ANIME RECOMMENDATION : CHARLOTTE

Charlotte (シャーロット Shārotto^?) is a 13-episode Japanese anime television series produced by P.A.Works and Aniplex and directed by Yoshiyuki Asai. The anime aired in Japan between July 5 and September 27, 2015. An original video animation episode was released in March 2016. Two manga series are serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Comic. The story takes place in an alternate reality where a small percentage of children manifest superhuman abilities upon reaching puberty. A focus is placed on Yuu Otosaka, a high school boy who awakens the ability to temporarily possess others, which brings him to the attention of Nao Tomori, the student council president of a school founded as a haven for children with such abilities.
The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed some of the music, with original character design by Na-Ga. Both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key, and Charlotte is the second original anime series created by Key following Angel Beats! in 2010. Maeda had thought up the concept for Charlotte long before he was approached in early 2012 to work on another anime series after Angel Beats!. Maeda narrowed down the number of main characters compared to Angel Beats! and attempted to put more of a focus on their behavior. Instead of employing the same staff that had worked on Angel Beats!, the aim for Charlotte was to bring together a staff that would add a new variety to the creative process to prevent being influenced by the work done on Angel Beats!.
Charlotte was praised for its unpredictability and evocative moments, but its pacing and structure have been criticized as inefficient. It has been described as approachable for a wide audience and for defying the "moe anime" stereotype. Although the comedic elements have been called dumb and corny, they have overall been lauded for offering some relief from the serious moments, which one reviewer likened to a palate cleanser. P.A.Works' production was praised for its beautiful animation sequences and expressive cinematography
PLOT

Charlotte takes place in an alternate reality where a short-period comet called Charlotte passes near Earth every 75 years. When this happens, it spreads dust onto the Earth, which causes a small percentage of preadolescent children who inhale the dust to manifest superhuman abilities upon reaching puberty. The story follows the protagonist Yuu Otosaka, a boy who awakens the ability to temporarily possess others. Although hoping to use his ability to fraudulently live a carefree high school life, he is exposed by Nao Tomori, a girl who can make herself invisible to a specific target. She forces him to transfer to Hoshinoumi Academy (星ノ海学園 Hoshinoumi Gakuen^?, "Sea of Stars Academy") and join its student council, of which she is the president. Also on the student council is Jōjirō Takajō, a boy who can move at uncontrollably high speeds. The student council's main objective is to ensure the safety of ability users from organizations who seek to exploit their powers. In doing so, the student council warns ability users of the potential danger of openly using their abilities. This leads the student council to Yusa Nishimori, a girl who has the ability to channel the dead as a medium. Yusa's dead older sister Misa makes use of this ability to freely possess her at any time, which allows Misa to use her own ability, pyrokinesis. Nao soon arranges for Yusa to transfer to Hoshinoumi Academy and join the student council.
Yuu's younger sister Ayumi eventually awakens an ability to cause anything around her to suddenly collapse, which results in her death. Yuu falls into a deep depression as a result and isolates himself, but Nao successfully manages to pull him out of his depression and gets him to return to the student council. While attending a concert of the post-rock band Zhiend with Nao, Yuu recollects previously suppressed memories of his brother Shunsuke, who has the ability to time travel. Shunsuke had used this ability to establish Hoshinoumi Academy and an affiliated organization attempting to develop a vaccine to prevent children from developing abilities before they manifest, but repeated use leaves him blind. Yuu learns that the true nature of his ability enables him to steal someone's ability by possessing them. Yuu steals Shunsuke's ability to go back in time and ultimately prevent Ayumi's death by stealing her collapse ability before she can use it.
A terrorist group manages to abduct Nao and Kumagami, one of Shunsuke's closest friends and aides, and holds them hostage in exchange for Yuu, who attempts to rescue them. However, the operation does not go as planned, which results in Kumagami's death and Yuu being gravely injured. After Yuu recovers, he resolves to protect all of the ability users around the world by stealing their abilities per Nao's suggestion. As Yuu travels the world stealing abilities, the more powers he takes on soon takes its toll on him as he starts losing his memories and sense of self. However, he still manages to steal everyone's abilities throughout the world before collapsing. Shunsuke rescues Yuu, bringing him back to Japan among friends and family. Yuu is left with no past memories, but Nao tells him she is his girlfriend. Yuu and his friends look forward to the memories they will make from now on as Yuu continues to recover from his ordeal.


STATUS : 13 EPISODES + 1 OVA (COMPLETED)