First off, thanks for all those that are still waiting for the new video! I've actually finished editing it, but I've bene having trouble actually rendering the file. I hope I can get it done soon, wanted to get it done before Thanksgiving, but the video may just end up being a holiday gift for you guys. So sorry once again fro the delays, it's coming, I just..need to get my computer working! Grrr!
For now, I hope you can settle with a review or how I should really say, my thoughts of Angel Beats.
It's funny now that I think back, when I asked my friends and online which one should I get on Blu-Ray (at the time I really wanted a Blu-Ray anime): Angel Beats or High School of the Dead? I watched the first episode of both of them at nearly the same time, and both of them interested me. High School had ALOT of sex appeal but the characters reactions felt real and the behaviors of everyone was shocking. It's exactly what would it be like in a zombie world if everything to turned upside down.
On the flip side was Angel Beats, something that happens when your already dead but not turned into a zombie, where people wake up in this world after they have died and they do battle in this strange world with an 'angel' that's trying to kill them. It was interesting for sure also, the storyline was very unique and I was interested in where the characters were going.
So, I am happy to say that Angel Beats after some thought ended up being the one I brought. I don't remember why I choose this one over the other one, but maybe I just came to realize that I wanted to buy High School of the Dead, in the end, for the sex appeal. I'd soon do that for Queen's Blade, and I'm noticing how I still haven't finished it (even though I'm at the near last episodes). And I'm glad I chose Angel Beats, and I'm glad to have watched this.
This, by all means, is an anime that knew exactly what it wanted to do and how to do it. Not everything was made as perfection that is, but every episode they wanted to do something with it, and there was heart all the way through. From the moment the opening started and the ending previews, you were going to be drawn into it.
I just love the characters. It's hard not to when, from the start, you already had a connection with them. All of them, are not just random characters you meet in a high school anime and is just annoyed with them and wish they went away, they all have...well, heart to them, to say that word again. I think alot of it has to do with knowing that, all of them ended up in this world. One way or another, they all have some kind of story or reason to be in this world, and while you don't end up learning about all of them (which is unfortunate), you really get drawn to all of them (though having said that, some of them I completely forgot about but they make for good bodies to use!).
The animation is good, it looks like a typical anime which...is okay. It'll be hard to pick off Angel Beats out of other animes for sure if you just look at it, but maybe that's one of the appeals to it also. That it's easy on the eyes, making it all the more easy for you to dive into without thinking "Wow this art style is crazy!". And thinking more of it now, it just makes the story and characters stand out even more, because it knows it has a great story to tell, it doesn't need a special type of artistic design for it to be appealing.
The story, is 100% one of the best I've seen in awhile. Some shows linger with it's story, or the story only lasts for a few episodes before it becomes filler until it gets to the end (I love Ben-to, but it's a series you can easily stop at early on). I'm still struggling in trying to make my own stories without them being filler. Actually, in fact, I wish this series went on longer, I feel like there's still quite alot of stories to tell. I would have loved to have learned about all of the characters you see in the opening, some of them are still a mystery to me, but...would it have had as much as an impact as it would right now? As I'm typing this? As I said this is a show that knows what ti wanted to do and how to get there. I just would have liked a few more episodes for some characters.
You've probably heard this alot from other people that watched this show, but I did cry. Alot. Not of sadness though, oddly enough, but simply because of how well each character's story was played out. I probably cried for about half of the episodes, but in a good way. You'll really feel for these characters, and it's not a depressing thing to cry for them, but it's of...how you say, hope? Or a feeling of understanding, of life. I think that's one of the main things about this anime, is about life. And how you make of it. Will you die happy? And can you find peace with your life, even if it wasn't how you wanted it to be? I love this show for making characters wonder about that, because, if I can give a personal story to this, I have thought about this when I was in high school. Before I became an adult, I thought to myself before that "If it all ended here, I'll be happy with where I'm at". Currently I'm not feeling the same way about my own life, there's things I want to make better before it's all said and done, but at the time, I had felt like I was fulfilled. I hope we can all pass on eventually, with that feeling...
The music is great. Some tracks are better than others, but I just love the opening and ending themes. Everything when your watching it tells a story, and those songs are no exceptions. I get worried that if I listen to them outside of the anime, I'll feel depressed or be filled with emotions, which has happened before for other songs...but their beautiful songs. And the openings and endings themselves are so well done. Each opening is unique to each episode, which made watching the clean openings all in a row as one of the blu-ray extras not a chore at all, unlike some animes I know (AIKa).
I don't want to go on and spoil about this series, so just end with, I recommend this anime so much. It has an amazing story, and makes you want to fulfill your life too. It gives off interesting ideas too, and I am glad to actually own this series. It makes me wonder just how many of my other dvds are actually worth keeping.
For now, I hope you can settle with a review or how I should really say, my thoughts of Angel Beats.
It's funny now that I think back, when I asked my friends and online which one should I get on Blu-Ray (at the time I really wanted a Blu-Ray anime): Angel Beats or High School of the Dead? I watched the first episode of both of them at nearly the same time, and both of them interested me. High School had ALOT of sex appeal but the characters reactions felt real and the behaviors of everyone was shocking. It's exactly what would it be like in a zombie world if everything to turned upside down.
On the flip side was Angel Beats, something that happens when your already dead but not turned into a zombie, where people wake up in this world after they have died and they do battle in this strange world with an 'angel' that's trying to kill them. It was interesting for sure also, the storyline was very unique and I was interested in where the characters were going.
So, I am happy to say that Angel Beats after some thought ended up being the one I brought. I don't remember why I choose this one over the other one, but maybe I just came to realize that I wanted to buy High School of the Dead, in the end, for the sex appeal. I'd soon do that for Queen's Blade, and I'm noticing how I still haven't finished it (even though I'm at the near last episodes). And I'm glad I chose Angel Beats, and I'm glad to have watched this.
This, by all means, is an anime that knew exactly what it wanted to do and how to do it. Not everything was made as perfection that is, but every episode they wanted to do something with it, and there was heart all the way through. From the moment the opening started and the ending previews, you were going to be drawn into it.
I just love the characters. It's hard not to when, from the start, you already had a connection with them. All of them, are not just random characters you meet in a high school anime and is just annoyed with them and wish they went away, they all have...well, heart to them, to say that word again. I think alot of it has to do with knowing that, all of them ended up in this world. One way or another, they all have some kind of story or reason to be in this world, and while you don't end up learning about all of them (which is unfortunate), you really get drawn to all of them (though having said that, some of them I completely forgot about but they make for good bodies to use!).
The animation is good, it looks like a typical anime which...is okay. It'll be hard to pick off Angel Beats out of other animes for sure if you just look at it, but maybe that's one of the appeals to it also. That it's easy on the eyes, making it all the more easy for you to dive into without thinking "Wow this art style is crazy!". And thinking more of it now, it just makes the story and characters stand out even more, because it knows it has a great story to tell, it doesn't need a special type of artistic design for it to be appealing.
The story, is 100% one of the best I've seen in awhile. Some shows linger with it's story, or the story only lasts for a few episodes before it becomes filler until it gets to the end (I love Ben-to, but it's a series you can easily stop at early on). I'm still struggling in trying to make my own stories without them being filler. Actually, in fact, I wish this series went on longer, I feel like there's still quite alot of stories to tell. I would have loved to have learned about all of the characters you see in the opening, some of them are still a mystery to me, but...would it have had as much as an impact as it would right now? As I'm typing this? As I said this is a show that knows what ti wanted to do and how to get there. I just would have liked a few more episodes for some characters.
You've probably heard this alot from other people that watched this show, but I did cry. Alot. Not of sadness though, oddly enough, but simply because of how well each character's story was played out. I probably cried for about half of the episodes, but in a good way. You'll really feel for these characters, and it's not a depressing thing to cry for them, but it's of...how you say, hope? Or a feeling of understanding, of life. I think that's one of the main things about this anime, is about life. And how you make of it. Will you die happy? And can you find peace with your life, even if it wasn't how you wanted it to be? I love this show for making characters wonder about that, because, if I can give a personal story to this, I have thought about this when I was in high school. Before I became an adult, I thought to myself before that "If it all ended here, I'll be happy with where I'm at". Currently I'm not feeling the same way about my own life, there's things I want to make better before it's all said and done, but at the time, I had felt like I was fulfilled. I hope we can all pass on eventually, with that feeling...
The music is great. Some tracks are better than others, but I just love the opening and ending themes. Everything when your watching it tells a story, and those songs are no exceptions. I get worried that if I listen to them outside of the anime, I'll feel depressed or be filled with emotions, which has happened before for other songs...but their beautiful songs. And the openings and endings themselves are so well done. Each opening is unique to each episode, which made watching the clean openings all in a row as one of the blu-ray extras not a chore at all, unlike some animes I know (AIKa).
I don't want to go on and spoil about this series, so just end with, I recommend this anime so much. It has an amazing story, and makes you want to fulfill your life too. It gives off interesting ideas too, and I am glad to actually own this series. It makes me wonder just how many of my other dvds are actually worth keeping.