Angel Beats! Review

Name: Angel Beats!
Manga/Anime: Anime (It's a visual novel and a 4-koma comic published in Japanese magazines)
Author: Jun Maeda
Genre: Action, Drama, Comedy, Fantasy
Status: Complete
Story: Angel Beats! takes place at a high school acting as a Purgatory, where students learn to give up any lingering attachments they still have from life before continuing to an afterlife or reincarnation. While the injury or cause of death are gone, those in the afterlife school can still feel pain or other things as they did when they were alive, as well as dying again, only to awaken with no injures several minutes later. The story follows the main protagonist Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. Upon awakening in the afterlife, he meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Shinda Sekai Sensen (SSS) (死んだ世界戦線^?, lit. Afterlife War Front), an organization she founded and leads which fights against God for the cruel fates the SSS members experienced in life. Their only enemy in the world is the school's student council president Angel, a being with supernatural powers who fights against the SSS. Yuri believes that anyone who follows Angel's orders and behaves like a normal student at the school will eventually disappear and pass on to Heaven. However, those who fulfill their dreams in the afterlife will pass on as well. (quoted from Wikipedia)
My Rating: 5/5 stars

My Review:

Just remembering the last episode of this series just makes me want to tear up. It is such a good anime series to watch. Is there anything else to say? Techinically no, but I probably should explain my reasoning.

Angel Beats! has the same components that either make or break an anime. The story, the characters, the art, and the impression left on the audience. This anime passes every single test in these areas. The story is unique, even if you've seen one that is set in the same way. It never gets old, not only because it is only 13 episodes long, but the plot twists make it interesting while correlating to the overall plot. The characters are all specially unique in their own way with their own life stories, personalities, and impact on the story. I wish that they could expand on more of the characters, but the main ones were covered in a beautiful way. The art is consistantly amazing. There are no parts that the artist got lazy (unlike in Prince of Tennis where there are some spots that are very sloppy).

Then there is the impression left on the audience. I love a good anime that has a very very very wonderful lesson to take from it and an anime that can move me. Angel Beats! does both. Not only does it have a beautiful life lesson that you should take to heart, it will move you to tears. There are just those moments that makes you ache for a character or just feel really sad.

This anime is very captivating and really really really really....good. Uuuuggh, I just LOVE it to death!!! Need I say more?