Forum - View topicMy review of Angel Beats!
|
|
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Suburban Snob
Posts: 9 |
|
||
|
Hello! I’m The Fullmetal Narcissist, and I watch way too much anime!
Angel Beats is a thirteen episode anime series that was released in 2010, as well as a single episode ova that was released just before the end of that year. It’s a story about a teenage boy who wakes up outside, having no idea how he got there, only to be greeted by a nearby girl wielding a gun. Now, you would normally expect tequila to have led to this kind of scenario, but no... She explains to him that he’s here because he’s dead. And she says this while aiming her gun at another girl. She goes on to explain this other girl, an apparent angel, is the mortal enemy of her and the group she leads... The Underworld Battlefront. Or the “Like Hell I’m Dead Battlefront,” depending on what version you’re watching. Believing this story to be bat-shit crazy, and who could blame him, the boy shrugs off her story, and decides to approach the other girl, who echoes the first girl’s claim that he’d dead. He asks for proof, and she stabs him through the heart, killing him. He wakes up in bed later on, his bloodstained shirt serving as a definitive reminder that he’s not in Kansas anymore. He’s not in Oz, either... Probably... he’s in some vaguely defined computer-based version of Purgatory where teenagers end up whenever they die unfulfilled. You can’t die in this world, no matter what happens to you, you can magically build inanimate objects out of dirt, and if you take school too seriously, you’ll disappear. This is a lot of nonsense for our hero to take in, but it’s all real, so we follow him faithfully as he absorbs it all. The first thing you may notice about this story is how beautiful it looks and sounds. First and foremost, the music in this series is a step above the norm. Not only is the opening pretty enough to be borderline unskippable, but the background music is also very nicely done. The fictitious rock band Girls Dead Monster is mind-blowingly good, especially compared to other fictitious anime bands like Afterschool Tea and ENOZ, I would honestly consider them on par with Beck, and the animation that goes into all of their concerts is nothing short of captivating. The artwork is also very well done, at least most of the time. The animation is some of the best I’ve ever seen, but describing it that way doesn’t really do it justice. The animation budget is on the same level as Clannad’s, only they do so much more with it. The action scenes are particularly noteworthy, being as fast-paced and smoothly rendered as any action scene should be. The character designs are very well thought out, and it makes it a breeze to tell the characters apart, although the way peoples’ hair completely disappears behind their eyes is a little disconcerting. And as for the characters themselves... The main character, despite having amnesia, is somehow aware of the fact that his name is Yuzuru Otonashi. He acts as our blank slate for the story, reacting to the other characters with wonder and cynicism. He unfortunately doesn’t have much of a distinguishable personality, but that’s pretty common with male leads. They can’t all be Kyon or Tomoya Okazaki, after all. Angel, or as her name is eventually revealed, Kanade Tachibana, is considered the poster-child of the series, and that’s where I start to have problems with it. She’s a very poorly written character. Her motives in the beginning are baffling, and after you learn what her motives were, her logic up until that point becomes even more baffling. She seems to lose interest in pursuing them after she loses her position as student council president, which is strange, but what’s even stranger is the fact that she even attained that position in the first place. Nothing about her is ever explained, and I seriously think it’s because the writers didn’t actually have explanations for any of it. Either way, neither of these characters are very compelling, but the development of their relationship almost makes up for it. Oh, by the way, I’m spoiling the fact that she’s not really their enemy because that’s ridiculously easy to figure out anyway. Yurippe Nakamura(The girl with the gun), on the other hand, is a very compelling character. She’s active, she has clear motives, and she’s the only character who ever takes the initiative towards moving the story forward. She bears some similarities to Haruhi Suzumiya, both in her appearance and her attitude towards her followers, but she’s also a much more reasonable and intelligent character than Haruhi ever was. She’s strong and perceptive, and has quite possibly the best character arc in the whole show. As for our secondary characters, Hinata is the first person who really befriends Yuzuru, and the dynamic between them is very well developed. Yui is the fast-talking air-head, and while her hyperactive and sometimes idiotic ways are a constant source of annoyance for Hinata, they do show a genuine affection for each other. Naoi makes for a pretty decent villain when he first appears, but after having his cruel ways changed by the power of fwiendship(I’m not making that up), he basically just becomes a constant gay joke that never gets a punch line. Iwasama is the original lead singer of Girls Dead Monster, and she takes her music very seriously. The rest of the cast barely deserves to be mentioned, if at all. Oda and Shiina make for some good visual gags from time to time, and TK is one of the laziest character ideas I’ve ever heard of. I’d really like someone to explain to me why he’s so popular. The few backstories we get are by far one of the strongest points of the show. Hinata’s flashback is a little underwhelming, but Yuri and Yui’s backstories are gleefully tragic, and they do wonders in explaining why they are who they are. In fact, Yuri’s is probably the darkest moment in the entire show. Some people may argue that Yuzuru’s is also one of the better ones, and I agree, as long as you don’t ask too many questions about why he didn’t get arrested. But the one that gets me every time is Iwasama’s. Now, I’m too unilingual to tell you about the original Japanese dub, so I’ll tell you about the English dub instead. The English dub is directed by Stephen Foster... Yes, THAT Stephen Foster... But he actually manages to control himself and stick to the script more often than not. He takes some liberties with the dialogue here and there, and they’re liberties that I really wish he hadn’t taken. There are some embarrassing mistakes, most noticeably in the mispronunciation of the word suplex. Acting wise, there were a few really impressive performances. Luci Christian is at the top of the class as usual. She’s made a career out of being one of the best emoters in the business, and even though she only gets a single episode of screen time as Iwasama, she still lets her veteran instincts bleed through with every word. Hilary Haag puts her signature hyperactive energy into her role as Yui, forcing me to wonder just how versatile her endlessly high pitched voice can be. Brittney Karbowski owns the role of Yuri, and she’s always a joy to listen to. David Matranga takes the subtle, humorous edge that he gave to his character in the lead role from Clannad and carries it over to Hinata, to stunning effect. Blake Shepherd does an okay job, and he seems to match his character very well, but he’s easily overshadowed by the other performers. Emily Neves, in the role of Kanade... Um... Well, she doesn’t do a bad job, it’s just sort of mediocre. I mean, if you have three of the best voice actresses in the company in your cast, and give the ‘lead role’ to an actress who’s career highlight was getting booted off of American Idol, it’s not a very flattering comparison. I would have placed this role in the hands of someone more capable, like Jessica Boone or Taylor Hannah. And TK shouldn’t have had an English voice actor at all, since his entire schtick is that he says nonsensical one-liners in Engrish. Personally, I’d recommend the sub, but if you’re a hardcore dub fan, then the dub will at least be satisfactory. Now, getting down to the actual story... It’s a complete mess. One of the first things Yuri tells Yuzuru is that he should just go with it, and accept things as they are. I’d like to think this advice goes double for the viewer... Turn your brain off, because this story doesn’t make a lick of sense. Now, don’t get me wrong here, a fictional story doesn’t have to make sense to our universe. It has to make sense according to it’s own universe. With nearly every single story element, we get an explanation of what it is, an explanation of how it works, and a direct contradiction within three episodes time. A perfect example is with Angel’s behavior. The Battlefront has to be careful where they discuss their plans, out of fear that she may hear them, but then even when they’re discussing their plans out loud in the same classroom as her, she doesn’t notice a thing. She’s so persistent that she’ll even challenge their decision to play a baseball game, and yet in that same classroom scene, she doesn’t even seem to notice them all congregating together on the other side of the room. And there are other examples... The other students who weren’t brought here from another life are called NPC’s, and while they’re supposed to turn a blind eye to the Battlefront’s antics, they show up in droves to a GirlDeMo concert, and line up for a fish give-away. The former of the two examples was pointed out by one of the characters... As a matter of fact, a lot of the inconsistencies in this show are pointed out by the characters, as if the writers thought that making the script self-aware of it’s own flaws would somehow make up for those flaws. The pacing of this anime is a serious issue. We get plot point after plot point after plot point thrown at us, and with no build-up or development for any of them, they just fly by without making much of an impact. There’s little to no character development outside of the main cast, and as a result, more than three quarters of the cast go completely unexplored, existing only to spout off their assigned one-note-jokes and occasionally die for our amusement. I strongly feel as though both of these problems could have been solved if the show had a 24-26 episode run. We’re introduced to important details that quickly become forgotten or conflicted, plot points that are almost immediately made pointless, and the only explanations they ever stick to are the ones that sound like complete cop-outs. The incomprehensible nature of the world they’re in ultimately culminates with an underground scene between Yuri and some mysterious figure in a room full of computers. This is by far the most insulting moment in the entire series, as several of the questions we’ve asked about it are resolved with cop-out answers ranging from “It was like this when I got here” to “The power of love.” From here on, there’ll be spoilers. To avoid them, skip to the final two paragraphs. Okay, I have to ask this. If the act of crossing over is as easy as just choosing to disappear, then why did we get an entire episode of Yuzuru and Hinata trying to help Yui find peace? Why is ANYBODY in this purgatory world in the first place if finding peace with yourself is that damned easy? The ending of this series is often sited by fans of the show as some of the most emotionally crippling material they’ve ever watched. And I will admit, I get very choked up during the graduation scene. But after that, it becomes very difficult for me to care. One scene of particular note is the big reveal of the show’s major plot twist, as Yuzuru confesses his love for Kanade, who reveals that he was the organ donor whose heart saved her life. This could have been a very powerful moment, if not for the gigantic plot hole it created. I’m sorry, you’re expecting us to buy the fact that his death saved her life? Have you forgotten the fact that she got to this world before he did? And the implication that she was THERE a lot longer than he was? The fact that they died at around the same age means that he gave her one or two extra years of life, tops. And since we don’t know how she died, that makes it entirely possible that her body rejected his heart. In other words, his heart might have killed her. Oh, and by the way, his amnesia was caused by his lack of a heart. Yes, apparently we carry our memories in our heart, in more than a metaphorical sense. The scene after the credits of the final episode... I really don’t want to say this. I don’t want to be that guy, you know? I do not, do not, do not want to be the first person to point that it was almost identical to the ending of The Butterfly Effect. That it’s like a combination of the theatrical ending and one of the deleted endings. So please, for the love of god, tell me I’m not. All in all, Angel beats is a very poorly written story that relies entirely on it’s spectacular visuals to distract you from the phenomenal lack of logic or consistency. And do you want to know the absolute worst thing about it? The worst thing about this anime is that it is physically impossible to not enjoy it. It is relentlessly fun to watch, even for some stick-in-the-mud like me who kept his brain on full blast the entire time. There’s a lot of things it does wrong... Embarrassingly so, at some points... But when it does something right, it knocks it right out of the park. The overly complicated plot comes with a surprisingly simple, albeit poorly constructed, story. The humor isn’t as unique or brilliant as the humor in Baka and Test, but it’s diverse enough to give everybody something to laugh at. If you’re just watching it for shallow reasons, you’ll enjoy the hell out of the production values alone. I’d give this series a 6.5/10. I would recommend buying it, but only because you can get a good copy on Ebay for less than twenty dollars. Yeah, I would never recommend paying full price for a show like this, but 18 or 19 sounds fair. If you don’t want to pay or it, you can find the english dub on Netflix, and the sub on pretty much any streaming site that isn’t owned by Funimation. I'm The Fullmetal Narcissist, and you're welcome! |
|||
|
|||
Miranox
 Posts: 247 Location: Montreal, Canada |
|
||
|
Wall of text hits you for over 9000 damage. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
Seriously though this is way too long. Few are going to read all this. You may want add some text structure such as titles/sections and be a bit more concise when writing a review. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group