Review of Angel Beats! Anime

Written by VJO on January 23, 2012 at 12:29 AM

Angel Beats! is an anime that touches on the topic of death with a candid approach that has rarely been attempted in anime before. There are anime like Haibane Renmei which treats this final aspect of life with melancholy and in turn, leaves the viewer deep in thought in the end. Angel Beats! has good humour and a bit of romance in the end that gives the anime a bitter-sweet feel. My main issue with the anime is that it was too short and some character development has been curtailed because of it. In the end, certain things felt added in only for the emotional impact that they had and of course the one plot hole that everyone must have spotted near the end.

The characters are fun to watch. They are lively (apart from the fact that they are all dead) and their interactions and scheming offer some laugh-out-loud moments. Almost all of the main characters are memorable and each has a motivation that drives their actions and induces the audience's sympathy. As I mentioned before, I am of the opinion that the series was too short. Due to this, the last few episodes felt rushed and the new friendships and emotions felt contrived. There were certain interesting plot points that I felt could have been expanded and which would have made the series even more interesting.

Things that I LIKE about Angel Beats!:
-Great Characters, very likeable and distinguishable from one another.
-Excellent music! The music enhanced the emotions of the show.
-Excellent animation! Certain scenes are visually outstanding and the character designs are appealing as well.
-Nice story and engaging plot.
-Very touching moments

Things that I DISLIKED about Angel Beats!:
-Plot hole at the end
-Rushed last few episodes
-Some characters with potential were overlooked

Summary
Angel Beats! is one of my favourite anime. It left me feeling down and melancholy for a couple weeks after I'd completed it. I would recommend this to viewers who like slice-of-life and supernatural anime.

Overall I would rate Angel Beats! a 9 out of 10
(I've just realised that anime-access calculates your overall score based on what you scored their pre-defined aspects of the anime, but my overall score in the review is just a rough estimate)