Angel Beats! Episode 1 "Departure"

As previously promised, here is start of my Angel Beats! episode coverage. I'll start off with saying that I know absolutely nothing about this anime, so all of these posts will pretty much be as raw of a reaction as you can get. Enjoy ~

The very first image of this anime. Considering it begins with, "where am I" and that the title is actually "Departure" it looks like they're going for an air of mystery. Lets see how this anime goes...



Summary: 

So it begins with our main character waking up in what appears to be a school. He has no idea where he is, how he got there, or why he's there. The only thing he does know is that there's a strange girl with a gun...because that's not random at all.

Well it turns out that this girl, Yuri, is the leader of the "Afterlife Battlefront". She then proceeds to explain that our protagonist is dead and that he's now in the realm before reincarnation. She gives him either two choices- join her force or disappear. Initially, he looks at this situation and - like any sane person- thinks it's a joke...Then this happens

Sorry for the "paused" in the corner...it took forever to get this shot.

And then thiiisss happens

So it turns out that:

A) He really is dead

B) He can't die in this world, but it still hurts like hell

C) He may have some particularly crazy team members (look below)

and

D) This anime may turn out to be incredibly funny

After dying 101 times and getting launched out the window by a sledge hammer, he wakes up in the headquarters of the "Afterlife Battlefront". This is where Yuri explains the situation to him- The world they live in is run by the woman who stabbed him. Turns out she's an angel sent from God to watch over the dead souls of this world. She tells them what to do, and those who follow eventually "disappear". 

But the Afterlife Battlefront refuses to take a chance with their life. They don't know whether this God even exists, or whether they'll be reincarnated as a barnacle or a bug. So they've decided to take over this world and make it their own. But how are they going to do that? By killing all the person who run this place- the Angel.

"We-won't-accept-death War Front" was their
name before "Afterlife Battlefront". Apparently
they change it a lot.

However, this super team with cool guns and kick ass weapons actually consists of pretty odd characters: 

We've got Hinata, the guy who's more irresponsible than he is useful

Masushita, who is the only person Yuri really describes in a respectful manner

Ooyama, who specializes in having no specialties

TK, a Japanese guy who speaks bad english and uses catch phrases that were probably the only ones the voice actor could pronounce without it seeming too much like Engrriissshh. 

(thanks AvatarHippo!)

I think I like this guy! 

 The guy who pushes up his glass to make him look smart, but really...

He's an idiot

Two girls- one who stands in a corner and another who leads the "decoy squad"

And last but not least,

Noda- Yuki's admirer, and yandere- who just transfers all the crazy aggression into hurting our protagonist (hence the butchering in the scene before)

Which reminds me...we still haven't learned his name! Turns out he doesn't even know. How cool right!

But since it'd just be too confusing having a nameless protagonist, the writers gave him a last name: Otonashi. 

So, Otonashi agrees to use join the Afterlife Battlefront and join in on their shenanigans. Well, until he recovers his memories, that is. 

Thoughts: 

I think I'll actually enjoy this anime! I remember I found this anime aimlessly browsing the web, saw the first few minutes of it, saw the gun...and left. That was when I had my shoujo-craze. Now, however, I'm willing to give it a try. I've never really been one for guns and explosives (I'm more of a slasher, super power, or hand to hand type girl) but I think I can deal with it. This anime turned out to be pretty funny- which I did NOT expect. Slap-stick humor always works better in anime than it does in real life. 

Well guys...How do I sign out?

Oh! I know!

Come on! Let's dance!!

~Alice