*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Charlotte is a thirteen-episode anime produced by Key in collaboration with P.A. Works. It was written by Jun Maeda who was also behind Clannad and Angel Beats. Last year, I encountered a pretty trailer about this anime series entitled Charlotte. The trailer gave me an interesting idea of what the anime is. The art was colorful and the characters are appealing. Promising, isn't it? But did it met my expectations?
Summary:
The series revolves around Yu Otosaka, a teenage guy who possess a supernatural ability to control the body of other people within 5 seconds. He was shown to use his abilities to get high scores in exams and raise his reputation in his school. He also has a crush on the most popular girl in their school, which he also used his powers to get her attention. Everything went well from there until he was brought to an empty classroom where he was proven guilty of cheating by two characters Takajo, a young man who possess super speed abilities and Nao Tomori, a young girl who has the ability to make herself invisible. After that, Nao forced Yu to move to Hoshinoumi Gakuen, a school for teenagers who possess supernatural abilities. As part of the Student Council, it was the duty of Tomori, Takajo and Yuu, who just joined with the group to find people like them who also uses supernatural abilities. As they continue their job as the Student Council, they encountered Nishimori Yusa, a young idol who possess two abilities: to be possessed by her old and deceased sister, Misa and to use pyrokinesis where Misa is able to use and control fire to her own will.
I'm going to analyze the series piece by piece by mentioning its strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths:
Interesting Premise - The series started with an interesting premise; The Student Council of a school for people with supernatural abilities that aims to protect those people from evil hands. The fact that the premise itself provided a picture of the series, in general, was far more unexpected because it attempted to divert itself from the usual Slice of Life premises as shown in Jun Maeda's previous works. The premise itself also caught my attention as it expressed another angle of the plot.
Colorful and Appealing Art - From the trailer to the series itself, Charlotte never failed to give me an eye-candy character designs, colorful background, and adorable characters. The opening sequence was at its best. P.A. Works and Key collaboration made the wonderful and appealing sequence possible. The character designs gave tribute to a certain popular character from other anime series. Yuu Otosaka's design looked similar with Code Geass' Lelouch Lamperouge's, and Nao Tomori's character design has its similarities with Kanade of Angel Beats.
Described a part of realistic paradigm of human life - Of course, the Slice of Life concepts of the series were still there. There's this one episode from the series where Yuu grieved for a certain someone important in his life. The whole episode spent its scenes focusing on Yuu's emotional breakdown. The episode itself somehow demonstrated a portion of reality that we all know well; the feeling of grief and sadness. Not only that; the series also showed few scenes of interaction with random characters who have their own personal problems that led them to use their own supernatural abilities.
Weaknesses:
Lack of character development - The main problem I observed as the show progressed was the lack of character development; from Yuu, Tomori to Ayumi. The characters are appealing, Yes, but it doesn't mean that it will cover all the flaws of this series. In fact, the art and character designs didn't contribute to character development at all. Throughout the first half of the series, Yuu remained a bland Lelouch-narcissistic guy, Tomori as the smart and cold, aggressive type of girl, Takajo as the Nishimori Yusa fanboy and Yusa as the idol princess loved by many. Ayumi was not exempted from this; her bland cheerfulness and annoying spoiled brat attitude didn't help to raise to my perception about her either. It was only during the middle part of the series when I realized that she was a very important character. Yuu's actions evolved from being narcissistic to violent and it dehumanized him. Another concern I have in this series was the lack of development for Takajo and Yusa. There were episodes that were centered on Yusa and Misa but it didn't show any difference from her old self either. In fact, it was MISA who developed as a character and not Yusa. Yusa was used as a tool for Misa to materialize herself to the outside world. Meanwhile, Takajo absolutely lacked the character development in the series. He was described as a simple super speed guy who is a die-hard fan of Nishimori Yusa and nothing else.
Yuu's actions evolved from being narcissistic to violent and it dehumanized him. Another concern I have in this series was the lack of development for Takajo and Yusa. There were episodes that were centered on Yusa and Misa but it didn't show any difference from her old self either. In fact, it was MISA who developed as a character and not Yusa. Yusa was used as a tool for Misa to materialize herself to the outside world. It was disappointing to realize that Yusa's development was affected by Misa's appearance throughout the episodes. Meanwhile, Takajo absolutely lacked the character development in the series. He was described as a simple super speed guy who is a die-hard fan of Nishimori Yusa and nothing else. On the other hand, the show attempted to develop Yuu as the protagonist but the gaps from his past to his personality hindered it. From a narcissistic guy, Yuu ended in despair (due to *SPOILER*). The second half of the series made Yuu jumped to his conclusions of changing himself for the "better" to become the savior of the many.
In addition to the characters mentioned above, there's this character named Shunsuke, Yuu's brother that appeared in the last part of the series. He was supposed to appear as a caring brother whose mission is to save his siblings from suffering. But the episodes failed to provide a better look at his personality and background. The show mostly described him as a time traveler who attempted to challenge a terrorist organization.
Tomori, also suffered from this problem. Her character development was a mess; the series showed a portion of her past to explain her personality but it didn't make her evolve as a better character either. There were also scenes where there should be the development in the interaction between Yuu and Tomori but the number of episodes failed to provide a solid foundation for this. The characters appeared to be dependent in the course of events; they can't stand as their own selves and they have to rely on the actions of one another in order for them to be identified as human beings. Each episode showed random characters who have the similar personalities with those in Shugo Chara, which made it more bland and dull. This was the most disappointing part because the lack of foundation to the characters means lack of character development.
Rushed - This is one of the most disappointing fact I realized after I watched this series. Each episode was rushed; the first half of the episode will first present a problem that can't be solved by any ordinary personality then it will end with a quick solution to the problem. Honestly, I have no problems with this kind of format but the episodes failed to provide stronger and logical reasons to support the solution/conclusion, which affected character development. There were gaps with each scene and the scenes jumped from one particular event to another just to show that the last part of the episode will come up with a conclusion.
Lack of originality - We expect this series to be different from the rest of the series we watched that have the same genre. But the same concepts are recycled here and there; one example of this was the time-travel ability of Shunsuke (Yuu and Ayumi's brother). The time travel and the flashback itself resembled something that happened in Steins;Gate (where the protagonist repeatedly used time travel to bring his important friend back). There were also sequences of events that showed Yuu's similarity with Lelouch Lamperouge; from the smirk, attitude and the ability (where his eye glowed as he used his ability). Even the pose during the opening sequence was also similar with what Lelouch demonstrated in the Code Geass series. The concept of heroism was not also new for this series. The last episode demonstrated Yuu's experiences and struggles as he absorbed the abilities of people with supernatural abilities to his body. The main idea of sacrifice itself was not very different with series like Code Geass and Gundam SEED (oh god, why Seed?). In general, there was nothing new about the series that raise the hype of its viewers.
Bland Characters - In addition to the lack of originality of the series, the characters were nothing different from characters of other popular series out there. Most of them appeared bland and dull. Nao Tomori was the strategic and anti-social girl. You can always see her smile and laugh but in reality, there was nothing special about her either. I'm not saying that each character should appear special but it seems that Tomori's grin and "I knew it." attitude was a simple display of being a smart*ss in the show. Mind you, it doesn't make her appear smart either. Ayumi was your typical annoying whiny girl. She has these cute looking moments where she complains to his brother but that's all there is to show about her. She was showed as nothing but a moe-type of character to please the audience. Yusa was also the same. Her cuteness remained bland until the end of the series. Her trademark Yusa-Yusa gestures were only for the sake of fanservice. Takajo was stuck as the living fanboy for Yusa while Misa was the tough-girl archetype in the series.
Student Council - As much as the series is the concern, I would say that the series failed to show a deeper side of being a part of the Student Council. The show diverted too much from the common definition that it dismissed the fact that the Student Council was also tasked to maintain stability in the school. The series only focused on the hunting mission of the Student Council without showing another side of being involved in the student council. The show, in general, became biased with its definition of what a Student Council is. Remember, the Student Council was formed for the sake of the school, and not for the outsiders mainly.
Vague Worldbuilding - Prior to the series, there were still questions about Charlotte, the terrorist organization and the characters. The significance of the characters lacking; there was not enough evidence to show that each character has the contribution to the important goal of the group. Charlotte, as supposedly the most important term for this series was defined in a shallow manner. It was a comet that made young boys and girls to possess supernatural abilities. It's that simple and that's how the series defined it. There were attempts to put depths to the terms but most of those failed due to the short length of the series. There were the lacking definition and foundation for the antagonists and the process of claiming supernatural abilities remained a question.
Tell don't Show - This was another problem I observed from the series. Most of the time, the action and intentions of the characters were only expressed through telling; for example, one character will do a particular action while the other character will tell a lot about it. This didn't make the show engaging. The whole telling tactic was not effective to drive the audience to care for the characters. This is an anime series and not a Visual Novel. Get a grip, Maeda.
Forced Drama - I hate to mention this but the series attempted to make the audience cry; at least in its last episode. The whole melodramatic atmosphere was nothing engaging and special in particular because we already know that Key and Maeda were known to produce drama concepts for series like this. The last episode was supposed to be tragic as the hero of the show ended in amnesia. Behold, the amnesia tactic and the coma thing! The typical strategy to make the audience cry. Sadly, it didn't. There was also a scene where Yuu confessed to Tomori. Sweet, isn't it? But no. It was forced and the lack of character development didn't make us feel for them. In the end, the series was forcing you to cry for the characters; by pulling you from your chair and stick your eyes on the screen where the characters are having their sad moments. The death scene of Ayumi was disappointing and not shocking. At some point of the series, they decided to kill her out of the blue; by showing that there was this Yandere and behold, she shouted and everything collapsed. But it was because of her ability, of course; a very dangerous ability.
Deus Ex Machina - The series ended in a tragic scene where Yuu couldn't remember Tomori and others. Well, before that happened, he traveled around the world to use his ability to absorb the supernatural abilities of these people out of them. Shunsuke suggested this because he knew that Yuu's ability can save everyone. It was, in fac,t a very special ability that can absorb the abilities of other users and use it on his own. A bit of X-men's Rogue, I see. It appears to be a Deus Ex Machina because (1) Yuu's unique ability provided an overall solution to the decade-long problem and (2) The fact that he absorbed the abilities of each user around the world made him an undefeatable monster, meaning that he can beat his antogonists in a blink of an eye.
Overall, the weaknesses trampled the positive parts of this series. From good to bad, the show ended with an unsatisfying conclusion. The characters, plot and lack of originality became the main problems for this series as its length was not enough to provide a foundation for all of the mentioned factors above. Unfortunately, the series failed to meet my expectation. But it doesn't mean that it will also fail to meet your expectations too. So, for those who watched this series. Tell me your thoughts about it in the Comments section.
More reviews to come but Au revoir for now~
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