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Angel Beats : Welcome to the Afterlife War Front

Synopsis:
After waking up, Yuzuru Otonashi finds himself with amnesia and a girl with a gun telling him he’s died and is in the afterlife. He is asked to join the Afterlife War Front and fight against a being trying to destroy them know as Angel ,which of course looks like a normal high school girl. Doubting this crazy girl he decides to speak with the Angel and is greeted with a blade stabbing him through the heart. Again he wakes up with no stab wound and no idea what’s going. Otonashi finally realizes that the girl ... with the gun might not be as crazy as she seems and decides to figure out what is going on in this afterlife world and regain his missing memories.

Review:
Angel Beats is just one of those animes. One of those animes where my heart want’s to like it and get all emotional about life and death, but my mind is going what’s the point? With a story focusing on the afterlife and the nature of god this anime sadly turns into a drama between high school students and finding love. Maybe this is my own expectations of Angel Beats going in but the feeling i'm left with after completing this series is a mix of sadness and wanting more.

Going into Angel Beats i already had my own expectations. I was expecting this epic about life, death and god and what i got was part way between that and a romance drama. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered me but Angel Beats just had so much potential starting off. Every part of the story just begged for a deeper experience. Students at this school are all in limbo after not being able to experience their teenage years, everyone of them has severe trauma, and they are fighting against an Angel to defy God for giving them such horrible lives. Perfect setup for a Death Note/ Psycho Pass like anime right? WRONG! At the end of the day everything boils down to love and forgiveness which is all well and good but where did the other stuff go?

Angel Beats has a lot going for it in other departments though. The animation looks beautiful with colors just jumping off the screen, characters are all unique (with those big ol puppy dog anime eyes) and every location and background make a lasting impression. In terms of animation Angel Beats can hold up to probably some of the best in the business.

Another strong point for Angel Beats is its music. Im not just speaking about the opening and ending themes (which by the way are some of the best) but more the actual music in the Angel Beats world. When they Afterlife War Front needs a distraction they call in their own afterlife band Girls Dead Monster. They rock! Everytime the band plays it’s like watching your anime with a rock concert playing in the back ground. Trust me that’s something that you want. Every song is catchy and memorable even getting me to sing along at points. The animation even takes a bump up during these sequences so you get to watch your awesome rock show with even better animation. It’s a win win.

The last thing i want to mention that really impacts my feeling on the show is it’s length. Angel Beats goes for 13 episodes and it does pretty well but if it just would have added maybe 5-10 more episodes you would be reading probably a much more positive review. There are so many characters in the Afterlife War Front group that are just not talked about. We get to hear the stories of the main characters with some side characters but a majority of the team is just straight skipped. The shortness of the show impacts it’s ending quite heavily as well. Everything feels like a sprint to the finish line near the end. All it would have taken is a couple more episodes of explanations, reveals, and character information to make the ending feel stronger and leave a more lasting impact.


Conclusion:

After reading this review i hope you don’t think i hate Angel Beats. In actuality that’s far from the truth ,but it’s hard to not see the potential this show had to be even better. With a solid setup, amazing animation and music that now dominates my Iphone all Angel Beats really needed to be a stronger anime was time. Expectations aside if this afterlife romance drama would have explained its world, characters and backstory just a little further it would no doubt be one of the most brilliant stories told in anime.

Angel Beats: 7/10


Check out Angel Beats on Crunchyroll