Story & Playability

Otanashi is dead, but is also the protaganist of the story. This may seem weird but it really gives Angel Beats! Its own identity. Otonashi wakes up in the familiar enviroment of a high school with no memory besides his name. He is quickly informed that he is in fact dead, and is in a purgatory like enviroment where teenagers who died without accomplishing anything can live out there childhoods which were troubled before they died, and will disapear once they find fulfillment in their new life though many students don't want to disappear and form the SSS to fight against god for giving them such tragic lives. Otonashi soon joins the "like-hell-im-dead-battlefront" or SSS. Otonashi is now caught up in a battle against god itself.

In Angel Beats! I'd say 99% of the cast is dead, the other 1% of the cast are just small roles in the flashbacks of the former lives of (sadly) a very small number of the VERY large cast, too large in fact to give everyone there own moments, but the anime is only 14 episodes long including the one OVA. While it would have been easy to just have each episode reveal a certain characters past Key decides to advance the plot through "operations" against the series antagonist While each charcter does fit into the story well, only about 4 maybe 5 ( depending on if you count a certain baseball player) get a flashback, while these flashbacks into the lives of the characters are few they are very powerful. I've seen multiple people get very emotional during these flashbacks.

There are, in my opinion 3 main characters, Otonashi, who the story follows, Yuri or "Yuripee" the leader of the "SSS" who fight against Angel, the anime's main antagonist, and last but not least
Angel who is as I just said is the main antagonist. There are several important sub-characters like Hinata and Naoi. While others seem to be there for comic relief, like everyones favorite character TK, who among a sea of japanese voices TK's signature broken english phrases never cease to amuse the viewer, I also like think that if he did have a flashblack he would have been the voice behind DDR. Other characters never go anywhere like Ooyama, fujimaki, takayama, takamatsu, the band, Noda, Matsushita and many others. Despite the long list of "unimportant" characters they all still somehow hold some emotional attachment to me, the show accomplishes this through comedy all of the sub characters have about them that that makes them quirky and funny. While Angel Beats! Stumbles with length issues the attachment you will feel towards nearly every charcter makes this anime very compelling.

Rating: 8

Graphics

I'm not very picky about the art of anime( I know then what am I doing on MT?), Angel Beats! art does stand out to me. Key pays particular attention to lighting in this anime, like how light casts a shadow and how it generally reacts to the enviroment which they do well. I feel that the particular art style does fit the mood and tone of the anime very well the generally soft color pallete does make the anime visually appealing. Another interesting and refreshing aspect is that while characters talk they do move, which may not seem important but is a nice touch. Sorry for the short art review but im not that picky with art.

Rating: 9

Sound

I, can't find anything to complain about in Angel Beats! Sound. The opening song really fits its easy to believe that Angel really would play the song on the piano. The more upbeat (which isn't super upbeat but still happier) opening really gets you ready to hear Yuri's crazy operations, while the ending captures the usually depressing endings of each episode. Also the general background music truly fits the situation that is currently occuring. Overall a good soundtrack that I continue to listen to over and over again. The voice actors are top notch they really sell the story they are a HUGE part of the believablility of Angel Beats!

Rating: 9

Fun

Angel Beats! Is always interesting, I was hooked from start to finish which took about a week. I actually stopped at episode 11 because I didn't want it to end but eventually I had to finish it. While I won't spoil anything the ending is the only anime ending i've ever shed a tear to. Key uses many different tactics to get the viewer to truly care about the characters, besides the pure sympathy used with the main characters, humor is effectively used with sub-characters. Even though these characters never get the spotlight you will probably remember things about each one. With it's familiar yet, strange setting of a high school , memorable characters and a story that holds you until very end Angel Beats! Is a truly special anime I can't wait until season 2 I highly recommend checking out Angel Beats!

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

8.6667 (very good)

Reviewed by fallenkaze, Feb 23, 2011

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