Angel Beats!

After my friends and I got out of our Full Metal Alchemist and Fruits Basket obsessions, we needed a new anime show to watch. So while I was on Netflix searching the anime section, I came across a show called Angel Beats!. I turned it on, thinking it looked okay, and was immediately sucked in. The story had lovable characters and a good storyline and it was perfect. After watching the first three episodes, I noticed that there was only 13 episodes in the entire series! I thought, 'This sure isn't long enough to finish this story!' But continued to watch anyway. And after the 9th episode, the story almost completely changed and I was left confused. They got it back together in time for the final episode, but I still think that the story ended too quickly. It was a perfect ending though, if you're willing to stick through the entire episode. And don't forget your tissue box, it'll come in handy through the whole series! And I'm normally really tough and don't cry easy, but there were tears rushing down my face the entire last episode, especially the final sequence before the credits. I still think that I could have lasted longer, like Full Metal Alchemist or had a fuller and more clear storyline like Fruits Basket, but it was good in its own way.

I honestly like this show to the core, but I just don't like how many flaws there are. Honestly the show's plot is very creative and interesting, it's just there's so many things that I question. Such as...

1. When the show continues you realize the SSS and Angel have simply been miscommunicating for who knows how many years. 2. So.. no one has thought about just imprisoning their enemy in like a jail cell or something? Instead of killing them over and over again which has been proved ineffective? Could apply to both the SSS and Angel. 3. I really think this show would have gone better if we knew the other character's histories.

This is just my thoughts, this show is still good, just some tweeks would have helped.

Angel Beats! Leaves you wondering what is point of this. Only revealing the truth at the very end. Which is a bit of a turn off but if you can endure not understanding the reasoning behind the situation for 90% of the anime. It will be rewarding at the end.

Unique, memorable and underrated. It is a crime that Angel Beats! Is not talked about enough.

I don't want to see a "SPOILERS BELOW" tag here so I'll just keep things from a general review.

The series hits all the beats it needs to make you love characters, to enjoy the ride they go through and to root for things. Its heart wrenching in places and it doesn't pull any punches.

And does all this while pretending to be a shounen battle military anime.

Amazing show and one of my favourites of the early 10's

Before I begin I must clarify something: I am not very familiar with anime. I've watched the entirety of Death Note, Angel Beats, and am in the middle of Sword Art Online. So I'm reviewing this show in terms of its quality, not how it compares or conforms to other anime.

Word of advice, ignore all the complaints about this show, because when there's so much about a show to hate and so much that shouldn't work, and people everywhere still love it anyways, there's definitely something special about it.

Here's a quick sypnosis. A guy wakes up on a school campus, which he soon discovers is something like a purgatory. He eventually joins a resistance formed by a dozen or so other fellow "students" with the goal of resisting the mysterious Angel. Things get even crazier from there.

Couple this mind-blowing concept with some unforgettable characters, crazy amounts of action, lots of Japanese rock music, crazy gore, buckets of blood, cute comedy, seriously depressing backstories, and the most detailed cartoon guns I've ever seen and you get something that's unforgettable. The ending is breathtaking, too.

Now here's what everyone complains about: the pacing is bad and it's too short. No thirteen episode show should be able to bounce back and forth continuously between these different styles and genres continuously like this one does. Yet it does. And it works. Because when you have so much awesomeness going around, you barely notice until you're done crying over the last episode... for the third time.

As for other complaints made about the series, most of those don't hold much water in my opinion. There's really nothing else working against the series besides its length.

So if you haven't watched much anime this is worth watching. If you're very familiar with anime and have a higher standard, I still recommend you give this a go. It's only thirteen episodes and I'm sure you'll find something you'll like.

Why won't I give the series a perfect ten. Simply because no matter how much the flaws never hindered my enjoyment, they still mean the show isn't perfect. That and the baseball episode which I really just didn't like cause it nearly turned me away from the series. It's probably not so bad now, but at the time there's was just something about it that I didn't like.

Last word of advice: the episodes incrementally get better, so don't worry if you're having second thoughts before the midpoint. Or on the baseball episode :)