Anime Review: Charlotte

Once every 75 years, a comet named Charlotte passes near Earth. It leaves a cloud of dust that when inhaled by preadolescent children, there will be a chance to gain some superhuman powers and abilities.

Yuu Otasaka is one the children that awakens his power due to the phenomenon. He has the power to possess someone he looks at for five seconds. He used his power to become the top of his school.

One day, a girl named Nao Tomori exposes him. She has the ability to become invisible to one person whom he targeted. She then forced Yuu to transfer to Hoshinoumi Academy and join the Student Council of which she was the President. The purpose of the student council is to ensure the safety of all ability user. Because some adults are experimenting on those who have powers and ability. So they need to make sure that those ability user are taking precautions so they won't be captured. They are joined by Jojiro Takajo, a boy who has the power to move fast but he has no control on stopping it.

Stories unfold and their adventure begins.

You would thought that the story of this series is straight-forward - a student council who ensures the safety of the ability users among the area, also gathering new recruits to join them and help their objectives. But, not! It is not just about that! There are some turn of events that made the story a bit dark and more interesting. This series is not your ordinary gang of friends having an adventure, dealing with the enemies and life, and others. I love the twist they gave to it, although a bit overdone. But I really loved the story and wish it has more episodes.

Yuu Otosaka - the main protagonist of the story. At first, he thought that his powers is just possessing another person for five seconds. But later in the series, he was taught that he can also steal the power whom he possessed. Also later in the anime he traveled the world to steal all the powers so that no one will be experimented by the adults. Because of the strain in his body, he lost all his memories.

Nao Tomori - she is the President of the Student Council of Hoshinoumi Academy. She can go undetected by the one whom she targeted. Her older brother was a victim of the exploitation done by the adults to experiment about the powers of the children. Because of this she wanted to help others to not be captured by the adults. She falls in love with Yuu and did not leave his side even though Yuu lost his memories.

Jojiro Takajo - he is also part of the student council. He has the ability to move fast but he can't control it so it always end up hurting him. To compensate to that, he wears protective gears inside his shirts and he also train his body. He pertains to his power as "Teleportation".

Yusa Nishimori - also known as "Yusarin", she is a popular idol. She has the ability to be a medium for the dead. She is never aware that she has this ability. She only thought that she is just sleepwalking or some sort.

Misa Kurobane - she is the deceased sister of Yusa. Misa possesses Yusa anytime. Everytime she takeover the body of Yusa, her eyes and hair changes too. Her power is able to control fire.

Ayumi Otosaka - the younger sister of Yuu. At first, she has no signs of having power or ability. But the turning point of the series revealed that she has a powerful ability - ability to make everything around her collapse. During the time her powers awaken, she died due to the building collapsing on her. This is when the real story unfolds and changes the mood of the story.

I don't actually like the characters, and I also don't hate them. The powers of the main characters are all useless - an invisibility that can only target one person, speed that can't be controlled, body possession for only five seconds and the spirit possession that is only used in one spirit. The only good power that is present to the gang is Misa's power but she can't use it if she doesn't possess the body of her sister. Also, the redeeming part of Yuu's power is that it has the power to stole any power from the person he possesses. Overall, they are "meh" to me. Great story but lacks personality on the characters.

There's nothing remarkable about the soundtrack used in this series. I actually forgotten already the opening of Charlotte. The only thing I liked is the song of the band Zhiend. Other than that song, the others have no recall on me.

Great work on the art. I like every details they put in every scene. I also love the scenes during when Yuu visited the Philippines. It is so remarkably done so well. The streets and the slums were pictured as if it was the real deal.

The story is great but it's a bit short. It should have been given much time to give the characters more personality and give them the much need character progress. The only redeeming part is that there are no boring scenes for me and the art is very well done. I definitely think that this is still worth watching. It could have been better, tho.