Angel Beats!

Angel Beats has convinced me that Jun Maeda doesn’t know how to write an original story. His previous hits Air, Kanon, and Clannad have been about a bunch of mentally and/or physically broken high school girls who all fall in love with a guy whose only significant character trait is that he exists, and along the way one of these girls will die of a mysterious illness. For Angel Beats, Maeda twists his tried and true formula by having all the characters dead to begin with, and stuck in some sort of high school purgatory, where a group of high school students shoot a littlegirl in the kneecaps for no good reason. As mentioned earlier, Maeda’s stories are very formulaic. First, he establishes a cast of one dimensional, but likeable characters, and a zero dimensional main character who is designed to be a self insert for the viewer. He then lulls the viewers into a false sense of security with a couple of comedic episodes before dropping a tragedy bomb. In time the main character recovers from the tragedy and an asspull miracle occurs, to ensure a happy ending and negating any kind of character development. Angel Beats follows this same formula to an extent, however due to last minute budget cuts; this had to be crammed into 13 episodes making the production feel rushed and uneven. A lot of fans will defend the show by saying that it would have been more coherent had it been given 26 episodes. I don’t buy this. Maeda had a lot of options. He could have told half the story and left it open to a probable second season. He could have cut some of the characters or spend less time recycling the same gags (suicide rushes, rocket chairs, etc.) to make more room for character growth. It’s possible to tell a great story in 13 episodes or less. Haibane Renmei told a similar purgatory story in 13 episodes, and the world was much deeper, and the characters more sympathetic. Baccano had a huge cast, yet all the characters got their time to shine, without taking away from the story. In addition, there is never a really good explanation for why they’re fighting Tenshi. They make her out to be evil incarnate at first, but quickly find out that she’s actually a normal girl. Yet rather than do their research, Yuri somehow convinced everyone to build an underground factory, stockpile weapons, and hold rock concerts just to fuck with everyone’s dinner time. If you stop to think about it, the war on Tenshi was nothing more than pointless bickering started by a petulant bitch. Using the budget cuts to defend the trainwreck of a story is like when high school student complain that they would have done better on a test had they gotten more time. Sometimes, you just have to admit that you didn’t know what you were doing. While the music for the show was decent, part of me felt it was a ploy to milk more money out of the show. Some of the early episodes focused on a band called Girls Dead Monster who played music as some sort of distraction. However, because they weren’t central to the plot, and because singles were being released so frequently while the show was airing, it all felt like a cheap cash-in to ride the wave of success of K-ON. So if I hated the story so much, why did I stick with it? Simply, it’s because I’m a big fan of the director, Seiji Kishi. He previously did Seto no Hanayome and Tentai Senshi Sunred, which are two of my favorite comedy series. I could see that a lot of effort went into the animation. The lighting and movement was dynamic and smooth. The backgrounds were nicely detailed and had a pleasing color palette. Unfortunately, none of this could save the production from its terrible story. Part of me feels the director was overcompensating for the terrible story by blinding the audience with pretty pictures. This seems to have worked on a large portion of the fanbase since a lot of reviews I have read comment on how pretty it is while glossing over the failure of the story. After watching Angel Beats and seeing the audience reaction to it online, I feel like it’s done its job of manipulating its audience with false emotions. It’s a formula that has worked for previous Key works, and their sales of figures and dakimakura prove it. Fans of the show that actually finished this review rather than marking it “unhelpful” and moving on, watch the show again. Is it actually unique, or is it the same trite, repetitive crap that’s been plaguing the anime industry for years? Does the story make sense, or is it full of more holes than a cheese grater? But most importantly, is it actually good or are you still lying to yourself?

Angel Beats! is absolutely glorious and perfect. It made me laugh, and cry, and I just loved all the drama and the story is not as paper-thin as one would believe. I thought all the characters were awesome, especially TK xD. The ending made me cry it was so good. In summary, Angel Beats! is amazing and is really emotional and if you haven't seen Angel Beats! go watch it! Haha just kidding. Angel Beats! isn't actually all that special, and I'm writing this review to just try and send out a message to those of you who have not watched Angel Beats! yet. No I'mnot trolling, I really hated Angel Beats! and the reason I stuck with it to the end is so I could tell other anime watchers to stay the hell away from it. Note: I don't give a shit about the 'moewave.' I like all genres and types of anime, and if an anime is enjoyable or presents a very powerful story (or both, god forbid!) I'd like to tell you about it. It's just frustrating when I see a review (on this anime especially) and the reviewer goes out of his way to say "I'm going to ignore story and characters because those aren't important." That kind of thing makes me flip shit. It's as if I were to sell you a fancy house, but tell you you couldn't go inside. Is that fair? Hell no! Then here, my review on Angel Beats!, and I promise I won't say anything like "X isn't important" and waste your time doing so. Story: 4/10 Otonashi, our walking cliche protagonist as another reviewer pointed out, has lost his memories and wakes up in a new world where he realizes people can't die. There he meets several exciting and interesting one-dimensional characters. Yurippe, the leader (who looks suspiciously close to another KyoAni mascot character) is the loudmouth leader of a fighting squadron that wants to "rebel against god." The only thing Yurippe can think to do to "rebel against god" is to pick on the class president, who is a frail lolita character and to repeatedly shoot her until she is dead (in a world where people can't die... fascinating how KyoAni got away with this). Then entire episodes are dedicated through traversing a 'dangerous underground path' full of 'dangerous traps.' Then we learn that the guns Yurippe gets are made out of dirt (no explanation). Then a whole lot of sobstories come into play. Almost every episode a character reveals their "troubled and emotional" past, and the pacing that introduces it is horrendous and each background story takes around half an episode to go through. Blatantly, I didn't find the comedy all that funny, seeing as it was just rip offs of other Maeda Jun works, oh and so were the back stories. One of the girls falls into a coma and it is even alluded to AIR. Seeing as this was anime had so many random filler episodes and insert songs it's hard to really explain the story. Or maybe it's hard to explain because there wasn't one (or if there was it was dastardly weak). Art: 8/10 Aside from the numerous background errors per episode where the background changed sizes and the costuming errors (WILL BE FIXED IN THE BLU-RAYS HERPDERP), the animation was really good. Yes, I hated this anime, but I'm not going to lie, the animation was amazing. Bullets bounced off things realistically, and everything was really fluid. There was even water used in the last episode that looked so real that it utterly shocked me. Now the character design pissed the hell out of me. The main character looks no more original than any third-rate anime. He's a normal build, with a normal haircut, and a normal voice and manner of speech etcetc. Then Yurippe was obviously just a Haruhi rip-off. Try and prove me wrong. What? You can't? Just put a picture of the two next to each other and you'll see. Then comes the art. I really had no opinion but I was leaning toward dislike on it. It looked like a blocky version Haruhi, and all the characters looked like tetris blocks when standing still, they all had this square build for some reason. Sound: 9/10 The opening is awesome. A nice piano piece with Lia as the singer. The ending is okay, I didn't feel much for it, but music is a taste and this part of the review is very opinion oriented. The voice acting was also really good. The characters (as bad as they were) had voices that brought out what the creators were trying to do. Ototnashi had a normal voice, Kanade (Tenshi or Angel) had a monotone voice. Etc. To be honest I didn't really know a lot of the seiyuu other than Hiroshi Kiyama and Kana Hanazawa (Araragi and Nadeko respectively, both from Bakemonogatari) but I didn't really care - they did good work. Character: 2/10 Every character is a cardboard cut out and can be reduced to one word. There's the bland protagonist, the bossy Yurippe, the 'kuudere' (cool) Kanade, a bodybuilder, an egomaniac, a spaz, a dunce, a brute, a fatty, a ninja, and so on. And then there was TK. TK is the single most creative piece of work in this entire anime. 90% of his lines consist of broken engirsh and usually make no sense. BUT I'M OKAY WITH THAT! Why? BECAUSE IT'S CREATIVE. There is very very few pieces of creativity in this anime, very very few things that don't follow an archetypal story. KyoAni took a chance and put in something that might be DIFFERENT (oh god what is this) and it simply worked. TK is a funny character and does headspins for no reason and has no background at all. But who cares? He was more developed and more interesting than ANY OTHER CHARACTER. This whole section got a plus one - just for TK. Enjoyment: 1/10 I'm sorry. I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to like it, and I know a lot of people who write reviews saying that "they wanted to like it, they really did" - and hey same here. The day this anime aired I was so freaking excited. I was ready to call this the anime of the year and I told all my friends to watch it. By episode three I couldn't take it anymore and I absolutely hated it, but I pushed on. I tried to enjoy the next episode. I sat down with my favorite candy (the Hot Tamales) and got myself my favorite drink (a delicious Seltzer) and made sure I watched it when no one would interrupt me. Shit it was hell. Every week. I tried harder and harder and then I realized. Why am I forcing myself to like this anime, which is pretty mediocre? And there you have it folks. That's all it is. Mediocre. The visuals can be the greatest on the planet, but that's not going to make me fond of the characters, or become interested in the plot. It's like Avatar by James Cameron, you love it or hate it, and if you love it, you don't love it for the characters, you love it for the explosions and all the pretty doodads and doohickeys involved. Overall: 4.8/10 I just averaged the numbers. That's the number I think this show properly deserves. Hey! You may still want to watch this anime. If you do, don't go in expecting too much. If you're able to looks past this anime's flaws in story and character then maybe you're experience will be much different, but if you're bothered by this, I strongly advise against watching this anime. It is not like Haruhi, it is not like CLANNAD, it is not like Kanon, but sure is a blend of them. The characters refer to themselves as "idiots." And holy crap that is one good definition, but please beware viewer, let me warn you, if you consume idiocy, you become an idiot.

I have to admit that I first started watching Angel Beats because of two main reasons: the pretty visuals, and the presence of guitars. But once I began watching the show in earnest, I found a lot more here than I expected. Angel Beats is a show that keeps me guessing, and consistently tugs at strings I didn't know existed until they were pulled. Basically, Angel Beats is about an afterlife in which a group of dead students refuse to 'move on' to the next life, because they have some sort of peace to make with the world and themselves. There's a unique mix ofcommon school life against the supernatural. It's a setting that I found to be original enough; I also expected it to be a simple tear-jerker, but that isn't the case. Angel Beats has a duality about it. One part of it is comedy - most of it is well timed, and on several occasions, had me laughing out loud at my screen like a nutcase. The English-speaking, nonsensical TK doesn't even need an introduction anymore. Even the slapstick comedy is quite well done, and usually timed with unfitting music which (for the most part) heightens the comedy. The other part would be the melodrama. Most of the important characters have a back story to them, which are revealed piece by piece. And, as to be expected, many are torturous, depressing tales. These stories aren't your stereotypical 'my puppy died' stories; in fact, I've found that most of the stories that have been revealed are all original in some way or another, and interesting as well. Their common theme seems to be 'regrets' - especially those of teenagers struggling with family, society and life in general. Topping it all off and decorating the whole package is a very clean, crisp presentation, and music that can move you from the first time you hear it. The rock concert scenes are some of the finest I've ever seen, with spectacular animation and crisp lighting effects. The music alone made me re-watch the concert episodes over and over. The art is also very pleasant on the eyes, with soft but vibrant colors and simple but effective character styles. The greatest problem that many people make an issue out of is the transition between the two previously mentioned parts of comedy and drama. Sometimes, the parts can seem fragmented and poorly transitioned. But I only noticed this after I heard the criticisms and look for such inappropriateness. I'm a fan of such shows that mix in different types of enjoyment. Angel Beats also isn't a stupid show; I never felt that my emotions were being toyed with in a rudimentary or heavy handed manner. What I'm trying to say is that while this may seem contradictory and schizophrenic to some, overall, it seems to be a fairly successful blend to me. I found I actually liked being proven wrong about my guesses as to 'what kind of show this will end up being'. And I know that many scenes will evoke familiar memories from other shows, but really, this show deserves to be considered as it is, by itself. Let me do some breaking down: STORY: 7 The story is revealed irregularly; some episodes teach you various things about the world, while others spend their time screwing around. I had fun watching those anyway, but I can see how others would think it's a waste of time. ART: 9 The art is beautiful. Beyond what we've come to expect, the animation is amazing (especially for the concerts), and the lighting effects give the show a slightly washed-out, surreal look - which I'm sure was the intended effect. SOUND: 10 It's been a while since I've liked every song in a show. Some of the BGMs are repeated a bit often, but the feature songs are all brilliant. The seiyuu also do a fine job. No voices will annoy you - unless it was intentional. CHARACTER: 7 This one's tricky, as many of the characters' back stories are still veiled. Some characters seem to follow the usual anime tropes, but they work. I definitely felt more interested in a character once I learned more about their past. ENJOYMENT: 9 There's a very obvious sign as to how much I'm enjoying a show; I get antsy and check for updates every hour. The more I see, the more I want. The concert scenes alone are worth the watch. OVERALL: 8 I guess in the end, your enjoyment of Angel Beats will depend on whether its various aspects strike a chord with you or not (pardon the pun). For my part, I'm glad to have found a series that keeps me guessing, interests me with its premise, dazzles my eyes, while making me laugh and sniffle in the same episode. This one's definitely worth your attention, at least until you're absolutely sure you don't like everything about it. Check it out. POST SCRIPT: After having finished this series, I needed to add a short addendum - because it helped me realize the potential problem of this series. In short, it's a little messy. If you watch the final episode, you'll probably come to realize the main theme of the series (the entire first half of the final episode is dedicated to it). But when you do, you start thinking of ways in which certain story elements could have been developed and presented a little better. I can't help but compare it to Clannad, a series that expertly manages the drama and the waves of emotion from the viewer. It's almost like the show is psychic, and knows exactly when to say or show something in order to get the maximum emotional impact and reaction. Compared to that, Angel Beats is more than a little awkward; in particular, the final scene - it just didn't hit me as hard as I thought it should. I was affected, but was distracted at the same time by the clumsy dialogue and the sense of too many unexplained factors. All in all, I'm very glad I spent time with Angel Beats, and will surely miss its presence. At the same time, it pains me to think of how much better it could have been if the show didn't feel so rushed, and if the writers had put a bit more planning and effort into the final moments.

Angel Beats! The anime that is praised by many and criticized by few. Sadly I was forced to go stand in the cold critic corner. In all honesty, I was excited to watch this anime after all the suggestions from people and raving reviews. The art looked amazing and I heard the music was incredible. What is a good anime in my book? An anime that effects my grades negatively, because just...one...more...episode! Angel Beats however never gripped me. It made me say: "Ok that's enough for today, I have a ton of homework anyway..." My experience can be best summed up in a quote fromanother review: "I badly wanted to love this anime, but just couldn't..." STORY: 2/10 I obsessively try to spot the cracks and flaws in a plot, but I overlook a lot of flaws in the beginning of an anime to give it a fair chance. From the start the plot's foundation was already showing cracks, but I ignored them due to my high hopes for this "MUST WATCH!" The story begins with our main protagonist waking up in some kind of "afterlife" and he is greeted by a teenage girl with a sniper rifle. The apparent "antagonist" called Angel is, like everyone in this "afterlife", immortal, but she has extra powers (cause why settle for immortality, am I right?) The leader of the "resistance" is perfectly aware of their opponent’s immortality but she and her group of rebels shoot at her anyway (with guns made from dirt by the way...), even though one of her powers allows bullets to pass straight through her. I was just waiting for one rebel to shout: "Our bullets have been passing harmlessly through her for the past 5 minutes, sir!" Then the leader would answer: "Just shoot harder!!" I would be crying on the floor! (Not tears of laughter but tears of pain cause I would have fell off my chair laughing!) This "Pre-afterlife" world is a highschool (cause every anime needs a bunch of not-so-normal teens that go to high school.) At this school you are given a chance to make peace with your tragic life and move on to your reincarnation. One of the ways to pass on? Get good grades... So this group of rebels against God decide to go to class but not pay any attention...brilliant! Why even go to class in the first place? Another thing that irritated me is they added filler scenes and 3 or 4 filler episodes to a 13 episode anime! The characters and plot never had a chance to develop in that short time because it was given 2nd or sometimes 3rd priority! If you take off your thinking cap, lend it to a friend, sit down and just immerse yourself in the art, music, action and comedy then you might enjoy this anime quite a bit. The plot is also very slow paced and when it finally picks up the pace the anime is almost over, everything is rushed and you end up with a horde of mini-arcs. CHARACTERS: 2/10 School scenario, group of misfits, each an embodiment of some stereotype, it's been done too many times... Let’s start with a positive. This anime had some of the most interesting characters I've seen in a while. I needed to know more and when I realized that they will be telling each character's backstory and revealing the reason for them "qualifying" for this school I was ecstatic! There was hope for this anime! Sadly the 3 most interesting/mysterious characters were not even developed the slightest! Their backstories were not even told! You had the chilled guy who never stopped dancing and only spoke small snippets of vague English. You had the introvert girl who was always on her own and who had a love for puppies and the weapon obsessed, hot tempered guy who had a crush on one of the main female protagonists. These 3 supporting characters in my opinion had the most potential. All 3 pushed aside and only used for comic relief... The waste of potential was shocking and really got to me. ART: 9/10 Now I need to agree with almost every review here and admit, the art was amazing. The use of rays of light reflecting off objects and the creamy colours were very soothing to the eye. Beautiful backgrounds and scenes complemented the scenarios and were not too busy. The characters had simple, but original designs. (At least most of them...) Even though they were pointless, the action scenes were smooth and flowed. The art was one of the aspects that slightly redeemed this anime and that acted as a safety net to slow it's steady decent down my anime list. SOUND: 7/10 The music matched the scenes and really added atmosphere and added emotion to the scenes that were "meant" to touch you. (It was incredibly easy to see the formula that the writer followed to try and tug at my heart strings.) One track in particular that played during the last episode in the saddest moment made a smile briefly creep onto my disappointed face. I loved the art and sound, but those are just enhancers of the story. Sadly great art and sound could never save a wrecked plot, no matter how good. It did cushion the blow however. ENDING 3/10 This anime's last chance to grab a point or two from me. Sadly even this chance was squandered... I started watching this anime with the hope of sharing the same feels as all the fans of this anime begging me to give it a chance. The ending lacked any emotional impact though... I could almost see the writer add every typical element to the ending to make it resemble a genuinely sad yet still realistic ending. I unfortunately found the ending devoid of even a scrap of logic and even the timeline of past events shown to the viewer via flashbacks made no sense...(I don't want to spoil anything) But without spoiling I just need to say that the ending makes all the efforts and motives of the "resistance" redundant and laughable... Even their reincarnation theory or should I say fear of not wanting to risk coming back as a barnacle is totally blown out of the water...(No pun intended) Now there is one thing about the end that I need to address, so please skip the next well designated paragraph but NOT the rest of the review if you want to avoid a slight spoiler. You gone? Good :) Don't say I didn't warn you... ***BEGINNING OF SPOILER*** At the very end the main character and Kanade (Angel) move on and are reincarnated as humans that look almost exactly like their former selves, that are also conveniently the same age and live in the same town/city and Angel is conveniently humming a song from the afterlife so that reincarnated Otanashi (Main character) can recognise the tune and they end up meeting again... Out of all the BILLIONS of lifeforms they could have been reincarnated as...or lets just say for arguments sake that humans can only be reincarnated as humans the odds are still impossible! That is complete and utter bullshit and terrible writing! Haha ***END OF SPOILER*** ENJOYMENT: 3 + OVERALL: 4 I know saying that you did not like Angel Beats! is like saying you prefer Dub over Sub in the anime community, but I'll carry that burden ;) The art and music were fantastic and the comedy made me laugh, but I struggled to take the anime seriously. I never knew if they wanted to make things seem realistic or not. If you are going to make an anime take place in the afterlife, might as well throw realism out of the window rather than to try and fix the many problems that come with anime of this genre. Summed up: A group of teens that go to highschool in the afterlife while rebelling against an unknown/unseen/faceless God and shooting an immortal enemy with bullets and guns made from dirt... Immortal teens afraid to die in a world where death means a trip to the school nurse... Some characters did not even have particularly sad stories. One failed to catch a baseball for f* sake... The school is "designed" to help souls who had tragic lives accept their fate and move on, right? But why are there no new arrivals throughout the anime? If you take the population of the earth into perspective, then there would be a massive influx of new arrivals at the school daily due to our world being the chaotic mess that it is. There has to be people/teens who live tragic lives 100 times worse than the characters of this anime, but why don't we see them arrive at the "school"? I know this review was horribly critical of Angel Beats!, but I had no choice. Angel Beats! is a rotten egg that has been beautifully painted (Art) and coated in perfume (Sound)

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