Review: Angel Beats
On January - 24 - 2011
Episode Reviewed In: Episode 43
Alternate/Japanese Titles: (none)
Original Japanese Release Date: 2010
Episode Length/Run-time: 13
Summary:
Yuzuru Otonashi wakes to find himself in a world in which he cannot die. It is a purgatory-like school setting trapped somewhere between life and death. The world is filled with mindless NPCs, which should Otonashi comply with he will disappear forever. Otonashi teams up with Yuri Nakamura and the SSS Brigade, a team of other young “students” like him who fight against the mysterious “tenchi” and rebel against the world to avoid disappearance.
Review:
Originally a light novel, and then a four volume manga Angel Beats is a beautiful exploration into everything modern-day animation can do right. The colors are vibrant and the setting, while generally simple and generic, has still been rendered in an enchantingly beautiful way.
The characters are a riot and you attach to them easily. At one moment you’re laughing at their crazy antics, you can imagine what can happen when you put a spear through someone and they don’t die.
The story progresses beautifully up until the last three episodes. While the anime still finds a way to tear at your heartstrings the ending gets confusing and convoluted. It’s as if they tried to conclude too much, and go too in depth to things they never flushed out earlier in the series.
