The few times I’ve read a MAL discussion thread they pretty much call every episode useless unless some super plot altering event happens.
I think common routes can still be done well in anime. It depends on the anime and how well it flows into the main story (which obviously we don’t know yet).
I didn’t really get that from your post but my apologies for assuming.
Oh I was just saying you can count me in as a ‘felt useless’ person. But feeling useless does not equal useless~
I’m not saying common routes don’t serve any purposes. I’m saying defending a common route because it’s a common route is a bad idea since people shouldn’t use ‘common routes’ simply because people use common routes. I also feel like common routes to get attached to characters aren’t reason enough on it’s own but that’s another discussion.
Also, to further my thoughts on this episode. The equivalent episode in Angel Beats was this exact same episode. It was the baseball episode. It’s baseball episode was fundamentally more powerful and had more immediate connections to what Angel Beats was about than this episode of Charlottes does.
My problem with the episode wasn’t really that it was ‘useless’. It was more that I didn’t really enjoy it. I enjoyed the same kinds of episodes a lot more when they were in CLANNAD or LB (the animes). The execution in Charlotte just didn’t do it for me.
This seems kinda out of nowhere… You okay?
It’s staple of Key, but it’s still pretty useless. People aren’t just suddenly complaining about it either. One of Clannad’s biggest criticisms is that it takes forever to actually not be rubbish. While I expect it from them, it doesn’t make it any less of a fault.
Looking at this episode in particular, there are characters who just don’t fit in with the rest right now, and the timing of the episode feels awkward. There’s little chemistry between the characters, there’s little reasoning for why characters do what they do, and there’s just no depth or anything of interest in this episode imo. It didn’t progress the story, or introduce any new elements, and only gave character development to Yusa… And it was pretty negligible development
Really, the only positives I have to say about Charlotte so far are, 1, that the protag was fun for half an episode, and 2, that there is promise for future episodes.
Episode discussion, not series discussion.
That line was awful btw. They should have just left it out. He’s such a non-factor in episodes that hearing his opinions and feelings as inner-thoughts messes with the pacing of the story. It takes me out of it at least. And what was that response to Nao’s pep talk? Did that need to be included?
It’s like that one joke arc of Samurai Flamenco… But Charlotte is actually being serious about the format…
MAL discussion threads are pretty dreadful. I just ignore them.
[quote=“Bizkitdoh, post:19, topic:1669, full:true”] There are good and bad ways to present SoL. Key is a bit hit or miss at times, so saying ‘What did you expect’ is as equally silly as you expecting people to not be critical.
Like talking about baseball for example: I personally didn’t feel all that much attachment to this scene here as I felt in something like Little Busters!. I don’t think I need to go into detail… I appreciate and critique Charlotte entirely on its own, as anyone should- But yeah all the ‘What’s wrong with you people’ stuff is pretty asinine.
Furthermore not diggin it here is not equal to it not having any value. There’s enjoyment- and appreciating and not liking. Personally I more or less enjoyed the episode, it didn’t feel poorly paced, however thinking critically as I do I’m pondering all the significance and it’s overall value. I’m allowed to do that.
[/quote]
You all are complaining about the story, but at least I think you agree the soundtrack was good. One of the reasons I’m enjoying Charlotte.
This may be personal, but I liked the baseball scene as much as LB’s.
LB has many baseball scenes…
I’m hardly complaining. Also yes the soundtrack is the best part indeed.
that sure was a game of baseball
I found this episode annoying, with Jun Maeda’s crazy obsession with having to put baseball as the theme sport for all his big visual novels/anime’s from CLANAND and forward.
But other than that, LOL I died when the “helper” came in and, LOL Yusa’s face 
That was just hilarious ! Then when Misa spit and Joujiro fan-boyed all over her spit questioning if it was Yusa’s or Misa’s since Misa’s in Yusa’s body, LOL. Nao - “Such a turn off!”
Anyone else find the people in the classroom rude ? I mean, Nao was being rude, but we all know the reason why, but they just called her rude aloud ? They were the ones who were up in Yusa’s space after class ended, crowding her, and they call Nao rude -_-
Anyways. Onto the end part. Does anyone have any speculation about why Nao had Yu go into the baseball guys body ? I’m just wondering, since we didn’t see exactly what happened in the 5 seconds that he was passed out.
Remember how when Charlotte was still coming out and they said there would be more side characters than Angel beats ? Are those characters that they hunt down considered side characters ? I honestly would be disappointed if they were. Some of their designs aren’t the best.
And onto my last point. Why did they use the “How low Hello” ED ? Is Aoi Tada considered the ED singer when her ED has only been shown once ? I know this is episode 4 only, but, this is a 13 episode anime. Maybe the ED makes Yusa an important character to Charlotte ?
Seems pretty normal to me.
I’m guessing it’s something to do with the friend of the telekinesis guy.
There is a group in the OP, and the guy from the promo art. We haven’t seen them yet.
Episode 3 was for Misa, episode 4 was for Yusa. It’ll probably return to normal next week.
I don’t think it was a bad episode. But it certainly did feel very filler-ish. Mostly because it was something that could have been used for character development, but instead we just got a OK game of baseball that seemed to be mostly for the comedy. Which again isnt a bad thing necessarily. HOWEVER:
@EndOfRefrain and @sillylittlemelody, I disagree with both of you. Its not good or necessary because its Key’s classic “all-for-fun and fun-for-all” common route-ish stuff. First, Key uses that stuff for certain reasons, but this wasnt like that. This wasnt “trying to create a fun and happy setting now to destroy with a serious and sad setting later.” Charlotte’s fun and serious have already been established.
But second, here’s the reason why this type of episode, while not inherently bad, was bad for this show. Charlotte is only 13 episodes. Key anime that have used this type of episode in the past have all been much longer. IMO, if you want to make a really amazing 13 episode anime, you can’t really have have an episode that does nothing for the main storyline.
If they come to show how this episode was extremely relevant in the future, I will applaud them. But for now it just seems out of place compared to the setting and pace that was set in the first two episodes.
Not really sure why everyone’s so up in arms about there being baseball though… What’s wrong with baseball? Its a fun sport to play together~
Honestly the only thing that was important about this episode was that second to last scene, and that didnt even tell us anything. At first I thought Nao wanted to see what happened when Yuu possessed a power-user (assumedly then trying to use his/her power)… but I dont think thats what happend. Hmmm…
No, as of right now, Im almost positive its “adolescence.” Like what @Bowiie was saying in the podcast. Like my theory over in the General Discussion thread. Maybe its just not in the same way you’re thinking, because that word could of course be interpreted several different ways.
I will admit, Yusa was better in this episode. I still dont like her for anymore than being kinda cute, but she at least seems a bit more intelligent now.
The thing that pissed me off the most about this episode was the lack of transition from the final scene to the ED for the second time in a row. Its EXTREMELY off-putting.
I’ve read a few opinions about this episode now and I’ve promptly discarded most of them (looking at you reddit guy who is still calling Nao Charlotte). There are a few that have a chicken little syndrome going on that fear that the series is slowly slipping towards the bad end of the spectrum, but I think most are still in the wait and see mode which is where I’m sitting.
I feel even more so for this episode than I did for 3 that it is a table setter episode in that its preparing a few things down the road, but the problem with this is the format of 13 episodes its a completely valid concern to wonder if they just threw away an episode to set up a few future plot points, and what will have to suffer later down the line for that choice.
My largest complaint is to me it felt like the baseball game was forced into the episode just for the sake of it being there. At the time that Nao presented the idea talks with the guy hadn’t broken down yet, she had just revealed her power which served its intended purpose of unnerving him so why not continue to try to explain to him what is happening and try to get him to understand his situation instead of going straight into a bet scenario.
Some things I did like about the episode. I enjoyed seeing the small shift in Yuu’s character but I agree with @Takafumi about his line but for different reasoning. I see Yuu getting excited about winning the game as him unconsciously growing into the role that he’s been thrust into, but I feel like having his line of “why am I getting happy about this” is sorta throwing it in the viewers face. It would have felt better to me if they had left it subtle. I also enjoyed actually have a direct foreshadowing element that plays into the immediate future with whatever happened when Yuu possessed him there at the end.
Unrelated as a baseball fan I love the amount of baseball stuff in key works, so I really loved when they decided to go super baseball factoid and pointed out he was using the wrong grip to throw a knuckle ball, still irks me that they call fast balls straight balls though~
I should type in all my thoughts before I start reading everyone else’s, heh.
So, firstly, we get more of a proper introduction to Yusa. She is very idol-like and is very approachable, so I’m not even surprised that people are naturally drawn to her. Joujirou, as expected, knows everything about her, and Yusa seems to like that too. It definitely seems like she has her air in the clouds and she lives in a world where everything is fine and dandy. It’s interesting how Nao is seen as a polar opposite, but Nao does feel like she keeps a totally different personality while she’s in class.
Then we go on to the monster of the week. This guy’s power is a bit more interesting, and a lot more versatile. I would like to connect it to my thoughts about how powers are related to personality and/or goals, and it does seem to jive into the way he uses his powers a lot. The problem is, his power seems very general. Like, even if he didn’t aspire for the major league, that sort of power could have been used for many many other things. Maybe it has a flaw like he can only move balls with his power, but for now, it seems only loosely tied to my running theory.
One interesting observation I noticed was how the baseball team reacted to Nao’s proposition to use their powers. The other students seem to be aware of the existence of powers. This kind of messes up with my perception of hoshi-no-umi. Does everyone really know about powers? Or is it just a select few, and the rest of the students were just put there because of their potential to gain powers? It likely doesn’t mean anything in the long run, but it does make me curious as to how the school works.
I can say for certain that I like Misa more than Yusa because I was hyped when she appeared on the field, and found it really fun how passionate she was about winning the baseball game. But we are also shown that Nao seems to have a pretty good use for Yusa as well, since she used Yusa’s “healing power” to their advantage.
… It’s almost as if it’s Yusa’s healing power that Nao is really after xP Either way, we see that Nao is really resourceful!
And finally, the sort-of drama at the end. To be honest, I quite liked it. I think it was pretty well-paced enough. We see that his friend is really skilled at baseball, doing that amazing home steal in the middle. We also see that brotherly bond they have to each other, and thus, it’s not surprising that what he does he actually does for his own friend. This is something that I see very often in Key: when people do bad things, they often have a non-selfish reason for doing so. I have pointed it out in the past (like how in ep 2 where I said archery guy wasn’t a very innocent person), but it’s nice to see it every now and then 
Kind of like a fuzzy hearted feeling which is nice.
All-in-all I liked this episode. It definitely didn’t have much to drive the plot forward (except for Nao’s experiment on Yuu which we have no idea about at the moment), but it was really fun to watch. It was fun to watch Yusa interacting with other people, it was fun to watch Nao being a boss about planning things, it was fun to see Misa’s energy in the field, and it was even fun to watch joujirou being a disgusting idol fan :v
It wasn’t fun to see the pizza sauce being brought up twice in every single episode though ;_; I’m getting sick of it
Ive been under the impression that everyone in the school knows about the powers, but not everyone has them. Its kinda interesting, because it seems like the conflict between those two groups of students that you would expect to exist has been conveniently subverted…
[quote=“Pepe, post:34, topic:1669”]
It wasn’t fun to see the pizza sauce being brought up twice in every single episode though ;_; I’m getting sick of it
[/quote]Now you know how Yuu feels XP
Aw crap I forgot to mention this, because I was totally curious about this! Why did they use Rakuen Made again?? Well not like we can figure out the reasoning of P.A. Works but I found it pretty weird since I expected that to be a one-episode thing xP
I think this is where most of the arguments spur from. And honestly, I don’t think I totally agree. 13-episode anime can still be made good even with filler episodes, and I can already think of a few that did so. As such, I think figuring out whether it is detrimental or not is too hard to say for certain at this point in time. Maybe the main story is already paced out well enough that we can afford some fun filler episodes. Maybe it isn’t. Only time will tell!
I thought a lot about this at first because that was my first reaction: why does she need to play baseball with him just to get him to stop using his powers? But once they finished the episode I think it served its purpose. Nao saw very well that the guy was pretty dedicated in fulfilling his dream and would stop at no means to achieve it. Simply just letting him know about the danger (like they did with the archery guy) just wouldn’t cut it. She needed to let him know the reality of it all by showing him the insignificance of his power in the long run of things.
It still makes me curious how people think that Joujirou’s power is a bomb or some sort. If I were in a school that I knew catered to ability holders, a bomb wouldn’t be the first thing on my mind when I saw something like that. But hey, maybe I’m just overthinking.
I don’t want to join in the fray of defending or attacking this episode because people aren’t really talking about what they thought was bad about it. I can’t defend it for its good points like others have done simply because that might not be the issue at all. Unless the people who hated this episode stepped in and detailed why they hated this episode, I have no comments to give. So I can’t come in and say “oh not every episode has to be useful” because I don’t know if that’s what people thought was wrong about it. All I can say is that I liked this way more than episode 3 because it had a lot more meaningful direction to it.
My issue with this episode, and so far this show in general is consistency, or lack thereof. There are a lot of areas where this show falls short. For one there is tone. The show’s tone is really weird and hard to find. Look at Kanon (both versions), Clannad, and even Angel Beats. Between all the funny, sad, heavy, and lighthearted parts, each show had it’s own unique atmosphere. When I think Kanon, I think the snow-covered train station with the song “Yakusoku” playing in the back. When I think Clannad, I see Hikarizaka High School and the Cherry Blossom path during and orange sunset while “Town, Flow of Time, People” plays. When I think Charlotte, I don’t really have that sort of image, yet with past Key works I definitely had it well before the 1/3 point in the series.
When it comes to characters, I’m still trying to figure out who the protagonist is. Yes we sometimes get some inner monologue from Yu, but he’s what I call a “lazy observer.” He tells the viewer exactly what’s happening without any interesting commentary. Also, notice that all his unique character traits magically disappear after episode 1. He effectively goes from quippy asshole who stages a fucking car crash to try and “get some” to “Yuuichi in Kanon 2002” tier observer with the personality of toasted cardboard. The only real purpose he serves is that of a vessel that viewers can put themselves in the shoes of, which causes him to lose any individuality.
Then we have characters like Joujiro and Yusa/Misa. Joujiro is supposed to be comic relief, but seeing as that is literally all he does, he doesn’t feel like a person. Yusa and Misa are both opposite extremes in one dimension. Yusa is bubbly and and Misa is angry. The end of episode three, while very forced, gave me hope that Misa would have some more substance, but sadly this episode reverted her back to Angry McYellingpants.
The only character that interests me is Nao. She’s shown herself to be tactful and recorceful, as well as a master interrogator. She has a past which motivates her to help other people and still has a mysterious side. She’s the only character that feels really fleshed out.
My issue with this episode is that it marks the 1/3 point of the show, and nothing has happened. If this were a standard slice of life show, or if it were more than 13 episodes, this episode would be a fine break from the plot, but right now there is none. There is no plot or central conflict, only one of the four main characters has a personality, and she’s not even the “protagonist.” Angel Beats may’ve had filler like this, but the main plot and conflict (Angel and God are mean, Otonashi lost his memory) are established before the credits even roll for episode 1. I’m sticking with this show to the end and giving it the benefit of the doubt, but right now I’m worried about its path.
This is like Key’s “The Phantom Menace.” It’s the first new Key work to air after me discovering Key and therefore the first I can watch “live”, just as TPM was the first new Star Wars film in many fans’ lifetimes, making it the first they could see in theaters. Both Charlotte and TPM lack a protagonist, and they both lack well rounded characters (for example, give me three character traits for Leia, and three for Amidala. Now give me three for Tomoya and three for Yu. Harder than you thought for the latter in each, huh?). As of right now, they both lack a plot too. I REALLY hope Key can pick things up.
[Note: This is just my opinion. If you disagree that’s cool, I’m not mad. Just thought I’d share and maybe spark some discussion]
Ehh, it really depends on how you define good, and what kind of show it is. I’m saying, with the way the first two episodes set this show up, we shouldnt have time to have an episode where no development happens. Like I said, I enjoyed the episode, and as long as there arent more like this, it can still be a really great anime.
[quote=“Pepe, post:36, topic:1669”]
It still makes me curious how people think that Joujirou’s power is a bomb or some sort. If I were in a school that I knew catered to ability holders, a bomb wouldn’t be the first thing on my mind when I saw something like that. But hey, maybe I’m just overthinking.
[/quote]Probably so~ That “Was that a bomb!?” part seemed pretty natural to me. As I mentioned, its kinda strange, but the powers themselves dont seem to really be a part of the school life at all, besides the fact that they exist.
You are actually correct about that; we don’t really have a tone with Charlotte. And I think that is also the point of it. With Charlotte, the whole physical setting is, for lack of better words, mundane. It’s the setting of the characters that seems to be the highlight of the series.
I guess they could have made it such that the whole “being watched by cameras” has a bigger meaning in the series but maybe that isn’t part of their master plan. Maybe.
I’m starting to feel this more and more as time goes by and I’m starting to think that Nao is the protagonist more than anything, and we are only seeing Yuu outside of the student council for the sake of being shown Ayumi 
I have no complaints about this because I like Nao and I don’t like the crude Yuu so much.
Ah yes, they’re a weird bunch indeed. They’re definitely part of the main cast, but I don’t know quite yet if they would be involved in any sort of character development in the future. Like, I can see it happening, but they’re not really setting them up for it well enough.
True, and I wouldn’t mind a bland setting if the characters were fascinating, but they really aren’t. To me, they all seem painfully flat, hopefully that will change with time.
Hm I didn’t think of it like that but it’s a good point, Yuu is practically Kyon at this point, he’s just there to give the average viewer somewhere to project themselves and get the story rolling when Nao is the one actually pushing the story itself.
I personally don’t care for them enough in the first place, even if they did have some major revelation and stopped being so care free I don’t think I would really care, which is dissapointing for a Maeda story saying as that is practically his specialty. At the moment the only character I have any interest in at all is Nao.
Interesting that you bring this up. When I described Yuu as a “lazy observer” in my previous post, I kind of thought of that as the polar opposite or Kyon. Whereas Yuu is sort of just “there” and might make a comment about how crazy Joujiro is, I feel like Kyon is an “active observer”; one who tells you what’s going on, while simultaneously giving his own opinions and takes on the situation, which gives him his own unique personality as an unreliable narrator. I feel like Charlotte would be more interesting with a Kyon-type narrator, or if Nao was more explicitly featured as the main character.
