Angel Beats

So I finally got a chance to watch the first episode of a couple of shows airing this new season.

The first I watched was a show called Angel Beats. The first episode opens with the main character waking up with amnesia, in a world a nearby girl named Yuri (Who happens to be aiming a sniper rifle at something) calls the afterlife. He confirms that he is unable to die after essentially asking Yuri's target to prove he can't die, at which point she stabs him in the chest.

When he wakes up, a few minutes of exposition take place and a few basic ideas are put into place. In this world there are three types of beings: the "dead" students at the school, the "npcs" which seem to be there to make the world seem more real, and "Angel" as Yuri refers to her. Angel also appears to be the student council president of the school this all takes place at.

Basic plot is that the dead people have two choices: follow Angel's wishes by following along with regular school life eventually being "erased", or resist Angel by joining the "Afterlife Battlefront", a group of "dead" students who don't want to be erased. The main character, Otonashi, chooses the later. (At least for now, he makes a point of telling himself he isn't really a member)

One thing I noticed is that the characters of Yuri and Otonashi are like much mellower versions of Haruhi and Kyon from "The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi" (Otonashi being more accepting of his situation, and Yuri being less... Haruhi). Yuri even looks a little similar to Haruhi. In the above picture is Otonashi (Left), Yuri (Center), and Angel (Right).

I think this show could have a lot of potential, as long as it doesn't have too much filler or fall into the same pit that Kampfer did, and largely ignore the main plot. The animation for the show is also very high quality, but high quality animation can only make a good show better, it can't make a bad show good. One deciding factor could be what the nature of the world they are living in turns out to be, as well as the nature of Angel.