My Take on Angel Beats

 Finished watching Angel Beats for my first time.

And, to be honest, I'm kind of disappointed.

To compare my thoughts to others, I looked up a few reviews. I found Glass Reflection's final verdict (check it out here) shared a lot of the thoughts that I had. 

Here's part of his review that very much aligns with my own thoughts:

"I don't feel like I should be calling Angel Beats bad per-se. Because it recovers enough from a lot of its executions to make itself somewhat enjoyable. However, the show's tone is all over the place and the pacing has been shot to [heck].    

Honestly, this show needs more episodes. Not a sequel, mind you. The story is done. It's played out, and a sequel would only make things worse. But it really needed to be, like, twice the length that it actually was in order to fully flesh everything out, and that was something it just never got.

Emotion without purpose or reasoning means nothing to me.

Angel Beats never really gave me enough time to become attached to any character of any real interest.

And that's why even the ending failed me; forgetting about the massive plot-hole that was somehow shoehorned in there to make the emotional rollercoaster exist in the first place."

The show does have it's enjoyable moments for sure. But the pacing really was all over the place. And the characters felt shallow. Many parts that I could tell were supposed to be emotional didn't hit home for me at all. There were a couple shining moments that did, though (although only a couple).

I really think more episodes is exactly what was needed. More time to develop the characters, more time to pace out the plot and explain certain things. It would really really help.

I'm also curious if my watching of The Good Place has negatively influenced my perspective on Angel Beats. They both deal with the similar concept of being ready to move on after reaching the afterlife and such. And so I've already been through that sort of arc with a different set of characters. 

Along those lines, The Good Place had 4 seasons (53 episodes of varying lengths (granted, I failed to watch several of the episodes from the first season)) to help me fall in love with those characters. I care for them. And so the last episode was powerful. 

I only had 13 episodes (20ish minutes each), and by the end of those I only really had a decent connection to a couple of the characters. And so the last episode really didn't land for me.

Not bad, though. Not a bad anime at all. Definitely a pleasurable watch, for sure. Just not my favorite.

Has some really solid unexpected comedic moments that got me laughing out loud. Has a solid premise. Has good mystery elements; things that keep you curious about the world and how it works (granted, a lot of these questions never get answered, but regardless, it kept me engaged). Music is great. Animation is solid.

 Maybe a 7/10?