experience.
- Story –
Angel Beats! is set in the afterlife, which could also be seen as a purgatory. From the start, I have to admit that it was hard for me finding a story. The problem is that Angel Beats was transferring from humour to drama in the driest way possible. If most of the episode was relying on typical slapstick humour, the end would suddenly shift to the cheapest drama possible. Now of course, Angel Beats! Found itself a meaning, but this toward the very end of the series. Toward the ending, while keeping itself more serious, the anime rushes the story so hard that it becomes a festival of plot twist and drama. Step aside the bad points; let’s not forget that Angel Beats! is from a visual novel of Key, mostly known for their tear jerking moments. I have to admit that the drama feels very cheap, but I’m someone who falls for this kind of trap and end up being affected by the kind of drama that Angel Beats! had to offer. This is pretty much limited to characters having a shit life in the past. In the end, the story didn’t know what to be from the start. Having too much filler in between, there’s a serious lack of substance in the story and many questions that had to be answered, weren’t answered. Angel Beats! still manages to pull the sensible chords, and this actually very well.
-Characters-
There’s a problem with Angel Beats! regarding its cast. Either the show has too much characters and is not focusing on the most important ones, or the show is simply too short. For having this much, Angel Beats! didn’t have the benefit of a 26 episodes anime. Lots of characters, mostly the non-important ones, fall in an archetype and are only meant for comic relief or filling up the holes. There’s only few moments where the anime is really focusing on the main cast. Yet, some side characters are somehow more developed than them. Looking at the main characters, there’s either no originality at all or simply silly change of personality. Yuzuru is a mix of the shit life that Tomoya had and the lost of memories that Yuuichi suffered from. For Angel, she starts as your typical emotionless moe girl but then shift to the characters with lots of expression. And for Yuri, she’s just another non-original female lead. However, even though the cast of Angel Beats! is bad, it doesn’t mean they aren’t entertaining. Certainly not annoying or boring, Angel Beats! offers characters that are simple and fitting to the anime.
-Art/Animation-
No doubt about it, Angel Beats! is yet another eye candy. Even though it’s not perfect regarding the character design, the anime uses lots of CGI and shading to blow the viewer away, and it works very well. The problem though, is that I sometime had problem identifying characters that were too look- alike (Takametsu and Hinata for example). The animation is actually very fluid, which is expected from P.A.
-Sound/music-
The highlight of the series is no doubt the music that Angel Beats! Used. Ranging from pop songs to acoustic songs and then to melodramatic songs, it is no doubt that the music is the main factor why the anime is a tear jerking one. The voice actors are also very good with their respective roles and there’s absolutely no problem with them.
In the end, I did overly enjoyed Angel Beats! despite that the anime contains many obvious flaws. I believe that the show could’ve benefit from being longer or having less filler. It may be the weakest one from Key, but it doesn’t stop itself from being at least good.
