Aw crud, not Maeda Jun!

I’ve only seen five episodes, since that’s all that is available. But from what I have seen, Angel Beats! is turning out to be surprisingly good. Even considering this series was scripted by none other than Maeda Jun, a notorious gerbil.

To quote myself from 2006 on one of his previous works:

The story’s a haphazard quilt of misshapen plot devices taken from lesser plot lines that have long since been worn down and rented in various ways.

So to watch something under the Visual Art’s/Key label, and find out that it doesn’t suck, is truly exciting for me. I was hesitant to pick this up under my preconceived suppositions, and now I’m glad my lack of good judgment has finally borne fruit.

The animation is amazing; P.A.Works did well with this one. The characters are likable. The story seems to draw from a recent trend in postmortem adventures, but manages originality in its presentation. The comedy takes its form in gags, which at times seem a bit over the top, but I’ll admit to chuckling at some of the antics.

The music in Angel Beats, apparently composed by Maeda Jun as well, is turning out to be quite a treat. Even the insert songs are decent; if you don’t mind the J-pop/Rock genre that was formerly ruined for me by K-on! Particularly, the ballads are my favorite, since they tickle my emotional quotient.

Quite action-packed.

Steady... Steady...

This series isn’t perfect of course. I can already foresee lines of comparison being drawn between the lead heroine, Yuri, and another hard-headed female by the name of Haruhi. Furthermore, beneath all the emotional baggage this show manages to shove onto its characters amidst wackiness and good fun, it may really just be another cheap excuse to arm adolescents with weapons. Not that I mind. Still, it is a bit awkward how hastily Yuri became attracted to Otonashi when he has yet to do a damn thing.

Well, you knew this would be here. Sort of look like Eskuche Control Headphones. The guy with the beanie's sporting what may be Audio-Technica ATH-EW9's.

This series deals quite a bit with music.

Well, in any case, it’s a good show. So far.

Kanade's cute even behind crosshairs...