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Jul 4, 2021
WARNING: This review contains mild spoilers about the themes and core elements of season one (which is the only currently available one).
However it doesn't go that deep into spoiling every single little thing so you should be fine!
When I firstly stumbled upon WEP's first key visual I didn't think much of it.
Its graphics looked good but it seemed like one of those boooring and tedious to watch slice of life shows which is the reason why I "gave it a pass".
While it was airing, I heard people talking about it as "the next Madoka Magica" and I got really curious.
You see, I've rated Madoka Magica
...
really high on my MAL because of its unexpectedness and overall well-crafted story and ending.
That connection was enough to hype me up a bit and eventually made me give it a shot.
I wanted to be pleasantly surprised by a dark themed series, again.
In the first half of the show the mystery felt outright intriguing.
I wasn't too fond of the episodically nature of the show, which brought new disposable villains everytime, but I powered through.
The enemies design is rather quirky and, while the animations are at the sakuga level, they genuenly couldn't make up for the Wonder Killers' designs (madoka made a much better job on that end), but that's obviously an entirely subjective standpoint.
The second half explicitly introduces many narrative elements which end up defining the series' worldbuilding and overall themes.
While it had to be expected that the dream world is a kind of alternative dimension, the series starts to fully embrace parallel worlds.
There are AWESOME series with parallel realities as their core (watch Steins;Gate if you haven't), however it is very hard to find a story which simultaneously is based on this concept and works without sounding cheap.
Unfortunately, I believe WEP's parallel worlds are an awfully implemented version of this concept.
While it is a core element of the series, it is used in a way to justify plots which do not enrich the story in any real positive way.
Basically, it's an element which is misused only to confuse the watcher and to make the community theorize in the forums.
Suddenly, an antagonist's past is revealed.
Yes, I'm talking about you, Frill.
I really enjoy sci-fi elements and Frill's story is as intriguing as frightening and PTSD inducing.
While the gap between the theme of alternate realities and the theme of AI initially rubbed me off the wrong way, I was pleasantly surprised by its inclusion.
Maibe those are the reasons why my favourite episode was the one in which "she" was introduced.
Her character works REALLY well because she can shock the viewer with a simple sound (*POP*), which is not an easy or common feat in the horror genre (I'm sorry if I gave you the chills by writing that onomatopoeia).
The technology behind her is somewhat justified by Neiru's dream recording machine, inducing the watcher to think such tech exists in this world.
Now let's highlight the bad stuff:
the implementation of the core themes of the show.
As it stands right now, the overall series doesn't make much sense.
The introduction of parallel worlds looks like a poor excuse to make everything possible and the AI dynamic is important but not explored too much as it's relatively introduced late into the series.
The ending (which is a special episode) POPS up more questions than answers and DID NOT leave me satisfied (as well as many other watchers and content-creators).
There are basically too many things we still don't know about the world, its parallel dimensions and its cast of characters.
Let's wrap things up.
If you want to watch sakuga action with much symbolysm and hidden meanings and you don't care about the ending, go for it.
If you're looking for another dark horse you're in for a treat in the first half, but you're also in for disappointment in the second half.
If you're betting on a season two coming out in the near future and don't care about waiting, try it out.
I've rated this anime low because, as it is right now, I see it as just a cluster of randomly put toghether ideas with really dark themes in the mix.
If a second season comes out, things might change for the better and the show could become much more enjoyable as a whole.
That is if the writers decide to answer more questions than to add more useless and convoluted mysteries in the plot...
The final special was full of technical problems and felt totally inferior to the precedent episodes, which translates to mild hopes for the series' hypothetical next season.
Have a good day!
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 2, 2021
I thought this anime would have been like many others.
You know, the common drama series with a gimmick thrown in there just to differentiate from the others in the scene.
However, while it DOES make use of many cliches and common tropes to carry the narrative on, this series manages to use them in a fresh and entertaining way.
Despite the over-used dynamics and archetypes, I believe the characters are a huge selling point of this show.
The graphics are obviously outdated, yet it seems like Midori and the others are more alive than many others from more recent works.
The chemistry between the cast members is on-point
...
and it naturally spawns comedic bits which could cure anyone's depression.
While this being fiction, the characters clearly aren't.
They show and feel complex emotions and react accordingly to their messed up thoughts and incomprehensions.
Those points managed to make this a delightful and interesting series which I could easily rewatch in the future.
The ecchi tag is pretty tame on this one.
While there are certain scenes which contain nudity, it does never venture into "distasteful territory".
Those kind of scenes aren't too long either, which is why they don't outstay their welcome.
In the end, I enjoyed the show more than I would have initially hoped for!
I hope this anime will cheer many other people, it is a gold nugget in the river of comedic-ecchi anime for sure.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 18, 2020
Ohhh, Angel Beats.
The first time I watched it, I criticized it to the bone and ended up not enjoying the show.
I wasn't probably in the right my mood at the time, so that's why I decided to give it another chance years later.
Note that this is my very first, and disorganized, review.
If you don't agree with what I have to say that's good too.
Let's go right to the actual review.
The series centers around a protagonist which doesn't remember its past and finds itself in the afterlife in the company of a rebellious group of students which say they fight against god's will.
This premise is as
...
crazy as it sounds, and it comes as rather sudden.
Because of its unexpectedness, it is the perfect starting point to put the viewer right inside the protagonist's shoes so to empathize with him from the very get-go.
The amnesia plays a big role too, making the watcher invested in the first episodes as to guess what happened to the protagonist when he was alive.
World-wise, it is just a school.
Nothing less, nothing more... or is it?
The lack of originality in the places and buildings is compensated by the actual mistery of the world's inner workings.
The show references some other minor places but they're never actually to be seen.
If you're specifically looking for a setting with strange looking afterlife sceneries, you're out of luck.
The supporting characters in the show follow many defined archetypes dear to the anime community, but some may be more enjoyable than others.
My personal favourite is the english-talking guy which, appareantly, isn't really good at talking english.
This is, in my eyes, a rare and golden comedic element.
I never grew tired of hearing his engRish slang words, his phrases made my day multiple times throughout the series.
Somehow, they never felt stale and made me laugh everytime, but that could be different for you.
Now, to some negatives aspects.
Death is a strange subject to tackle, in general.
It is not easy to deal with, especially in a comedy and is usually used as a device to high the stakes.
It is a concept so strong that it can also be used as a plot defining element in a story.
In this series, every character is known to have already died in a way or another, but that shouldn't make the concept of facing death less threatening.
I am a fan of how death has been handled in Re:Zero: Subaru, the protagonist of said series is known to have the Return by Death power, which makes him basically immortal through different timelines.
However, death is one of the most painful things a human can feel.
That is why Subaru never includes the option of dieing as a viable one in its plans.
Going back to Angel Beats, in some episodes the characters choose to die in various horrible ways just to carry out their leader's plan.
By doing so, the episodic plot concludes with a successful plan and the dead characters "revive" once again.
I am not against the fact that the dead characters can revive in this strange new world, what is wrong here is that the character's mental state never changes after dieing.
Obviously when a character is dieing it feels one of the most gruesome kinds of pain in the world, but in the series it is completely and immediately set aside as soon as they come back to their senses.
I would say that actually dieing multiple times would inevitably break a person's mental state further each time, just like in Subaru's case.
Because of this, the use of death in Angel Beats develops in a static, boring and unrealistic kind of way.
It would have been way more interesting to see characters actually come up with plans with the first objective of not dieing AGAIN.
I know that many deaths were used as comedic effects, but I would have preferred a different implementation.
In the end, Angel Beats is a good series filled with interesting and conflicted characters, but it falls short on the development of the majority of them.
The reason why this happens is the series duration being only composed of 13 episodes.
I haven't read the manga but I feel like they've done the series dirty by cutting so much content from it.
It's a given that by adapting more episodes the story could have shown many more character buildups/developments as well as showing more key-events in the story.
I really could have enjoyed the series more if it was longer...
That's a true shame.
In the end, Angel Beats is a good short series that I would recommend to watch to everyone who likes analyzing character personalities and traits.
It is also good for people who enjoy chilling with a comfortable mix of comedy and action, it surely never falls short on those.
Peace out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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