If you know anything about my taste in anime, you know that I absolutely adore any anime that has connections to the company known as Key. They are a company that creates visual novels that tend to later get adapted into anime. Their works include Kanon, Air, Clannad, Little Busters and Planetarian. All of which are absolutely stellar and at the top of the anime empire, with their phenomenal artwork and masterful storytelling. Their characters are amazing and will leave you emotionally broken and in tears for many many years to come. I can wholeheartedly give every single one of their shows my absolute highest recommendation. However, there have been 2 times where they did not start with a visual novel, and rather decided to create a completely original anime, right from scratch. The first time they did this, it was with a little show called Angel Beats. And again. If you know anything about my taste in anime... I. LOVE. ANGEL BEATS.
I have said many times that Angel Beats had the potential to be without question THE GREATEST ANIME OF ALL TIME!!! However, the KEY phrase here (hehe) is "had the potential". What I believe to be the only thing stopping Angel Beats from being the world's greatest anime is that it did not have the time to flesh out its immensely large cast of amazing characters. The beginning and ending are perfection, but the middle BEGS to have more within it. If I got to make any anime of my choosing get a continuation, it would be Angel Beats (forgive me, Haruhi). But not necessarily a sequel, because the story is very much finished. But instead, I would want a second season of episodes that took place in-between the episodes of the first season, similar to the 2nd season of Haruhi Suzumiya. So ya. In terms of their original anime series, Key continues to have a near perfect reputation, with this one show... However, there is now another. And her name is Charlotte.
Charlotte is Key's second attempt at creating an anime, before a visual novel. Does this one fix the problems Angel Beats had? And does it live up to all the legendary shows that came before it? Well let's talk about that. Just like Angel Beats, this show is animated by the people over at P.A. Works. I used to say Angel Beats had the best animated humans in any anime I've ever seen. But then I saw a show called Shirobako and that one easily took over that title. And who made Shirobako, again? Oh, hey! Our good buddies over at P.A. Works! So ya. Needless to say, the animation in this show is stellar. The music is no slouch, either. You get really familiar with the songs very quickly. The opening to this show is also VERY intriguing. I very much love it, but I'm not sure how to describe it. It's just a very interesting opening to watch and listen to, over and over. You're almost in a trance, whenever you listen to it.
But let's talk about the big important part. The story. So Key is known for mostly making romance stories that take place in worlds that are about 95% realistic. The other 5% goes towards a teeny bit of magic that usually appears right at the end of the show. The only exceptions to this set up are Planetarian, Angel Beats, and Charlotte. If you've seen Angel Beats, you'll feel right at home with this show. A lot of that shows elements and themes are relevant in this one. Only, without the, you know, "MAIN" element. Instead we have a different one, which may or may not be one of those things that's exciting to find out about when you watch the show for yourself, so I'll just leave it at that. In terms of its pacing, do I think it did things better than Angel Beats? Well... this show didn't have a cast of 15 main characters like Angel Beats did, so that's good. Each character seems complete and is enjoyable to listen to. They all also have a lot of real moments. This show can be pretty intense and all the stuff the characters have gone through start to weigh down on them. They start to lose it at some points and sometimes even go down entirely different paths, as a result. But while I highly commend the show for making these characters so real in that regard, I was kinda disappointed when they completely threw that mindset away, when making the last episode.
Thankfully the entire show DOES get completed. There's no cliffhanger and no loose ends that warrant a second season. But it very clearly got rushed, in the end. 12 episodes simply isn't enough for a Key anime. What's arguably Key's best work? Clannad. How long is that? 40+ episodes. I know companies don't just have unlimited time and money where they can just make every show as long as they want it to. But I just wish the 12/13 episode limit wasn't so set in stone in the anime industry. And even if it is, I wish more shows got the chance and idea to pull a Haruhi and have a second season that has episodes take place within the first season. I really do think the last 3 episodes of Charlotte have a LOT of ideas within them and can be spread out into one or even two extra seasons! Then maybe we wouldn't have gotten one of those "tie things up all nicely in a convenient little bow, right at the last minute" endings. Honestly, with how much anguish and anxiety the characters showed, regarding their journey and situation in the end, I was REALLY not a fan of the "and they all lived happily ever after" ending. I'm still happy for the characters ending out ok, but I'd go as far as to call it unrealistic that everything turned out ok.
Specifically talking about the main character, Otosaka. His situation alone has so many questions to it that makes no sense, considering how the show ended. I honestly wish the ending was more tragic or more of a downer, just for the sake of it making more sense. Referring to Angel Beats again, without spoiling anything. The ending is both happy and tragic. There is both loss and fulfillment. And while Charlotte does have its sad and tragic moments, it has WAY too much success and positivity in the end that just sorta seems unreal and almost wrong. It's difficult to describe, without spoiling too much. So I'll just leave it as one of those shows that has a great journey, but not the most fulfilling destination. Even if the characters are ok with it.
Now for the classic sub vs dub debate. Well for Key shows specifically, me and everyone else who watches them can more or less 100% recommend you watch their shows in Japanese. Mainly because the majority of Key shows have kinda notoriously bad dubs. For all the Key shows based off visual novels, I 100% recommend you watch them in Japanese. I am very much not a fan of the dubs Well... I kinda like Air's dub, personally. And Planetarian only has 2 characters in the entire show, so it's probably not too terrible to recommend either language. As for Angel Beats and Charlotte, I personally like both versions for both shows. I know a LOT of people will disagree with me, regarding the Angel Beats dub. Considering it was directed by someone who's kinda infamous in the anime dubbing industry. But Charlotte has a different director and I kinda prefer the dub, over the sub. Both are stellar with a few characters I wouldn't mind having recast. But the deciding factor in watching this show in dub is due to Lauren Landa's interpretation of the character Tomori.
Tomori's Japanese voice is just a bit too young sounding for my liking. However, Lauren fixes this with her performance, which is very much needed, considering the common problem of dubs not really being able to portray super young characters, sounding super young. Honestly, throughout the entire show, I thought it was Wendee Lee voicing Tomori. But only when doing the last minute research for this review, I found out that it was indeed someone else. And that just blows my mind on so many levels. You'd think I'd be able to tell if it was her or not. There were so many times where I can just hear Haruhi SO clearly. But I'm really amazed to find out that it was someone else. I don't mean to say Lauren's performance was good because it sounded like Wendee's. I'm just saying that I really like the voice and it was exciting to see that it was someone else. Possibly someone I'll grow to be very fond of in future shows. And finally, OVA's. As of right now, Charlotte has only 1 OVA episode. It's a filler episode that takes place sometime between episodes 3 and 6. Usually, OVA's are pure nonsense and completely pointless. And considering the OVA's we got for Angel Beats, a show that's in desperate need of extra episodes, SO IT WAS INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTING TO SEE IT FINALLY GET SOME AND HAVE THEM TURN OUT TO BE COMPLETELY POINTLESS AND CONTAIN NOTHING OF ACTUAL IMPORTANCE........... I was pleasantly surprised with Charlotte's OVA episode.
While it is a filler episode, it contains one of THE CUTEST CHARACTERS IN ANIME INDUSTRY! SERIOUSLY, THIS ONE OFF CHARACTER'S DESIGN IS SO STINKIN ADORABLE THAT I LITERALLY SQUEALED WHEN I SAW HER FOR THE FIRST TIME! AND SHE'S ALSO INCREDIBLY SWEET AND ADORABLE AND I WISH SHE WAS IN THE ENTIRE SHOW SO STINKIN BADLY! Not only that, but this character's story that only takes place within this one single episode is SO STINKIN HEARTBREAKING AND EMOTIONAL, THAT IT HAD ME CRYING MORE THAN I DID THROUGHOUT ANY OTHER EPISODE OF THE ACTUAL STINKIN SHOW! I LOVED HER SO STINKIN MUCH!!!!!!!!! *ahem* In short, watch the OVA. It's actually also a good episode to start with, to see if you wanna see whether or not you'd like to watch the entire show.
In conclusion, Charlotte is a Key anime. That alone is enough indication to go and watch it. Like every Key anime before it, the show has amazing music and visuals that you'll absolutely love. And the story has its moments of heartbreak and emotional distraught that'll leave you in a puddle of your own tears. This show doesn't break your heart NEARLY as much as Angel Beats. If you haven't seen either Charlotte or Angel Beats, I'd actually recommend watching Charlotte first. Simply so you can watch Angel Beats second and have the more satisfying ending to a Key anime marathon, if you decide to take one. The show has a great concept, but is simply in need of more episodes in-between. I'm glad it at least got wrapped up in SOME WAY, but I very much would've preferred a different way of them doing it. But in the end, I'm glad I watched it. Despite the problems in this show Key hasn't come anywhere close to losing its magic. Let's just hope others realize this and give their shows the extra episodes that they very much need and deserve.
Charlotte gets a 9/10
