Angel Beats!

[2-P]

In a world after death, students fight for their fate and their future. Yuri, the leader of the Shinda Sekai Sensen, rebels against the god who destined her to have an unreasonable life. On the otherhand, Tenshi, the chairperson of the student council for the world after death, battles against the SSS members. SSS members utilize armed weaponry to battle it out against the angels harnessing supernatural powers.

KEY's new anime.
Unlike their other animes it's not based on a visual novel. Which is actually kinda cool since they don't have to "work off" one girl after another within a few episodes.
It's pretty hilarious and they managed to make a very well (at least most of the time) mix between funny and sad/dramatic scenes again.

Oh and there's TK, he's probably the most epic character ever.


Random Picture?

Spoiler

 

[Jimpy]

-Girl in school uniform
-Girl on piano (out in the middle of no where)
-Silhouette of character
-Snowing/stuff floating in the air
-Angel wings/non-human characters
-Environmental extreme long shot

Sure looks like a run-of-the-mill-trying-to-be-cinematic-attention-grab anime to me.

Neat that its not based off a manga, but from the clips I looked up, this is exactly the same, features magical teenagers that the target audience can fantasize about. Other then that everything is just constantly ultimatums spurring poorly made conflict and drama.

I couldn't find any rational as to why only students went to this afterlife. The demographic is too young to be high risk death, and the fact that there's conveniently enough dead teens to fill a single school... I know I'm trying to throw logic at a cartoon, but this one really stretches it.

2-P, other then being an original anime series, what makes this worth while for the 'average' viewer?

 

[2-P]

-Girl in school uniform
-Girl ....

Describing a single picture from the intro is such a brilliant idea.

trying-to-be-cinematic

It's not trying to be cinematic. It is cinematic.

magical teenagers

They're not magical. They can't die since they're already dead, that's about it.
Angel is the only character with "magical" abilities, I can't really say why without spoiling stuff for those who don't only watch trailers.

everything is just constantly ultimatums spurring poorly made conflict and drama.

You could figure that out from watching clips? Wow.

I couldn't find any rational as to why only students went to this afterlife.

Either because you can't figure it out yet since the series is still running and thus it just hasn't been revealed yet or the creators just wanted a high school setting (which would be kinda lame).

and the fact that there's conveniently enough dead teens to fill a single school...

99% of the pupils are "NPCs". (And I don't really feel like explaining the "first episode basics" here, I honestly don't care if you watch it or not)
The series is about the SSS trying to find out who created this world and what exactly it is. Hell, it could be a computer game for all I know.
You know, series tend to have mysteries that are getting revealed one after another, that's how they work.
I don't see in which way it's supposed to be "less logical" than any other fantasy anime. Seriosuly, don't watch random clips and then try to understand anything...

what makes this worth while for the 'average' viewer?

The quality? The art is great, the music is awesome and it's hilarious (did I mention TK yet?). It's difficult to say anything about the plot if the series isn't even halfway-through. A few scenes are over dramatized, but that's nothing new from KEY.

 

[Jimpy]

I honestly don't care if you watch it or not

Then why did you bring it up?

Art work / the matte finishes (primarily them IMO) and music are two things this series appears to do well (though it is just ambient background music). The lack of plot is what is making this not very stand outish from other anime. As I said earlier, it came across to me as trying to be too much, making things over convoluted in an attempt at originality. Due to this it has hit a flaw of many animes where by over-plot-convolution it reduces the target audience to people who don't mind the lack of rationality, or those who don't position themselves to be aware of it.


Edit: So I've watched about half the season now, with a bit of skimming through battle scenes and bad montages. Everything I suspected and said has more or less adhered (as far as my anime stingy view points are concerned). The music actually as it goes on I've noticed is more amateurish then originally thought. Its still nice having music written solely for the purpose of the show. A very cool concept, but the music itself isn't particularly strong.

If I had to recommend this show to anyone, I'd probably send 13-17 year old kids of either gender at it who want flashy fight scenes that knock on cliches other social groups would roll their eyes at. Otherwise, it comes across as bad eye candy where the jokes all rely on a clueless main character who we can relate to because the show doesn't make a ton of sense.