Charlotte

First of all I wan't to say that this show was not in anyway a masterpiece but I still found this anime to be enjoyable. I saw a lot of disappointment related to this series before and almost didn't watch it at all. So thinking there might be other people like me out there who might consider not even trying this because they only see the bad stuff written about this in the internet I felt it was needed of me to write this review. For me the biggest problem was the start. It was prolonged a bit too far just to set up the basis for the 'student council work' that in the end was not all that essential for this anime. However it did give chance to get to know the characters better and around episode 6 I felt like they had finished "laying the foundation" and the plot started to really progress. I was hooked and just had to see it all the way 'til the end. I was thinking that I'm not going to focus on every aspect (art, sounds, characters etc.) separately but just try to express my feelings in words for the series as a whole. Though maybe I should mention few pointers that I noticed. Art: if you've seen Aniplex shows before you pretty much know what to expect. Nothing all that amazing but solid animation all the way. Sound: I liked both OP and ED but in some of the background music sometimes had these weird sounds on regular intervals that at least for me disrupted the feeling of the situation and got me annoyed. Still just a minor annoyance that didn't happen more than few times. Generally speaking: Though having some cliché elements I found the way this story was told to be to my liking. I have always enjoyed this "situation based" humor that is typical to anime and what the first half of this anime offers a lot. Staring glowing eyes under a dark cloud from other guys who feel jealous, people rambling about their target of admiration and then getting treated accordingly for this overly stupid behavior are some of the small things I enjoy seeing in so called school-anime. This show delivered that but if you are expecting only school anime that has, synopsis quote: "The student council of the school, led by Nao, is tasked with secretly tracking down adolescents who abuse their powers." you should brace yourself because this show will turn a bit more drama focused around the halfway point. The second half of the show focused on dealing with the problems that the characters have mostly because of these abilities and how they are trying to deal with the situation. There was also more than one plot twist that I did not see coming and they made this show more interesting. I don't want to ramble for too long and accidentally write spoilers so for short conclusion: Despite a bit slow start that had some wasted screen time I think this story was well told in 13 episodes. The main reason why this anime got 7/10 from me instead of better score was that there could have been more focus on character development and that there some rushing in telling the story which was even more evident flaw after slow start. Despite these problems I still found the overall enjoyment to be 'good' hence 7/10 My first ever review. I hope it will be helpful to somebody

A power to possess anyone in your line of sight for at least 5 seconds. Seems intriguing, right? But before that, I will warn that this review might contain minor spoilers because for some reasons, I think I can't keep myself from sharing what I want to share with the community. Even spoilers are sometimes parts of reviews, isn't it? There are many things which you can do when you have powers like this. You can take revenge against bullies, you can see a girl's underwear, and even cheat off your tests and exams by possessing the honor students and looking at their test papers. Such a convenient power can make you break through life, am I wrong? And that would be the initial setting of the anime series "Charlotte". Like my review for Mirai Nikki, I was disappointed when I watched it. Why? It was recommended to me a year ago. Know what stopped me? Skepticism. I thought that the anime was no good and ignored. But then I got no more anime to watch and remembered Charlotte. I watched it and guess what I found? Another masterpiece, an original salutation for me. So let me say something: If someone said that the anime is worthwhile to watch, it is. Because I have experienced that many times already. Poor me. One of my classmates said, "Alex, have you watched Charlotte yet?" When I answered negatively, he told me why haven't I watched it even though I am the most avid fan of anime in our class. One of the factors that I came to watch it. Once again, poor me. The anime was created by the same creator who credited for Angel Beats!, Jun Maeda. Knowing that made me watch it in an instant. Huh? Skepticism? What's that? Screw it and let me watch! And so I did. The story focuses on supernatural powers. The protagonist, Otosaka Yuu, has it. As mentioned above, he has powers to possess anyone for five seconds. He uses it to get good grades, to apply to his dream school, and even save the girl he wants to have (although he nearly failed). However, the course of his life changes when he was called to the student council office for he was alleged of cheating. He disagreed, but was forced to accept. Then he was caught by Hoshi no Umi Gakuen (Ocean of Stars Academy, or in the anime Star Ocean Academy) student council president, Tomori Nao. As a result, he ran away, but to no avail as he was caught by the Nao's partner who is literally as fast as sound. The story in itself was splendid. The material was original, so I also commend the creator for that. Lots of comedic routines dramatic scenes to boot. Those had the ability to make you laugh, as well as to make you cry. That makes the story interesting. There were also battle scenes, which escalated my expectations for this series. As usual, from my other reviews, this anime has all the things I had been, have been and will have been expecting, which also is a contrast in itself. Artistic implementations. Those were also truly splendid. I found the artistic qualities utilized in the series to be greatly satisfying, as it met my expectations. I can also stress about those dramatic scenes with art so great. The scenes that shows a power's activation are my favorite, be it telekinesis, breakneck movement, levitation, and some other more. The character designs that went with was also very satisfying in my terms. One reason is for that I can't draw very well, all the more reason to commend the creations. Regarding on how the characters were drawn to perfection, I would give it outstanding compliments. Especially the main characters. They were irresistible to the point that I screenshot some of them, edited, and made it my background. It was worth my while. Tonal qualities. The music, OSTs and the themes were utterly excellent. I will be comparing the OP for Angel Beats! and Charlotte for this one. Why? They have many similarities like the composer. I also found a striking discovery that the styles of the music was breathtakingly VERY SIMILAR with the execution of the piano and others. In other words, one would remind you of the other. One more similarity is the key used, according to my hearing. However, even if that's that, the sounds were still fantastic. Again, from my many reviews, I commend the way Nippon uses to create music. It's fantastic. Nippon, banzai! Characterizing characteristics of the characteristical characters. The characters? They were fine...I guess. Various characters with various personalities...nothing too different from the usual anime that I watch. However, that doesn't stop me from praising the characters I've grown to love as well as to remember! They were great as they each functioned their role as intended. Especially when something bad happened to one character, causing one of my classmates to drop watching the series. As for me, though, I had hope that that is something reparable. In anime, nothing is impossible because the writer decides what will happen. That's a nice one. Enjoyment factors. This is a no-brainer. With the genre of comedy, romance, drama, superpowers, sci-fi, and school combined, they can easily make the ultimate anime that I will remember for the rest of my life. This is one of the few anime that I would rate 11/10 from excellency alone. Overall enjoyment is 200%. Sure I must be jesting, but I'm not. This would be easily enjoyed by fans of the same genre. Trust me. And that concludes my longest review yet. Do you know why? This anime is so good to the point I wrote this review in one go without any stopping, possibly not even minding the spellings. Review #12. Anime: Charlotte. Got to keep up, right? AFTERWORD. I do not know why I write reviews while suffering from writer's block. Wait. Maybe that's the reason why this review became longer than usual. Or is it something totally different? I wouldn't know.

(Vague spoilers ahead) It has a very appealing concept. There was so much potential, but the overall execution bogged the series down. CHARACTER The characters aren't exceptionally great. They're entertaining here and there, but they won't stick with you. Characters are too flat, or characterization is all over the place. Example of the former: Yusa. She stays her happy cute self from beginning to end. Sure, there are steadfast characters, but she barely shows other personality traits. And when she DOES show other sides, say, when she's sad because of a personal reason (and it was only once), it's not built up to it. It came out of nowhere, and I felt nothing for her. The same goes for her sister, Misa. Example of the latter: Yu, our main guy. I can't assign a word to his personality. For the first episode he comes off smug and ambitious, next he's apathetic and standing around taking orders, then he gets too nice (I see the reason why, but it was so fast) and suddenly intimate. By the end he's determined to save the world because he's obligated to save it (he doesn't have to be, even if it's for the person he cares about). Around the middle-end, he brings up his reason behind his smug and ambitious traits in the beginning of the series, but by that point it's irrelevant to mention. It's very out-of-place and unsuccessful. His motivation is not narratively strong. STORY The story is a gigantic mess overall. At the beginning it seems to build up well, but halfway in plot devices come in out of nowhere, and at the end all answers and resolutions are harshly thrown at you. The major turns ask for a lot of suspension of disbelief from the audience. There are side stories that are tossed in for about 5-7 minutes and suddenly it's over. So there are pacing and build-up issues. One example of the side story is Misa's background. In one episode, they set you up so that you can bond with her, and then the next moment, the climax of her story happens and you are expected to feel sad for her. After that the plot continues on as if that didn't even happen. Things move fast, and the audience doesn't emotionally follow. Another example is the Shun's entrance to the story. They try to establish his presence in the first episode via Ayu's mention, but it's ineffective because 1) they've set up the trope predictably, it wasn't surprising when he was revealed and 2) he is never mentioned again for the next five or six episodes, therefore putting down their efforts to establish his presence. Again, no gradual build-up, and it's paced weird. Next, they shove him in your face, and then proceed to explain EVERYTHING about why he's in the story at all. It's poor exposition, which adds onto the list of issues for why the story fails. To be fair, this plot could've worked. It failed because of poor preparation; it could've easily been executed better if they outlined the plot well. They could've picked a different point at where to start the story. Why did the story begin after the events? The only reason could be for plot twists. But that's unsuccessful because they hinted the missing important character from the start, and didn't build up to the backstories well. Speaking of important characters, this brings another issue I have: the main cast is wrongly picked out. The main cast is considered to be Yu, Tomori, Yusa, and Takajou. The first two are indeed main, but the other two had nothing to do with the events beforehand. Whereas, the missing character at the start, Shun, is very important to the plot. He's the man that knows everything that's going on, and yet his entrance to the story has no impact? As aforementioned, he's shoved in with lost build-up, and so he feels forced to be significant. He doesn't feel like a main character at all. In other words, characters that aren't important are shown significant, and vice versa. My point is: they should've picked a starting point in which Yu, Ayu, AND Shun are the main focus for the entire duration of the series. Kumagami could've been a main character too since he is Shun's right hand man, but he's a supporting character and portrayed not as important as the others, for example, Tomori. Tomori could arguably be taken out. The story can easily hold if Yu's character motive is rearranged. In conclusion for the story: terrible build-up, terrible pacing, and terribly disorganized in presentation. There were some nice moments, such as the episode in which Yu goes off on his own for a whole episode (but it's not perfect). I even praise the last episode for presenting events concisely, but looking at plot wholly, it's not good. What does it matter if one part is contained well when other parts are messes? In the end, the acceptable aspects don't override the bad. OVERALL Cool concept. Loads of potential. Poor characters, poorly executed story. Can still find enjoyment and good aspects. I didn't bother to elaborate on writing (main criticism is dialogue is unnatural and funky sometimes) because it is minor in comparison to the disorganization of presenting the story. You can't write well if you don't have the plot exposition ordered well in the first place. The final score is 3-4, I'll fluctuate between those two.

WARNING: SLIGHT SPOILERS. When I picked up Charlotte, I didn't know what to expect. It looked promising. The show itself is breathtaking in its art direction and design. The opening and ending themes are beautiful. The animation is great, in my opinion. The main reason why I was hesitant is the writer: Jun Maeda. On the one hand, he wrote Clannad, a show that recieved praise for being really good. On the other hand, he wrote Angel Beats: a show that suffered from having not enough episodes and too many characters to actually fully develop in those episodes. Unfortunately, Charlotte is another Angel Beats. A good premise that suffers from horrible execution with a plot so convoluted it can be described as a rollercoaster ride, but not the fun ones with excitement and terror and anxious feelings. This a ride that makes you feel empty and cheated. The show's main character is a young boy named Yuu/Yu. Yu seems to be a perfect student. Perfect grades, perfect manners and perfect looks, the usual. However, this isn't the case. Yuu/Yu is an ability wielder, his ability being to take over a person's body for 5 seconds until he's thrown back into his own body. Because of this ability, Yuu/Yu has cruised through life easily by using his ability to cheat on tests as well as manipulating others to do certain actions, like taking over a person's body to punch another person (ALSO, BE PREPARED TO SEE THIS ALOT). However, his life changes when he meets a girl named Nao Tomori. Tomori is the Student Body President of a nearby school that secretly houses other ability users like herself and Yu. After catching Yuu in the act and threatening him, Yuu transfers into Tamori's school and joins the Student council, where he helps Tomori stop and gather more ability users to keep them safe. And so begins, Charlotte. Overall the story is a mess. Essentially over Charlotte's 13 episode long season the plot starts off as the poor man's X-Men, with the main characters tracking down others like them in the hopes of either getting them to join the academy or forcing them to stop using their abilities. However, as the story progresses, the plot devovles into the poor man's Stein's Gate, with completely unnecessary time travel that makes the plot really complicated for no reason. And finally, the story devovles into the poor man's Darker than Black, with the main character becoming a black trenchcoat wearing badass going around the world, "saving people. During the last episode. For no reason whatsoever. Honestly the show started out strong, but unfortunately like Angel Beats it tries to fit in too much in too little time causing the show to feel rushed and causing character interactions to feel nonexistent or forced. And even more unfortunate is the shows plot holes. Oh god, the plot holes. Be prepared to say, " What? " and "How did that happen?!!" and "Why didn't he/she/they do that!!?" ALOT. Overall, Charlotte is just disappointing. Don't bother with it, unless you enjoy seeing terrible shows trying to be edgy and serious. 4/10

Charlotte is a good one anime. An animation that I like me enough together with the soundtrack. The characters do not stand out so much but also they might be considered to be a point to favor. But, what is what this one in against?. Easy response: the end. In my opinion it was too hurried, explaining everything in approximately three chapters. The dramatic moments it were not so much, not managing to captivate myself. How I said above, I like me Charlotte, recommend it but not, it is not one anime that it would enter my top of "anime favorites"

I started Charlotte, as usual, because the opening was nice. I haven't read anything about it and Lia had a great song. I didn't expect a lot, and with that in mind I decided to give it a chance. Story: 8/10 It's a nice story, for me it has a new concept (faulty superpowers) and that was good enough. The story itself is quite entertaining, it has some interesting moments, touching and funny. It's not Hamlet or Othello, but it's good enough to binge watch it. Art: 8/10 Not bad, not memorable. A nice color pallete, dark when it must be, light and happy when needed. The characters are well designed, it does not abuse fanservice to cover flaws. There are not missed frames, there's no abuse of CGI. It's a nice anime. Sound: 7/10 As I said, the opening caught my attention, and the BGM is nice. But it's not wonderful, you won't be singing or mumbling anything from Charlotte in the shower Character: 9/10 The strongest point for me. Every character has it's own trauma, it's own agenda and a nicely developed personality. The MC has a decent growth and it's not perfect, but not in the "MC is a boob obsesed guy", more likely in a "what the hell do I do with my life and superpowers?". Every other characters has it's place and it's needed, there are no wasted characters. Enjoyment:9/10 It's easy to enjoy, even the darkest moments let you enjoy the anime. It's not something heavy, has some messages and let you with a few questions. It's not a "Anime's over, lets grab a burguer" thing, but it won't traumatize you. Overall: 9/10 An anime worth watching. Don't expect a memorable masterpiece, but don't expect some time filler piece of crap. It's a god series, it's a good story told in 13 episodes. It has a close ending. I highly recommend Charlotte.

I was looking for a fun short anime to watch while bored one weekend, instead I came across charlotte an emotional rollercoaster with all its twists and turns at every corner. When you expected one thing to happen the complete opposite happened. This anime had it all from romance to time travel. Personally I enjoyed it much more than expected. The story at times felt as if one thing was supposed to happen but the producers changed their minds at the last moment. I think that it would have been better to drag some themes out a little more than having them resolved in 1 or 2 episodes like when Yuu was grieving over a loss of someone. Most things that happened had little explanations and kept you guessing what could happen next or how it got resolved later down. Charlotte may have been better as a 25 episode anime in my opinion which would have made the pacing a little better. The way that the story concluded was nice as everything was wrapped up leaving only some minor plot holes. Yuu started off as a guy who would use anyone and cheat his way into life but he quickly changed when he was forced to leave his school and join another school and the student council. His power was originally to be able to control another person for 5 seconds. Nao, the character who forced him to join the student president often wondered around recording things, having the ability to turn invisible to one person at a time was the main love interest to Yuu. Yusarin is a pop idol who has the ability to be possessed by the dead would often get possessed by her dead sister Mira who had the ability to create fire, she had an interesting concept but the character could have had more development alongside Joujirou who can sort of teleport. Joujirou comes across serious at first but is supposed to be more comedic than comes out to be as I found it funny at the start every time he'd crash land or fanboy over Yusarin but it got old quick. The final main character is Yuu's younger sister Ayumi who also served comedic purposes when interacting with her brother but later on she seemed more like plot armour for the series than an actual person. The Art style was pleasant to view and the opening was really good along with the ost. Overall I enjoyed the anime and would recommend it to someone looking for a short dramatic, emotional anime to watch for a couple of hours Story 9 Art 9 Sound 8 Character 7 Enjoyment 10

I'll try to keep this one free of spoilers. Because I'm trying to get you to watch this anime. After seeing more 3's and 2's than I see in a basketball game, I decided to write my very first review. Bear with me if it's trash. In all honesty, I thought Charlotte wasn't too bad, unlike how the reviews suggested. The best way I can sum up how I feel about Charlotte is that it had potential, but didn't take that potential and do anything. But still, it was an enjoyable show. Here's why. The story wasn't necessarily something revolutionary or anything, but it wasn't bad. Imperfect people get imperfect superpowers, and they must live with them. Not bad. My biggest problem with the storyline was that it was...fragmented. Or maybe rushed is the better word. There were a hundred ideas and backstories to cover but it wasn't done well in 13 episodes, and they didn't quite connect well. The first several episodes were almost like fillers, where each person with a superpower gets briefly introduced and then never seen again. And then, when the plot really starts to take off around halfway through the show, there are only 7 or so episodes remaining to cover what was the more interesting part of the show. And the ending (I won't say anything don't worry) was really something that should have been a second season. The concept behind the ending was spectacular in my opinion, but they covered a huge amount of substance in only one episode. Disappointing. But when the show really started to go somewhere halfway through, I was hooked. I loved what was going on, and I wanted to see more. All in all, a story with potential that isn't realized. The art is pretty good. I'm a sucker for sexy artwork and Charlotte does a fine job. The sound is good too, nothing super memorable but still good. These aspects of Charlotte don't really affect my opinion of Charlotte all that much. The characters. I get some mixed feelings here. I'm going to start by saying this: I wasn't really attached to them. Sure, they were likable, and sure, they were somewhat amusing. But they just didn't quite seem real, and it's not just because they weren't as developed as I would have liked. The main character Otosaka's personality unrealistically switches between polar opposites. Tomori's personality is just strange and clunky. The characters never felt realistic or relatable. I didn't get their motives, or their feelings. So when tragedy or romance struck, I wasn't really all that moved. It wasn't genuine. Another problem with the characters was that not all of them really were well focused on. It's understandable if some characters just don't get development. That's to be expected. But there were so many characters that seemed interesting, but only were relevant for one or two episodes. Too much for a small anime. But the characters were interesting enough to pique my curiosity, even though the ones I was curious about never got really developed. Again, there was some potential that wasn't realized. I can say that I enjoyed this show. I enjoyed it enough to get curious about the characters and the story, and to get interested in the world of Charlotte. But the show never answered by questions, nor did it really absorb me. It was rushed, clunky. The characters didn't really get fleshed out, and neither did the storyline. And the ending episode, with so much potential to be an entirely new series, was crammed into one episode. So much potential, and so much of it lost. A 7 for mediocrity. Some of the questions left unanswered... *dont read past this if you haven't seen the anime yet. they aren't really spoilers but still dont do it* . . .. ... why is otonashi (otosaka?) actually kinda OP, even though one of the premises that the beginning of the story focused on is that no one is truly OP. also why are the otosaka siblings so strong? what makes them special? why invest in a vaccine when you need a solution? you have 75 years to make a vaccine... why didn't they approach otosaka faster? why even send him to the school? how did he regain his memories? is ZHIED like some magic memory stimulator? how does the government not realize there's a school of superkids why is it just superkids and not adults? well this is kinda briefly explained but I call BS can i say 1/10 for romance? what was the point of joujirou or the idol girl? they literally got no backstory and served no purpose how does otosaka not realize his op-ness why pizza sauce? he can stop bullets but not a crossbow? isn't the power of courage kinda dumb? and more to the point, what determines what power you get? *END

Let me start off by saying that I went into this show with no idea of who directed it, and even if I had, it would have made no difference seeing as how I was never really that big of a fan of Angel Beats. People praise it like it’s the second coming of Christ yet I only see it as an above average show that barely managed to pull on my heart strings. This of course is by no means a stab at the show, but rather a stab at the people who glorify it. However that is a topic for another day. Charlotte's overarching plot is about a small group of humans with supernatural abilities, and their struggles fitting into human society, as well as the conflicts between them and humans that come as a result. The story focuses on an Otosaka Yuu, a boy with the ability to temporarily take over someones body, a power with which he uses to cheat in life. However when he is introduced to Tomori Nao he begins to change for the better, and instead joins her in her quest to stop other people who abuse their powers. SpoilerWarning Characters 7 Character Development 7 This show wants you to believe that there is a large cast of interesting people before you, but in all honesty I found most of the cast to be rather bland. Our main protagonist Yuu is introduced as being a very complex character who is filled with many traits that most of us would consider to be quite negative, and while this may not make him a very likable character, it gives him individuality. However this changes almost immediately in order to make him a character that the audience can more easily relate to. An idea that might seem good on paper, but should have been obvious during its execution, was not. Instead it would have been a more interesting approach to make him eventually open up to Tomori. So while he maintains a slightly devious attitude, he shows a softer side only to her. I feel that the idea that he is only truly kind to his sister, who he cares for extremely dearly, and Tomori who he is supposed to grow to have romantic feelings towards would have been a much more intriguing approach to his character development. Out of all the cast, there were only two characters who I truly cared for or liked, and that would be Otosaka Ayumi and Takajou Joujirou. The later was the only character who personality I truly enjoyed, a type of stupidity birthed from too much kindness. And then the little sister was just the most likable character in the whole show, maybe even the only one. It was her death that really drew me into the show, and also what made me slightly like Yuu. Her death acted as a way for him to grow as a person, which was a surprising approach I didn't expect seeing as how the show felt too happy go lucky to kill off any of its main characters; technically i was right though as I later found out. With the introduction of Otosaka Shunsuke her death basically lost any of the weight it previously had, at least in my mind it did. Any weight that death might have carried was almost gotten rid of. Otosaka was the only character who I truly believed had to live through a life of pain and suffering, as he had to in fact live through several, and did so in order to save and help others; and in doing so damaged his own life. Now regarding the relationship between Yuu and Tomori people say that it’s done horribly wrong, and to that I would strongly disagree, at least regarding Yuu’s feelings. At first Yuu and Tomori share this sort of loathing for each other, and this continues but lightens with time as they grow closer to each other. The height of the romance in my opinion is during Yuu’s fall from greatness, if you can call it that. It is at that time where they truly exhibit true worry and emotions towards each other. However with Yuu’s jump back in time, he maintains his feelings for her, feelings which she doesn’t share, and will never reciprocate. This is one of the more saddening developments in my mind, however these emotions of mine are later made out to be pointless as he woos her in the most ridiculous way at the end of the show, with a mere promise. So it is to my belief that in making Tomori return his feelings, a second time, that they went wrong in the romance aspect. His unrequited emotions could have been a driving force instead of a secondary emotion that the writers use as a sort of symbol for his perseverance. Plot 8 Pacing 7 I don’t know where people get off saying that the story is uninteresting, perhaps a little cliché (super powered people are alienated due to being different and have to fend for themselves by fighting off an evil corporation that wants to do so and so to them). Aside from that however I really like several ideas used, however overall the show tried too hard to be a tragedy, and in the process seemed to lose some of its genuine feels. Each episode was a new sob story with a quality equivalent to that of a harem character’s backstory, in other words for the most part they are uninteresting and bland. The show is divided up into several mini arcs, each of which tells the backstory, or leads up to the backstory of one of the characters, in that sense the pacing is done pretty well. However that is all up until the ending of the show. If you have seen the show then you know what I am talking about. The atrocity that is the end of this show is so bad that it made me drop the pacing grade from a nine to a seven. The final episode is choke full of moments of deus ex machina, plot holes, extremely convenient coincidences, and just straight up nonsense. If they really wanted to go forward with that ending, which in my opinion should never have passed the brainstorm session from which it was crapped out, then they should have ended with a cliff hanger and eluded to a second season. Because while I definitely would not have watched the sequel, many people would. All in all the ending was overly rushed and poorly executed. Music 8 Art 8 It is in my opinion that the chosen art style, like in angel beats, does not fit the flow of the show correctly. This took away from my immersion on multiple occasions, however this was most prominent in the arc after Ayumi’s death, with the serious atmosphere that they set up, the concept of drug addiction and other real world topics, the animation just didn’t seem to fit. The music as a whole was alright, nothing amazing. Good atmospheric music that managed to at least engross you in the story, even when it got bad. Enjoyment 8 While people may hate on this anime and say that it doesn’t live up to its legacy, while true I guess, that doesn’t matter as the show is still ok. You will enjoy your time watching this show, a lot more so than other shows with the same rating. So it is for that reason that I still recommend watching it, I would have to place it as the fifth best show of the summer season, not including OVA’s and movies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Verdict 75/100 Hope you enjoyed this review, I had fun analyzing the show, and even realized that I had given the show too high of an initial rating. Before writing this review I had given this show an 8, which is now changed to a 7 after doing this review. This was the first time this has ever happened and I look forward to other similar cases that’ll do the same and intrigue me in the process. Thanks for reading and have a nice rest of your day.

When I first saw the description of this anime I wasn't expecting very much from it 'A group of high school students, who have superpowers'. With that in mind this anime surprised me, it was executed almost perfectly. And its easily one of the best anime I have seen. Story - 10/10 The plot is by far the best part of the anime, instead of the standard shounen anime where every single character would be really OP, these characters had imperfect abilities such as only being able to time-travel when light enters your eye, and with each use you become more blind, or being able to speed up a disease from occurring. These characters had to work with their abilities to prevent other ability wielders from being captured, and experimented on, a short while in the anime some very tragic events unfold once you get a good feel for the anime, and it completely changing the atmosphere. Art - 8/10 The art isn't amazing, it was just what I would consider above standard, it focused on the background a lot making it look lively, though it never really caught my interest. But it fit into the anime so well. Sound - 7/10 The music is basically on par with my standard bar, didn't enjoy it, didn't hate it. Character - 9/10 This is another big factor in which I LOVE this anime. Each character, even a lot of the side characters had a good amount of character development. The main characters stages went through Total douche > A hard working slacker (Odd comparison, I know) > Total douche V2 > Nice guy > Batshit insane (Insane enough to be called the 'One-Eyed Reaper'). Enjoyment 12/10 Yes? I ****ING LOVED THIS ANIME. Overall 10/10 Almost perfect. Much better than Angel Beats, and Clannad in my opinion.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure what to think about this anime... I like it, I want to like that I like it, but I feel like something is missing... And I shall explain: The concept is great, in my opinion. People being chased because of their powers is nothing new, but imperfect supernatural powers gained by teenagers during adolescence and fade away with time is something I haven't seen before. As for the story, the pacing is really weird... It starts off nice and slow. The first six episodes of the anime are stand-alone episodes that have no significant plot points (except for a little foreshadowing), but after the mid-season climax everything feels so rushed and you feel like some parts could be so much better if the characters had more time. When the main plot line begins, the show goes really dark (unlike the cheerful slice-of-life school anime it was at the beginning), and you get to see many new sides about the main characters. That was the part where the anime really shined, but the ending still felt rushed, lacking and somewhat disappointing. The story as a whole was very funny, yet very touching (although it was a bit cliched sometimes) and I really enjoyed watching it overall. It is said that the anime industry is running out of ideas, but any old idea can be carried by good characters. That statement does not apply to charlotte. The story is very original and unique in a somewhat familiar setting (highschool), but the characters are not. It's not that they're bad characters and they do develop over the course of the show, but they bring nothing new to the screen and they started off a little bland in my opinion. The soundtrack was very fitting to the show, but it didn't stand out so much and didn't do more than just complimenting to the show rather than adding something. I can't point out any particular piece from the soundtrack that I really liked and went searching after I finished watching the show, including the opening, the ending and the inserted songs (that were probably the most notable part of the soundtrack). As for the voice actors, they did an amazing job portraying the characters (especially Kouki Uchiyama as Yuu Otosaka and Daisuke Ono as Shunsuke Otosaka, who both showed a large variety of emotions in a very believable and enjoyable way). The animation was absolutely breathtaking and is the only part I have no complaints about. The anime excelled in the art department both in quality, design and special effects for the supernatural powers. To sum up: this anime could have been a perfect 10 if it had more episodes. The story felt so rushed towards the end and the final episode felt like the writers tried to condense an entire season into one 26 minute long episode, which made it a bit disappointing (there are other reasons too, but spoilers...). But even though it was rushed and cliched sometimes, it is still a very entertaining and highly enjoyable show. I definitely recommend to check it out.

If I could describe Charlotte in one phrase it would be: "Wasted Potential". Charlotte is basically the anime version of the american tv show "Heroes". If you have seen that or that kind of genre you will find probably have some interest. I really liked the idea of Charlotte. And I think the author did too, but he just wasn't able to execute the events in a way that could truly engage the viewers feelings. It had the potential for more romance, for more sci fi, for more everything but it just didn't deliver. This is not an original story, it has been done, but thats okay when its done right. Sadly it wasn't. Story: Was alright. it takes a few twists for the better and turns from episodic to main story, but overall its nothing you will awe over. Characters: I usually find the most interesting in an anime, but the characters in this anime just seemed shallow. No one you will really get "really attached" too. The relationships don't go real deep or grow much either, it's just kinda there. As for the ideas and reasoning, this is subjective, but... Id say "what a stupid idea, totally unrealistic". But its an anime and i'm suppose to roll with it. Art: Loved the art, specially the backgrounds, skies, space, stars, graphics in general. All very pretty background material. The animation was average modern quality art though. sound: Im going to make this the music section. The soundtrack wasn't that special but I did like the band songs. Zhiend!! Finally, the ending... they had the right idea, but golden time did it 10x better. Overall: Charlotte wasn't that bad, it did have its moments, but there is no feeling of attachment or lingering emotions of "its ended now, im sad". Its more like a feeling of nostalgia that you've just watched it and only think of certain ideas on the authors ideas + a little time lapse. Charlotte would have been a cool steins gate / heroes mix, but there was just very little weight behind its punches. I was more disappointed than anything because it had lots of potential. Its a shame really... Everything was just shown in a way that just didn't really make you care too deeply about it. The emphasis wasn't there, and you didn't get a sense of bonding with anyone, nor do they make you feel like backing up the characters goal. Serious parts felt brushed by when everything just returns to normal again within an episode. And the character growth was insignificant. It could have turned epic in so many ways, but failed to do so in all of them. The end also felt really rushed.

Key, as the king of visual novel adaptations, has in recent years, brought us many a story that have brought people in the anime community to tears and/or just a rather nice story. So, in partnership with P.A. Works, a godly animation studio known for fantastic animation, what kind of story comes with Charlotte, Key's newest original work? Story: Otosaka Yuu is a boy with an amazing ability. Born with the ability to take over someone's body, he is able to control that person's will and make them do whatever he wants. However, he is only able to do so for five seconds. This has been able to as a result, help him cheat in tests at school in order to make him seem like a smart guy. In an attempt to try and woo over the school idol, Yuu comes in contact with Tomori Nao, a girl who has an ability just like him, the ability of invisibility. (Though only against one person.) He is then told that he will transfer into a school built for the sole purpose of housing ability wielders, and that Yuu will join the student council in the hunt for saving people with abilities. The main story of Charlotte follows Yuu's journey into the world of abilities and ability users. With the rest of the student council president, primarily Nao, Yuu goes episode-by-episode dealing with various ability users and the impacts that they as people have because of the ability they have. The obvious issue with this is the fact that the Charlotte becomes very repetitive. For about half of the entire series, Charlotte is basically the same story with just a rehash of who the ability user for the episode is. As a result, the show doesn't really have much variation in its first half and the idea of slogging through six episodes worth of what is essentially the same story, isn't a very exciting prospect. However, beyond episode six, the story becomes very...different as I should say. From the start of episode 7, the story makes a complete shift on what it was doing before, and made a complete turn on what it's focus was. Making Yuu as the primary focus for this section of the anime, the show elevated what it could do for a little while, but...then fell down to some explanations that while kind of make sense in the grand scheme of the anime, didn't really fit in because they weren't integrated correctly. The main issue with this is the sheer convenience of some points that they leave behind. Especially in the last few episodes, a couple things don't make sense and as a result, leave quite a bit to be desired. They add in a lot of factors to the equation of this anime and because of the time crunch, weren't explained and as a result, failed to add anything but confusion and questions to the series. Character development in Key anime is generally one of the more sought after things in a Key anime. Since the shows are relatively solely character-based, a Key anime is a Key anime if it provides a lot of character development and growth of the cast. Charlotte does this rather successfully primarily with Yuu. Since the show completely focuses on his perspective, most of the character growth appears in Yuu and turns him into a pretty good character, channeling as much of the screentime that it can possibly allow to shape his personality, sometimes spending entire episodes to shape him up, which helps the series out immensely. However, as a result, unlike Yuu, the rest of the characters either get some to help shape them up, or are simply just non-existent. Aside from the main female protagonist, Nao, the other characters don’t really get that kind of development and as such, are kind of left in the dust in that sense. All in all, Charlotte’s story is a lot like the way abilities work in this show. It’s good, but there’s always some kind of heavy drawback for it. For the story, there was always some kind of drawback for the show whenever it decided to be good, which made the show less glamorous than it could be. Still though, the show ended on a very soft and nice note that brought the story to a relatively sweet conclusion. Still raised quite a few questions questions, but a good ending nonetheless. (I'm talking about the last few minutes of the show. Everything before that, don't even mention it.) Overview: + Lots of character development (though only for one character) + Good midpoint + Good bittersweet ending - Episodic first half - Lack of character depth for a lot of characters - Rushed ending - Many plot holes Characters: Characters in Charlotte go into one of two camps. Either they’re important like Nao and Yuu, or they’re there to aid the plot like everyone else. First, let’s start with the main protagonist of the series, Otosaka Yuu. As a boy with the ability to possess someone’s body for a grand total of five seconds, Yuu is very proud individual as he utilizes his ability for nothing more than dirty, dirty cheating. As a bit of a narcissist, Yuu takes full pride of his ability and uses it as nothing more than a way to make himself look good in front of the populous. As the main aforementioned protagonist of the series, Yuu is the character that absorbs most of the character development in the series. As the series moves along, Yuu stats to change out from his narcissist personality and turns into someone who genuinely cares for the people around him and wishes to help people out. This turnaround is one of the pinnacle moments of the series and one of the reasons why it's good. And then we have Tomori Nao, the main female protagonist of the series with the ability of invisibility. (Though she is limited to only being invisible towards one person.) As the character that becomes most often associated with Yuu, Tomori is a girl who bears a similar personality to the man she meets and learns about. She's a bit narcissistic herself and doesn't hold back on anything in order to get the job done. She's a great character because she actually feels like a character. While she doesn't have the same volume of character growth as Yuu has, she stands alone as her own person and as someone who really helps Yuu, both traits which make her a great character. The rest of the cast mostly falls into the "plot device" section, due to the fact that the show really doesn't put much character development into them. Emphasis on any characters that play a key part in the series really only serve as a way to provide more development to the main characters, primarily Yuu, and as such are generally related to plot progression rather than actual characters. Hell, the other student council members are shelved off for half of the series, and they are supposedly main characters. Overview: + Great character development + Good main characters - Every other character is either plot device, or only brought up or involved when needed Art: The art in Charlotte was made by P.A. works and Key, and due to this combo, is GLORIOUS. The art for Charlotte is by far one of the best qualities of the series on account of its sheer detail. Every scene in Charlotte is made with a stunning background and fantastic quality, making each part of this series look like a work of art. (I mean, dat sunset though...) In addition, the characters in the series are also rather well designed, as they flow very nicely into the style of art and host the same kind of quality that the backgrounds and the rest of the series has. It's a breathtaking style that really brings a lot of beauty to the series, overall making it a very good show aesthetically. Overview: + FANTASTIC ART (That's all I have to say) Sound: Similarly, the soundtrack for Charlotte is a group of tracks that are great pieces to hear. The OP gives off a very whimsical feel and tie into the series' more serious tones in the latter half of the series while also creating a bit of a pleasant tone. The ED in Charlotte plays off as a very hopeful and calming song that ties into the character ties that the series has. With this, the show brings a wonderfully whimsical grou…

MINOR SPOILERS: ~~~~ The plot is wasted potential. So much wasted potential. I'll list the reasons why it's just so crap later on. First, let's get the good stuff out of the way: THE GOOD: ART + SOUND The opening song was so good it was stuck in my head. Trust me when I say it's rare nowadays. The voice actors are good and give life to the characters, particularly one character who had a split personality of sorts. The voice actress really made the two personalities feel distinct. The art is beautiful, with plenty of beautiful environments. The last stretch of the anime had the main character roaming the world, and the art team really showed their talent there. Now let's move on to the crappy part. THE BAD: STORY + CHARACTERS They were fantastic in the first 8 episodes. The main character started out as a power hungry jackass, but you could see him mellow throughout the first half. There were lots of feels as well, with episode 2 and episode 7 being the standouts. The characters were interesting, and you could feel them becoming closer throughout those episodes as they worked together over and over. Even though they were just archetypes, they were still likable because of their interactions together. Then episode 9 hit. Jesus christ. You could tell the writing team panicked at this point and threw any sort of good pacing and storytelling out the window to fit the grand scheme of the story in properly. Three characters were introduced, but all they did was introduce their abilities then were regulated in the background. They never use their ability onscreen after they show what it is. Through a convenient deus ex machina, they gave the protagonist the ability to completely undo a key part of his character development, and erased two episode's worth for every other character. A villain was introduced then immediately dropped IN THE SAME EPISODE (what the f*ck?). Another character dies, forcing an emotional response from his closest friend (which has one scene's worth of development). Two of the main cast from the first eight episodes were all but ignored. One of them was given a proper ending to her arc...but since they barely developed the arc, they tried to develop and end it within a four minute scene. The romantic arc came to a close so fast that it was a slap in the face. There was practically no payoff for any shippers around the world. At this point, you might as well not put in a resolution and let the fans speculate. The journey around the world happened in ONE EPISODE. A single episode. Timeskip after timeskip after timeskip. There was so much potential to be had here, but they just condensed him literally travelling to every country in the world to a mere twenty minutes. There was so much missed here it hurt. The last four episodes completely ruin the story of the anime. Just thinking about it is disappointing.

Charlotte is one of those rare anime shows that leaves a lasting impact long after the final episode ends. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the emotional depth and complexity of the story, and I'm desperate for more. Yuu's unwavering dedication to Nao is a beautiful thing to watch, and his fight against the world to keep his promise is both heartbreaking and inspiring. The show's exploration of friendship, love, and sacrifice is masterful, and the characters are so well-developed and relatable. I'm still trying to process everything that happened, to be honest. It's one of those shows that leaves you thinking long after the credits roll. And that's why I'm so desperate for a season 2 - I need to see more of Yuu's story! I need to know what happens next! Anyway, if you haven't watched Charlotte yet, do yourself a favor and get on it. It's a highly underrated anime that deserves so much more love. Just be prepared to have your emotions put through a wringer.

The anime went in the right direction for character development, then completely scratched it. There were many things that felt overused and dried the anime out such as Takajou over-obsessing and fawning over Misa, and I actually really used to like his character at first. A lot of the comic scenes were repeated too often for my liking. I'm also not a fan of the main character finding a lover in anime that isn't listed under the romance genre, because they most likely always give some random reason for a character to have feelings for the main character to the point that it just doesn't work and appears dull and unreasonable, and sadly a lot of anime do that. Examples being Owari no Seraph, Noragami, and Boku no Hero Academia. I'm just not a fan of forced relationships that don't develop naturally like how love should develop. It shouldn't be just some random crush out of nowhere, however, I'll let Charlotte slide because it was the ending. I still didn't see that much bonding between the two of them and her persona wasn't anything special. The abilities that people have aren't all that creative, however, their side effects can be, and it's nice to see characters having weaknesses and how differently they use them. That didn't fail. Yuu's "hidden" ability is immensely overpowered and in the final episode they didn't leave out any good use of abilities in the world, which was lovely yet melancholic to see. The many plot twists worked perfectly and the backstories and deaths were deeply depressing. The anime executed the time travel quite efficiently, and time travel is an easy thing to mess up. A few times, the time travel scenes didn't mention that much, while others mentioned a load. It all really depended on how much you looked into the gaps between what they repeated and what they didn't. The anime made a drastic change to Yuu's character in episode 7, but for some reason, they decided to discontinue it like it never happened. The comet was also mentioned once and never mentioned again and the English voice acting in the sub was sub-par. The Engrish being spoken by Yuu and others was hilariously adorable though. Yuu appears to be quite sadistic. Very sadistic. Hella sadistic, and I like it. He still feels human but that little twist of insanity that continues all the way from start to end, switching on and off, is something that I'm definitely a fan of. The ending was... alright. Although after having him wanted by the whole world with them all trying to kill him, they never mentioned what stopped them from attacking him anymore. Everything just became normal. And what about the vaccines that they mentioned? Who did that? Overall, it's not the best of anime out there, but it most certainly isn't the worst. With slight improvement, the anime would've been amazing.

I watched this anime without reading on what it was about, what was its genre, etc. Just watched it on a whim, so I didn't know what should I be expecting. So the story starts as a casual, normal school life comedy, with the exception that the characters have superpowers that have terrible twists. The main story seems to be interacting with others who also have superpowers and convincing them to not use theirs for their own safety. Other than that, some comedy here and there, some student bonding, etc. So far, so good. This was going on for almost half of the number of anime episodes. And then, after that, a cruel, terrible plot twist suddenly appears. Don't get me wrong, there was some drama from the first six episodes regarding one of the main characters, but it seems small compared to the sudden despairful tragedy that befalls one of the other main characters. There was almost no buildup to the suddenness, it just came out of nowhere out of this sweet, relaxing slice of life school comedy about a group of people helping people, that turned it suddenly into a drama. Okay, so this seems to be a drama anime after all, but I totally did not like this plot twist when the anime was a completely different genre an episode ago, or actually for the first half of the whole anime. Anyway, now that is out of the way... The rest wasn't much better. It actually got worse from that moment to the finish. There was some character development going on with the MC after the tragedy which was pretty decent, the secrets about the whole world was revealed, relationship development between the main cast. Which is cool if it wasn't done under three episodes. I feel that all of these data dumps and development dumps could have been done better if they were more spread out and done in five to six episodes or so. Also, that tragedy was able to somehow reverted because of some deus ex machina stuff. By this time there were three more episodes left. One episode for introducing more drama and removing that deus ex machina, one episode for resolving the stories of the other people, and the final episode that could have been made into a whole anime series. Albeit a shitty one because everything that was happening in that final episode was unbelievable. Although it IS unbelievable that all those content were somehow fit in inside one final episode, with the makers thinking that this was somehow a brilliant idea. Oh well. I don't judge much on art and sound, but they were pretty decent by my standards. Anyway, so far so bad. So we had a terribly made and terribly paced story, with decent art and music. I should add that the characters were also terrible too. The main character was initially interesting in the first episode, but somehow turned into a bland protagonist in the second, and never came back to that entertaining guy from the first one. The rest were just terrible clichés without real depth. Also, with all the mundaneness of the first half of the anime, there was no development with the main cast. And at the second half of the anime, three of the main cast were basically irrelevant to the story already. Absolutely horrid and dreadful. Overall, a damn waste of time. It had an amazing premise, I actually like stories where regular people have superpowers. And I didn't mind the school comedy slice of life from the first half since I actually enjoy a lot of anime like that. However, the rest: the sudden and out of nowhere drama genre shift introduced at the middle, the terrible pacing, the comedy that pops out every now and then to ruin everything, the episodes that could have done better if they were spread out in more than one, the terrible characters (those in the main cast and those in the second half of the anime that they force you to care about), and that BS finale. These was just all too much. And these will be the reasons why I give this anime a low score.

Review without making any spoilers its really hard but i'll do my very best! • Story/Plot rate (8): Well the story is all about some special kids which they have the gift of gaining a special ability during their middle school age! • Art + Sound rate (10): Totally satisfying! Everything were just perfect! • Character rate (10): The characters were all really cool even those who didn't had a main role! They were all so freaking perfect that you could easily fall in love with every of them! • Enjoyment rate (8): The reason i choose 8 and not 10 it's because i was expecting something more! Even-tho everything were perfect i believe that the studio could give something more to this anime.. ! (((((( its worth watching it ^_^))))))

To sum up how I feel about this anime, I STILL DON'T KNOW WHO/WHAT THE FUCK CHARLOTTE IS. Maybe I blinked and missed the part where they gave significant information an insignificant amount of screen time. Okay, I'm being sarcastic, they did mention it but not in a tasteful way. It's like a lot of events felt very sudden and were missing a strong build up. Story: 3/10, The way this anime's plot played out made me feel as though I was unaware of certain important details that were crucial to the eventual plot development. It wasnt like the potential wasn't there, the idea that children are able to break beyond physical limitations so that they have hope to cope with their biggest struggles is a topic I would've enjoyed every bit of. However, the light hearted feel from the first few episodes are later twisted into a melodramatic tragedy. The lack of substance in the effect of the series as a whole might have been caused by the attempt to cover too many topics in a short interval. In the end, I think the plot only succeeded in shocking me as I never would've expected it to go that direction when I started it. Now don't get me wrong I didn't skip any of the episodes especially because everything is drawn so beautifully. Art: 10/10 I would rewatch this anime just for the visuals alone. It is one of the most visually appealing pieces I've seen so far. I'm a huge fan of PA Works and their anime usually have excellent art. I especially love the scenes where you can see a view of the city or stars because the detailing is mezmerizing. Sound: 8/10 I really enjoyed the soundtrack for this. Props to music that is actually soothing to the ears. It really relaxes me every time I hear the theme song. Character: 5/10, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode as the protagonist had a bit of character but then charactor development is largely lacking. The anime features creative side characters but the main characters lack depth that would give them a memorable persona. Props to Nao and her music tastes though and she did have a background story. Overall: 6/10 I can't say it was terrible because there were definetely parts that made me feel some type of way, but it all felt like they rushed to wrap up the series, thus events that wouldve been impacting were not displayed in a way that would make the audience feel the most out of what's happening.

I absolutely love the story, but the ending was quite rush. I wish they could've decided for a season 2, at least they can make that anime into an action anime. + I wish they had made more scenes of Yu and Nao after his return. and also the episode 6 was kinda useless after Yu went back in time to save her sister, that part right there was actually the best scene but I felt really, disturb because of that. I wish they could've stick to the story that her sister is dead. But overall the anime is superb, Story, Art, Sound, Character, Enjoyment 10/10. But overall is 9 for rushing the ending.