Angel Beats! - Reviews

My anime reviews are always simple, short and straight-forward and is 100% spoilers-free.

Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Shounen, Supernatural

Additional Info: Be sure you have tons of tissues besides you. This anime will drop an atomic bomb of feels to you.

Ending Rating: 95%

Short Review:

One word, "Masterpiece". This anime will show you all of lifes beautiful and ugly sides and unbreakable bonds of friendship. Angel Beats will surely beat you down to the ground like a pulp till you say "No More!". Be ready to jerk your tears!

This was one of the first anime that i ever watched and i still remember how i cried like a baby. This anime makes you acknowledge about your life that includes unfairness, happiness e.t.c. LIFE IS WORTH TO LIVE! I really loved the characters development and the unique plot. OH MY GOD!   

Let me start off by saying that i truly loved this anime, but it was just way too rushed and the one thing that suffered the most due to it only being a 13 episode anime, was the romantical element. Angel Beats! had so much potentiol in it's characters and plot to include a little bit of romance. I felt no real bond between Otonashi and Tenshi till the last episode in the last scene. Until I saw Yuri disapear I literaly though that Otonashi was going to go for Yuri. That was honestly how missleading and vague the romance for Angel Beats! was.

Another badly planned out part of Angel Beats! was the overlapping time. How was Tenshi in the afterlife before Otonashi if she got his heart after he died?

Asside from the flaws this was a very lovable anime, from the characters, to the plot, and the animation it was all great. One of my favorite things about this anime was the story telling of the characters and what happened to them when they were "alive". It really created a great mood. I don't think i could have wished for anything better.

If it wasn't for those two flaws (mainly the rushing of the romance, i didn't mind the timelaps) Angel Beats! would be an easy 10/10 for me. It would have surpassed clannad in my opinion.

Imagine you wake up in an unfamiliar place, having lost your memory and being told that you're dead.

Welcome to Angel Beats!


Story:

The story of Angel Beats! is very deep. Very deep. It covers topics such as child abuse and situations where people have watched their loved ones die right in front of them. It covers these topics in a mature manner, with the occasional gag or joke to add a bit of comic relief to what may otherwise else be a depressing storyline.

The actual idea of waking up dead, per se, in the afterlife is one that is not explored often in anime, and so provides a unique twist to a potential slice-of-life anime. The familiar setting of a school draws you in, and helps immerse you in the story, as it is a common setting amongst anime.

The multiple genres of Angel Beats! are expertly fine-tuned to have the correct mix of each one. Action, comedy, slice-of-life, even music at times! The resident band is a girl rock band named: Girls Dead Monster. The band is used not only to provide music, but also as a tool for the other genres in the story. For example: GDM perform a concert to the 'students' (who are actually NPCs), while the members of the Afterlife Battlefront (the protagonists) carry out a mission.

The reason why the story only gets 8/10 is because holes are left in the story regarding the past of a few characters. Perhaps an After Story would solve that issue, but no announcements have been made as of yet.

Animation and Sound:

I'm gonna be short and sweet here. The animation is fluid and immaculate, especially when Angel's abilities are activated. Perfect use of different camera angles and speed settings add to the drama and suspense before and during a scene. The sound I'll mention is the music. The opening theme is a beautiful piece played on the piano, sung by the character Angel. The rock stylings of GDM are a nice touch as well, starting an action scene with a song, and switching views between the fun of the band and the action of the fights.

Characters:

I'm not going to go in-depth with each character. The Afterlife Battlefront are a mix of different personalities. A very rag-tag bunch of soldiers. Whether it's the logical and curious protagonist, the joyful Yui, the stoic but cute Shiina or even the eccentric T.K, Angle Beats! has characters that everyone can relate to in one way or another. No one is left behind, if you'll pardon the pun.



Overall, 9.5/10. It is my second favourite anime of all-time, and I'll admit manly tears were shed by the end, but I leave that up to you to watch and feel and whatnot. 

I can't remember why or when I wanted to watch Angel Beats! but I do remember enjoying it quite a bit. If I wanted to watch it, it would probably have been for the animation, as this is a treat for the eyes; it has to be one if not the best anime I've ever seen visual-wise. Everything looks so... polished and different from the usual stuff, like a tiger among cats; sure the cats look good, but that tiger is in a class of it's own who will tear those other cats apart. So, so gorgeous.

The sound is great all-around but I must mention the beautiful OP. I love how the piano doesn't stop, how it can still be heard even when everything else is playing and how the OP doesn't switch to rock or anything heavy that would disturb the piano or the mood it sets. The other instruments and vocal enhance the majesty of it and make it into something wonderful. And the other version is pretty good, not as good as the piano one though. The VO work, especially TK but otherwise, don't have much to say about it. But damn, love it when Angel activates one of her moves through voice command.

The worst thing I can say about this is that I wish there were more backstories to the characters, as only about half have them explained. And it wouldn't do to say who did or didn't get a backstory but I must mention TK; the english speaking (Kinda), bandana wearing dancer. We know nothing about him apart from that he's cool and that nobody knows anything about him (Contradiction? Probably...). It is a shame... but the characters overall were pretty great, each having their quirks, their traits, what makes them different from each other; how they're themselves and no other. Just wanted more to their backstories, more development.

The story was good, pretty good but not excellent. You got the synopsis and the fact that they're essentially immortal; dying is simply a timeout that lasts a short time (You'll learn this early on). But death in this world (To vanish), like death in our world is something completely different than a timeout. It's hard to explain it without giving away too much, but it leads to one of the best aspects of the show, so I'm not going to try. At some parts, I just wanted more. It should have gone on longer than 13 episodes, as the last few episodes seemed... cut up, or not entirely together. Kinda broken up and missing a few components. Coupled with the already mentioned character development stuff, it brings it down. What's there is pretty good, but it's not enough.

A quick note before I wrap this up: what can top the comedy and maybe even TK's coolness is the sad moments, or tragic moments. Some real tearjerkers here.

If it was longer and with more backstories given, especially TK's (I'm repeating this a lot but the backstories are one of the best parts of the anime) then it would be on the top of my list. But what's done is still quite good, and I'll definitely remember it for quite a while.