S-MAC’s Anime Review: Angel Beats!

Now, I've done a review for an anime that was fairly neutral with me, and one that I really didn't like. So, for my third starting review, I will be reviewing one of my first anime series, as well as one of my favorite.

Genres: Action, Supernatural, Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance, School Story
Synopsis: Yuzuru Otonashi wakes up in a purgatorial world and finds out that he has died in the real world. He then joins the SSS, a group of lost souls who fight against Angel because of their unfair lives. Oh, and there's an awesome all-girl rock band called Girls Dead Monster in SSS. 

Story and Characters:

The story starts off as hard to grasp, with everything coming at you with little explanation. But, starting at the second episode, things slowly start to build, and you learn more about the strange world of Angel Beats in every episode, almost all the way to the end. Angel Beats has action, comedy, romance, drama, sad moments (it was created by Key, what did you expect?) and great music (I’ll get to this later.) Once, I tried to explain the story of this series to one of my non-anime fan friends, and that took about 5 minutes and ended with a lot of confusion on both sides. I've heard that there are many plot holes in the series, but honestly, they really didn't bother me at all. My one complaint about the story is that it’s too short. Angel Beats was supposed to be a 26 episode anime, but budget cuts resulted in the show being only 13 episodes (Probably explains the plot holes). But when you look at what was accomplished in those 13 episodes, I’d say this was a really good job. Overall, the story is quite powerful, and teaches many wonderful things. You do have to pay attention to some things in order to get the most satisfying ending. 

And now, for the characters. You have Yuzuru Otonashi, the main male protagonist, who actually seems somewhat lackluster in the beginning, but once he remembers his past, and he realizes his feelings for Angel, he does develop a little, and I did grow some sort of attachment or feelings towards him. Then you have Yuri, the awesome fighter, leader of a somewhat dysfunctional “(Barnacle) Battlefront”. Again, she did seem a bit 2-D in the very beginning, but she does develop over time, after learning her story, and why she’s here. Lastly, you have Angel. I think she developed in the most interesting way compared to all of the characters. There are actually many supporting characters, but the series only focuses on a few of them. Now, that may not sound good, but the way this show pulled it off, it was actually quite satisfying to me.

Art and Animation:

Being a series created by Key (Clannad, Kanon, Air), you’d expect this to have tons of moe girls. But that’s not the case, as this was never a visual novel, and the studio was P.A Works. There are some Key elements in this series, such as the floating lights seen in the opening. A very nice job, but my minor complaint was that the art and characters looked halfway between 2-D and 3-D. Action scenes are done well, but not SUPER-GOOD.

Voice and Music:

I have only seen the dub, and I have to say, this is one of Sentai Filmworks’s better dubs. (At the time I watched this, I had not heard their other dubs.) But comparing this to dubs such as Clannad or Special A, this was actually done well. I will say there was a bit of lack of emotion in the voices during key (no pun intended) points in the plot. But what they were saying, oh, here comes the feels train.

The music in this series is actually different than that of most series. I don’t recall any super-epic tracks for, say, the action scenes, but I really did appreciate the many tracks (there’s around 10) from the fictional band Girls Dead Monster. The opening is beautiful (visuals and music), and the ending is peaceful, moving, and can give you goosebumps when you realize the meaning of the ending in the last episode. Man, that was deep.

My Enjoyment:

To be honest, I was turned off by this anime after about 6 minutes of the first episode. It was that fateful night, when I was anime surfing on Netflix, when I officially became an anime fan… (Okay, I’ll get to this story later.) But once I gave this show a chance, I actually enjoyed it. After the second episode, I got an idea what the show would be like. And my expectations were met, if not exceeded. While I did have trouble keeping track of the minor characters and their names, I certainly did remember all of their quirks. One more confession I have to make: This did not make me cry. Sure, it made me gasp, clench my hands, and say, “No!” but I did not cry. I have not cried at an anime yet, but I have come close.     

The Score:

Averaging the values of the four listed categories above, I give Angel Beats an 8.675 and would recommend this to those who like Key stories, and those who would like to see a little bit of everything in anime. As for similar shows, I point you towards the Key three (listed above). Honestly, I can't think of an anime that has a little bit of everything as of this moment. 

UPDATE 3 MARCH 2014 Scores

Story: 9.7     Characters: 8.8

Art: 7.2     Animation: 8.0

Voice: 8.2     Music: 9.6

Execution: 9.2     My Enjoyment: 8.7

Average: 8.675

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Last Updated: 8 April 2014
Originally Published: 29 November 2013