositon (which peaks during the first episode during the concert), and several good songs from its sadly under-explored rock band. But despite its budget and despite its massive popularity and relatively positive critical reception (which I only partly understand), _Angel Beats_ is a sad monument to what could have been and an anime that, when it fails, does spectacularly. P.S. holy shit stop shooting at her, you know your bullets do nothing.

Nyciio

Angel Beats! ____ __Pros__ • Angel Beats! was one of the first anime I watched and was honestly a great experience for me as someone just getting into anime. _(Development And Momentum)_ • It does everything that a good story and show should do. Throughout the 12 episodes, you get amazing character development for the main cast. And that character development is perfectly placed so it really puts momentum into the overall story and plot. _(Emotional Rollercoaster)_ • Angel Beats! is something that can pull you to complete opposite sides of the emotional spectrum. Some episodes you can be laughing so hard to the point that you might suffocate, whether that be from the awkward situations or just the strange humor. But then, on the other hand, the deeper you get into the story the more apparent it is that it's a very sad anime. On the ladder half of the anime and specifically the final episodes you can find yourself crying like never before. It really gives you a great mix of emotions through its story, and how it tells it. _(Great Entry Into Anime)_ • As I said before, Angel Beats! is a great entry into Anime, it doesn't play too much on the annoying tropes that much modern and old anime play on. But it also gives you a deeper appreciation for what anime can make people feel and how there are storytelling masterpieces out there for you to watch. __Cons__ _(More Characters Could've Been Developed) _ • One thing that I think could've done a bit better was given you more backstory for more of the characters that weren't part of the main cast. This was definitely a flaw because I think many people, not just myself feel that so many of the other characters inside of Angel Beats! could've had amazing stories to be told which would give the anime an even more touching story. This is because I feel that when an anime is able to have many characters and many experiences more people can come to the show and find something to relate to which is something so important to the enjoyment or understanding of a story. _(More Episodes Could've Been Nice)_ • Though the number of episodes was enough time to make the show great and tell the story I just felt so empty after I finished it to the point where I feel that it could've used a couple more episodes to the main story.

Heinzes

# Heinzes' 2010s Anime Cleanup Series #6 __Also: this is the first part of a less formal ongoing project of mine to watch every show primarily produced by—perhaps my favourite studio—P.A. Works.__ ___ ~~~__contains far fewer spoilers than usual, so read at your own discretion really__ img660(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/403423894683254785/720518096384688138/unnamed.png) >Everyone lived to their fullest! We've carved those memories into ourselves! Wasn't your life the real deal too?~~~ I would like to open the body of this review with a disclaimer that this piece is less about an assessment of the specific content in details of the show in question's portrayed events, narrative, and characters. There is some reference to such elements, but they are more so used in what is an attempt by me to break down the meaning this show's position in the sub-cultural history of its medium and what its taken and evident influences mean for its ability to effectively deliver a complete and engaging emotional and narrative experience. _Angel Beats!_ is a strange beast to me. Perhaps, as someone who was old enough to have watched it as it came out, yet checked out of the culture and medium at the time, I can never fully appreciate this particular series or its ilk. I was never immersed in—nor did I personally experience—the particular brand of anime subculture that existed at the time in which this show aired. As others before me have pointed out, _Angel Beats!_ came at the tail-end of an era in anime culture birthed by Kyoto Animation's _The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya_, that was ultimately snuffed out by Shaft's _Puella Magi Madoka Magica_. Among the artifacts of this particular moment, some of which still exist in the culture today, are the classic power-creep of supernaturally powered characters and a reliance on humour with pronounced elements of zany "randomness," both of which are evident within the text of _Angel Beats!_ Underneath, the flashy exterior of this cultural exhibitionism, though, is the core of a decently compelling story about a search for meaning and satisfaction in what appears to be an indifferent or outright cruel universe. In many ways, _Angel Beats!_ is a model example and running exhibit of practically everything that was in vogue throughout this particular period, the clear desire of its creators to outdo any popular work that had come before—at doing whatever it was that popular work did—makes for a show that feels to be pulling in essentially all directions at once. I might more snappily describe this as a tonal schizophrenia, and even building off the broad definition of that term utilized by Deleuze and Guattari, that is "the counter-acted tendency," I feel this is an apt description of what this particular series does with its narrative tone, pace, and structure throughout that kept me at a distance, it is a body that frequently seems to have misplaced its organs. [1] This is to say that individual moments of emotion or comedy (certainly the former more than the latter in my eyes) are observably effective on their own terms, but then are often swiftly undercut by the need to jump straight into a scenario doused in whatever feeling is the specific opposite of whatever was just experienced. The series fumbles when it comes to tying moments and disparate tones together into what should feel like pieces of the same narrative, but individually many moments hold up in and of themselves. The pageantry of suffering shown in the various protracted flashback sequences and episodes can come off as overwrought, even dare I say "edgy," and I can't say much to defend them from those criticisms because they would all ring extremely true. The most emblematic element I could point to of the humour within the show falling flat is the presence of the character known only as TK, his entire shtick is a one-note where he says some poorly conceived phrase of nonsense English, we acknowledge it's nonsense, and then we move on; the joke never escalates, and we never learn enough about the character to understand why he does this. It's a thin premise for a joke with no pay-off that overstays it's welcome within one episode, let alone the full series. Although the series has a number of jokes and recurrent gags which frequently fall flat, some of its gags are so brazenly metatextual and referential in their grabbing of style points from the _Haruhi_ wave that they proved to raise a chuckle, despite my best efforts to do not naught but balk at them. Audacity is often a vice of a production that goes for broke the way _Angel Beats!_ does, though it will always to some extent also be admirable. It isn't a series that always sticks its landings gracefully, but it remains enjoyable enough and grabs at what feel often like the right moments that I couldn't simply toss it aside out of frustration. ___ Final Grade: __C+__ __Notes__ 1. In this case the counter-action is applied to the generic mode in which the series operates, that is, to swiftly vacillate between moments of comedy and heady drama with little respite in between is counter-intuitive. The desire to capture such disparate moments of affect in such close proximity leaves this reviewer frankly alienated from the text on the basis of these absences of requisite connective tissue between such moments. You can find the full text of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's _Anti-Oedipus_ [here](https://libcom.org/files/Anti-Oedipus.pdf).

CynicalOptimist

__"It's not only about after-life story, but it's also about the past, present and the future."__ Angel Beats!... How come that I forgot about this anime, it has a lot of premises, it provides you with a very good origin as its premise, has given you some acts of joy and you really want those joyful laughs last forever, and at the last, it gave you a truly touching story aside from the original premise as an after-life story. Also, make sure you watched it before you did with Clannad as if you watched it after that anime, you would have a different sentiment. So, let's start the story of this fruitful after-life battle. __"Thank you for everything you've given to me. It's worth a lot. Once again, thank you."__ As same as her frank words up there, the story gave me a feeling to gratitude it. It's not as complex as psychological yet not as simple as a slice of life, but sometimes, every time I re-watched it, again and again, the story has somewhat become better than ever. It tells about Otonashi Yuzuru, 17 years old who was craving for his dream on his first step to help people who are in trouble. However, he had lost his memory once he came to an after-life world battle and saw Yuri Nakamura, a girl who is the leader of Shinda Sekai Sensen or The World After Life Fighters. Then, that's the way how he met his new friends an angel, Kanade Tachibana. The story was pretty deep with a lot of premises had given in the middle stage, it's predictable yet pretty unexpected, as when they had fulfilled their own regrets, they have to go from this place, forever. I don't have to say something more about the story, it's pretty deep yet memorable. __"It's staged well. I love that I can see the background of each crucial character."__ So far, it is an anime which has a very good character development, with most of them came from the supporting characters. It's good to see a story which not only provides huge numbers of characters but they did develop it thoroughly. Yuzuru has the most development, with his conflicts had gotten him stalled to a confusion about his past, his first and last love, and his conflicts against the other members. The 2nd most is Yuri, who had a tragic past and her guilty feeling about her past made it even more intriguing. Kanade wasn't that much developing, but she had a sort of conflicts to be solved and had to tell the truth about her feeling and her desire of life. The other characters also have some impacts of the story. I must say both vocalists, Yui and Masami have the most development other than those three characters. __"If I close my eyes, I can hear someone laughs. For some reasons that moment is my precious treasure."__ If you are here for the soundtrack, you just come into a very right place. The songs are memorable, I can remember some of the lyrics of either OP and ED songs. "Ichiban no Takaramono" is my favourite as it has given the feeling of emptiness and sadness. I'll make sure you'll cry even though you don't know or haven't watched the anime when you play this song, it's given a warmth feeling to your heart yet it's dreadfully sad to tell if it's a happy or a sad song, I can say it's both. About the VAs, I found no problem as he played the roles well, not a big fan of the annoying high-pitched sound of Yui, but in the end, I gave her a very deep symphaty to her past. Other than that, the main and supporting characters had done playing their roles very well. The comedy sounds very joyful yet the tragic scene sounds very hurtful, well done. __"It's an anime you should watch if you like a story with a lot of premises."__ Angel Beats! gave me the beats in every scene, episode, and background. It has a very good story with not so complex premise and I have to say that I clearly enjoyed it. I've been re-watching this anime for 4 times and I'm still not getting bored with the story and the joyful scenes in general. It's recommended for the people who prefer a story with no drama yet still a brokenhearted story. Don't watch this if you want the action stuff or some dramas in every episode, trust me, you won't get either of both on this anime. I gave it a very high score, you might say that I had overrated this anime, but it's up to you to decide what's right. Okay, that's all.

michaohneel

# ~~~TL;DR~~~ Consider it a 13 episodes long cancer ad, but in the best possible way. First it's funny, then it becomes more and more tragic, and by the end you're sobbing like a little baby and yet feel like you could save the world. I find this to be rather positive and encourage everyone who agrees to give this show a watch; it will be well worth it. --- # ~~~Full Review~~~ ## Story — 7.5/10 The story is inspiring but not perfectly developed. There are plotholes here and there if you look close enough, and it is clear that the story wasn't the focus of this anime. I found the climax to be unsatisfying. ~!I would have loved it if maybe the programmer that turned all the NPCs evil was a character we had already seen, such as Takeyama.!~ The conclusion is nice and not rushed, nor drawn-out, and very emotional. The post-ED scene is nice :) ## Characters — 5/10 The character design of the main cast is not bad. Otonashi Yuzuru is too plain for my liking, visually, but his personality is nice and has a lot of development throughout the series. My main issue with the characters in this show is the sheer amount of them. Now, I get that the premise of the show requires a large amount of acting characters, but it's just too many for me, with too little variation. Call me blind, but I just keep mixing up Hinata, Takamatsu, and even Fujimaki when the lighting isn't too good. So many characters would have benefited greatly from their own arc, but due to the amount of them, almost no one got one. ~!Toward the end they literally send one character – Matsushita – into the woods for multiple episodes, so that they could focus more on the other characters. And when he comes back, he lost his one single defining feature, being big.!~ ## World — 7/10 Not much to say here. The world is big and immersive but also feels a little undone at times. I would have liked to see more of the dorms and less of the classrooms. The location of certain things – such as the location of the underground entrance – seems illogical at times. ## Visuals — 7/10 Basically your typical 2010 artstyle, not too much going on here. Some scenes are very beautiful though. The use of 3D is sparing and not too distracting. I always find it to be breaking the immersion, but they used it well here. ## Audio — 9/10 What can I say; the OP is _beautiful_, the ED is very nice, and the insert songs, as well as all of the songs by Girls Dead Monster are fitting and very nice to listen to. The sound design is also above average. ## Comedy — 6/10 There are some really funny moments in this show, a few of which are out of place. The use of sad music that cuts off abruptly is very interesting and underlines some moments well. Jokes are hardly ever repeated and well spaced. They do get less toward the end (which is welcome). ## Sadness — 7/10 That 7/10 should have a _huge_ asterisk on it, because I remember crying my eyes out for 30 minutes after my first watch. Unfortunately, I think the sadness suffers greatly if you already know what's coming. It is not just the last episode that is sad, the sadness is spread throughout the show pretty evenly. ## Rewatchabiliity — 4/10 As I said already, the show is difficult to get invested into when you already know what is coming and how it ends. A lot of the charm the show had for me after my first watch was the sadness and the connections between the characters, which I felt a lot less of on my second watch. --- # ~~~Conclusion~~~ Average of all scores: 6.5 Average without rewatchability: 6.9 I'm bumping it up to 7.5/10 — I enjoyed the show very much and can recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind shedding some tears and can forgive certain flaws for a great experience. It was a memorable experience for me :) --- _This was my first ever review of... anything! I hope I didn't upset anyone or break some sort of convention. Always looking for feedback :)_ Arigatō <3< /p>

Fandome

# __Introduction__ Angel Beats is a lovely story portraying a range of human emotions. It doesn't take itself too seriously though, and the blend of humor, beauty, and emotional depth was rendered with a degree of success rarely seen. `——` # __Story__ > Rating: **98** The story was overall, beautifully told. Through the interplay between the cast, the show effectively crafts an emotional energy around each character, which is then played like music throughout the episodes. If there is one flaw in the storytelling, it is that the cast is too large for a 12-episode story to support. While the leads and certain key supporting characters are developed beautifully, this leaves the remaining characters left with unrealized potential. With that said, overall, the ending is another strong point of the show. Many 12-episode shows suffer from rushed endings, and while the story as a whole is not without pacing problems, the final episode manages to end the story in a very powerful way. `——` # __Characters__ > Rating: **96** The show introduces its relatively large cast early on. While all the characters are lovable in their own right, special attention is lavished on the leads. This allows them to shine brilliantly, but at the slight expense of the rest of the cast. After all, in 12 episodes, there is only so much attention that can distributed. ~!Kanade Tachibana in particular was a stand-out of the cast, with her development from misunderstood antagonist to primary lead. Her deep compassion under the façade of emotionlessness was beautifully portrayed both in her animation and voice acting. She deserves all the mabo tofu.!~ ~!Yuzuru Otonashi was also a surprisingly pleasant character. Amnesia in lead characters is such a tired trope, it was nice to see it not ruin the development of a lead. While his lack of flaws did not make him a particularly complex character, his good heart and selflessness was beautifully portrayed as a guiding force among the cast.!~ `——` # __Visuals__ > Rating: **97** The visuals are quite strong. While nothing jumps out as exceptional about the art style itself, it is clean and effective, especially when used to enhance the impact of the music. An additional special mention goes to the OP animation, which is significantly above average, and visualizes the piano in the music perfectly. `——` # __Audio__ > Rating: **100** As the title implies, music is an important theme of the show, and gosh does the audio deliver. The OP (My Soul, Your Beats!, by Lia) is among the greatest opening songs I've ever heard, and it pairs perfectly with the animation and tone of the show as a whole. The ED (Brave Song, by Aoi Tada), while overshadowed by the greatness of the OP, is still strong and concludes each episode well. Several characters in the show are in a band, and their playing and connection to their music serves to introduce an important plot point. The band's songs weave beautifully into the soundtrack for the show as a whole. In addition, the voice acting is emotional and effectively delivered, and the vocal effects serve to further enhance the atmosphere. `——` # __Enjoyment__ > Rating: **100** This was an extremely enjoyable show. From early on, it developed a quirky engaging environment, and within a few short episodes, the characters draw you in and you're left hoping for their success and happiness throughout all the entire adventure. `——` # __Fanservice__ > Rating: **98** Fanservice is near nonexistent. One of the male characters appears without a shirt in several scenes, as he is proud of his muscular body. This is played off for humor. In one brief scene, a female character's clothing is in slight disarray, and she is embarrassed as she fixes it. Nothing inappropriate is shown. `——` # __Sex & Violence__ As described in the fanservice section, there is no nudity, and there are almost no sexual themes whatsoever. There is a decent amount of violence throughout the show. Part of this is plot relevant: ~!All the main characters died young, and some died in violent and disturbing ways, which has shaped their personalities in the afterlife.!~ However, the violence is limited to blood splatters, and is not gory. There is a surreal, cartoonish feeling towards the violence that occurs, again due to plot reasons: ~!in the afterlife, the main characters are almost invincible, since even if they die, they "wake up" again a few hours later. Because of this, many main characters will sacrifice themselves to further a goal, or even die just for comic relief, as there are no significant consequences.!~ `——` # __Conclusion__ Angel Beats is an especially strong show. Its beautiful music, story, and visuals create a wonderful emotional experience that starts soon into the first few episodes, and lingers long after the show is over.

Calxylian

Jun Maeda is known for his methodology, approach, and style in his visual novels. His trademark is also prominently featured in Angel Beats!, and on the surface might seem like a good thing. If the audience remembers the whole concept of high school purgatory, they will think there is considerable scope for such a story. In such an aspect, the story is delivered very well, although, for a specific audience, it is a problem with its repetitive nature.

At first glance, Angel Beats! takes such a theme about the afterlife, places it firmly in a high school setting, is territory that Maeda is familiar with, and its plot does well. The whole story is based on the afterlife in such a setting, and redemption is only for young people. However, the audience has to question why this is so and why the only young people who can go there are all those with a lot of regrets. Throughout the entire series, not a single character has displayed any vengeful or violent behavior in each character's past life. Such omission puts a vast bias in a narrative. The nature of the afterlife is that it doesn't exist just for regretful characters. However, it is also for those whose sins are not big enough to be sent to hell after the day of judgment.

In describing the concept of an afterlife, purgatory could be an appropriate term to tell the character's last chance to do the right thing. On the other hand, Angel Beats! lacking connotations when showing characters who die for revenge throw the whole story out of balance. Almost all of the characters in the series have only regrets, making the entire series a bit too sweet. In addition, the whole series is well written but only makes the missing scope more pronounced. The plot goes well, and the idea is unusual for a series about high school. There is also the inclusion of certain exciting elements. However, the series never makes good use of such narrative until near the end of the series. At the same time, it seemed too little and too late.

The animation and art throughout the series are pretty good overall. The characters are well designed and have a specific look that is inspired by one of Key's works in visual novels. The scenery and backgrounds are pretty average. It doesn't differentiate itself from the other series of its kind. The problem is, for example, the concert sequence where the entire series is animated and designed in a particular style that at first looks pretty good. P.A. Works makes the concert sequence not only look better. However, it has more detailed and fluid animation, superior to the better choreography of the series as a whole.

In essence, P.A. Works seems to be telling the audience that "it is what we really can afford to get as far as possible to the tear-jerking ending." If the entire series were animated in the same way as the concert sequences, it would easily be one of the best anime of the time. It's a fact that audiences can see that the studio is capable of far greater things than just annoying. On the other hand Angel Beats! looks good where it should be; it sounds a lot better than expected, considering there are many different types of characters on display, including the voice acting. The voice acting is quite good, but there is little that the voice actors can do because the characters are pretty much one-dimensional.

The music steals the series as its most refined. Apart from having a very well-produced concert scene, the music used throughout the series is quite good. The weird thing is Maeda was also the composer for the anime, while the actual arrangement of the thematic photos was made entirely by ANANT-GARDE EYES. The opening theme song, My Soul, Your Beats!, is a good pop song, considering the music is one of the most memorable and phenomenal anime opening songs for the community. The ending theme song, Brave Song, is also a great ballad. The series began to suffer from a lack of creativity and ideas that the characters disappeared one after another. It is a fact that Maeda and Seiji Kishi, the director, have chosen such a trademark and the cliché makes a lot of it desirable.

That's not to say the characterization is terrible. It just means that the characters are very much as expected, right down to each character's personality. The similarities between characters from the series and other series are sometimes just skin. It's a fact that no thought is given to trying anything new. At least, the show was noticed. Angel Beats! become one of the most criticized and most admired anime of all time. It becomes a fact that the series can be something special for the fans and haters alike. However, it has been wasted in producing something that will appeal to the existing base. While the entire industry needs to make material, rather than squeezing it out of the community's hearts, it would be better if the industry provided a series that the fans wanted to see.

Alicemagic18

Life is really cruel, isn’t it? Everybody wants to live a happy life. Everyone has their resolve and purpose to live their life to the fullest. We don’t have the power to know when or how we will die. That’s why we cherish every moment that we have as much as possible. But the cruel part is, that the ones who are doing good things to others or themselves are being punished to death. When good things or opportunities come, also the unexpected unfortunate events or misfortunes. The question is, how will you do about it? How can you find the purpose of life? If anything happens, do you have any regrets? Angel Beats! was one of those animes that impacted and caused emotional damage to me. I considered it one of my greatest nightmares, and I don’t want to take a second to rewatch it. An action-packed emotional drama anime conceived by Jun Maeda, one of the master storytellers of tearjerker emotional dramas. He was one of the co-founders of Visual Key company and is known for their notable works like Clannad, Little Busters!, Air, Kanon, Rewrite, and many more. This is his first original anime, after leaving Visual Key. I couldn’t express how I love this show, despite its emotional intentions and meaningful message for its viewers. The story is about Otonashi. He suddenly woke up in a strange world and later called it the afterlife. The afterlife is for people who have experienced trauma or hardships in life and must overcome them before passing on and being reincarnated. He suddenly saw a girl, handling a big sniper, and said her group is at war with this girl named, “Angel”. The problem is, that Otonashi didn’t know how he died. In the first place, he didn’t know what the heck was going on. But later on, he realized his current situation, and he joined the Afterlife Battlefront to fight Angel, after its leader, Yurippe invited him. This Angel has supernatural abilities and she’s also the student council president. The reason why there’s a rebellion, it’s because of one thing, they wanted to fight “God” for their unfair circumstances in life. They saw Angel as God’s associate because of her powers. Later on, Otonashi met the members of Afterlife Battlefront, the members of Girls Dead Monster, and the co-founders of the Battlefront. The afterlife is populated by fabricated students that Yurippe called, “NPCs”. Throughout the story, Otonashi discovers the rebellious morality of the battlefront, as well as the missions. Even the time when someone gets disappeared, like what happened to Iwasawa, as she achieves her satisfaction with music. The show is entertaining. The setting and the world-building are great and intriguing. It makes the show perfect, but the one problem with this show is the lack of exploration of the characters. Since it’s a 13-episode anime, the only exploration I saw were the backstories of the core characters like Otonashi, Yurippe, Hinata, Yui, Iwasawa, and Kanade. I like all the characters’ backstories because they are executed perfectly with some sense and realism. It depicts the dark side of living. The character developments were pretty great. Yurippe and Otonashi’s backstories were emotional and cruel. The show wasn’t all about the thrilling action, it had the right amount of comedy, drama, and supernatural aspects. The comedy schemes were entertaining and it was very fun to watch. The punchlines were well done in their timing and I liked when they used Brave Song as the background song when Hinata flew up in the classroom in episode 5. It became memefied for some reason. The emotional drama was well done. The formula of the drama was perfectly executed for its emotional scenes. It’s not forced and it purely touched my both heart and soul. I can sympathize with the characters’ situations and desires on why they want to live. It could be better if the show had 24-26 episodes because I want to explore the setting and the characters more. But there’s a manga written by Jun Maeda himself so I’ll just go with it. Nevertheless, the story is really good and Jun Maeda’s about living inspires me a lot. Not all of us will stay together and live the same everyday life. There will be a time when everyone finds new paths for them to live separately. Even in the darkest depths of life, there will be a time that you'll find your greatest treasure. (The meaning of that song XD). The animation was well done. I had watched many shows from PA Works, but this anime had a different touch from it. Jun Maeda was right about his decision in finding a good animation studio for this project. The animation was glorious and it impressed me a lot. It’s solid and well-detailed. The style is different from the studio’s other works. The fight choreography was well done and it looked similar to Wit’s. The soundtrack. Oh, I love it. Jun Maeda with Anant-Garde Eyes did a great job with the soundtrack. I couldn’t believe he did all the insert songs of GDM, the OP, the ED, and the iconic song, “Ichiban no Takaramono”. The soundtrack made me one of the biggest fans of Jun Maeda, in terms of his storytelling and music. He never fails me to disappoint and even the soundtrack delivered the punchlines at its funniest potential. Overall, this anime is one heck of a rollercoaster ride. I laughed, cried, and understand some meaningful messages that were essential in life. Despite its obvious flaws, I loved this show and enjoyed it a lot. I recommend this show to those anime fans out there who want a great show. But before watching, please prepare a box of tissues because some parts will definitely make you cry. ___Story: 9.5/10 Characters: 9.6/10 Animation: 9.9/10 Sound: 10/10 Emotional Impact: 9.9/10 Enjoyment: 9.8/10___

SuperVak

~~~My first exposure to Key's work is generally considered their most unorthodox. An anime cut short of its intended runtime, with guns and action and mystery... this can hardly be considered Key at this point, can it? Well regardless, it may not stand the test of time in many ways, but it still has plenty to say.~~~ #~~~__Angel Beats reeks of missed potential, but what's left has a heartbeat.__~~~

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>Whose side would God take? img(https://media.tenor.com/KvE_BxrAq8sAAAAC/kanade-angel-beats.gif)

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__Plot:__ 7/10 ~~~In an otherworldly purgatory consisting of a school and little else, teenagers who died too soon rebel against the Angel who mocks their short lives. Amnesiac Otonashi wonders if their sights are set in the wrong direction... Right from the get go, it is obvious that Angel Beats' premise is metaphorical. This is not a show intended to be taken at face value, and as such, the vague rules of purgatory world do not stick out. What does stick out, however, is Naoi's hypnosis powers. Just go with it, I guess. As the show progresses and Otonashi guides his peers' motivations there are many emotional beats along the way. A lot of them hit, but they are a little devalued by the hit or miss comedy on occasion. In particular the Hinata gay joke is... unfortunate, as are the plenty of other instances of heteronormativity and gender roles. For the most part though, Angel Beats does a great job of making its audience laugh and cry. There are a few plot twists along the way as well that paint a tragic picture. The emotional core of the anime is absolutely formidable, and that carries its darker half. The biggest problem with this story is that it is very heavily dependent on your attachment to the characters, and because the anime had to be shortened, a decent chunk of said characters obviously had arcs cut that led to them not getting the time in the sun necessary for the story's emotional climaxes to hit as hard as they should. However, the fact that they still hit me hard all the same should speak volumes about the level of storytelling we are dealing with here.~~~

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>Humans won't even wait ten minutes! img(https://media.tenor.com/QEuMCfilltQAAAAC/angel-beats-gun.gif)

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__Characters:__ 6.5/10 ~~~The main trio of Otonashi, Yuri, and Angel are pretty good. They thematically compliment each other, as perspective, agency, and intent respectively. Angel is an excellent static character both amusing and lovable, and I found her interactions with the rest of the cast very entertaining as well as the mystery surrounding her identity and intentions to also be fun to figure out. Yuri really only got good toward the end, but when she did, it was excellent. She has the most well defined arc of the main cast, and as the leader of the Afterlife Battlefront, that's only natural. Finally Otonashi. His role in the story makes his status as "generic amnesiac protagonist" feel deceptively justified, but he is a little unremarkable outside of that scope. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast... kinda sucks. Certain characters with emotional climaxes in the story feel as if they missed the characterization that would have led to that climax in the first place. Characters like Ooyama and TK are walking punchlines and there are even a few characters who appear in the ED every episode and yet I do not even think their names are ever spoken. The fact that content was cut is painfully obvious and ever present throughout the show.~~~

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>This is my life. I can’t entrust it to someone else, I can’t steal a new one, I can’t force it on others, I can’t forget it or erase it. I can’t stomp over it, laugh at it, or beautify it! img(https://media.tenor.com/jRbag89evkEAAAAC/angel-beats-fly.gif)

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__Themes:__ 8/10 ~~~Easily the best and most important part of Angel Beats is what it has to say about the meaning of life. Obviously what someone's life means is for them to decide alone, but the cast of Angel Beats is already dead. In essence, then, Angel Beats is about the past. I won't spoil too much but I definitely think it is an interesting approach to take to an otherwise pretty simple moral question, and its evolution throughout the show alongside its relevance to the main cast is well thought out. The message is a little simple and delivered a little haphazardly, but it gets through and not without plenty of tears, so I'd say it's a success by most accounts.~~~

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>Our weakness is that we're all utterly stupid. img(https://media.tenor.com/9-LaBu1rjNAAAAAC/angel-beats-otonashi-yuzuru.gif)

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__Visuals/Sound:__ 7.5/10 ~~~Overall pretty well animated, although not a lot about it stands out. My biggest issue with the show visually is the character designs, which are very samey, especially for the dudes. The first time I watched the show I couldn't tell Hinata, Noda, Takamatsu, and Fujimaki apart. The guns look great. A directing choice I vibe with a lot is how characters get obliterated by simply being there one moment and not being there in the next shot; no fanfare, no effect, no sound. Gunshots are nice and meaty, voice acting gets the job done. The best aspect on the sound front is the ost, which is excellent. Both the OP and ED (_My Soul, your Beats_ and _Brave Song_ respectively) are iconic and enrapturing, with the latter in particular literally making me cry every time.~~~

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>There's nothing false about the lives we endured. img(https://media.tenor.com/br_nsCycAFQAAAAC/yui-angel-beats.gif)

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__Conclusion:__ ~~~Despite the missed potential I found myself enjoying Angel Beats a decent amount. I wish it had more time to flesh out its world and its cast, but if they had to trim it down, they did a good job of leaving what was most important in. I still find myself feeling as if it doesn't do any one particular thing outstandingly, however. It's a jack of all trades that I think is a safe bet for anyone to enjoy, provided they can look past its more dated aspects, but if you're a fan of any particular thing Angel Beats does, it's a pretty safe bet that I could recommend something that I think does that thing better.~~~

potsu

During our high school lives, we may hold different opinions and see the world from a different perspective. If without the guidance of our parents or guardians, we would've believed that we ourselves are the definition of "justice" and carry out any actions we deem to be necessary in order to upheld justice. This anime is the manifestation of what I just described The mc, Otonashi Yuzuru, finds himself on the floor of school grounds when he woke up. A girl standing in front of him, Yuri Nakamura, told him that he was dead while aiming a sniper at another girl. Yuri explained what was going on but Otonashi could not believe her, so he decided to walk over to the girl who Yuri was pointing a sniper at. After being told the same thing as what Yuri said to him, "You cannot die because you are already dead", Otonashi did not believe her and thus told her to prove it. Later, he wakes up in the school infirmary, remembering that something had pierced his chest, he looked over to his right to see his shirt covered in blood but his chest with no holes. This is the start of a misunderstanding that would eventually be the answer for everything Survival instincts. When we feel pain we will naturally dodge it, and when the source of that pain is not a lifeless object but a live being, we will naturally recognise them as our enemy. Without any logical thinking or rational behavior, we would disregard what they say, their actions or the change in their behavior because our survival instincts will take control of our mind and prevent us from getting killed. Combine that with the foolish minds of a high schooler and a world with no one other than themselves to judge what is right or wrong, and you get a system with many vulnerabilities Believing that them themselves are right, the team who named themselves the "I Don't Want To Die Battlefront" fights against a being they call "Tenshi". She is a being with angel like powers who governs the world and everyone is scared of her because of the first experience they had with her. They continue to rebel and fight against her with the goal of taking the world as theirs. They keep fighting and fighting while clinging onto the precious thought of reliving their former precious lives in this world. Not building an idea of the world that they are in through proofs but through their own interpretation of what they have seen. Anyone sane person with a rational mind could tell the truth behind the world they live in but being irrational closed minded high schoolers, they continue to live in their own deceive This is a beautiful anime, although from the start it might feel weird as most of the times the anime mixes comedy in with drama causing the sickening feeling like when eating something cold after something spicy. However as the episode number grows, it starts to take itself more seriously and although with some unexplained things and some plot holes, it ended on a beautiful ending

YaBoi69420

One of the Best anime of all time. I thoroughly enjoyed this anime hands down. One of the best anime of all time in my honest opinion. There's so much I want to say about this anime that it's hard to effectively organize this Main Ratings: Visuals 9/10 Overall very nice the animation was fluid and the effects were really cool and well into it. It truly got me happy and inspired at the moment and the comedy was amazing. Nothing too focused and nothing too glanced over. It was just right. The ending theme of the episodes also made me feel things I've never felt before. Sound 10/10: Honestly perfect in my honest opinion. Along with the already cool opening, I liked what they did with episode 3 where they redid the opening. Shows how much care went into the creation of this anime. Along with the soundtrack which was great, too. The ending made me feel feelings I'd never felt before. It was great. Characters 5/10: I read in another review that because it was 13 episodes some characters had minimal to no development and I honestly couldn't agree more. If it wasn't for the opening constantly reminding me of their names I would have no idea who some of the characters were. One dude is literally in it for like 2 episodes and doesn't appear until like episode 12 where he was "training" the whole time. I'm dead-ass for real he legit was gone for half the series and basically comes back a new person. I'm not making this up. This is an actual fact in the anime. Most of the characters in the finale also straight up disappeared without a word. Like what the hell, why even add them in the first place? Anyways, 5/10. The only true characters I genuinely enjoyed were the 5 at the end and maybe a couple of other goofballs. Comedy 8/10 The first 7-9 episodes were some of the funniest and most well-placed comedies in I'd probably say all of anime. (Except for episode 3 and maybe episode 8 iirc) The slow-mo reels and the generic comedy were just hilarious and I thoroughly enjoyed watching each and every episode. Finally, the story, 10/10 Its story is the only anime to EVER make me visibly and audibly cry. The only other Japanese thing that could make me do that was Final Fantasy 15. I truly felt involved with each character and their endings and again, the only episode to ever make me cry for the whole 23 minutes was Graduation. I'm so into anime because I want to replicate that feeling. I have never felt that way before when I was visibly shaken to tears from an anime story and I sadly don't think I will ever again. Truly holds a place in my heart and is, to this date almost 11 years later the only anime to make me cry like a baby. I watched it with my mom when I was 9/10 and She and I held each other as we cried profusely. Again, to this day only anime to ever make me do this. Overall a 96/100 because it is this magical. I have never experienced an anime where it made me feel everything including excitement or laughing or crying or so many other powerful emotions that I cannot list because it's just that well done. But this anime made me profusely cry and for that, I bump it from a. 92 to a 96. Tidbits, anime was cut down to 13 episodes so each episode is full of love and care but, to be honest, this kind of hurt it as many characters and side plots were incredibly rushed. Especially the PC, which to be honest is probably the only letdown of this anime. It's legit just some random dude I'm not even capping; i for real and am being in entirely honest do not think he has a name. Also, it's criminal that this masterpiece only has 13 episodes. You can tell the Animation team wanted to do more because there are like 5 OVA's of this. Not even Naruto has that many movies. Also, another tidbit was the random characters like TK I'm Deadass might've shown up legit in 3 episodes. Another was the fat dude turned skinny, and a bunch of others who deadass might've only shown up legitimately 3 times in all anime.

Satonee

# ~~~__Introduction__~~~ img100%(https://31.media.tumblr.com/ab689f0074de26c1ed5e2d5c7d02c8c9/tumblr_mkyenpXnET1r922azo1_500.gif) The meaning to life is something that we constantly pursue, as humans. Trying to justify our reason for being here to find fulfilment in it by the end, ending our lives accomplishing our dreams and living a life we can happily say we are proud of. What if we aren't. What if we die before we can reach our dreams and become fulfilled. What if we are unable to find our true purpose or if it is taken away from us. What if we die with regret in our souls and are unable to move on until we reach our lives goal, until we cross that finish line. What if we can't accept death and even life for what it is, unfair. Angel Beats! is an original anime series created by the legendary Jun Maeda that tackles this very issue. It shows us how life is unfair, how life is cruel but how life is also beautiful, a gift from God that is more valuable than anything. It shows what life carries, all the hardship it has and how we can reach a stage where we feel our lives were meaningful after all, even if it doesn't have any at all. There is a lot to talk about so lets jump right in! Per usual, I'll section off where we get to spoiler territory so you can read some part of this spoiler free. img(https://media.tenor.com/-wVU_M45YDsAAAAC/clannad-thumbs-up.gif) ____ # ~~~__Top Quality World-Building__~~~ One of the main ways Angel Beats! gets across it's message of life is through its insanely good world building. We see into the lives of others and get a insight into who they were and want to be through them. We see all the tragedy they went through while living, each individual life painting half of a bigger picture of life as a whole, unfair. While the world that we come to gradually understand, the afterlife, paints the second half of the picture, the beauty of life. Through incredible world building we are forcibly shown the bigger picture of not just ours but everyone's life, the unfairness of it and how precious it truly is. It goes to show its value and how we shouldn't waste it but treasure it, and that's what this anime ultimately does best, all through world-building. ____ # ~~~__Music Is Golden__~~~ The music that has come from this anime is legendary, iconic and will leave an everlasting impact on you. With tracks composed by Jun Maeda himself, with songs also performed by Marina and LiSA, the music is one of the key aspects that carry the message this anime has. Its either pushes forward emotion and life in scenes or even fully portrays life just through the median of it. Also its just really good music to listen to in general, I find myself having two songs from Angel Beats! on my playlist (My Song and Crow Song) because they're just good songs. I'll leave some links below to them because I love them and you should listen to them too honestly. The only negative thing about them is that they aren't on spotify which is a bummer but what can you ;(. ~!youtube(https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sdPwvBJiQJY&feature=share) youtube(https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VUkxwUhoOSU&feature=share) i swear these are different songs!~ ____ # ~~~__Characters Aren't Who They Seem__~~~ Characters in this anime all have a secret they are hiding from you. They all have personalities that make the anime endearing, like some laid back slice of life that makes you relax. Behind their outgoing selves lies a dark side, their past. Who they were and what the experienced, the tragedy that befell them and how fucked up their life is. It presents to us how people are different on the outside, how you never really know who they are inside and the emotions they battle with day by day. Even the anime doesn't allow you to fully understand their lives, only showing little parts of it which are described by the characters themselves, showing we can never understand what someone else is going through, but we can support them to get past it. I guess you could say it shows us first hand the feeling of sonder, the realisation that the people around you are living a life as vivid and complex as yours, one you'll ultimately never understand. ____ From this point onwards we have spoilers so if you want to skip to my conclusion that is fine! ____ # ~~~__Contrast Of Life And Death__~~~ I think one of the best ways to sum up this anime is the contrast of life and death. It emanates both of them in their full glory and how both a ultimately intertwine with each other. They are both what holds together the afterlife and what also ultimately 'obliterates' or fulfils the characters, coming together to create a beautiful emotional scene that pulls on the heart strings of the viewer. There's multiple examples throughout the anime like Yui and Iwasawa's oblitartion and the final scene that made everyone cry, however this is best shown in Otonashi's death in episode 9. It combines both death and life into one, as in his final moments he decides to give up his organs for donation to make sure part of him lives on even if the rest of him dies. ____ # ~~~__The Meaning Of Life__~~~ Angel Beats! has probably one of the harshest views on the meaning of life. While some anime present the meaning of life as to revolve around relationships like family or friends or around emotions such as love and anger or even a primal meaning as simple as survival, Angel Beats! is unique in the sense that it not remotely close to any of these. It shows us life truly has no meaning at all, we have either have a good life or a bad one. We can die whenever even before reaching any percieved meaning showing life doesn't really have one carved out for us. Instead, Angel Beats! tells us that we create meaning in our lives and even if it doesn't work out, then we should be happy that we at least tried our best to. I think it also focuses on the human obessession on wanting to leave something behind, to have a meaning in our lives. Otonashi gaining his memories back in episode 7 perfectly, he believes he dies without meaning and clearly is shattered by it even telling Naoi and Yuri to leave the room before breaking down over his dead sister who he believes at the time he didn't do anything for, dying before he found true meaning in his life for her. It wants us to ultimately not obsess over the _'meaning of life'_ because they isn't one, instead we should seek to carve out our own and follow our own path that we craft ourselves, thats how we find true meaning. ____ # ~~~__Minor Complaints__~~~ Look, I'm a firm believer that everything has its posistives and negatives, from my favourite animes such as Clannad and Anohana to the likes on School Days and even To Love Ru (barely). With this being a __review__ and not just my personal analysis on what I love about this series, I'm going to point out my admitly small problems with it. The fact Otonashi comes before Kanade makes 0 sense when you think about it. Otonashi dies first because Kanade has his heart so why is the girl who died later there long before Otonashi is? Doesn't matter but it is lack on consistantcy that shows not al shows are perfect. Animation is just fine. It doesn't really do anything but its not really awful anywhere (apart from faces at a distance they look quite goofy). It could be so much more but doesn't really make it stand out. ~~~img(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/878694017343320096/1123314960307605534/image.png)~~~ Finally, its just too short. I'd love like maybe 6-8 more episodes for us to explore the life of more characters like Matsushita, TK and Shiina like we did with Yui and Iwasawa. Not to the point of obliteration but I think it'll build the world up even more and push home the message of this anime even more, the unfairness and beauty of life. While these are negatives, they're so minor that it doesn't really take away anything from how great this anime truly is. Maybe if you're a huge fan of animation in your anime, then maybe the just 'fine' animation would detract from the experience a bit, but for me not really. ____ # ~~~__Conclusion__~~~ Angel Beats! is beautiful story about life itself that teaches us and its cast harsh truths, but these truths gives the cast meaning, guides them towards fulfilment so they can rest in peace and shows us the interconnectivity of life an death. While not entirely perfect, Angel Beats! is one of the best anime I've watched and deserves all the praise its got. img100%(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/3296946728834716919/E1C51BBA8B0B836F363EC1DDAC0002B9126F7F47/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)

yukiofirst

A premissa desse anime aparentemente é bem genérico e sem muito que diferencia-lo de um anime slice of life normal. Um anime slice of life de vida acadêmica já é algo bem frequente e genérico, tanto é que podemos considerar esse tipo de obra algo saturado e nem um pouco criativo. muitos dos animes ultimamente sem passam com um protagonista em meio a um harem bizarro. no entanto no decorrer da historia desse anime, vemos que ele é completamente oposto disso ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Desde o primeiro episodio acaba sendo algo extremamente cativante porque a historia acaba criando todo um mistério do porque a kanade que é um anjo deveria ser considerado uma inimiga para as outras pessoas, e o porque ela deveria ser combatida pelas outras pessoas Além do fato de notarmos o mistério que rege aquele mundo, ficamos com a duvida do porque ninguém é capaz de morrer dentro daquele universo que ocorre a historia! Com tantas duvidas em mente esse anime facilmente chama a atenção de pessoas que gostam desse tipo de anime!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!! Quem diria que todo o plot do anime inteiro já era revelado desde o primeiro episodio que ocorre a historia, desde o primeiro momento que o Yuzuru conheceu a Kanade, ela já havia explicado que ela não era um anjo de fato. Muito embora esse fato já havia sido relatado pela Kanade o decorrer do anime é tão cativante que até mesmo nós que assistimos esse anime acabamos esquecendo desse fato de modo que ser quer prestamos atenção na fala da kanade a gente é simplesmente levados a acreditar que a kanade seria a vila da historia desse anime!! Com relação a parte emocional da historia, ela não poderia ter terminado de forma diferente uma vez que entendemos qual é a dor de cada personagem e o porque deles estarem presos naquele universo, não tem como o anime finalizar melhor doque aquilo que foi mostrado!! A parte da lore de cada personagem: A historia de vida de um personagem que mais me intrigou em assistir com certeza foi a da Yui uma vez que ela não só sofre naquele universo, como também a realidade do mundo real também é muito triste para ela. Ela não só era uma pessoas emocionadamente abalada como também seu próprio corpo físico era limitado em que seus movimentos eram restringidos devido a tetraplegia que ela possuía, desse modo passaria bastante tempo na cama e dependente da mãe dela e conforme os flashs ela não teria como ter uma vida de aventura vivendo somente naquele quarto!!! Já a parte do namorado dela o Hinata serve também não só como apoio para a Yui como também demostra que ele tem interesse em apoiar a yui durante toda a vida, a historia que o Hinata e a Yui montam juntos, da forma que eles se conheceram a partir de uma partida de beisebol em que ele quebra o vidro da casa da Yui é algo que com certeza aconteceria facilmente em um dorama asiático!! Só por causa disso acho que deveria acontecer uma temporada de spin off que com pequenos tempos em que cada episodio demonstrasse como cada pessoa está vivendo no universo real

m3speedrn

I have been watching anime for a little over 3 years now, and my first review is for one that doesn't break into my personal favorites, but one I will surely remember. This review will simply discuss my thoughts on the general elements of the show, rather than character analyses or comprehensive episode-by-episode reviews. I want to write this as a recommendational review, so I have tried to keep my comments general as to not give details to major plot points or characterization. Proceed with caution. The production value that studio P.A. Works brings to the table is something that the viewer will instantly appreciate, and is one of the strongest aspects of the anime. The music throughout the show is extremely well done across the OP, ED, and OST. The music scenes themselves that appear mainly in the first half of the show are also great, coming from someone who isn't particularly captivated by music anime besides Your Lie in April and Bocchi the Rock! Angel Beats! is not a music anime by any means, but the scenes with the band are extremely important to a couple of the characters' development. The animation and cinematography are also very good, there are no scenes where it is glaringly obvious that the studio cut corners, which allows the viewer to appreciate the integrity with which the studio worked with to create the anime. For me, anime is brought to life through voice acting, and this anime happened to have two of my favorite voice actors/actresses at their best. Hiroshi Kamiya and Kana Hanazawa execute their roles as Yuzuru Otonashi and Kanade Tachibana perfectly, their contrasting characters exemplified in their voices. If you're someone who places a great amount of importance on music, animation, or voice acting, then you will have no issues with Angel Beats!. The characters are the driving force of the plot in Angel Beats!, and very early on the reader is introduced to a pretty large amount of characters for a 13-episode show. Each main character has a distinct and animated personality and both main and side characters each have at least one charm or element that allows them to be recognized throughout the show. The most interesting of which to me was TK, who probably spoke more English than Japanese throughout the show. In the back half of the show, the protagonist, Yuzuru Otonashi begins rapidly developing, which sets up the falling action and resolution extremely well. In the case of Yuri Nakamura, while I wasn't wowed by such an important character until the second to last episode, the show made sure to develop her in a way pertaining to the show's themes after presenting the viewer with her seemingly impossible goal. During the final episode, Kanade Tachibana, my favorite and in my opinion the most interesting character really shines in her dynamic with Otonashi. Our final questions regarding her are answered, and the two characters reach their conclusion in a very bittersweet way, along with other main characters Yuri, Hinata and Naoi. My only complaint regarding the characters is that about half of the characters leave just as quickly as they came, with no real introduction or conclusion, making them cannon fodder (sometimes literally) at most. Overall, the show presents compelling main characters that can shadow over some of the issues commonly associated with side characters in 12-13-episode anime's. Angel Beats! is a series that has many distinct ups and downs, but never fails to keep the viewer interested in the show's main ideas. It is at its best during the real school settings, where the viewer learns about the main characters' memories and what is driving their actions in this world that they are now in. In the beginning, it presents harsh questions regarding the existence of God despite countless young lives having been lived in horror or misfortune. While the question of God's existence in their world never gets answered (something I was looking forward too), the characters learn the true nature of the world they now live in, and allow their souls to finally rest. These themes are one of the strongest parts of the show, and encourage the viewer to think about the life they are currently living, and how we can inject meaning into what we do while we are here. A couple minor critiques I have with the show mainly fall on some of the aesthetics and dialogue, specifically in the first half. A military grade battalion in a school in certainly an interesting idea, but to me it doesn't work that well here. I found most of the fight scenes overly serious with over-serious military related dialogue that just came off as a little bit cringy in an anime set in a high school. I also went into this anime knowing it was a tearjerker so the military aspect just confused me. Sometimes it felt as if I was watching an anime adaptation of a Tom Clancy book instead of the soft emotional anime that Angel Beats! is regarded as. If you liked addition of the warfare with guns and military grade bunkers, power to you, I just feel that this aspect was important to note as it did affect my enjoyment of the show at times. Overall, the last four episodes of this show really immerse the viewer in its true purpose, which makes me think that since it succeeded in this aspect more than it failed in another, I can turn a blind eye to these complaints and give the show a great score. Angel Beats! was a refreshing anime for me, as the anime progress in my life has slowed to a crawl. This show offers great production, great main characters, and the themes I needed to be reminded of how much great is in this medium. If you're looking for a short anime that has the potential to leave a lasting impression on you as a person, Angel Beats! is certainly one I'd recommend from my list.