Angel Beats ★★★

Yuzuru Otonashi

Angel Beats is beautiful and solemn. The story follows Otonashi who dies and wakes up and finds himself in a sort of purgatory so to say. It's set up as a school where students have to learn to give up their worldly attachments. However Otonashi finds himself still stuck there, but with no memories of his life.

Yuri Nakamura

Otonashi meets Yuri who is the leader of a group called SSS. She explains to him that those who have had unfair deaths end up here. Her own personal background is later revealed and explains her determination to find God.

Angel

SSS is Shinda Sekai Sensen or Afterlife War Front. Their purpose is to find and rebel against God. In order to find God they pursue Kanade Tachibana whom they call Angel. They assume that she is working under God and see her as a way to get to him.





Kanade Tachibana is generally very quiet and stoic except for during a few occasions.
Her face is always emotionless even when being attacked by the SSS. She loves Mabo Tofu and likes to garden in her free time. Both of these things along with her crestfallen appearance after being demoted from being Student Body President, lead Otonashi to try and really get to know her. A strange connection occurs between the two that isn't explained really until the end of the anime. 

Throughout the series you get to know more of the characters that are in the SSS and their back story. They're all tragic but when they pass on, there's something satisfying and fulfilling about it. It's hard to describe unless you've actually seen it.

Masami Iwasawa

One of the characters you get to know is Masami Iwasawa. She's the leader of the girl group Girl's Dead Monster or GirlDeMo for short. They're in charge of distracting the rest of the student body while the SSS does whatever mission they need to. However Iwasawa finally decides to make music the way she wants to and in doing so, passes on.

Otonashi and Kanade hug before they disappear

The ending is happy but in a sort of sad way. It's sort of like when you say good bye to a friend after hanging out, but know that you'll see them again soon. Anyways it closes with everyone else "graduating" and passing on, but leaving Otonashi and Kanade alone. After a sad scene where everything is explained about Kanade being there they both pass on.


After the credits on the last episode Otonashi or someone who resembles Otonashi a great deal runs by someone who looks a lot like Kanade and you see them meeting. Though it can be assumed that they get together after that, the audience really doesn't know. It seems like a happy ending, but it leaves the feeling that it wasn't.

Otonashi remeets Kanade in the next life

The biggest thing about this anime is that it would have been nice if they had gone more in depth with the other characters and developed them more, since only about five of them out of about twenty actually had a back story that they showed.

Angel Beats SSS

Another flaw was that they never explain how and why Kanade gets her program that allows her to have wings and use hand sonic. Though I suppose there it doesn't really matter. How does the SSS know how to make so many weapons or even know how to use them? I mean they're all high school kids pretty much.

Overall beautiful concepts and a story line that captivates. There was some action and romance and even some mystery in it all. Though I wonder if they ever do meet God before their next life. I wouldn't mind a sequel though unfortunately I doubt that there will be one. 

Black Butler ★★★★

Ciel with his demon contract

Black Butler takes place in England with a wealthy and very young Lord Ciel Phantomhive. After his parents are murdered in a fire and disappearing for a month, he returns with his extremely loyal butler, Sebastian Michaelis. 

Sebastian with his demon contract

During that month of absence Ciel has formed a contract with Sebastian, who is actually a demon. Demons form contracts with humans to fulfill their wish, and in return, the demon eats the human's soul. Their contract is shown by the contract seal on Sebastian's left hand and Ciel's left eye.

Finny, Mei Rin, and Bard

Sebastian also hires a gardener (Finny), a maid (Mei Rin), and a cook (Bard), though none of them are good at their jobs. They mostly act as comedic relief throughout the anime. They were hired by Sebastian for protection since, Finny is extremely strong, Mei Rin is an experienced sniper, and Bard has an amazing sense of intuition.

Chibi Tanaka drinking Tea

Tanaka was the old butler and doesn't really do anything in the anime. Though he is always present, usually in chibi (short) form. He's also always shown drinking tea.



After his parents' untimely death, Ciel has taken over the Phantomhive household as well as the company. The Phantomhives have been known as the Queen of England's watchdog and thus, Ciel is made to investigate different cases around the country. 

Many of these cases involve death reapers, angels, or even other demons. The first case that Ciel investigates is the mysterious case of Jack the Ripper. The anime takes a few cases and applies them to the anime with a few twists and turns. 

As it turns out Jack the Ripper is the work of Ciel's aunt, Madam Red, and a reaper by the name of Grell Sutcliff. Grell is obsessed with the color red and also becomes obsessed with Sebastian while fighting him. 

Undertaker and Grell

Another interesting character that comes in handy when Ciel is in need of information is a man that goes by the name of Undertaker. You find out a bit more about him later on throughout the series but he is definitely an interesting character with a lot of fans. 

Lau

Ciel also sometimes goes to Lau who is a Chinese noblemen that is head of an opium den.  He's not extremely important but does play a few key roles in a few arcs.

Throughout the anime Ciel and Sebastian solve murders and mysteries around the country; however, they also run into problems with other demons, angels, and reapers. 

Alois with his contract

The second season mostly has to do with another young Lord, Alois, and his butler, Claude Faustus who is
also a demon. Alois and Claude are exact opposites of Ciel and Sebastian. Alois is very emotional while Ciel is rather stoic. Claude can be rather random in his movements and is rather emotionless while Sebastian is very precise and purposeful in his movements and gets upset rather quickly.

Claude with his demon contract

Season two starts off with Claude Faustus, another demon stealing Ciel's soul from Sebastian. From there it becomes a battle between Sebastian and Claude for Ciel's soul. However, Alois, is upset that everyone seems to want Ciel's soul, so Alois and Ciel are also constantly fighting each other. 


When Alois was little he had a younger brother, Luka, who made a contract with a demon by the name of Hannah Anafeloz. Hannah had of course, eaten Luka's soul, however Alois thought that his death was cause by Sebastian. 

Alois finds out the truth when he makes a contract with Hannah and makes a new wish, for no one to get Ciel's soul, thus turning Ciel into a demon at the end of season two. While all of this is happening, Alois is stuck inside Ciel's body and Hannah tells Sebastian and Claude that they have to fight to the death for Ciel's soul. 

Alois's seal with Hannah while in Ciel's body

Hannah Anafeloz

Ciel as a demon

Sebastian wins but unfortunately, he is to remain Ciel's butler forever since Ciel is now a demon. 

Overall the anime was pretty good. It had some interesting and funny characters, some mystery, a lot of fighting, and some good twists. The second season was okay, but the first season was better. 

Snake

The anime completely diverted from the manga. For one thing, Alois isn't even in the manga and instead they go forward with a circus arc with new characters such as Snake.

Lau smoking with Ran Mao

A few things I did not like about the anime was that it was extremely racist. For instance, with Lau, he is almost always shown with his eyes shut, he generally has a bunch of girls hanging on him like concubines, and he's usually smoking (opium probably). Also in the beginning they show Italians as being in mafias, selling drugs, and only wanting money. 

Ciel is also supposed to be betrothed to a Lady named Elizabeth Middleford (Lizzie) but he pretty much just acts like she's some annoying girl and pushes her aside. I also hate how much Lizzie tries gain his affection, though I understand her just trying to make him happy as her betrothed. 

Anime Lizzie vs. Manga Lizzie

In the manga however she is shown to actually be able to stand her own against a hoard of zombies, but in the anime she's shown to be helpless and pathetic.


As a note the manga was supposedly written to be a yaoi (male male relationship) so there are some scenes in which the characters get a bit closer and more intimate than they probably should be in a normal setting.

Death Note ★★★

L, Light, and Ryuk

Ryuk eating an apple

Death Note starts off with Yagami Light, a genius leading a relatively boring life, until he finds a Death Note dropped by a rogue shinigami (death god) by the name of Ryuk. Any name entered in the Death Note dies within 40 seconds of a heart attack unless specified by the writer. 

Light takes up the name Kira (meaning Killer) and decides to become the new God of the world. As Kira kills criminals he gathers a following who support his work because he has delivered justice, or so they believe. 

L eating cake

The government gets involved and hires a detective going by the name L. L is quiet and a genius with a major sweet tooth (seriously, he's always eating cake or some sort of sugary treat).  

From the beginning L has his suspicions about Light but has to prove that he is Kira. Light's father is part of the investigation team and thus Light is able to track L's moves and plans.

N playing with dominoes

The entire anime is about L trying to prove that Light is Kira and Light trying to become the world's new God. However about halfway through the anime, L is killed off. L is replaced by N who looks and acts like a young child and is addicted to toys (everyone's addicted to something in this anime).

Misa

Light enlists the help of several people, such as Misa, who is rather annoying and clings to Light as if he is a God. Misa is famous singer, model, and actress who also happens to have a Death Note as well as the Shinigami eyes which allow her to see everyone's name floating above the person. Since it cuts your life span in half however, Light decides not to get them and uses Misa as his eyes instead.

Mello eating chocolate

There are some other characters that don't play as big as a role but are still important to the story such as Mello (addicted to chocolate), Ryuk (addicted to apples), and Matt (addicted to video games).

The anime started off well but after L got killed off it went downhill. N is a sad replacement for L, and the plot has too many twists and turns that gets confusing very quickly.

The ending was also a bit of a disappointment. Light goes through all this trouble to keep himself from being exposed and when he finally is, he just seems to go insane and one of the investigators shoots him to death.

The idea was intriguing and I mostly wanted to see how it played out. The different traps made by L and N and plans to elude the traps made my Light were definitely elaborate and interesting. There were some redeeming qualities and it was a pretty good anime, but I'm not a huge fan of it and I also probably wouldn't watch it again.