Recently, (as in today) I started watching Angel Beats and by the end of episode 1, I had an intense urge to write up a first impressions review on it. Now firstly I have been hearing about this show for quite some time now and I guess I somewhat kept putting it off (no idea why), but hey, I’m glad I finally got around to it. Now, it starts with a middle school aged boy whom we shall call Otonashi who wakes and finds himself in the middle of the school grounds a few meters behind a girl, who so happens to be crouched, aiming an awesomely customized M16 at the head of another seemingly harmless school girl. At this point of the show I sat back and thought ‘interesting, let’s see how this progresses’.
The girl (the one holding the gun called Yuri) starts to explain that this world was one that you go to after you die, and that you must fight this ‘angel’ person/being in order to remain here, and also that while you were here, it was impossible for you to die, seeing as you are already dead. The only thing was that if you decided to not go against Angel then you would ‘disappear’ and well, no one is sure what happens when you disappear, but it is assumed you may reincarnate as a random animal such as a flea or tadpole.
Otonashi decides to join Shinda Sekai Sensen (SSS for short) the faction of other semi-immortal students such as himself who oppose Angel and joins them in their daily troublemaking and scheming to destroy Angel and take over the world.
One of the most interesting aspects of this show is that, since everyone is immortal, they are free to slice, stab and mutilate each other as much as they please and still be fine in about 5 minutes. It also gives the ability to have very potentially funny death gags such as being scared off a 20 story building by a bunny in a demon costume…. okay I just made that up, but you gotta admit, it would be funny. There is also the musical aspect of the show, apparently a few of the members of SSS are incredible musicians who formed a rock band which is in fact quite popular within the school body. And hey, even though you can’t enjoy the lyrics (Japanese lyrics translated into English always suck) you can always bob you head to the music allowing me to give the musical aspect of the show a perfect 10.
Overall id say from my first impression, that this show has a truckload of potential and I pray it doesn’t disappoint.
Plot : 8
Music : 10
Animation : 9
Overall : 8*
*since this is only a first impression rating, the overall is given by the lowest individual score, just like Windows Experience Index J.
I think one of the most interesting aspects of Angel Beats is that it’s a ride which goes on a very different path which one expects – for the good or worse, you’ll decide.
absolutely true, im almost done (2 episodes left) and im sure most would agree the unexpectedness is a great aspect of it, can’t wait to see how it ends ><
I watched the first episode and for some reason I gave up on it. I don’t remember being bored by it either, but how are the rest of the episodes looking?
Pretty good actually, it doesn’t get boring or repetitive like many other shows do, and its incredibly funny. I suggest giving it another go, and hey its only 13 episodes (whispers *wont take too much of your time* )