Common Name: Angel Beats!
Score: 10/10, 5/5
Length: 13 episodes, 3 specials
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, School Life, Supernatural, Mystery
Summary: Upon waking in a strange place without any memory of how he got here or who he really is, Otonashi Yuzuru finds himself in the middle of a ceaseless and bloody conflict that quickly makes him realize that he is actually dead. Rather than finding himself before the pearly gates or within a burning pit though, he's been sent to school. As he tries to find answers though, Otonashi quickly learns that the reality of the situation he and his classmates have found themselves in is far more complex than it seems.
Review: Angel Beats! is one of those animes that comes around maybe once every few years that appears out of nowhere, excels at everything it attempts to accomplish, and departs with maybe a few unaddressed issues but for the most part has told a complete and satisfying story. At least, that's what it is on the surface. In reality though, the show has a lot of depth too it and offers a veritable feast for analysts and theorists who are able to find hidden, and often incomplete, subplots and themes that were likely missed even after completing it a number of times. I am not, however, one of those people. Though I have been informed of a few of these little details that have left die hard fans salivating for more, I think engaging the show at that level takes away from what it actually accomplishes--the complete thoughts that it expresses and expresses well. If you are interested in that sort of nitty gritty digging into a work though, I don't think it'd be hyperbole to say that this show has been talked and analysed to death.
Good thing the entire cast is functionally immortal.
Putting aside all the theories and maybes, even if they are legitimate, though, Angel Beats! is a wonderfully executed piece with plenty to examine and talk about, even on the surface. For starters, there are the characters of the show. While a good portion of the cast is relegated to comedic relief during the show's tenser moments, a similar portion has so much depth to them that it doesn't take much to relate to and sympathize with them because, at their core, all of these characters have some deep-seated issues or traumas that brought them to this afterlife that seems to revel in youth. Throughout the show, this revelry of youth is brought to the forefront as the cast acts out in defiance of the world's authority, finds the kind of friends they feel they can lean on or relate to, and shares the good times and the bad with each other as a community. Though it doesn't express the reality of being a young, Angel Beats! does capture the essence of that chaotic and emotional period of life. The best part of it though is that, at least with the main cast of characters, the traumas and personal issues that make up the core of each character eventually take center stage, but without feeling forced or unnecessarily dramatic, making them all the more sympathetic and engaging. As a whole though, the show is a dramatic comedy above all else. The tone and overall feeling that the characters bring has a lot of nuance to it that balances the show's parts into a fun, hilarious, and heart wrenching whole. The fact that I even identify it as a "dramatic comedy" should be proof of that enough since drama and comedy are typically two very different concepts that detrimentally clash more frequently than they meld.
Then again, there aren't too many shows out there that can turn
watching your friends being brutally killed into a running gag.
Next, there's the matter of the show's plot and pacing. In all honestly though, there's not much to say. I'm, as a critic, reluctant to even try and claim that the show is perfect in this field, since perfection is inherently subjective, but I'm hard-pressed to think of any instances where the plot takes a turn that it shouldn't or halts the forward progression in a way that doesn't serve some purpose. The worst I can think of is the final dramatic push of the show when the final enemy is made known, but even that is excusable due to it being an important aspect of the world they reside in, rather than their personal lives, that was hinted throughout, and that's the strange thing about it. In the moments where the show feels ridiculous or that it's trying to do something that doesn't jive with with the precedent it set, it only takes a moment to recall that the current situation was alluded to earlier, possibly from the very start. Through a throwaway line, a brief moment of pregnant silence, or the most insignificant of actions, every single moment in show that I can think of is given context without even skipping a beat or interrupting the flow of whatever the show was doing at the time. With a plot and pacing this solid, I can only assume the writer and director sold their souls in the process of making this, because the devil really is in the smallest of details that bring the show into a single, masterfully crafted whole.
Really though, I don't think it's a stretch to call Angel Beats! a masterpiece and a true work of art since I have no reservations about making that claim. Everything from the characters to the fluctuation of the tone to the plot to the pacing is absolutely on point, and it's presentation is no different. The art is solid and gorgeous to look at most of the time.
If I had a frame to put this in, I'd try to sneak this into a museum gallery.
The animation is fluid and expressive most of the time, and when it's not its for the sake of a joke. The show's crowning glory though is its music. The background music sets the tone in the same way the characters do, making the whole experience more enjoyable and meaningful. More than that though, it features some original, professionally made tracks performed by the cast's in-setting rock band.
I've said it like six times already, I'll say it again: every single aspect of this show blends together in such a way that I have no problem calling it a masterpiece. If I haven't convinced you of that already, I doubt I ever will.