It's my first review and English is not my main language, so be nice. Please. And, of course, give me your feedback. Review filled with spoilers ahead.
Seeking for animes to watch in the beginning of the season, Charlotte seemed an easy go-to, being quite hyped by a large amount of fans and having a supernatural kind of scent. And the show did live up the hype for the first half or so, but it quickly showed us the "Angel Beats syndrome", as Jun Maeda again delivered an another clusterfuck ending.
The first episodes show some great potential by introducing each character and building the plot itself, even though we only see the real plot later on. The main character, Yuu Otosaka, is presented to us as what a normal highschooler with superpowers would do, being a self-centered brat that most teenagers are. Then, two strangers (with, of course, super-powers) notice him doing what he isn't supposed to do with his body-possessing ability and recruit him to their school, with others that are also ability wielders. At this part, in the second episode, I too entered the hype of the show, wondering how they would develop and then wrap it up. How could it possible go wrong, I asked myself. Silly me.
Charlotte producers, wanting to show us a slice-of-life-action-drama anime do not pleasure the audience, trying to be everything in a small time (roughly thirteen episodes), wasting several episodes with things that wouldn't even matter in the end (eg. Yusa's career). Questions like "Why was Nao bullied by those girls?" or "Who/What was controlling Yuu's body when he was asleep?" are left completely unanswered, even if they should've gotten an entire episode their own. Even the amnesia part is one with a rushed explaining, killing everything that the main character worked for. His behavior changing and tragedies throughout the show are suddenly erased, giving the idea that we should also forget it, despite being a phenomenal part. Not to mention that, in a single episode, he needed to find all the ability wielders from the world, absorb their superpowers and then come back.
Don't get me wrong, it was a good show, as Yuu's breakdown was one of the best depressive moments I've ever seen in an anime (although it is utterly forgotten by his heroic amnesia), but it lacks the time to fully develop all of the plot it is given to us. I don't know if twenty-four episodes would do the trick, since the final one was almost like an entire season compressed into 24 minutes, but at least they should have taken care more on what they really needed to display.
Most of the characters suffer from the collateral damage of the show's pacing. At first, they are constructed in a interesting way, giving us enough material that we wanted to see what would come up. But it all falls apart over the following episodes, as for example Joujirou turns from a good comic character to a gag only guy, obsessed with Yusa, then fading away from the show almost completely (not before, by all means, almost becoming the main character in a later episode).
As mentioned before, Yuu is given to us a self-centered teenager, but he quickly turns into Nao's pet, being way too passive. He only does what he is asked to (aside from the trauma that he had to endure, which isn't mentioned at all after it), not showing anything that he wasn't supposed to by the development of the plot. Once again, great potential, but nothing more than that.
Key Visual Arts and PA Works do a fantastic job when it comes to the animation, frequently giving us the awesome character and environment designs that we deserve. I really don't have much to say about it, except it is greatly done.
I am willing to forget about the scenes where English was spoken by random people in a horrific way, because the sound of Charlotte is that good. If you ever watched Angel Beats, you will be familiarized with the incredible songs there used. They don't disappoint when they are needed, enhancing the whole environment of the scene. This a part of the show that I very much enjoyed, despite the other existing problems. By the way, did I say some of them are in English? Yes, and they are well spoken English, actually sounding like someone's was saying it, rather than some Japanese interpreting it.
Overall, I did enjoy it. The pacing and character problems were there, but it is a good anime and I am glad that I picked it up. It is a good story with terrific sound and great artwork, yet poorly executed plot. It should have been a masterpiece, living up to the hype, but somewhere along the line they realized it wouldn't end where it was supposed to and then they just tried to wrap it as best as they could. I don't believe they wanted to, but all the ideas and talents within this show were wasted with a rushed 12-episodes-in-one-ending.
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