Anime Review: Angel Beats!

Studio Key, my friend...you've done it again. ...Though I think you may actually be more of a frienemy.

The Basics

Episodes: 13

Genre: Action, Comedy, Supernatural

Aired: March 22, 2010 to June 25, 2010

Directed by: Seiji Kishi

Producers: Aniplex, Kyoto Animation, P.A. Works, Visual Art's

Opening Theme: My Soul, Your Beats! by Lia / My Soul, Your Beats! ~Rock Version~ by Lisa

Closing Theme: Brave Song by Aoi Tada / Ichiban no Takaramono by Karuta

Review

The Story: In Angel Beats! Yuzuru Otonashi wakes up in another world—well, it turns out he's dead. Not that he remembers his life, or even really realizes he's dead. He meets a girl who tells him he's now part of a battlefront and they're allies. Of course, at the time, she's also trying to shoot at another girl she says is their enemy. So he, being something of a disbelieving nincompoop (note: part of my goal in blog posts is to work in words that I have no excuse to use elsewhere) decides to go down and speak with her. When she tells him he's dead, he tells her to prove and well...she stabs him through the heart.

He wakes up later.

Prettymuch, he ends up joining this group of people who are at a school where most of it's really just AI, with programmed students. They, however, aim to avoid becoming just like the AI and remain themselves. Which is a pretty reasonable goal, considering the AI people are lame. Oh, and it's probably also important to note that they're stuck in this world because they aren't at peace with their old lives, there are things they want to do...somewhat problematic when you can't actually remember your life. Which some do, and some don't.

The series revolves around the group fighting Tenshi (girl who stabbed him), among other battles.

The Characters: To be perfectly honest, Angel Beats! didn't really have what I would call the strongest cast from a Studio Key series. The characters were okay, and some really impressed me. I mean, anyone who saw my Top Ten Anime Females post should know Kanade made that list, and therefore it's pretty easy to know I see her as a strong character.

What gets me about the cast of the series is that they're kind of half and half between weak and strong characters, flat ones and multi-faceted ones. Some of the group is simple—like, don't get me wrong, I love TK, but he didn't really have much to him and on the whole was a bit dull in retrospect. Then there are the ones like Yuzuru or his best friend Hideki who have so much more to them. Or even Naoi, who at first seems to be a bit of an ass and then it turns out he's just a little brat.

On the whole, this cast isn't awful, it just isn't wonderful, especially compared to the cast of say, Haruhi Suzumiya.

The one thing I will say was delightful about this cast was that it gave me the opportunity for this:

The Backstories: Key. What. The. Hell. All right, like I mentioned above, each person is stuck in that world because there's something they want to do. Typically, it's because their life sucked in some way and therefore well, they didn't manage to do what they wanted.

Now I should have seen this coming. I knew walking into the series that it was from Key, but maybe I'd gotten my hopes up having watch K-ON! just before, that maybe, maybe, maybe it would be slightly happier. Though I guess with a title like Angel Beats!, who was I kidding? It's got the word 'angel' and it's Key. That is just a straight shot down Depression Boulevard right there.

So yeah. Character #1's (no names from me—no spoilers!) story is told and oh, there are tears in my eyes. Keep going. Another history, more tears. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

But then, those histories were probably the strongest part of the series.

Conclusion?: Walking into Angel Beats!, I was a bit...confused. Iffy? Not sure what I was getting into? This is because when I first entered the blogging scene, there were posts about the series, somewhere I was looking. And I'd read that it lost its steam partway through and sorta failed.

To be honest (maybe this is because I'm biased in the favor of Studio Key at all times) I disagree completely. I felt that the series maintained itself wonderfully the entire way through. It was multi-faceted, the plot changed a bit and got more interesting. So while the characters weren't really always the best, the series on the whole was just as strong as the magic trio of Clannad, Kanon and Air.

Just not quite as tearful.

My rating: 9/10. No really, I mean it. It was on the level of Kanon. Which I loved less than Clannad and Air. But only by one point, and in this case that point is lost because of the presence of some lame characters.

Anime Review: K-ON!

I ended up motivating myself to watch K-ON! after Yi's recent post on the topic of side characters. So, here it is.

The Basics

Episodes: 13

Genre: Comedy, Music, Slice of Life

Aired: April 2, 2009 to June 25, 2009

Directed by: Naoka Yamada

Producers: Kyoto Animation, Pony Canyon, Movic

Opening Theme: Cagayake! Girls by Aki Toyosaki

Closing Theme: Don't Say “Lazy” by Yoko Hikasa

Review

The Story: K-ON! is very much a slice of life story at its best. A group of girls (Ritsu, Mio, Tsumugi/Mugi and Yui) are just entering high school. Basically, Ritsu can't decide on a club she wants to join and then she ends up figuring the Light Music Club would be a good idea—well, there's a problem with that: all of the members graduated, so unless they can get four members, it's going to be unofficially disbanded. Ritsu decides to take on the challenge of re-forming the club with herself as the president.

Really, it isn't much of a challenge. She recruits her friend Mio, Mugi joins, and Yui kinda wanders in thinking “light music” translates to “easy music”. Well, not quite. But she sticks around anyway even after finding out that's not what it means.

The series follows these four girls and their antics as they practice, hang out, and play their music. Like I said: slice of life at its finest.

 

The Characters: Other than their membership in the Light Music Club, these girls are pretty different. Ritsu sorta has the Haruhi Suzumiya “do anything!” pumped-up mindset. Mio is a shy girl, easily made to blush. Mugi is a wealthy, sweet girl who has a thing for nice food and sweets. And Yui...Yui is just out of it. That's all there is to be said about that girl.

I'm not going to paint these girls as the most well-developed characters, because really, they aren't. I mean, they aren't underdeveloped, but they are sort of...they have a few aspects to them and that's all you see. It didn't really bug me much though, because honestly, they didn't need to have more than what was there. Sure, it would have been nice, but the characters worked fine as they were.

I suspect that maybe when I watch season 2 in the vaguely near future, I'll see some more sides of the characters.

The Songs: They're the Light Music Club. Now what the heck does that even mean? Honestly, I had no clue when I first got started in watching the series. Tell me they're the Choir Club and yeah, I follow you there, but Light Music Club? Turns out that apparently means band. Like, for real band. With drums and a guitar and a keyboard and singing and all that jazz. (Note: All that jazz is a phrase I do not get to use nearly often enough.)

So along with being a band comes that fun thing where you write your own songs, and these girls do just that. Now let me say: the songs are not very good, comparatively speaking. But for a group of high school girls who are basically in it just to have fun and express their high school-ness, yeah, they're not half-bad. They're basically of the “get up and have fun” variety. I will never complain about that.

Basically, I cannot complain about these songs. I can call them amateurish. But there will be no complaints.

Conclusion?: For basic slice of life, K-ON! isn't bad at all. It's a fun-filled, cheerful series that isn't half-bad when it comes to comedy. I've found that series which aren't specifically labeled as comedy actually tend to make me laugh more than the ones that are, oddly enough...

But anyway. Considering the fact that it's from Studio Key, I expected some serious tears. Because...well, it's Key. They seem to get their jollies (← another phrase I don't get to use nearly enough) going “happy, happy, happy, NOW WE ARE RIPPING OUT YOUR SOUL AND YOU WILL CRY LIKE A BABY”. Just, you know. Something I've noticed from experiences with Air, Clannad and Kanon. So in K-ON! I was sitting there like a paranoid freak (this is what you've done to me, Key!) just waiting for something bad to happen.

I was pleasantly surprised by a lack of tears.

So prettymuch, I recommend K-ON! if you like Key and don't want to cry. Or if you like slice of life and don't want to cry. If you generally just like smiling while watching anime, I recommend K-ON!.

Oh for the love of god, go watch K-ON!.

My rating: 7/10. Okay, so I was singing praises of this anime. Go ahead and question this less-than-epic rating. ...Look. K-ON! had a standard to live up, and that standard is...well, those ones I listed that made me and everyone I know cry. It did not live up. Poor K-ON!.