Charlotte

The way I look at Charlotte is like a show that started off buzzing with potentially well-thought ideas. Then as time went on, it really crashed and burned. Like almost pouring rice.

Charlotte, an original show conceived by Jun Maeda, is a series made by Aniplex and P.A. Works. The series takes place in a world where a small percentage of people manifest supernatural powers. While this hardly sounds original, Charlotte does have a unique presence with its characters. Yuu Otosaka, a first year student at Hoshinoumi Academy, developed his ability to possess others temporarily and made himself a fake academic honor student. The first ... episode establishes himself as a narcissistic individual who uses his powers for personal gains.

Now, this actually sounds kind of like a neat idea. The ability to possess others can really have a dominating effect especially for someone like Yuu. Early episodes establish him using this ability with some dangerous risks. That is until we have a girl named Nao Tomori who catches Yuu using his ability and forces him to join the student council in order to help others with these unique abilities. Like Yuu though, Nao also shows a narcissistic side of herself and for some reason lacks female friends. A good portion of Charlotte shows her using a camera filming events around her life. Joining them includes Jojiro Takajo, a boy who can apparently move at supersonic speed, and Yusa Nishimori, a popular idol singer who can channel the dead. As part of the early phases, the show takes on a slice of life focus. Every episode essentially shows the members of the student council use their ability to help others and prevent troublemakers from causing chaos. This sometimes comes at high risk as some abilities can be quite dangerous. And as such, the show maintains a somewhat dark side with some minor foreshadowing. Furthermore, we are also introduced to Yuu’s little sister Ayumi, who is like an energetic light bulb that can brighten anyone’s day; figuratively of course.

With a small cast of main characters such as this, Charlotte essentially had a good story going. Yes, some of the episodes feels like distractions that incorporate generic school life activities such as baseball or outdoor camping trips. However, the show originally maintained a cool level of comedy. It can make the viewer laugh such as with Joiro’s over-exaggerated expressions of his obsession towards Yusa. Ayumi can also be likable at times with her bright personality that seemingly has some influences towards others. Everything originally was standard and then, trouble hits.

I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Jun Maeda is known for his involvement in Key related works. These include Kanon, Air, and Clannad. Some recurring themes include family values, magical realism, and his intention to draw tears from the viewers with emotional scenarios. So here for Charlotte, it really isn’t much of a surprise that there’s a familiar trend. The first few episodes sets up a lot of fun and actually works hand in hand. Then, the second half of the show kicks into a darker tone with the story. And to be quite frank honest, it feels like the show got possessed. It turns into a series that forcefully tries to draw out emotional impact starting with Yuu’s depression. There is a good reason for this but the transitional direction of his character really is an oddball. Furthermore, Yuu’s role becomes somewhat like a savior to protect a certain someone. It’s like Yuu almost became another person as the story progresses. The turning point of the series makes Yuu look like a hero but is really one? Honestly no. In fact, Yuu is more of the anti-hero and without a certain person’s help, I fear what he really may become. The recurring themes written by Jun Maeda comes into full hold as we get alternate worlds, timelines, and loops. And in general, the show changes way too much for its own good. A major problem I found throughout the latter half of the story is the numerous plot holes that appears out of nowhere. Furthermore, there are the continuous jokes that becomes apparently blend after seeing it so many times. The mood of the story constantly changes from one point to another that eventually becomes almost intolerable. It’s also fairly predictable and has some fairly anti-climactic resolutions to problems. Despite this, I do give Charlotte some credit for taking the risk. I think the show is more suited for certain audiences that appreciates the writing style of Jun Maeda. Otherwise, Charlotte will take some enormous patience especially to get answers to wanted questions. These include the meaning of Charlotte, how Yuu’s relationship with others changes, and what true essence of some of the characters’ powers are. As with I mentioned earlier on, there’s a strong uphold about family values that is easily carved out with Yuu and Ayumi’s relationship.

Speaking of relationships, the most noticeable one is probably Yuu and Nao throughout the series. In several ways, they are similar but hard to get along. Yuu’s change builds a more stable relationship with her as time goes on. However, when it comes to love or romance, the series drops the ball. You’ll have to see it for yourself but it’s something that’s easily forgettable. That also brings back to my earlier problems with the show. Some of the characters establishes their presence such as Zhiend’s singer but are later seemingly forgotten. There could have been a more meaningful relationship that they can forge and leave viewers to remember for. Instead, too many things happen at once and the final few episodes really seems like it’s trying to fit everything into a box. Yuu’s attempt to become some sort of savior makes me feel like he really isn’t suitable for the job. And lastly, I think the glasses guy (Tokajo) and Yusa’s relevance in the series slipped like sands of an hourglass. Of course, their relationship hardly moved an inch.

Now I will say this. Charlotte makes its name and presence known with its high level production values. Once again, we see the colorful style of P.A. Works’ characters and a few of the scenes in the show can be described as scenery porn. While the character designs are usually generic, the powers themselves holds a dominating presence. Yuu’s ability to possess others is heightened by the way the art is done with his eyes while there’s also neat camera focuses of characters’ facial expressions. The OP and ED theme song has a mystical presence that invests on its show’s themes and foreshadowing. As such, the cinematography and overall animation for Charlotte is exceptional and is something to remember.

When a show mixes in comedy and tragedy, you’ll need to transit both with a fitting way to match the presentation. While not as strong as its artwork, Charlotte’s soundtrack works well on most parts. Dialogues matches with character voice mannerisms and the OST in general is easy to keep up with depending on the shift of the tone. For voice mannerism itself, the characters are represented in a tolerable way whether it’s Yuu’s narcissism, Ayumi’s hyperactive energy, Yusa’s charming personality, or even her other self, who is almost a complete opposite of Yusa’s character. The show also retains some musical themes as introduced in later episodes although the songs can be questionably enjoyable. For all other things though, Charlotte’s soundtrack is satisfactory without breaking the limits.

Charlotte is pretty much a show that is hard to accept. I think taking Charlotte for granted for what it is originally was easier for some people but as the story progresses, it becomes more and more difficult to tolerate. This is evidenced by its sharp turn in characterization, story mood changes, and reused ideas coming from Jun Maeda. As a show that tries far too hard to induce drama or tear-jerking moments, it really didn’t succeed in such a way. Now I will admit though, Charlotte’s comedy can make the fans laugh a bit and the premise can seem to be interesting. The first few episodes were really fun to watch and although had a plotless direction focused well on what it is. Just be aware that the second half of the show will take a drastic change and whether you like it or not, it’s hard to adapt with. And honestly, that’s a certain kind of blunder.

Charlotte is another one of those controversial anime which you see people complaining about *everywhere* yet it still actually has pretty decent ratings. From this we can deduce that there are probably a lot of people hating on it mostly because everyone else is doing it and they don't want to stand out, and/or that the show is mostly successful among casual viewers who don't bother speaking their mind about it over the internet to begin with. It all sounds uncannily similar to the public view on Sword Art Online in that sense, doesn't it? And in the same way, while Charlotte is certainly not ... on the same level as most of Jun Maeda's earlier works, there are still countless anime significantly worse than this. The world doesn't solely consist of black and white.

Charlotte is a story about people with super powers. Only temporary and highly imperfect ones yes, but super powers all the same. It follows the life Otosaka Yuu, an initially arrogant high-schooler who has the ability to take control of people's minds for five seconds at a time; an ability he has used to cheat his way to the highest grades of his school. That is until he one day gets caught red-handed by an unknown girl who is seemingly aware of his ability, Tomori Nao, who then forces him and his sister to transfer into her own school instead: a special school built solely for students with supernatural abilities. And thus their new lives begin as Yuu and his newfound companions struggle through their lives as they attempt to fit into society, as well as do their best to stay away from any scientists who might seek to turn them into experimental guinea pigs.

Now the first problem with Charlotte is simply that the first five episodes are rather... uninteresting to say the least, and feel mostly like filler. These episodes pretty much run on an "ability user of the week" theme, as they are all separate stories about Yuu and his friends having to find and subjugate some person abusing his/her super power in some manner of fashion. But there is no semblance of coherence to it, and it doesn't feel like the main plot is going anywhere at all. Or rather it doesn't feel like any sort of main plot even exists. It's mostly just quirky over-the-top comedy similar to what we saw in Angel Beats and not a whole lot more.

It isn't until episode six that the main story actually starts out for real. Here the story immediately takes a significantly darker turn, which was clearly written for shock value. Then it gets a lot more interesting for a few episodes (though Yuu's character development still feels highly unrealistic), but as it gets closer to its climax, Charlotte starts feeling a bit like an unfinished mess script-wise. I'm not going to spoil any details of course, but there are a ridiculous amount of ideas that are juggled with towards the end of the story, and it feels like the plot takes a whole new direction with every new episode. One week it felt like I was watching Steins;Gate. The other it was Zankyou no Terror. Etcetera. Really it doesn't feel like the plot even knows where it wants to go, and as a result you get a jumbled mishmash of a storyline in the grand scheme of things. Also as an inevitable result of this, there are many plot elements which feel rather poorly thought-out. When you take a completely unexpected direction with the plot, you better have done the groundwork for it to make sense, but Charlotte doesn't always do this because some of the twists feel more like plot holes than anything else simply because earlier events seem to contradict them. In addition, despite the now more serious general atmosphere of the show, it still insists on reusing the silly comedic elements of its opening episodes every so often, but unlike those, it no longer feels appropriate at all. Oh and if you're looking for some sort of tear-jerking drama in this anime like Jun Maeda normally specializes in, you should probably look someplace else because Charlotte really isn't that kind of story at all. Rather the only drama it really has is quite cheesy, and among other things contains a pretty forced and unnatural romance subplot, but even that is still nothing more than a secondary aspect of the story.

The characters are nothing spectacular, but I find them likeable enough for the most part. In the very beginning, Yuu is the spitting image of Lelouch both in terms of personality and super power which thrilled me quite a lot, but sadly he calms down and becomes more of a standard protagonist pretty quickly. Nao is rather hotheaded and violent, but still very caring for her friends and family on the inside. The other main characters primarily consist of other ability users from the school, including the pop idol Yusarin who has a quite unique take on the "split personality" concept, as well as the glasses guy Joujirou who possesses the ability to teleport... sort of. There is also the rather overwhelming little sister Ayumi whom I know a lot of people disliked quite a lot, but she's treated more like a plot device than anything else throughout the story. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing though is debatable.

The production value however, as you may expect from P.A. Works, is top tier. While it doesn't look quite as mesmerizing as some of their earlier works such as Nagi no Asukara, it is still absolutely beautiful to look at. The character designs and the scenery both look amazing. The music is equally on point, which again may only be expected given the people behind it. The OP and ED are both among the very best of the year for sure.

But although it may be pretty to look at and listen to, that is sadly not all there is to an anime, and Charlotte falls flat in the more important categories instead. I really felt like the story always had potential, but it never really got itself together. I felt like I was constantly waiting for some clever plot twist that would make all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and suddenly explain why all the questionable plot twists played out the way they did... but it never really happened. Episode nine did a good job with clearing up everything up to that point, but as for the events of the last few episodes... I'm afraid I can't say the same. As a result, the ending isn't exactly the best one I've ever seen.

Despite everything though, I still somehow found Charlotte fairly entertaining from start to finish. Admittedly a lot of that probably just comes from the initial hype the series had, but even when it started to get more and more problematic script-wise, it didn't exactly get boring. And that is still the most important aspect in my mind, given that anime is, after all, nothing but entertainment media in the end.

Charlotte feels kind of like an incomplete experimental anime which tries to do too many things at the same time, and as a result doesn't really succeed with any of them. Rather it leaves more holes than answers instead. But it still manages to keep you guessing and curious about what kind of curveball it's going to throw at you next. Does that make it a good anime? Maybe not, but despite all its problems I still can't make myself hate it. While it's certainly a very flawed anime, I still had fun watching it.

Now if only we could all learn to not hype series up to the second tier of heaven before they start airing; it only makes the disappointment feel all the greater when it doesn't live up to the expectations in the end.

If I were to summarize Charlotte, it would be like trying to make soup by throwing all your favorite foods into a pot. It doesn’t work like that.

So what are our ingredients?

1) Good-looking audience surrogate male protagonist. 2) Equally good-looking female protagonist with tragic backstory. 3) Super kawaii imouto. 4) Glasses-wearing idol fanboy. 5) Moe idol character. 6) High school setting. 7) Government baddies. 8) Supernatural abilities 9) Deaths, but not really. 10) Romantic subplot…see where I’m going with this?

The biggest problem for Charlotte seems to be its inherent lack of confidence in having compelling characters and telling an interesting story. Hell, ... when the director himself admits that the anime doesn’t pick up until episode 6, something is definitely wrong here. Indeed, the first five episode are incredibly formulaic, yet acts as if it isn’t. Charlotte doesn’t trust its audience enough to be able to accept what it does, and thus ends up spelling everything out. Why must we be constantly reminded how good-looking Yuu and Tomori are, how much of a turn off Joujirou is, and how despicable the government/scientists are? Only if you didn’t think these elements could be interesting at face-value.

Chef Charlotte suffers by trying way too hard and playing it way too safe. The mood of this series is jarring, shifting from humorous to tragic to “heartfelt” in seconds. Which could work and is possible (see Gintama), but the problem is that it oversells these moments. The jokes work the first time since humor is effective when it’s over-the-top, but quickly becomes a recycled tool. The dramatic moments are overdone with its constant rage-faces and Supersaiyan-esque screaming. It tries to force in moments of fan service like Yusarin’s singing under the mask of plot development. The more risky ingredients like death and romance are either haphazardly tossed in or negated altogether. Don’t add things if you’re not going to see them through.

If the most delicious part of this anime is the omurice with pizza sauce, then I think the director needs to go back to culinary school.

When I first heard of this anime i was interested to start watching it , it was written by the same team behind Angel Beats ! one of my favorite series as well as being an original title. When i finished the anime all it did was leave a sour taste in my mouth.

Story :
The first 8 episodes were actually decent and enjoyable for me , there was actually build up and character development throughout those 8 epsiodes with tons of interesting character interactions among the characters. Not only that , there was actually a sense of progression which was sorely lacking ... in the second half. However i really felt like the encounters with the other ability users could have been cut shorter instead of dedicating an entire episode to it but that might just be me.

Now for the episodes after 8 or what i would like to call the 2nd half , the 2nd is actually a lot darker which was a change i personally really liked , but was it executed properly ? Hell no, everything was off in the 2nd half. The pacing was incredibly poorly done , everything was going so fast that it left you overwhelmed with question it never truly answers. It also undoes everything the first 8 episodes were building up for and then proceeds to throw all the character development down the drain. This was personally something i couldn't look past , why make something major that changed all the characters then proceed to take all the impact that it had away by undoing it ?

Next is the ending , Oh. My. God. How could someone actually write an ending like this and release it is beyond me. I have no idea how to describe it to you since this is an entity on its own. Go watch it and you will know what i mean.

Characters :
My main problem with this anime actually lies on its characters and while i enjoyed the main characters and their interactions with others i have to say that aside from 2 characters which was Nao and Otosaka none of the others were given enough development to make me actually feel attached to them at all and this is due to the massive influx of characters that the show keeps on pouring in as the episodes progressed. An example would be Ayumi , being a major character that played a part in progressing the story , she was given so little screen time and development that i really didn't care or felt attached at all to her character. She was the typical little sister character that was there for the sake of being there , same goes to the majority of characters in the anime , they are given so little development and was just there for the story to move forward which is disappointing coming from the people who made Angel Beats.

Art :
One of the saving points of this anime is actually its art and animation , the characters were designed pretty well and backgrounds were beautifully made. There were some scenes where i just paused and observed how beautifully drawn the background , some fighting scenes were insanely well animated as well so kudos to the people behind the art and animation you guys deserve a cookie.

Sound:
The voice actors actually did a really decent job in voicing the characters , all of them sounded like i expected them to sound which was a huge plus for me. The OST and songs that were used for the OP and ED were also pretty amazing and this is definitely one of the merits of this show

Overall :

While i enjoyed some parts of this show I couldn't look past the faults to give it a score higher then 5/10. I left the show with a ton of questions and was given an ending that left me unsatisfied , perhaps it could have done a better job with 24 episodes but at its current state a 5/10 is all i could give it.

"What do you think happened to the first person who ever voiced a different opinion?" - a quote from Charlotte I found to be quite fitting.

Being a fan of Angel Beats! I was excited to hear that Jun Maeda was creating another anime original that was described as the spiritual successor to Angel Beats! I was even more happy to hear that Jun Maeda planned on fixing all the problems that plagued Angel Beats! with Charlotte.

After finishing Charlotte all I can say is their attempt at fixing Angel Beats! problems just brought a whole bunch of new problems to Charlotte. Despite my rating for Charlotte ... and its problems, I still actually thoroughly enjoyed Charlotte, at least for a majority of the episodes.

---Spoilers Below---

Here's a list of pros I found:
-Good concept. The idea of a world with some teens developing unique super powers really intrigued me.
-Good soundtrack. I especially like the ED: Yake Ochinai Tsubasa
-Good art and animation. As expected of P.A. Works.
-Interesting two main characters introduced at the start. (Yuu and Nao)

Cons:
-Bland side characters. They get almost no development whatsoever.
-Yuu's character development is a mess.
-Rushed pacing. One minute everyone is playing cards, the next minute someone has been kidnapped.
-The story feels like a jumble of ideas that they tried cramming into 13 episodes.
-Deus ex Machina ending. How did they find a single lone person in China? It's never explained.
-Running jokes that are almost never funny.
-The characters have some idiotic moments just to get the plot moving. Let's approach some highly prepared terrorists that have hostages with hardly any plan at all!
-Many things left unexplained. Ever wondered why Nao is bullied? You have to read the freaking MANGA to get a vague explanation on it: http://i.imgur.com/yzNPJid.png
-Random unexplained events appearing to move the plot forward. Terrorist appearing without any foreshadowing at all?

To expand on some of the above. Yusa and Takajou have almost no importance to the story at all, we hardly learn anything about them and they don't make any large lasting impact on the story other than continuing to be friends with Yuu after everything.
This is especially obvious with Takajou since he's pretty much there as Yuu's friend and comic relief with no actual development at all.
Speaking of character development Yuu's personality is... confusing. Despite showing signs of being quite cunning and described and introduced as a narcissist he never really shows these traits after the first episode and acts like a generic MC with a bit of snark. The only defining trait I found that sticks with him throughout the whole series is... having a sister complex.

Story: 5
Art/Animation: 8
Sound: 8
Character: 3
Enjoyment: 6
Overall: 5

MINOR SPOILERS:

~~~~

The plot is wasted potential. So much wasted potential. I'll list the reasons why it's just so crap later on. First, let's get the good stuff out of the way:

THE GOOD: ART + SOUND

The opening song was so good it was stuck in my head. Trust me when I say it's rare nowadays. The voice actors are good and give life to the characters, particularly one character who had a split personality of sorts. The voice actress really made the two personalities feel distinct.

The art is beautiful, with plenty of beautiful environments. The last stretch of the anime had the main character roaming the ... world, and the art team really showed their talent there.

Now let's move on to the crappy part.

THE BAD: STORY + CHARACTERS

They were fantastic in the first 8 episodes. The main character started out as a power hungry jackass, but you could see him mellow throughout the first half. There were lots of feels as well, with episode 2 and episode 7 being the standouts. The characters were interesting, and you could feel them becoming closer throughout those episodes as they worked together over and over. Even though they were just archetypes, they were still likable because of their interactions together.

Then episode 9 hit. Jesus christ. You could tell the writing team panicked at this point and threw any sort of good pacing and storytelling out the window to fit the grand scheme of the story in properly.


Three characters were introduced, but all they did was introduce their abilities then were regulated in the background. They never use their ability onscreen after they show what it is.

Through a convenient deus ex machina, they gave the protagonist the ability to completely undo a key part of his character development, and erased two episode's worth for every other character. A villain was introduced then immediately dropped IN THE SAME EPISODE (what the f*ck?).

Another character dies, forcing an emotional response from his closest friend (which has one scene's worth of development). Two of the main cast from the first eight episodes were all but ignored. One of them was given a proper ending to her arc...but since they barely developed the arc, they tried to develop and end it within a four minute scene.

The romantic arc came to a close so fast that it was a slap in the face. There was practically no payoff for any shippers around the world. At this point, you might as well not put in a resolution and let the fans speculate.

The journey around the world happened in ONE EPISODE. A single episode. Timeskip after timeskip after timeskip. There was so much potential to be had here, but they just condensed him literally travelling to every country in the world to a mere twenty minutes. There was so much missed here it hurt.

The last four episodes completely ruin the story of the anime. Just thinking about it is disappointing.

Key, as the king of visual novel adaptations, has in recent years, brought us many a story that have brought people in the anime community to tears and/or just a rather nice story. So, in partnership with P.A. Works, a godly animation studio known for fantastic animation, what kind of story comes with Charlotte, Key's newest original work?

Story: Otosaka Yuu is a boy with an amazing ability. Born with the ability to take over someone's body, he is able to control that person's will and make them do whatever he wants. However, he is only able to do so for five seconds. ... This has been able to as a result, help him cheat in tests at school in order to make him seem like a smart guy. In an attempt to try and woo over the school idol, Yuu comes in contact with Tomori Nao, a girl who has an ability just like him, the ability of invisibility. (Though only against one person.) He is then told that he will transfer into a school built for the sole purpose of housing ability wielders, and that Yuu will join the student council in the hunt for saving people with abilities.

The main story of Charlotte follows Yuu's journey into the world of abilities and ability users. With the rest of the student council president, primarily Nao, Yuu goes episode-by-episode dealing with various ability users and the impacts that they as people have because of the ability they have. The obvious issue with this is the fact that the Charlotte becomes very repetitive. For about half of the entire series, Charlotte is basically the same story with just a rehash of who the ability user for the episode is. As a result, the show doesn't really have much variation in its first half and the idea of slogging through six episodes worth of what is essentially the same story, isn't a very exciting prospect.

However, beyond episode six, the story becomes very...different as I should say. From the start of episode 7, the story makes a complete shift on what it was doing before, and made a complete turn on what it's focus was. Making Yuu as the primary focus for this section of the anime, the show elevated what it could do for a little while, but...then fell down to some explanations that while kind of make sense in the grand scheme of the anime, didn't really fit in because they weren't integrated correctly. The main issue with this is the sheer convenience of some points that they leave behind. Especially in the last few episodes, a couple things don't make sense and as a result, leave quite a bit to be desired. They add in a lot of factors to the equation of this anime and because of the time crunch, weren't explained and as a result, failed to add anything but confusion and questions to the series.

Character development in Key anime is generally one of the more sought after things in a Key anime. Since the shows are relatively solely character-based, a Key anime is a Key anime if it provides a lot of character development and growth of the cast. Charlotte does this rather successfully primarily with Yuu. Since the show completely focuses on his perspective, most of the character growth appears in Yuu and turns him into a pretty good character, channeling as much of the screentime that it can possibly allow to shape his personality, sometimes spending entire episodes to shape him up, which helps the series out immensely. However, as a result, unlike Yuu, the rest of the characters either get some to help shape them up, or are simply just non-existent. Aside from the main female protagonist, Nao, the other characters don’t really get that kind of development and as such, are kind of left in the dust in that sense.

All in all, Charlotte’s story is a lot like the way abilities work in this show. It’s good, but there’s always some kind of heavy drawback for it. For the story, there was always some kind of drawback for the show whenever it decided to be good, which made the show less glamorous than it could be. Still though, the show ended on a very soft and nice note that brought the story to a relatively sweet conclusion. Still raised quite a few questions questions, but a good ending nonetheless. (I'm talking about the last few minutes of the show. Everything before that, don't even mention it.)

Overview:
+ Lots of character development (though only for one character)
+ Good midpoint
+ Good bittersweet ending
- Episodic first half
- Lack of character depth for a lot of characters
- Rushed ending
- Many plot holes

Characters: Characters in Charlotte go into one of two camps. Either they’re important like Nao and Yuu, or they’re there to aid the plot like everyone else.

First, let’s start with the main protagonist of the series, Otosaka Yuu. As a boy with the ability to possess someone’s body for a grand total of five seconds, Yuu is very proud individual as he utilizes his ability for nothing more than dirty, dirty cheating. As a bit of a narcissist, Yuu takes full pride of his ability and uses it as nothing more than a way to make himself look good in front of the populous. As the main aforementioned protagonist of the series, Yuu is the character that absorbs most of the character development in the series. As the series moves along, Yuu stats to change out from his narcissist personality and turns into someone who genuinely cares for the people around him and wishes to help people out. This turnaround is one of the pinnacle moments of the series and one of the reasons why it's good.

And then we have Tomori Nao, the main female protagonist of the series with the ability of invisibility. (Though she is limited to only being invisible towards one person.) As the character that becomes most often associated with Yuu, Tomori is a girl who bears a similar personality to the man she meets and learns about. She's a bit narcissistic herself and doesn't hold back on anything in order to get the job done. She's a great character because she actually feels like a character. While she doesn't have the same volume of character growth as Yuu has, she stands alone as her own person and as someone who really helps Yuu, both traits which make her a great character.

The rest of the cast mostly falls into the "plot device" section, due to the fact that the show really doesn't put much character development into them. Emphasis on any characters that play a key part in the series really only serve as a way to provide more development to the main characters, primarily Yuu, and as such are generally related to plot progression rather than actual characters. Hell, the other student council members are shelved off for half of the series, and they are supposedly main characters.

Overview:
+ Great character development
+ Good main characters
- Every other character is either plot device, or only brought up or involved when needed

Art: The art in Charlotte was made by P.A. works and Key, and due to this combo, is GLORIOUS. The art for Charlotte is by far one of the best qualities of the series on account of its sheer detail. Every scene in Charlotte is made with a stunning background and fantastic quality, making each part of this series look like a work of art. (I mean, dat sunset though...)

In addition, the characters in the series are also rather well designed, as they flow very nicely into the style of art and host the same kind of quality that the backgrounds and the rest of the series has. It's a breathtaking style that really brings a lot of beauty to the series, overall making it a very good show aesthetically.

Overview:
+ FANTASTIC ART (That's all I have to say)

Sound: Similarly, the soundtrack for Charlotte is a group of tracks that are great pieces to hear. The OP gives off a very whimsical feel and tie into the series' more serious tones in the latter half of the series while also creating a bit of a pleasant tone.

The ED in Charlotte plays off as a very hopeful and calming song that ties into the character ties that the series has. With this, the show brings a wonderfully whimsical group of songs that add to the aesthetics of the series.

Overview:
+ Good soundtrack
+ Decently memorable

Personal Enjoyment: Out of the entire summer season, Charlotte was one of the few shows that I was really looking forward to. As it was a Key work with P.A. helping out with its production, one could only hope to see what could come out from that combo, and in the end, I was pleased.

Did I enjoy this anime?

Yes, in fact, I did; far too much, in fact. Its character development for Yuu is one of the best parts of this series and seeing him change was a nice storyline to follow. Plus, Nao-chan is an amazing character; she really brings quite an interesting thing to this series. (Also Ayumi's nano-desu. Nano-desu!)

What didn't I like about this anime?

My biggest complaint with Charlotte is how it didn't completely explain itself. The last few episodes focused on a plotline that had an outside group going against our characters in the series. They didn't explain this all too much so that left a bad taste in my mouth. They also didn't really make use of a lot of the cast members since only Yuu and Tomori took the brunt of the screentime and the story, making those two the only true characters in the story, and as a result, made everyone else a bit lackluster in comparison.

Would I recommend this anime?

To be fair, it's mixed. On one hand, we have great aesthetics with its soundtrack and artstyle, as well as refreshing main characters, but at the same time, we have a spindly story with a resolution for the last episode plotline that seemed completely out of the ballpark, as well as an entire cast that doesn't really show themselves to be anything more than plot progression. So really, it's your choice. If you want a great looking show without caring about specifics in the plot, then you might like this. However, if you plan on watching for a good story, then, you might be out of luck.

This is a short and spoiler free review.

Long story short: If you liked Angel Beats, you'll like this anime too.

It has the same characters, who have the same sad back stories, the same high school setting, the same love-hate relationship between the protagonists, similar excuses for including music in the series (pop idol + post punk rock band) and VERY similar looking protagonists (Visually and character wise, Nao is an amalgamation of Yuki and Angel)

My biggest problem with this anime was how it went from comedy/slice of life to X-Men to [insert name of any dramatic anime] to Tokyo Ghoul to Attack on Titan ... real quick. But I guess that shouldn't surprise me - Angel Beats was an equal mess when it came to the story and various story arcs. The ending was anti-climatic, so that's another negative for me.

But I'll give where credit is due - the relationships explored here were more organic and natural, than in AB (where I felt the relationships/love angle was forced just for fan service).

In my opinion, though, from now on I'll be avoiding any anime coming from these writers. Not my cup of tea.

Everyone is so hype for this show. One, it's by Jun Maeda - the creator who gave us shows that hits us right in the feels like Clannad and Angel Beats. Now, he presents a new show and does it live up to the hype?

Well, Charlotte starts of mysteriously. Some humans of this world have superpowers but it isn't perfect. For example, Yuu Otosaka can take over humans but he can only use it in 5 seconds. Then, there is this group of friends who stopped Yuu from abusing his powers as scientists can capture him and tells him that this superpower cannot be used ... when you're at your adolescent stage.

Pretty engaging? Sounds like it but from the second to it's fifth episode is really pure character development between Yuu, Nao, Yusarin, Joujirou and of course, Yuu's little sister, Ayumi. If you're not a big fan of slice of life then, there are higher chances that you might drop the show around there but, I would advice not to. Episode 6 is really where it starts to engage and the current episode (7) is hitting us right in the feels.

What I don't like from most people is that when they cry buckets, it's a great show. Well, to me, we should keep in mind on how well executed was that dramatic scene. Clannad was executed very well however, Angel Beats wasn't. Did Charlotte did it well? You see, here's the thing. There are some executions of this show that throws in a plot device in order for the plot to progress and the character to develop A LOT. For me, this is kind of forced. For example, throwing in some random Yandere and some random terrorist to progress the plot - I thought it wasn't executed very well.

Oh yes. The ending. Was it good? No. The last episode of this anime was very fast-paced that I began to question on how was he able to do this thing in the first place. Not to mention, the ending is bitter. I felt like it was lacking.

The animation isn't a 10/10 but, it is still great. P.A. Works did a great job on the animation giving some detail. For the soundtrack, Charlotte's OST isn't the best. It isn't as good as Angel Beats and it isn't as great as Clannad. However, it isn't really that bad. I mean, the OP theme and Yake Ochinai Tsubasa are really good and it fits the show itself.

For the characters, well, I'll explain the main characters first.

You'll get a Lelouch-like feeling from Yuu Otosaka at the beginning of the show but that feeling fades away once you get to know him. He acts smart but really, he isn't that smart. He has this sense of pride. Same goes to Nao Tomori but, the difference between the two is that, she is smart. Her ability is invisibility.

Joujirou Takajou has the ability to teleport but can't land where and Yusa Kurobane seems to be your typical kawaii girl but she has a possession of her old sister (Who is dead) and has pyrokinesis.

Who could ever forget the imouto of Yuu - Ayumi. She's a girl who has this cheerful personality.

All I can say is that these characters are enjoyable in my opinion but, they are kind of cliche. Not all cliche are bad though. They are on this show because they have a purpose on the plot.

Okay, that's for the positives. I liked the characters a lot. However, by around episode 10, they started throwing more characters that I do not even know very well. Sure, there were flashbacks but, I wish a lot of them were properly developed.

Again, Jun Maeda repeats the same mistake he had from Angel Beats! and that is how fast-paced the show is. Again, 13 episodes isn't really enough and I do not know if this is really his style of writing.

Though, despite these flaws, I enjoyed the show. My enjoyment kind of ignored a bit of it's flaws but sometimes, we have to admit it. These flaws were really big and I cannot just score this show around 9/10. I mean, during the 12th episode, I cried a little because of the characters mainly between Yuu and Nao. So, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the show. Though, what killed my enjoyment factor is the ending. Really, it sucks.

Do I recommend this show to anyone? Well, yeah but, it's best if you lower your expectations.

Score: 6/10

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Ch means Charlatanry

Thus a new creation of famous authors - Jun Maeda and studio P.A. Works is in front of us. Even before relise fans were rubbing their's hands, cause it's the maestro Maeda himself - author of Angel Beats. This will necessarily be a masterpiece. That's why it is Must Watch. I pecked at the bait, though I'm not a fan of Maeda's creativity, but I thought it would be interesting to look at a good drama, cause AB left the most positive impression.

The first series left mixed feelings. On the one hand the protagonist, being a Usual Japanese Student, tries to move ... away from the canon. How, you ask? Simply - the invisible hand of the director pushes a button at the right moment and our ward begins to behave like Lelouch British, i.e. pose different faces, devilishly smiling and devilishly laughing in some cases. Though, all of this looks foolishly, but surprisingly quite interesting especially given that the hero also fully uses his power for selfish purposes.

What power, you ask? Oh, I forgot to say - a world where the action of the show will take place is not quite common. Some teenagers in the anime, who have not reached 17 years have super powers. But not simple, and with shortcomings. For example, our hero Otosaka Yuu can move in the body of every person at which he looks, but only for 5 seconds. Wherein his body will solidify in various positions.

So, he could have lived and not grieved - he entered a prestigious university, went on a date with the beauty of the school. But that was until the blonde Tomori Nao - the head of the student council of another school designed for gifted kids, have noticed him. And with the help of her assistant, a classmate Takajou Joujirou, they forced Yuu to transfer to their school. And at the same time a guy has to leave the beauty of the last school.

And why? It turns out that it was a secret haunt on teens Espers. They are caught and put under experiments by evil grown scientists. And a Nao's brother was caught and put under expirements by these guys. As a result, the guy turned into a vegetable which periodically tears the pillow. Actually, this is the essence of the first two series. Where is the catch? Sort of an intriguing outset where the characters are not so simple.

But the catch follows next. Because after the 3rd episode a completely normal everyday life flows where it seems as our team is looking for other owners of super-powers, but the story does not ABSOLUTLY move. Heroes go fishing, playing baseball - everything is just as usual.

However, a fan of Maeda's creativity might say: "you're wrong, because the author reveals his characters." Indeed, there was something like that in the same Angel Beats, but not in Charlotte. A couple of words can be said about the drama, which starts from 6 episode, to describe the heroes - such flat characters thay have.

However, it was watchable, with a disabled brain, sometimes eyes, but watchable.

But then a drama began, no, a bacchanalia began. Number of pianos, disguised as "this is a twist" stupidity, idiocy began to grow exponentially. Sometimes you think that everything is so bad that it can't be worse, but no, Maeda manages to surprise and to make matters worse and more stupid.

To somehow stretch the story out of the deep hole in which it was for 5 episodes, the author introduces some syndicates, time travel, obscure characters, about which no one cares. Instead of answers to various questions arised in the course of the 5 episodes, he only responds to a few, but wherein he adds a bunch of new ones.

Do you think that someone will respond to them in the end? It's a spit from a high tower for the entire studio. And why? Because the viewer guesses everything himself, and then writes that is a masterpiece.

Also pay attention to the development of the character of the protagonist, because it simply does not exist. There is only toggle "Lelouch mod" with two states. There is only toggle "Lelouch mod" two-state "on" and "off" and the director takes his turn between these states when he pleases.

The romance also takes place in the end. Just to be there, nothing more. At the same time I would like to talk about the local humor. Hmm, humor ... So the humor consists of two things.

The first - to repeat the trick as many times as possible. Probably, so it becomes funnier according to the director. Or not? But these are the flowers in comparison to the second point...

The second - a stupid joke, which has even been repeated more than once, ATTENTION, during a serious dramatic moment. Frankly, I was specifically surprised here by Maeda. I have never ever seen such a disregard for the audience. As the analogy, let's take the same Code Geass - the last series of the last season, the viewer is close to tears (or not close), Lelouch, dying, closes his eyes and then... runs a cat wearing a helmet of Zero and everybody rushs to catch him. Can you imagine that? Here we can see a degree of interest of the author that the audience were imbued with drama.

What do we have in the end: the series with a hideous scenario, zany humor, cardboard characters and the only one disclosed more or less, phony drama because of the cardboard characters and happy ending, which crosses all the possible development of the heads of the hero on the vine. And a beautiful opening, which is the more interesting than the series. The title of "grand piano in the bushes" deservedly goes to the previous owner of the Code "yet not grand piano" Geass.

To sum up how I feel about this anime, I STILL DON'T KNOW WHO/WHAT THE FUCK CHARLOTTE IS. Maybe I blinked and missed the part where they gave significant information an insignificant amount of screen time. Okay, I'm being sarcastic, they did mention it but not in a tasteful way. It's like a lot of events felt very sudden and were missing a strong build up.

Story: 3/10, The way this anime's plot played out made me feel as though I was unaware of certain important details that were crucial to the eventual plot development. It wasnt like the potential wasn't there, the idea that children ... are able to break beyond physical limitations so that they have hope to cope with their biggest struggles is a topic I would've enjoyed every bit of. However, the light hearted feel from the first few episodes are later twisted into a melodramatic tragedy. The lack of substance in the effect of the series as a whole might have been caused by the attempt to cover too many topics in a short interval. In the end, I think the plot only succeeded in shocking me as I never would've expected it to go that direction when I started it. Now don't get me wrong I didn't skip any of the episodes especially because everything is drawn so beautifully.

Art: 10/10 I would rewatch this anime just for the visuals alone. It is one of the most visually appealing pieces I've seen so far. I'm a huge fan of PA Works and their anime usually have excellent art. I especially love the scenes where you can see a view of the city or stars because the detailing is mezmerizing.

Sound: 8/10 I really enjoyed the soundtrack for this. Props to music that is actually soothing to the ears. It really relaxes me every time I hear the theme song.

Character: 5/10, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode as the protagonist had a bit of character but then charactor development is largely lacking. The anime features creative side characters but the main characters lack depth that would give them a memorable persona. Props to Nao and her music tastes though and she did have a background story.

Overall: 6/10 I can't say it was terrible because there were definetely parts that made me feel some type of way, but it all felt like they rushed to wrap up the series, thus events that wouldve been impacting were not displayed in a way that would make the audience feel the most out of what's happening.

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First things first, Charlotte was a fairly interesting concept, and the premise of it was one of the things I liked most. The animation was stunning too; vibrant characters and scenery. However, the execution of the show was one of the largest problems of it.

The plot progression was atrocious, 90% of the entire story happened in the last 4 episodes; it felt like everything before hand was almost like a filler. Almost as if nothing happens in the first 5 episodes, a little bit of plot occurs in the next 4, and EVERYTHING happens in the last 4 episodes. Honestly, the final episode could ... have been it's own episode; it contained literally a journey across the entire world, and a reunion with a lover condensed into 20 minutes.

Charlotte introduces several characters, far too many for it's length. Many of the characters are quickly forgotten or thrown aside. Along with it, Charlotte tries to give tragic moments to characters who the viewer doesn't even have a chance to connect with. It's hard to feel bad about the death of a character when you hardly know anything about them.

Charlotte tried too hard to be many things: action, romance, comedy, sports, school, slice of life... it just didn't work out too well in the end. The last episode could have been its own season really. It lacked proper direction and a clear goal in mind; as stated before it muddled around for what felt like half of the series and didn't begin to let the viewer what was the aim or objective of the characters until the late second half.

To conclude, Charlotte was a nice idea that could have been better had it had more direction, and better writing.
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TL;DR

Pros:
- Interesting premise
- Nice animation quality

Cons:
- Plot progression is horrible
- Many characters are 1 dimensional and quickly forgotten
- The show lacked progression
- Wonky conclusion

The anime went in the right direction for character development, then completely scratched it.

There were many things that felt overused and dried the anime out such as Takajou over-obsessing and fawning over Misa, and I actually really used to like his character at first. A lot of the comic scenes were repeated too often for my liking. I'm also not a fan of the main character finding a lover in anime that isn't listed under the romance genre, because they most likely always give some random reason for a character to have feelings for the main character to the point that it just doesn't work ... and appears dull and unreasonable, and sadly a lot of anime do that. Examples being Owari no Seraph, Noragami, and Boku no Hero Academia. I'm just not a fan of forced relationships that don't develop naturally like how love should develop. It shouldn't be just some random crush out of nowhere, however, I'll let Charlotte slide because it was the ending. I still didn't see that much bonding between the two of them and her persona wasn't anything special.

The abilities that people have aren't all that creative, however, their side effects can be, and it's nice to see characters having weaknesses and how differently they use them. That didn't fail. Yuu's "hidden" ability is immensely overpowered and in the final episode they didn't leave out any good use of abilities in the world, which was lovely yet melancholic to see.

The many plot twists worked perfectly and the backstories and deaths were deeply depressing. The anime executed the time travel quite efficiently, and time travel is an easy thing to mess up. A few times, the time travel scenes didn't mention that much, while others mentioned a load. It all really depended on how much you looked into the gaps between what they repeated and what they didn't.

The anime made a drastic change to Yuu's character in episode 7, but for some reason, they decided to discontinue it like it never happened. The comet was also mentioned once and never mentioned again and the English voice acting in the sub was sub-par. The Engrish being spoken by Yuu and others was hilariously adorable though.

Yuu appears to be quite sadistic. Very sadistic. Hella sadistic, and I like it. He still feels human but that little twist of insanity that continues all the way from start to end, switching on and off, is something that I'm definitely a fan of.

The ending was... alright. Although after having him wanted by the whole world with them all trying to kill him, they never mentioned what stopped them from attacking him anymore. Everything just became normal. And what about the vaccines that they mentioned? Who did that?

Overall, it's not the best of anime out there, but it most certainly isn't the worst. With slight improvement, the anime would've been amazing.

Angel Beats was better.

Charlotte had a lot of things going for it. An interesting premise, nice plot twists, entertaining characters, and a great music ensemble, but the execution was too lacking compared the previous Key anime.

Everything in this was too damn rushed. There's many incidents that weren't well explained, too many things been glossed over and certain characters making stupid choices to move the plot along.

There was one surprising good plot twist in the show, after which the episodes pick up in tempo and intensity. I was thinking it had the potential to fix the previous failings, but no. The creators decided to rush ... it yet again and jam everything into one or two episodes. If this was any other anime, it could of been enough material for one or two seasons at least. *sigh* Makes me think this could of been handled sooo better if this had more episodes or done in visual novel format.

Anyway it's not as if this show wasn't entertaining or anything. It was still fun to watch. If it had been more polished and better thought out it could of something truly great. Oh yeah and hopefully next time Key can employ people who can speak accentless english like in their prev work! That terrible Japanese accent is just too distracting in serious scenes.

We could have had it all, Charlotte.

This series started off great. I enjoyed it a lot and for the direction it was going for. I assume I don't need to tell you what it was about, but it was going great for the first half. I didn't mind the episodic format that it took to get us settled into the world of Charlotte. If you're reading this among the many Charlotte reviews already, then you must already know that the second half did not do any justice to the second.

Way too rushed, way too many things going on -- there are just a lot ... of factors that lead to it being a disappointment, at least for me. There were interesting characters all throughout the series. Some, if not most, get the unfair shove to give others more screentime (people who don't like moe or idol-like characters, I guess you should stay away from this show). The art was beautiful, too, and the seiyuus were pretty top-notch. I'm not familiar with the creator's previous work (Clannad? Yeah, I tried but not my cup of tea) but he sounds like someone who knows how to do his job. So in theory, everything should be able to work, right?

Nope. Somehow, I feel like it had all these elements going for it but it just didn't play out well. Maybe it's the 13-episode format? It had major pacing issues. Charlotte will inevitably turn up in various discussions in anime, I believe. So I will stop this rant-filled review from there.

At the end of the day, would I recommend this title to anyone else? Yes, if you're into stories of teenagers with extraordinary super powers and anti-heroes in general. It's quite a ride and despite its many MANY flaws, I enjoyed watching it as well. (I seriously got angry at some parts but that's all part of the ride.) I would not recommend this if you're looking for something with tighter and much more coherent storytelling and arguably something much more substantial or if you're just looking for something mindless to watch. It's quite polarizing in a way.

- REVIEW -
1. ART & ANIMATION
The character designs are like your typical Key show, some look ok, others look generic, but to be honest the character designs look like a bland Angel Beats re-hash/palette swap. Artistic background and designs are amazing, as expected from P.A WORKS everything is touched upon from the smallest details and feels lively and colorful... Never a dull moment when they do their backgrounds.
Animation-wise the show lacks it in later episodes where time just stands still most of the time and characters seem to sit in stone talking for a decade while the episode just flows until it ends. It feels ... sloppy at times, but at some others it looks good. But overall the characters distract you from paying much attention to the animation errors so you probably won't notice them.

2. SOUND
The soundtrack in Charlotte is great, like all Key shows, but of course. SAD MUSIC DOES NOT MAKE THE SHOW ANY BETTER THAN IT SHOULD BE! Just because it made you cry.
It has a certain charm to it that it'll never get tiresome if you're a fan of relaxing tunes and insert songs. OP & ED's are great aswell, it just proves to show how Maeda knows how to handle his audience when it comes to music.

3. STORY & CHARACTERS
Jun Maeda is known for making the script of most if not all key shows, and just proves how lously he does it, it focuses more on the moment when you're suppose to feel bad or cry and not developing the actual characters to make you feel like they are a part of the cast. In most cases they feel like wooden planks who cry for the sake of depression, and that he has no idea what character drama or how a character could be written without feeling like a plot device.
The directing is somewhat better because Maeda isn't directing it, but that isn't saying much. There is almost no tension because it gets killed by a predictable outcome, character interaction feels like they are loafs to be loafs so people can laugh along side them.
STORY-wise the show lacks any decent outcome and through the most basic things it's as predictable as ever, and like every key production it ends with an overblown ending that either, makes the viewer facepalm from stupidity asking why? Or making them cry a river just because the song was sad. Or these blobs got sad because someone died, the story lost its tension and interest after the first episode. It wasn't surprising it was just over blown for the sake of making ISFP's or people who like goofy characters because they could relate to them.

4. PRODUCTION VALUES & ENJOYMENT
Production values are great, yes they are that good. Detailed put alot of work and heart put in All key shows look great and sound great but that's all.
Enjoyment-wise unless you're a fan of stupid things and goofy comedy or a crybaby this is for you, for me this is boring, uninspired, dull and boring.

Charlotte: The plot is that the main character is an overpowered asshole who is forced to keep learning that with great power comes great responsibility...but its REALLY hard for him to let go of the asshole part.

You have to watch this show till the end. And i mean the very, VERY end. Because yes, it starts bad. And yes, it gets worse. And yes, it gets even worse. But despite it all, you kind of learn to love the absurdity of every world fucking twist. When i say mixed feelings i mean MIXED. It's good...in a way that every criticism I tried to negative nancy ... on to it eventually got thrown out the window because EVERYTHING. Gets thrown out the window. All. The. Time. Definitely an "anime" anime, if you know what I mean.

Sigh.

Charlotte is a good anime...up until around episode 7 or so. 8-13 however just ruined my love for this anime.

If we base it off the first seven episodes, the main 4.5 characters(if you watch the anime you'd understand the half lol) are realty interesting. Yuu is our central character and he gives you a definite Lelouch from Code Geass feel(and even Light/Kira feels from Death Note). Unfortunately, that pretty much goes away after the 1st episode and he more or less becomes the sarcastic guy who is annoyed by his new team. Nao is the sassy leader who is always ready to kick butt. Takajo(my ... favorite) is the nerd who has a knack for hurting himself and is obsessed with celebrity teen star Yusa who is annoying but sort of interesting.

Very funny at first with some pretty tender moments and even dark moments that you didn't expect or see coming.

However as soon as episode 8 rolls around, this anime becomes something WAY different. It is trying to do many things at once and it does nothing well.

So many different plotlines come out and yet they either are not resolved, are rushed OR literally make zero sense.

Our four main characters literally become Yuu featuring Nao and Yusa and Takajo become extra who show up just to remind you "hey we're still relevant even though we aren't"

The characters get zero development aside from an episode that centers around them and then the final episode.

And it has plot holes galore or things that are just convenient somehow to make it easier for the main character.

Twice this anime goes in a dark direction where you expect something great is going to come from it only for it to immediately to go "Oh just kidding."

I was let down immensely by charlotte....The first 6 episodes felt decent and easily could be rated an 8 out of 10. They weren't perfect but they were fun and consistent.

The last 6 episodes however hover at a 2...barely and altogether than anime to me makes up a 5.

That ending was....so insulting to us as a viewers because it literally tried to fit what could actually be a season's worth of plot in one 23 minute episode.

Would I recommend Charlotte? Sure if you seriously don't mind stopping at episode 7.

Just a disappointment really.

The two studios responsible for Angel Beats have once again teamed up to create the next great baseball anime, this time sure that they will able to avoid the same issues with pacing that plagued their first collaboration, what could go wrong?
The most praiseworthy part of Charlotte has to be its premise, as it is offers a unique approach on the superhero genre where every power has a very apparent flaw. The premise sets up an approach that allows us to laugh at some the ridiculous powers and their readily apparent flaws, but also opens up the door for the feels that we all love ... so much as those with powers have to face the reality where they are treated as a useful anomaly.
Now onto the characters, which for me felt fairly undeveloped except for the main female lead, which is a real shame, as the main male lead Yuu is introduced in the first episode as a much more deep character, but towards the end of the series it seems as if he has been changed to some everyday nice guy devoid of any personality, a stark contrast to his introduction. Besides Yuu’s sister, the “two” other characters of the show are plagued by some otaku jokes that stop being funny the first time they’re uttered, and lack of any development. The other character Yusa, doesn’t do much but provide some the musical content similar to Girls Dead Monster, and honestly doesn’t do much but provide some humorous moments due to her status as an idol. Basically all she accomplishes is to provide the story of another character, who is much more interesting than she and seems to dominate the duo. Tomori is easily the most developed on the show, and provides some of the funniest laughs due to her blunt personality. But wouldn’t you know it there’s a lot more to her than initially appears, and the narrative relentlessly points out how well Yuu and Tomori would work as a “couple”, needlessly holding the hand of the viewer.
As I already touched on the initial plot of the narrative is really interesting, and I felt that the first episode was executed very well, but unfortunately this show has a tad bit of a pacing problem. After the first episode it instantly jumps into a school setting, which offers some really great humor, but lacks in almost all forms of plot development. Essentially the first few episodes are monster of the week segments, which is way too much time to be spending in a 13 episode series. There episodes aren’t awful, in fact I found them to be very humorous and provide an enjoyable school setting, while still being able to fit in some serious epitomes of what happens to those with powers. However, after a few episodes I felt I had to remind the creators that they kind of have this really interesting plot and lore they created that they should get to. Then all of a sudden the pace picks up toward the middle of its run and things start changing, offering an episode showing some of the inner emotions and the downfall of our main character, which is a nice change of pace, but almost immediately after all of this is immediately negated, and then the plot starts to get a little wonky. I felt that the latter half of the series really offered some insight into what was going on in a world of super powered children, but the plot device used to do so… has its limits, and is very tricky to execute properly. I presume this is the point that will make or break how much enjoyment you derive from this anime, as it opens up a whole new can of worms that seem promising, but still results in a lackluster ending. The pacing of the last episode is honestly on the next level of bad pacing, and had my scratching my head of why this was how it ended, the whole thing felt forced and really did not do the series justice.
All in all Charlotte is tough to recommend, as it has a really fantastic premise and is able to offer some great humorous moment’s as well serious ones. The series fails to deliver them in a timely manner as the pacing of the show is quite bad, with both the funny and the sad sandwiched far too closely together with a plot that takes the series in a new direction, but opens up several pitfalls and confusion. Charlotte is a show that ends with a lot of promise, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired, so it is best to proceed with these things in mind.

“No one man should have all that power,” – Kanye West

Watchmen was a response to the explosion of superhero comics. Charlotte feels like a response to the explosion of superhero films. The Marvel Cinematic Universe helped to keep superheroes in the public’s consciousness, but it was just a dumbing-down of what Sam Raimi did before. Charlotte has a more interesting take.

These teens are superheroes. They may not have capes and a one-eyed boss (although an eye does get plucked out), but they got superpowers that can be used for saving the world. Why should they, though? A superpower is just an extension of any kind ... of power.

How many powerful people use their power to contribute to humanity? Musicians use their talent to vent their frustration and sell records. Programmers build websites to get traffic. Most people I know become doctors because it’s a respected profession and gets money. The mindset that you should use your power to contribute is rare.

Yuu and Nao are two different sides of the coin. For the first two and a half episode, they’re an interesting exploration of power. Yuu uses his to move on up, taking advantage of people but not actually hurting them. Nao’s desire to protect others leads her to plenty of physical confrontation.

Being a moral hero isn’t easy. Nao may have good intentions, but she leaves a trail of beat up people and isolates herself. Yuu’s achievements rely on a skill he gained by luck, not by hard work. There could be an interesting examination of how we shun people who work hard and praise those who just won the genetic lottery.

Nao also has a reasonable motivation for being moral. Her moral behavior isn’t convenient but results in isolation. Sadly, this is where the character development stops.

Yusa is brought in as much-(un)needed cuteness, as if Nao isn’t pretty herself. Ayumi already does the forced cuteness bad enough, so what does Yusa contribute? Worse, she makes another character turn into a drooling fanboy. Takajou first looks like a middle ground between Nao’s vigilance and Yuu’s selfishness, but after Yusa appears all he does is worship her.

This forced cuteness clashes with the occasional grim tone. Yusa and Ayumi are too-much-sugar cute. They’d be overly-optimistic in Azumanga. Their cuteness is plain happiness, with no unique design or quirk. Next to the cuteness there’s grief, overcoming it, time traveling and what power does to the user.

The treatment of grief does acknowledge the darkness. We see the downward spiral, the isolation and how a person is so overwhelmed he abandons life. Then after 2 episodes he rises up and things are going well. Grief is supposed to change us forever. It doesn’t automatically make us good guys. Nao’s grief turned her into a vigilantee. When Impmon’s whole world was wrecked, he changed but part of him remained. There’s no hint in Yuu that he used to be a selfish brat. He transforms into a moral hero with no relation to what he used to be.

It’s not that the story of Charlotte is convenient by nature. The core premise is an attempt at subverting a common trope. The problem must be in the length. Charlotte has too many ideas and stories which can’t be crammed in 13 episodes. Mirai Nikki couldn’t develop it all in 26.

At least Mirai Nikki played by its own rules. Charlotte often gives up any time it could get interesting. The last episodes is where its most harmful. A senseless enemy appears whose contribution to the story is nil. The only contribution is the killing of another character, but it they don’t do anything meaningful with it. The death doesn’t affect the story in anyway. We don’t see how the characters deal with grief, or how that death is a meaningful conclusion to that character’s story.

They already touched on grief. The only thing that conflict adds to the story is to make Yuu be heroic while killing a device that makes Yuu work a little harder in the climax. Yuu is interesting because he’s the opposite of a moral hero, so turning him into one works against the story. The climax also didn’t need such a dramatic brush with death to start.

At least the final episode redeems the series. Like the detour to Dealing With Grief, it’s too short for its own. Still, its idea is intriguing and the psychological development is well-paced. It’s further development on the original ideas the series started with.

While Charlotte does suffer from rushed pacing, it overcomes it by well-structuring its episode. The last episode is an epic journey that often takes more than 10 episodes in other anime. The creators managed to sum it up in 20 minutes without the journey losing too much impact. There is talented people there, they just took on too much.

Charlotte‘s main problem is that all its detours don’t always rise from the premise. Mirai Nikki explores both an ensemble cast and the Nature of Time and Space, but these are things that are found in the premise. Nothing about Charlotte’s idea of superpowered teenagers has anything to do with exploring the nature of death or time travel.

All these detours also lead to too many characters who aren’t given enough to do. Too many events are external. The puzzle-solving of the first episodes was fun, but after that it’s all big events. The creators can’t imagine a way to approach them that’s not dull heroism, so there’s no emotional payoff.

That’s why the sentimental moments often feel manipulative. This is a criticism that’s been directed at KEY often, but here it feels even more out-of-place. Charlotte is either too plot-driven or too psychological for such convenient wrapping-up. It’s been a long time since I watched Kanon (2006), but it was a pure drama. The sentimentality rose naturally, instead of feeling tacked on.

Some credit must be given to the soundtrack. It seems originality in soundtracks is now common in anime. There is attention paid to the textures and use of rhythm that is rare in Western scores. In this case, it borrows some cues from Bass Music to create the right intensity – one that is not world-altering, but still so.

Charlotte is a clever idea that took unnecessary, if interesting baggage and didn’t have enough episodes to connect everything. It’s more enjoyable than annoying. The episode are somehow paced well, even if the overall pace isn’t. It manages to make a final turn at the end so the journey won’t be futile. Wasted potentials are everywhere, but Charlotte works more than it doesn’t. It’s not brilliant, but it’s good enough to show there are still creative minds in anime.

3 comets out of 5