This anime suffered from overhype at its release. It came after Angel Beats, a very well known and loved anime by the weebs, with the promise to fix its problems and deliver an even better story. And, I must admit, kinda did; but then forgot it had a schedule and had to rush.
Story-wise, it has some really neat concepts to work with, but could be a movie or a couple OVA's. Sometimes the longer format of an anime really helps to give you the feeling of something alive, get familiar with its characters and grow inside you. But the characters on this anime are really well introduced, and you immediately can feel close to them - the intense moments are really intense, and the emotions always feel like a punch. It simply delivers everything very well and right away. The episodes made to develop our relation characters feel very bad and useless compared to the ones delivering the hard stuff. I had to rewatch the whole thing to be sure, and I was right. There are two or three breathtaking episodes, filled with every kind of emotion you can wish for, dealing with touchy subjects with such finesse I had to take a bath and reset my mindset, but the rest is just... eh.
Give it a shot, it's worth for the good parts. Those good episodes are outstanding, really great if compared to other modern anime and movies, but the remaining 75% of it is skippable.
Review of Charlotte
