[Archon_Wing]

Ah, Angel Beats. A fun ride, to say the least.

Visuals: 9/10 Pretty much top tier stuff. The backgrounds easily match anything Kyoto could toss, if anything P.A. Works can continue on just by releasing artwork. The quality was pretty consistent throughout, though it seemed to suffer a little near the end. But it's definitely eye candy. The character designs are pretty decent, but it took a while to get Yuri's right.

Audio: 9/10

Spoiler for details for audio:

Voice Actors: 10/10. No complaints here. Any flaws would have been negated through TK anyways. In general, the characters sound exactly as they would look like. Props go out in particular to Kanade, Yuri, and Hinata's voice actresses. While I might not have liked Naoi, Megumi Ogata is another story. I also loved Eri Kitamura as Yui; just gave off that bouncy energetic vibe.

OP/ED: 10/10. My Soul Your Beats! is easily the best Lia OP ever (dodges chairs). It's not like I don't love the older ones, but she doesn't sound like she's dying in this one. With it's calm rythmn, there's something very sentimental and nostalgic about the song. It seems to summon emotions and concepts from Air/Kanon/Clannad (or I must be drinking too much). But it's just very Keyish

As those millions of stars vanished
I watched them fade
I waved them good-bye
“I’m glad”

It summarizes the theme of the story in one fell swoop.

Brave Song is yet another excellent song. It also helps summarize the series's themes, of how everyone you will meet will disappear some day, but memories will live on. Add in the imagery (and the reverse one in the last episode) and you have a memorable song.

"Ichiban no Takaramono" by Lisa was also a great way to end episode 10. That is all.

BGM/ Insert songs/ Other Music (8/10): The BGMs were fairly appropriate, though for some reason I kept thinking I was hearing the same ones a lot. It's not as good as Clannad's BGMs for the diffrent situations, with the exception of one-- that really rapid piano piece that plays when Kanade did something in the early episodes, and also the trailer music.

The GDM songs were good on their own merits. However, their integration into the anime was questionable. Except "Alchemy" and maybe "My Song" everything else just seemed out of place and I didn't really care much for it. Also, the singers sounding that much different from the VA is jarring. In any case, Alchemy is the best example of a GDM best suiting the mood, and I like it the best. It gave off a sense of urgency and desperation but at the same time also determination and willpower-- the situation is hopeless, but the show must go on no matter what.

It may seem a bit odd to have unknowns sing, though it does suit GDM-- they are after all an amateur band trying to strike it big. You can feel the emotion and attitude in that, so I'd say it was a success in trying to be authentic.

In any case, Angel Beats was a success in all audio aspects, and is a treat to the ears.

Plot: 3/10

Spoiler:

Overall Premise, Structure, and Scenario: 4/10 It's certainly not a bad concept at all. You're supposed to have no idea what the hell is going on, and nor does anyone else. So bit by bit you'd find out slowly with the others. There'd be mistaken assumptions and you'd have to sort the facts from the noise. Unfortunately, the anime seems to be mostly noise with only a few hints here and there. Any attempt at creating drama is canceled out by not being able to separate drama from melodrama.

Indeed, this is a mixed media project, but does the anime really create a world you'd really want to explore? The answer is no. It creates more questions than it answers and no amount of excuses covers the fact that amount of planning into the actual storyline was null. I'm not even sure they watch their own show.

There's no organization whatsoever, no direction, just a bunch of random shit piled on to continue the story. Whatever the concept of the world was, it got lost.

However, since most of this is actually pacing problems, I can't be too harsh. The concept is still sound, just not well executed.

Pacing: 2/10. But the real reason why the plot fails is that they couldn't pace it properly. Even if the plot was a disjointed mess, emphasizing important points could still make the story more intriguing. What if they cut some comedic moments from episode 13 to give us some more depth? What if Naoi would take longer to convert so it takes longer to reach his final realization that would be strengthen by whatever events that could happen next. What if they had more Yui/Hinata moments instead of Otonashi/Yui ones. That makes all the difference.

The plot is just a terrible mess, but this is mostly due to the short time span and misuse of time. We can only hope for a big remake later...

Characters: 8/10

Spoiler:

Note:
Time constraints have been covered enough, so there's no point being so harsh here

Character interaction: 10/10. It is no doubt that this is what Maeda does best. Characters usually don't do stuff with another without a good reason. The flow always feels natural, and the conversations feel like... well a conversation. The amount of exposition is generally minimal. Maeda's also an expert at making sappy lines work, so I generally loved anything with Yuzuru and Kanade in it. But in any case, the relationships between characters were generally very organic and you could completely visualize them running around doing stupid antics all the time. The cast simply works.

Yuri: 10/10 It's without a doubt that Yuri is the most well written and complete character in the series. And no, she's nothing like Haruhi aside from superficial attributes. She may be charismatic but she's also fiercely competent and determined. Her motivations for fighting against God (or ultimately raging against nothing) is fully understandable. With a strong motivation, it's easy to follow her steps. She's also a diverse character who can be playful and sometimes mean, but ultimately she always fulfills her role as the leader. She's the easiest to emphasize with.

Some might complain about her changed attitude in the last episode, but I just consider it that since the fight's over and everything's done, she just took on a more relaxed demeanor. Not exactly something I approve of, but it's not enough to annoy me

Yuzuru: 8/10. The story is mostly about him, so it does a good job of following him around, and telling us his thoughts and views of the world. So, whatever little info we get is also summarized in his emotions and reactions. In general, he follows the likable Key male dude path for quite a bit, and helps people out. The best part for him would definitely be episode 9, with the donor incident before he died, and it shows his determination to save others. Also, his attempts to reach at Kanade was really something, with the conclusion of the Kanade clone arc to be the best for me.

Unfortunately, the story seems to have portrayed him as too much as a martyr towards to end. I understand that he wishes everyone good, but you can't make decisions on that for people. His decision to stay behind hurt my opinion a bit of him, though understandable as people do have last second hesitations but really, drop the martyr act man. It's annoying. Overall, despite the hiccups, he's a quality lead.


Kanade: 8/10. Omg it's the Moe superweapon! Kanade easily combined like all the moe of Key heroines past. Taking on a role reminiscent of another imbalanced character I adored very much from Kanon, she is the detached quiet girl who is sweet inside but carries a lot of burden with her. Though this kind of stuff carries the same problem-- she comes across as too much of a victim; as the "Angel Bullies" joke came along. Yes, yes, she's the innocent girl who can do no wrong! And yes, she's totally awesome. And yes, she's cute. OK OK OK. [looks like Jun went overboard on her; perhaps he loves this archetype too much as well] But I won't blame him.

Regardless of her lack of development, Kanade does come across as a character I can understand. The fact that she's really carring Yuzuru's heart makes me go "awww". It might also be a good thing that she does not carry a sob story with her; not everyone has to.

Hinata: 8/10. Hinata doesn't seem to do much in the course of the story, but he's a completely awesome support character-- most definitely the best bro ever. He's also the eternal support for others and it's not hard to assume that he had Yuzuru's role before he came. Although the motivations for his characters are a bit slim, it's still effective and him coming forth to help Yui out will make him stand out.

Naoi: 3/10. I have a strong disdain for this character, because they insist on shoving him in our faces. He's definitely the most forced in after he no longer became a villain. I did not like the fact that he's here at the graduation, and the others aren't. I think he'd be more effective if he was a villain longer, so converting would just give us a sense of accomplishment, and if he had a breakdown during it; that'd make him sympathetic. [see Mahou Shojo Lyrical Nanoha Season 1 for hints on how to do that]. In any case, I couldn't take his character seriously, so anything emotional with him (especially 13) just made me laugh instead.

He's just Narm incarante. But at least he had a few funny gags later on. The show should have just played an Eva tribute tho maybe.


Everyone else, and TK: (5/10). They were all awesome in their own respects, but just didn't have time for them. It's unfortunate in Yui's part, because she comes off as likable. Actually they all come out as likable, but they just didn't do much. Having the SSS just disappear offscreen was not good-- rushed or not.

Overall, Angel Beats has an excellent cast. With more time, it could have easily been the best case ever (yes even Naoi)

Enjoyment: 7/10

Spoiler:

Bells and Whistles: 9/10. It's amazing how much detail went into the little things. The ever changing endings and openings was just a treat for all. There just seems to be so much heart and effort put into the anime, though it might have been better in other places. But in any case, when it comes to being presented, Angel Beats is polished like no other.

General Enjoyment (cool shit, humor, style, etc): 8/10. At first, I didn't like the humor, but that wasn't long. Jun Maeda can make me laugh over the dumbest things. The humor is random and often painful, but it's quite interesting how it just so casually jokes about death. That makes it some pretty dark humor, so I can't but help think of Umineko...

And of course, it's cool. Hand sonic (all versions), Kanade doing all kinds of shit, and monitors everywhere. Of course, Yuri is no slacker in the cool department too...

Emotional Involvement: 5. Sorry, no dice here. Compared to the emotional impact of Air/Kanon/Clannad, it doesn't come close. There's a few great moments, mostly involving episodes 8-10, and Hinata/Yui at the end, but it just didn't move me enough. The final conclusion was so dull it bounced off me. "Is that it"? is just not emotionally satsfying.

Well, that's not completely true; the very LAST scene was nice. I just don't agree on how it got there.

The problem is that empathy must be EARNED. You can't just have bad things happen to people and expect us to feel sorry. That's what people call a cheap shot, and I don't accept something so manipulative. So yes, I like Hinata and Yui finding each other eventually, I like Kanade holding his heart, and I want them to be together next life. But while I like these things, the show just seemed to take that for granted and didn't make the needed effort to really push it through, thus creating something I wanted to love, but don't.

Angel Beats is a fun ride, but it's not very emotionally satisfying like the other Key anime. While the other ones are more than the sum of their parts, but this is less.

Overall: 6/10. A decent watch, while not good, is worth the time and sometimes memorable.

The anime ultimately comes off as more of a popcorn viewing show. But this is not bad; it's also funny and high energy. There are tons of shows that I wouldn't give the light of day and the fact that AB! has occupied me for these weeks which has been a nice experience. I also appreciate the show for what it is: Something fun and of value. It's just disappointing that with all the ingredients for success, the final result was just decent. But I'll take what I can get. I do hope for more projects of this kind; perhaps it'll be refined more the next time around.