Charlotte

Have you ever wished you had special powers - any kind of special power at all? Well, do you really think these special powers can be something to appreciate? That power is probably just a disease that you'll be cured from eventually, most presumably at the end of your adolescence. With that out of the way, this was an anime that I wanted to watch not because of what it was about, but because it's from Key (I just freaking LOVE Key). After watching it, I must say that this is quite a pleasure to watch. Some people may say that it's a disappointment, but I greatly enjoyed it.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is my review of Charlotte.

Charlotte is about Yuu Otosaka, a charming high school student with a secret; he has the ability to control someone's body for a few seconds. He uses this ability to get into an elite high school and be with the girl that he likes. Everything's going great because Yuu's cheating, right? Wrong, because cheating gets you nowhere. I'm saying this because one day, Yuu gets caught redhanded by a girl named Nao Tomori. She also has an ability; she can turn invisible, but only to a specific person. Nao is also the Student Council President for Hoshinoumi Academy, a school full of ability-users. Yuu is forced to transfer to that school and join the Student Council, where they have to search for ability-users that are abusing their power and stop them. Along the way, it is discovered that Yuu's ability is not actually what he thinks it is, but actually something more powerful.

No, I am not giving it away, because I AM NOT PUTTING EVEN THE LITTLEST OF SPOILERS IN THREE REVIEWS IN A ROW.

Anyway, the story of Charlotte has its ups and downs. It does take a while to get into, but if you manage to get into the second half of the anime, well, there's no turning back now! The anime only gets better from there, and the ending, I must say, is AMAZING. There's also some outstanding character development in this series, especially for the protagonist, Yuu Otosaka. Yuu starts out as someone who definitely has villain-like tendencies, but his character gradually becomes less of one. I liked him from the beginning, to be honest.

Now, we've got Nao Tomori. I have to say, no words can describe how awesome this character is; she really helps Yuu to grow as a character. Takajo, another ability-user in the Student Council for Hoshinoumi Academy, is quite funny. He has the ability to go so fast that he's practically teleporting, but he can't control where he stops. That has made for some funny moments that made me laugh. Honestly, though, the character that I liked the most was Misa; she was freaking awesome.

The art and animation for this anime, done by P.A. Works, is, without a doubt in my mind, absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The character designs were quite solid, too. The voice acting was solid for the most part, but I felt that a few of the voice actors didn't really fit the character they were voicing. The ED, "Yake Ochinai Tsubasa" by Aoi Tada, isn't anything too special, either; while it was a nice song, it didn't particularly catch my attention. I freaking LOVED the OP, "Bravely You" by Lia, though; then again, though, a majority of music sung by Lia is great.

Overall, Charlotte was a great anime. If you like Angel Beats, which is from the same creator as Charlotte, I recommend that you give it a try. It's certainly not the weakest of Jun Maeda's works, for sure!