Charlotte - General Discussion

Key Discussion
#262

While I agree this would be interesting, I am oddly satisfied with the way Sala was used. Almost as a foreshadowing for Shunsuke and to show that other people have been affected by powers in a similar way. I bet you @Bizkitdoh would also argue that she was also an integral part of the Yuu/Nao development that is essential to episode 11.

[quote=“Naoki_Saten, post:261, topic:1313”]
Well, have we EVER seen any parents in Charlotte
[/quote]Unfortunately, we’re kinda used to that in anime. Although Im wondering if not only the lack of parents but the way that they all seem to be on bad terms with their parents is lending itself toward a theme that we might see come full circle in the last 2 episodes…

#263

Who’d she call then? That made me assume she was calling his parents to leave the house .

#264

She time leaped, Yuu will plunder it next episode and travel back in time because her time leap doesn’t require two eyes.

The mother is alive, and also a terrible person. That woman didn’t seem interested so hey it’s probably mom.

Because Anime.

Because he’s a time leaping Yuu.

“Wait what do you mean I’ve only got 13 episodes to fit my story into?”

2 Likes
#265

I’m starting to see it like this: If you use your power too much, when you grow older and lose the power, you also lose something else. Eyesight is the only real example of this so far, but I think it could work.

#266

One thing that kinda bothers me is in the OP, why is does the end part show 4 people standing with a space on the left side? IT’S NOT SYMMETRICAL and it really bothers me.

3 Likes
#267

It wouldn’t be a mistake if it was the company he worked with understood what kind of writer he is…
I also think that Charlotte is a massive improvement. As I said to Kanon- This series has more frequent dips but it more tightly nit and consistent, where as Angel Beats! is a goddamn disaster with specific very good episodes in there at random.

Charlotte: Better overall and -almost- amazing. The missing parts are -weird-, like pages removed from a script at random.
Angel Beats!: Good key moments, however unsalvageable slop.

#268

I agree on Charlotte being a big improvement on Angel Beats, the holes are still there unfortunately. I just don’t understand why he won’t get more than 13 episodes… I’d love to see him on a 2-cour series at least.

Charlotte will be amazing if it ends well enough. I’ve loved almost every moment of it so far, and the more I “work” on the series, the better I find it. If the ending lives up to expectations, it’s sure to be a brilliant series, in fact I think it pretty much has been up to now, although it’s scary to see them betting so much on that one episode. I hope they manage, because if they do, it can turn incredible - but I just feel like it can go anywhere from “just good” to “almost-close-to-masterpiece”, all based on a single episode, and I don’t like that prospect.

Good to see that some others are enjoying Charlotte too, it definitely deserves more love than it is getting in my opinion. I’ve loved it from the start, even with its obvious flaws, and the ending of episode 7 is a moment I might not ever be able to forget. I agree there are weird missing parts, that’s undeniable.

I have to admit that Angel Beats is my least favorite Key work. It just didn’t “grab” me as much as other shows/VNs, not even Charlotte. I felt there was too little impact until the end, and that ultimately it was far too ambitious for an anime, leading to the problems to mention.

1 Like
#269

Wasn’t this for Ayumi? They all walk towards the area where Ayumi watched the meteor shower thing. While Yuu and Nao fall to Earth, Ayumi jumps into the sky. Everyone looks on from where she once watched.
If I had to guess, it’s a “save Nao, leave Ayumi” thing.

#270

I could’ve sworn that that space was never filled. It would make sense if that space was filled until episode 7 or something but I don’t think it ever was.

#271

I was going to say “golden rule design” but nah, it doesn’t seem to fit.

#272

Let’s take a minute to appreciate Maeda’s little mind games, shall we?

Pretty much the moment Ayumi has been first introduced in a PV, people started saying “She’s SO gonna die.” A childish, pure and innocent little sister like her is pretty much destined to die in order to move the viewer’s hearts and invoke a change in some characters. Fast-forward to episode 5: Around the end, Ayumi was coughing. The voices prophesizing the loli’s death grew louder. It would only be a matter of time until her sickness kills her. At this point, Ayumi became a dead person that hasn’t died yet. …except it was actually just a normal cold. Maeda pulled a fast one on us… and then, after giving us a week of time to speculate, he killed the loli anyway xD
Oh, but the games didn’t end with just that. A few episodes (and an unexpectedly bloody flashback) later, time travel became a thing in Charlotte. The little sister could be brought back. And she was. So Maeda still refuses to kill important characters. Or so we thought. Come next episode, Kumagami dies a painful death.

So maybe, just maybe, we’re still in for a surprise in episode 13. I doubt it, but I can’t entirely dismiss it.

3 Likes
#273

Was Kumagami ever a “major” character though? The question remains. I don’t think so, his death was probably just a plot device to go on with the whole notion of continuity and underline Yu’s change for the better as he becomes the one to save a close one about to go down the seemingly bottomless of depression he had once gotten himself into.

I just hope the ending surprises me, as I haven’t managed to come up with anything even remotely satisfying knowing that, as you say, Maeda refuses to kill important characters. I also know he’s good enough to toy with the viewer the way he wants and create memorable endings, so I’ll trust him until the end, but I have many doubts going into that last episodes, although that’s also what makes me so impatient to watch it.

Then again, Charlotte has its own ways of being an unorthodox work for Maeda, so maybe he’ll go for the kill.

#274

Regardless of whether he was or not, he felt like one. He stood out more than certain other main cast members and he was relevant to the plot.

#275

I agree that he stood out more, but I genuinely believe it’s more of a flaw than some sort of plan. They just had to leave Yusa & Takajo behind because they realized they didn’t have time for them (one of the show’s biggest problems), and it just circumstantially happened that he became more relevant. Otherwise, I don’t think he was ever meant to be major, at least nowhere near as much as Takajo & Yusa. it just turned out that way because of the show’s own flaws. Who was genuinely moved by his death here? Because I have to say I wasn’t. As long as Nao was safe, I think in a way it was “alright”, because she was the important part there, not him. Although I’m speaking on feeling here.

#276

Here’s a question, would Kumagami have been more interesting if we would have had some fly on the wall scenes of him talking to Shunsuke? I mean, he was the link between Shunsuke’s group and student council. He was the mysterious hand that gave the team missions and said hardly a word. If we could have had a teaser scene with him talking to Shunsuke about if “Yuu had yet realized his true powers,” that could have gotten the conspiracy hype train running at full steam.

#277

I think there was already enough foreshadowing about Yuu’s powers, though. Even back in Episode 4 there was something fishy about it that we were all wondering, and got explained eventually.

What that would achieve, though, would be foreshadowing regarding Kumagami, so it might have had it’s potential, but I don’t think it would have made him any more interesting than he already was.

I would have loved to see more scenes that aren’t from Yuu’s perspective. They really kind of produced the whole anime to be from Yuu’s perspective, from what we’ve seen so far

#278

Yeah, it would definitely be meant more to foreshadow Kumagami and make the viewer wonder if he’s an antagonist. Yuu’s power difference was foreshadowed sufficiently, but “the brotherhood” felt underdeveloped considering how important they ended up being to the series.

2 Likes
#279

Allow me to join the ending speculations once again. I initially assumed that Yuu will end the conflict by somehow using plunder globally, stealing all powers in one fell swoop
without having to actually travel the entire planet and visit every single power user, which I consider impossible to do within just 2 years. However, it’s not that simple. In ep12, Nao pointed out something that I had completely disregarded: Yuu will have to steal all existing powers and the powers that have yet to awaken. So using plunder globally just once right away won’t solve the problem, because new power users will emerge later.
Time for some simple math. Three years after Ayumi said she was 8 (ep10), the Otosaka siblings were supposed to get captured by the scientists. So Ayumi is at least 11 now, though we’ll have to assume she’s already 12. That’s because about 12 years ago, Charlotte passed by the earth and gave kids superpowers (ep12). Anyone younger than 12 can’t become a power user, since they weren’t around to eat Charlotte’s dust (literally). So we can safely assume that all potential power users will awaken in the near future, in other words, before Yuu loses his power in 2 years at the latest. Let’s say he’ll wait for at least 1 year just to be sure. Within that year, as suggested in ep12, he’ll have to raid foreign power user groups Shunsuke was talking about, acquire a power that allows him to detect other powers (along with the remaining powers of said groups), finally, acquire a means of using plunder globally. One of those groups will probably be in posession of such a means.
There’s alternatives (that may also be just steps in-between), like a power that allows Yuu (no pun intended) to teleport right next to a certain person. That would make visiting every power user within the time limit actually possible.

#280

Didn’t they say that Charlotte was a long-orbit commet that passed every 75 years -or something?. Also, the scientists in Shun’s place are working on a vaccine for when those powers awaken. So why bother about the ones that have yet to awaken? Could there be any?

#281

Ones from the last comet orbiting. Since Ayumi’s just awoke it’s safe to assume there’s a few more who are just starting or haven’t quite awoken yet.