Save my soul: an "Angel Beats" review
Some anime have that rose-colored glasses feeling. For many, it happens when you're young and see a show that speaks to you for whatever reason. As you get older, part of you wants to re-watch the show and hope it'll be just as good as you remember it. But sometimes doubt decides to creep in regardless of your input. What if the show is worse than you remember it? What if it doesn't hold itself up to the standard you held when you were eleven or thirteen? What then?
Angel Beats is that show for me. I remember watching it for the first time at thirteen, back when the show's English dub was on Netflix. It was a good time, an emotional roller-coaster that had my brother and I crying by the time it was over. When I discovered a DVD of the show in my college's library, I decided to binge the show, this time in Japanese, with a friend during Labor Day weekend. What could be better than sitting on a beanbag chair on a three-day weekend, putting off homework, and allowing the show to take me on its trip once again?
Five years later, my mind still regards Angel Beats as the same good stuff it was back when I was just beginning my angst-ridden teenage journey. Its compelling concept, lovable and hilarious gang of characters, beautiful music, and heartrending emotion all play off in a show firmly anchored in a world where rebellion rules, but perhaps all it takes to stop the fight is the realization that everyone's human. Maybe it's time to let go of the pain weighing us down and celebrate the life we have now. It's a wonderful message, and even despite its lack of development for some characters and its redundant humor at points, this anime is certainly a cathartic and satisfying experience that will make you laugh, then make you cry, then make you smile.
A young man awakens in the courtyard of a school in the middle of the night. When he gets up, he's immediately met with the sight of a girl looking through the barrel of a gun, ready to fire. She explains that she's the leader of the (insert name here; by the end of the show, it's Afterlife) Battlefront and fighting against the sworn enemy of the group, the supernatural student council president only known as Angel. The boy is justifiably confused by all this and even more surprised when told he has died, and it's only until after he gets stabbed by the infamous Angel and skewered by the blindingly-devoted Battlefront member Noda that he really begins to understand his situation. The girl from earlier, who introduces herself as Yuri, explains that the Battlefront is fighting against God for the unjust pain they faced while they were alive. The team believes Angel serves as God's agent, forcing them to succumb to the seemingly jovial life of a high school student with a bunch of human-looking but insentient characters until they obliterate. Yuri convinces the boy, who can only remember his last name, Otonashi, to become part of her ranks, and from there, it's a crash course into learning about how the Afterlife Battlefront uses diversions and battles against Angel to survive in the purgatory they call home.
But it doesn't take long for some members of the team to slowly find peace in the world and accept their dreams, getting a chance to reenter the world they left behind to get the chance to live again. And when a boy thought to be an NPC (the non-playable characters, AKA the background characters) rises out of the shadows to try and take over, actual shadows begin forming out of NPCs, and Angel begins showing signs of humanity no one saw coming, circumstances become dire. As Otonashi gets closer to Angel and becomes used to the routine of his life, will his lost memories return? Once he knows the truth about resurrection, will he be able to convince the Battlefront that maybe they don't need to fight the system but rather embrace the lives they've made here and the things that make them who they are? Or is everything going to shatter, what once seemed like an ideal dream world falling into despair?
The story of Angel Beats definitely takes getting used to. Otonashi's introduction to the world is the audience's as well, and it can be disorientating to have to absorb all of the information that gets thrown out in the first half of the first episode. But once viewers get situated, the story settles down and lets the characters have fun. This leads to some absolutely hysterical moments where people "die" (while the kids experience the pain and anguish of death, they don't actually move on to another afterlife since they've already arrived here; rather, they are knocked out momentarily before regaining consciousness later) as the show's ending plays (eerily reminiscent of the "mm, whatcha say" portion of Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" being used in a teen drama back in the 2000s and effectively parodied since), lots of jokes, and the friction of getting used to a situation and people that get on your nerves. Some of this humor can get repetitive (particularly in the OVA episode "Stairway to Heaven," which wrecks the continuity of the show and gets stale after a while), but it always elicits a smile and made me grow to our large ensemble cast.
But a surprising shift happens partway through the show. Rather than stay a slice-of-life comedy, Angel Beats shifts to become a drama, shedding light on the pain a few of the characters faced while they were alive and what happens when they reach emotional catharsis. This is a surprisingly deft tonal shift that actually works really well in regards to the thematic arc of the show, and given this was created by a member of the visual novel company that gave us the heartbreaks of Clannad and Air, it only seems fitting. Once the series decides to allow the characters to expand their mindset beyond rebellion and realize the opportunities this world has actually given them and how to move on from it, it becomes quite the heartrending study of the freedom of youth, especially for those who didn't get the chance to participate in that in life.
The cast that goes through this journey is very lovable. Although several lack the proper development to really get the audience to root for them, they're all lovable in their own ways. From the boy who becomes Otonashi's closest ally, Hinata, to the wacky English and Japanese-speaking TK, to even the hacker that wants to be called Christ, there are a lot of personalities that clash, gel, and invigorate. It's also nice to see how Angel develops throughout the series. This experience is a lot like one of Yuri's hearty evil laughs, although without the whole "loving the idea of other people being in pain" part.
P.A. Works handled the animation of this show, and it's an absolutely beautiful and lush production. The characters are expressive and the colors are vivid, and the studio shows their deft handle when it comes to emotional scenes, which easily have the strongest animation of the entire show. Given that this was the company's third project, I'm happy they were able to knock this out of the park so effectively and beautifully. I'm definitely curious to check out the rest of their projects, which fall into the quaint slice-of-life category. However, there will probably be a little twist to each.
The soundtrack for the show is also amazing. The opening and ending for the show, sung by Lia (LiSA for one episode) and Aoi Tada, are truly iconic pieces of anime music and will create swells of emotions no matter the situation, and the insert songs are no different. Even the score, done by Jun Maeda and Anant-Garde Eyes, carries that emotional current throughout the thirteen episodes of the show. Music is the driving beat that compliments Angel Beats' incessant youth, and it's very clear this direction was done on purpose. The soundtrack of life deserves just as much of a presence as the messages regarding the embracing of life. By providing that boost to the tracks, the series feels alive.
My feelings for the music, however, can unfortunately not be carried over to the dub. Although full of talented voice actors and a few great one-liners, the great story just can't be supported by awkward direction and an adaptive script mostly ripped directly from the subtitles. As such, the dub has not aged well, although that has to do with my personal feelings toward Steven Foster and not at all to do with the actors because they deserve better (particularly Brittney Karbowski's portrayal of Yuri, which is easily one of the highlights of her prolific career). Watching it in Japanese this go-around was a lot more natural for me, just because I could appreciate the voice acting alongside the compelling plot. Everyone sounds great, especially Hiroshi Kamiya providing a different tone to his main protagonist acting as the pure and hard-working Otonashi, Kana Hanazawa's lack of emotion as Angel before it fills in again, and Eri Kitamura's high-pitched and vivacious energy as the scrappy and enthusiastic girl band stan Yui. There are a lot of career-defining performances here, and it makes for a wonderful experience.
The series may be emotionally exhaustive, but Angel Beats is a nostalgic experience well-regarded by most anime fans and will definitely make for a fun binge-watch or daily play (Sentai Filmworks' license has expired, so buying new copies of it on DVD or Blu-Ray may be tricky; you can't go wrong with Crunchyroll). Its boisterous fun that fades away to a raw emotional core is the perfect reflection of youth and how life should be experienced for those still alive. Embrace all you're able to do and don't be afraid of what's to come. It may be heavy, but it's an uplifting and positive point that rings true.
