(L+CR) Charlotte

[EroKing]

[EroKing]

[Top Sergeant]

I just finished watching the OVA, and it was pretty darn good! I recommend it.

[Dysprosium]

Meh. The OVA could've used to tie up some loose ends (which really needed to be addressed); not sure why there was a need to set the events in the earlier episodes.

[Stark700]

I liked the OVA, better than the main series honestly. Most times when I watched Charlotte, the show had some decent comedy and the OVA managed to make me me laugh especially with the mind reading/trolling by Nao.

And she's still got that temper of hers as well.

[gdpetti]

Originally Posted by Tempester

Charlotte didn't need more than 13 episodes. Side characters were side characters, there wasn't any bigger hint or need to expand Yusa and Takajo's characterization, they just needed more involvement in the plot in the last few episodes, like helping Yuu out in episode 11. Unlike the unfocused mess of hanging character threads that was Angel Beats, Charlotte was quite clearly intended to be all about Yuu and Nao.

What Charlotte needed the most was a trim-down of its plot elements and better pacing. Reduce the stand-of-the-week episodes and incorporate more foreshading and main plot into them. Remove the dumb terrorists or get them involved earlier in the story. Put Yuu's meeting with Sala into episode 6 and the flashback into episode 7 instead of 9. I'm not sure how the events of the last episode could be done well, but a less schizophrenic and more focused build-up to it and/or two episodes instead of one would help.

Just throwing more budget at Maeda's sentimental schtick won't automatically make it work well if whoever decides on the pacing is doing a lousy job.

Excellent points... as well as one others have made in that the music is always good, if not better than the story... even in 'engrish', as Zrind's stuff wasn't mainstream, more environmental attitude stuff befitting the times. Personally, this anime wasn't sentimental enough compared to his past work, but that fits in with the rest of the issues of the storytelling, most of which comes down to what others have called bad setup of this world, including the 'bad guys'.

I must first state, that unlike everyone here, I didn't hear anything about this before watching it. I had it on a list to check out from a while ago... saw who was behind it and thought I'd give it a look, nothing more, never heard the hype etc.... which makes a difference after reading all the comments here.
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In this anime, it seems that mysterious magical background in previous works has just come out of the closet and become overt like most of the action between the characters, but the whole series is a hodgepodge of previous characters, tropes, storylines etc, so I didn't think much about it. I enjoyed it, but yes, the problems are obvious, but it still works, because at the end of the day, it's about selling product, and most of this stuff is just being repackaged storylines and characters that everyone here has seen before many times, it comes down to whether the production team or writer can package it all well for their audience. This reminds me of that scene in the 1992 film 'The Player', in which Tim Robbins character, a film studio chief is telling those in the room about how anyone can come up with story concepts just from today's headlines in the paper... human civilization, like these concepts, don't change much, but making it entertaining is something different, but then, most of this stuff is 'here today, gone tomorrow' in the pop medium, be it anime, film, tv, music, propaganda... It's all mostly mechanical anyway... it's just us, after acquiring more experience, that want more... usually more than these so-called 'artists' can deliver.... another sign of the our times... History as we know it is essentially propaganda, like how all so-called 'terrorism' has always been state sponsored from Romeo and Juliet to the Roman Republic or today in any American city or field of war we create around the world.

I think this would work well as a live action project... just clean up the writing/storytelling as previously mentioned... it really isn't hard to do, as the first half of this series seemed a comedy with time to kill... then the sister's death pivoted the storyline into a completely different path that went into hyperdrive by the end.... but the basis of the story are strong, a good mix of the usual tropes, packaged up nicely, just not delivered well within the limits of this project of 13 eps. It could be done as a film in much less time as others here have mentioned... this project's creators seem to have changed their minds halfway into it, as others here have said... not sure why, but it could still be fixed in a live action version. The problem is live action cost a lot more... especially when special effects come into play. The storytelling could be re-edited to make it work better, like in the film "Jump" a decade or so ago... makes no sense if he goes to check out his old 'girl' friend after the bad guys are after him, so just reposition those scenes... and that one had big stars because they expected sequels. Yes, it's true.

Overall, this packaged product isn't bad, I kind of liked it, but then I didn't watch it one ep at a time, which is becoming an old way of distribution these days. I think this project needed someone overseeing it that those involved respected, because any story editor would've pointed out these obvious mistakes early on... if it was in the script, if they had a script and didn't start production without one. It happens, but shouldn't. But I still think it's a good packaged product overall, but obviously could've been much better with those fixes... though I wouldn't buy it, nor would I watch it again, as it is typical trope material... but arranged well, some interesting characters, just not presented efficiently, nor effective emotionally, as expected by this guy's previous works. The whole package seems like a shortcut for some reason. How can they go slow and easy in the beginning and then jam the gears into overdrive by the end with little to connect them other than our last remaining main character? It seems rushed, like the production was running out of money, time or something, which is what others here have said before.... it's like they took the middle out, made a few edits and rushed the end... but again, it still worked, even if not as well as it could have, but that is typical of most works, don't you think? The core story still works, only it all seems rushed, as if it went from an idea to editing too fast, especially for a writer with more time to reflect on his ideas usually, not that it will hurt him too soon. It is like this in Hollywood, sports etc.... once you get a good reputation from previous big successes, a few smaller ones won't stop the next one, especially as this is a business, and the studios are always looking for more product to fill their timeslots/pipelines/theatres/arenas. They could actually take this and just redo it, repackage it with those mistakes in the storytelling fixed, as the writer was saying he was going to do after Angel Beats.... maybe in a decade he'll get it right? Chances are, he will get that chance.... if the product continues to sell, and make money. Not sure he's really making progress along that line, this one seems more of a departure into other ideas like scifi or action genres, the emotional overload wasn't present by the end, never really is in a main character that essentially loses it by the end. I wonder if he sold this as one thing but really wanted to try out these other ideas for a change? Then tried to fix it? Or is someone at the studio responsible for that 'fix'? Not sure we'll know anytime soon. There were times when it went emotional, but then it went back to the action, the powers, etc... Disjointed... but overall, the basic storyline worked, which is the essential aspect of this afterall.... a disjoined mess, but still worked well enough to fill it's time slot.

That said, there are various aspects that work such as this cometary affect of Charlotte, which, as other passings have shown, does induce EM field affects on the DNA of the area affected. check out those studies of Tunguska in 1908. If the writer knew anything about this, it could have been added in the world setup at any time, but as is usually the case, the writers don't really know much about the specific data points they use, the 'magic' etc.... as his past work demonstrated in latin style magical realism.... it's just used as a backdrop or a gimmick here and in most projects...much like a trope is. It would make a better world setup, giving it more gravitas, even if not understood by most... it would 'feels' stronger/more substantial... same with the 'terrorists', the superpowers etc.... little tidbits like how they loose their powers once out of their teens.. blame the changing DNA! why not? if it can turn on, it can turn off, epigenetically right? This would present the potential for a sequel in that a very, very select few would indeed retain their powers.

THis is what I was thinking as I watched this... pretty typical in the first half, then the death of the sis, which is unusual as I didn't know the hype, the warnings etc. Warnings to the potential audience ahead of time??? OK!!! Heard that here afterwards, not a good sign at all, I wonder if marketing told him to say that in order to save their audience ratings?

One problem not dealt with is that all the kids in this school already do or would soon understand, including the MC's sister, what is going in in this school, why they are there... they would all be informed, prepared etc.... not kept in the dark about it, as that makes them less safe, not more, all grouped together in one spot for the 'bad guys' to find and select them.... Same problem in the Harry Potter series... history class should've been the exact opposite of how it was portrayed.... a sign the writer isn't esoteric by a long shot and is merely using this situation as a backdrop for the story.... another weakness that could easily be corrected in a live action project... just saying.

But overall, as a troped project, it still works, and goes to show how these projects can be manufactured quite easily, perhaps not as effective emotionally et al, but still get the job done. I was about to give up on this one until the sister died.... that got my attention that the story was finally going plac es. I didn't remember his previous works to realize this is one of his usual plot devices, so it didn't bother me as it did so many here, watching it one episode at a time, a week apart, which I think makes a huge difference. You can let a lot slide if you are watching one ep after the next until you get bored.

It was interesting to read all the comments from last year's release... all correct assessments in my opinion, though IMO, it still worked. This guy knows how to setup these concepts, only this execution was incomplete... and I wonder if he was trying to do different things? We'll find out probably with his next project.

[TheSphinx]

Just finished Charlotte. so here goes my thoughts.
Great start! Ayumi dying made a great message. Yuu falling into depravity then rise back is good. The blind vocalist's ep was beautiful. NaoxYuu climatic romance build up was way Thumbs up!
Then u mess it with just two words "time-travel".
And that's where Charlotte start spiralling downwards. The story made no sense for me. New side characters were completely useless, even Yuu's brother. And it seems to me that Nao is a lot capable leader than him. Maybe I got caught up figuring out the villanous org that keeps outsmarting them, then their arc was over after 2 eps.
The writer seems good at making episodic stories and sucks at making long narrative and climatic arcs and just puts useless twists here and there. And that hurted the supposedly beautiful last episode. W/c would've awesome if not for its trashy build up.
Hence, the 6/10 thanks to awesome animation, beautiful music and Nao, who could've been an iconic anime character if the writer had upped his game and wrote a great story.