Review: Angel Beats!

From the one's who created AIR, Kanon, Clannad, and AS, Key unexpectedly helped create another anime called Angel Beats! What's it about? Well...

Unlike the other Key-made anime, Angel Beats! did NOT come from a visual novel. It's a straight-up anime and manga. They didn't too bad either...though there were some slick moves in this anime where they made something called "Key Coffee" in the vending machines.

The storyline of Angel Beats is kind of odd at first-actually it's odd from top to bottom until the climax of the anime. A guy named Otonashi wakes up in the middle of what looks like the P.E. schoolgrounds at night behind a girl in a school uniform who looks like she's holding a sniper rifle. That girl says he's dead. Having no clue what's going on, he goes off to that girls' sniping target and asks the same question. doubting the belief that he's dead, he immediately gets stabbed by something from that girl and falls unconscious. Fast-forwarding, the girl with the sniper rifle tells Otonashi that he's dead and their goal is to kill "Angel" who was her sniping target. And the girl, who's named Yuri, want's Otonashi to join her Battlefront with the members that are in it. That's pretty much how the story starts..

In this place you're dead, so if you get shot by a bullet you still come back to life. This blue haired guy, Hinata, knows that. So strangling a loli is ok!

Even though the storyline is fairly set, the setting is kinda off. Like you kinda wonder why Otonashi is in a school for some reason, why isn't he taking classes then why is he suddenly taking then at one point of the episodes when he wasn't at first etc. Also the thing with Angel. Lots of the signs that show that something is not right, but once they shed into light, it was kinda odd on what she wanted to do all this time...


Overall, this anime is still one worth watching. Although I think 13 episodes isn't enough to display everything, a 25-ish episode series could've showed each character's reasons for being dead and at the Battlefront...but then again, it would've probably spoiled the population of how many were needed in the climax. Overall I liked everything, the flashbacks, romance, determination aspects, drama, and of course, the comedy. I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

-Nate