Review Disclaimer: This review may contain some spoilers, you have been warned!
Charlotte is the 2nd original anime series created by Key and Jun Maeda and a lot of hype is following this show. So far 7 episodes are out for Charlotte and based on my viewing experience I can say that the anime is definitely well written. In Charlotte, Maeda is able to create an interesting cast of characters as well as create a story with enough drama, comedy and action to keep the viewer wanting more.
Charlotte follows the activities of the student council at Hoshinoumi Academy. The main characters of the series are Yuu Otosaka, Nao Tomori, Jojirou Takajou, Yusa Nishimori, Misa Kurobane, and Ayumi Otosaka. Most of the main characters are in the student council with the exception of Ayumi. Yuu is our main male protagonist. He has the ability to control anybody he can see right in front of him for five seconds. Yuu starts off as a narcissistic jerk, but as time progresses he slowly starts to change and begins to care more about the people around him. Yuu cares very deeply for his sister Ayumi, who is the driving force for most of his actions. Nao is the main heroine, she is also the student council president. Nao has the ability to make herself invisible to any one person she chooses. Nao cares very much about the members of the council as well as anyone who has a supernatural power. She is very persuasive and is usually able to convince the other members to go along with her plans. Joujirou is probably the funniest of the student council. His ability is to move at insane speeds without anyone seeing him, kind of like teleporting, except he can’t decide where he can stop, so he gets a lot of injuries because of his power. Joujirou is the most lighthearted person in the group. He is a huge fan of Yusa Nishimori almost to the point of absurdity. Yusarin is a transfer student to Hoshinoumi and a famous idol singer. Her ability is to channel the dead. Yusarin is a very cheerful girl, she’s very innocent and nice, the complete opposite of her sister, who is assertive and strong. So Yusa can’t really control her power and she does not know when her body is taken over. This is where Misa Kurobane comes in, Yusarin’s deceased older sister. Misa is channeled through Yusa many times over the series and her power is pyro kinesis. Misa is very protective of Yusa and sometimes gets into conflicts over her sister’s safety. Ayumi is Yuu’s younger sister and is in Hoshinoumi’s junior high division. She likes to make dishes for Yuu with the family’s secret pizza sauce much to the dismay of Yuu. She is adorable, kind and cares very much for Yuu. She is a huge fan of Yusarin, to the point where she gets a nosebleed just meeting her in person.
Charlotte follows the activities of the student council as they attempt to prevent others who have supernatural powers from using them. Nao’s brother was discovered to have a supernatural ability and was experimented on and now he can’t live in normal society. So in order to prevent this from happening to anyone else, Nao and the council ensure that nobody abuses their supernatural abilities; these activities make up most of the beginning of Charlotte. What makes Charlotte so interesting is the character interaction. Each character works very well with each other and keeps every episode fresh and entertaining. What Charlotte also does well is present each character’s motivations for using their power and gets the viewer to sympathize with the character. Jun Maeda is able to weave in dramatic scenes into what may at first seem like a comedic activity. Episodes 1-5 focuses on the activities of the council as they determine the user’s motivations and prevent them from further using their powers. Episode 6 onward focuses on Yuu’s attempt to deal with a great tragedy in his life and how he moves forward from there.
Charlotte is a very good show, but a bit of a slow starter. Some may get turned off by the lightheartedness of the first 5 episodes but episode 6 onward it really amps up. I highly recommend the series to anyone.
A full review will be done on Charlotte once the series has concluded. Look forward to it.
