Angel Beats! #11 — Attention Deficit Disorder

June 11th, 2010

 

So… we’re going into another long corridor for the last boss?

Impressions:

Okay guys, okay. Okay. Okay. The shadows are the NPCs and people eaten by the shadows become NPCs, but they’re easily killed so… THIS IS THE FINAL BATTLE. Wait, but there’s also a priest messing around with the computers. Wait, wait, no. There’s a secret dungeon under the computer lab! More and more, I feel like someone not only hid Maeda’s ADHD medication, but replaced his Cheerios with Super Choco Sugar Crusted Niblets… Now With Marshmallow Stars! They turn your milk green and can make even a hummingbird’s heart race.

Aside from the change in… well… everything each four minutes, the episode was back to the usual Angel Beats tricks of starting a scene seriously and then immediately ruining it by going schtick. Look! Monsters attacking people! Now we’ll do a series of comic sketches based on it. Kanade? An angel? Pfft. Nobody believes that! When TK has one of the most serious moments in what is supposed to be a mortal fight, there are… well… I think TK goes well beyond what we mortals would call issues, but there’s something inherantly warped within the universe. Hinata was also particularly attracted to Otonashi this week, which is nothing new, but you’d think a week after professing his undying love for what was probably a female based on the shrill voice, he’d lay off the trouser fishing for an episode.

Posted in Angel Beats! | 23 Comments »

23 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • rushuna says:
    June 11, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    secret dungeon….heh?
    this is disappointing:nohope:

  • john says:
    June 11, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    just a horribly disappointing show from start to finish what a waste just bad

    • rozen123 says:
      June 11, 2010 at 3:48 pm

      Well if this is a disappointment, I can’t imagine your response to haruhi and K-on, since those 2 series suck more compared to AB.

      • deaky says:
        June 11, 2010 at 4:16 pm

        Haruhi isn’t actually any worse. It’s more polished and feels like it has some clue as to where it’s going. Season two may have been a downer, but the first season and movie were respectable as far as adaptations go.

        K-On is a completely different beast, love it or hate it, and comparing it to AB is like comparing Ichiban no Daimaou to Azumanga.. apples and oranges.

        AB is just a another solid time-waster. I don’t think of it as disappointing. I find the fandom confusing, but only because it’s not a particularly good Maeda anime. But then, it’s Maeda.. he could fart in a paper bag and sell it as a dramatic allegory these days.

  • Sam says:
    June 11, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    I…I don’t even know what to say about this show anymore

  • Kaisos says:
    June 11, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    Well, at least it’s unpredictable.

  • Skew says:
    June 11, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    I fucking love Lucky Charms.

  • Anise Punter says:
    June 11, 2010 at 6:22 pm

    I enjoyed this one more than any of them since the episode where they repeatedly sacrificed themselves to the Tenshis (I think that was episode 8?)

    We had Yurippe being the one doing stuff, and Tenshi’s role was to stand off to the side and look cute, which is how I would have directed like the last six episodes (and there would be no 20 minute Yui-nyan debacle)

    The wings were really WTF, and the episode seemed pretty mish-mash, but the whole series has been like that; it’s just this is the first time in a month it’s been mish-mash and fun.

    @rozen123 & deaky: Disappointments don’t necessarily equal bad; I can’t see how this show isn’t a disappointment based on what it probably could have been and the premise, but it’s still a fine show (I’d give it a 7, 7 1/2); especially compared to the epically more disappointing Mayoi Neko, which has been a trainwreck in every aspect save character design. Fwiw, I hated both seasons of the Haruhi anime, enjoyed the movie, love the books, was not impressed with that show about the light music club’s first season, the second season is good for when I need a fix of “stupid yet enjoyable”.

    There’s my two cents, now I’ll just go back to watching a TK montage.

  • Dual says:
    June 11, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    Show of the year.

  • FlameStrike says:
    June 12, 2010 at 3:01 am

    Heh to all you haters out there, just don’t push your opinions onto others too hard XD. While I agree with the fact that Angel Beats lacks plot direction and pacing, it makes up for it with other elements. One’s enjoyment of said elements pretty much makes Angel Beats either an awesome and enjoyable show, or a hopeless mess. Seems like the ratings are all over the place for this anime.

    Personally I wasn’t very disappointed at all. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed Angel Beats so far and I’m still enjoying it. Of course it could be a lot better. There are issues with pacing. The sudden changes from happy to sad and vice versa in one ep are too jarring. And of course, the plot just jumps all over the place. Still, watching Kanade’s fun antics along with the rest of the SSS doing crazy stuff was well worth my time (Not everyone thinks so though).

    As for this episode, there are good things and bad things. When I saw the preview I was worried that this ep would be a totally random change with no prior lead ins. While it’s almost like that, I’m glad there was at least a proper explanation for the shadows existence. It’s already been established in previous episodes that the world they are in can be affected by memories and computer programing, so the shadows can possibley be created by someone. There’s a motive for creating them too, seeing as their function is to turn people into NPCs. Although it was still a random wtf plot development, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. I guess with only a few eps left they have to find a way to end it somehow. *sigh* This show coulda done more if they either focused better or made it longer.

    I really liked how Yurippe really redeemed herself to me this episode. She’s smarter then I thought. I used to think that she was just a bully from the way she targeted Kanade, but she showed consideration for the feelings of the other members. Then chose to take risks herself to get to the bottom of this problem. As expected, she was able to see through Otonashi’s plan haha. The fight scenes were great as well.

    Overall a pretty good episode to me.

  • Kaisos says:
    June 12, 2010 at 4:25 am

    I have a theory about what happened with Angel Beats.

    Maeda was hired to write the script for what the producers intended to be a bestselling anime. Maeda, never having had experience with writing for a television show, wrote what he usually does, that is, a vast, emotional, character-driven epic. There was a huge cast of characters, each with detailed and complex backgrounds, hopes, and dreams. One by one, they would find happiness and disappear, as the core lead characters slowly discovered the shocking truth behind the world beyond death.

    When Maeda took his script to the producers, they told him they only had enough budget for 13 episodes, and he’d have to pare it down.

    Then he wrote this increasingly horrible trainwreck.

    tldr; anime producers are evil and this really isn’t Jun Maeda’s fault. Also Angel Beats kind of sucks now.

    • rushuna says:
      June 12, 2010 at 5:13 am

      >anime producers are evil and this really isn’t Jun Maeda’s fault. Also Angel Beats kind of sucks now.

      agreed…

  • Principality says:
    June 12, 2010 at 5:10 am

    Angel Beats turned out to be really good, honestly I was not expecting much after the utter boring and disappointing Clannad. Maeda truly surpassed himself.

    Now hoping for a great ending that will push the show to masterpiece status.

  • X-3 says:
    June 12, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    That corridor must be behind everything. This is the third time we’ve seen it. It’s backstory involves lack of love.

  • I R confused says:
    June 13, 2010 at 9:04 am

    i thought that everyone had already realised kanade was a human soul? wasnt that revealed a couple of episodes ago?

    • rushuna says:
      June 13, 2010 at 10:30 am

      first episode….

    • Kaisos says:
      June 13, 2010 at 2:44 pm

      They must think their fanbase is INCREDIBLY stupid if they had to go out and tell us this.

      Definitely one of the few times I think show-not-tell can apply to anime like this.

  • michiyo says:
    June 14, 2010 at 11:00 am

    AB, to me is awesome, if you think it is wasting your “precious” time, then go find some other issues to rate it thumbs down.
    You guys are very damn really, unappreciative of others.
    If you guys are like rating them down , try making your own anime. dl.

  • Solaris says:
    June 15, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    I like this anime as well by now. Beside that, 13 episodes are really too few and that’s why everything looks so rushed. And when it happens, usually the ending is inconclusive. Let’s hope this is not the case.

  • Albedo says:
    June 17, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    I suppose that deciding to drop this at ep 10 was the right thing to do.

    NOW! Aroduc, watch the final episode for me so I can see how badly this goes!

    • Aroduc says:
      June 17, 2010 at 10:26 pm

      Unfortunately, there are two episodes to go. No finale this week. Just probably the stunning revelation that nobody’s actually dead.