This is a show that can provide and even inter-mix loud action, tense drama, tragedy, and comedy. At first I was a little unsure of how it blended the elements, since slapstick humor could feel a little odd coming off an extremely dark or sad bit, and then it might feel off to careen forward into 'serious' gunplay. But in the end, I think the show did what it set out to do. I think that if I had to describe the show in a word, 'mellow' would be both exactly the wrong word and somehow right as well. Nothing about the show is mellow. The action is loud, the comedy goes big, the drama goes deep, the tragedy is painful (in the way tragedy is supposed to be) and the heartfelt moments are incredibly sweet. But because they tend to be counterpointed fairly effectivley, the heaviest impact doesn't linger if it lands at all. I didn't come away from an episode of Angel Beats! laughing out loud or crying my eyes out or pumped for stuff happening, in the end I felt a comfy sort of happy-sad that the show didn't come at directly for most of its run, but rather summed to fairly consistently.
Positives? The animation is gorgeous and the sound, particularly the music, is great. The character designs are appealing and distinct without, I think, coming on to heavy, and I'd gladly listen to any of the music, whether the soft backgrounds or the Gldemo songs. The voice acting is really solid throughout. As a result, the sensory experience, like the emotional experience, is spot on.
Negatives? That would be the story and worldbuilding and to a lesser extent the characters. The story is, without spoiling too much, all over the place -- kind of like the tone but unlike the tone it never really feels like it evened out, perhaps because story is something you think about and the flaws and cracks in it can't be easily patched over. The world doesn't really hold up -- its rules are inconsistent and nonsensical and if you think too much about it you're left with a bucket of why. Some of the same material gets a bit overexposed despite the fact that the goals and reasons for things keep changing. This show juggles a lot of 'arcs' and the way it manages is OK, but at times it can seem like either a little more time or a little more focus was needed.
As for the characters... the lead and the characters who get a good deal of limelight feel pretty good, but when a character is in a 'supporting' role they can come of as pretty one note. I guess that's okay, if characters weren't down to that they'd be a massive ensemble cast, likely too large to juggle properly, and if they didn't have a loud note to play they'd just be forgotten. In that way they're totally serviceable but it stings a little to compare the secondary characters that actually get to snag the spotlight for a bit with the ones that don't, and you think how much more could have been done with the latter group. It's all perfectly serviceable, but that's less than can be said for the show's strengths.
In some ways, I feel the ending (no spoilers, but watch until the show tells you it's over if you normally skip credits) is emblematic of the whole show. It doesn't make a ton of sense when you think about it, raising questions in a bad way, but at the same time it gave me the exact feeling it needed to.
