Hinata, Otonashi, Yukito, Sunohara, Iwasawa.
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Wow… you just sparked something huge in my head (no pun intended).
Obviously (unless this is just some huge plot hole) the powers are not contained or produced in their bodies, otherwise Misa would not still have her power. So then the only other alternative is… its all in their heads. Not their physical brains, but their psychology. Basically, their powers come about because they think them up.
Im getting excited by how perfectly this fits as Im typing this. Think about it. Yuu says that all his life he’s wondered why he’s not someone else, and then suddenly he can literally become someone else. Nao, who wanted nothing but to be alone, out of the sight of the prying eyes of the scientists, can suddenly become invisible. Nao’s brother, who desires to create amazing music so he can make money for his poor family, can suddenly make perfect music without even having an instrument.
Now as to why all of their powers are imperfect. I actually am currently reading an LN called Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (freaking amazing, btw), which allowed me to immediately see a reasoning for this: (I apologize in advance to all the people who won’t be able to read this part, but honestly you should just go read Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria right now anyway. It is that good.)
In Utsuro no Hako, there are boxes that have the power to grant literally any wish. However, the results of these wishes are almost always flawed, not because the box does not have the power to grant them completely, but because the wisher does not completely, 100% believe with all their heart and mind that their wish could possibly be granted by the box.
Thus, in Charlotte, their powers are incomplete because they do not completely believe that their “wish” (e.g. to be someone else, to be invisible) could possibly be granted. To even more from Utsuro no Hako, it is possible that the specific flaws of their powers are directly related to the imperfection of the wish. For example, lets hypothetically say Joujirou wanted to be able to teleport so he could escape from something. Thus, it makes perfect sense that he wouldnt be able to control where he stops, as his only objective was to get away.
There are also the several mentions of psychology in the on-screen words in the OP. Not only several mentions of parapsychology, but also some of those document file things say things like “phychological.” And remember: “It is a disease.” from the PV. Psychological disease?
And holy shit, just found something new: “the phenomena go away when skeptical ‘vibrations’ are present.” OF COURSE. (Same spoiler from above) Its like The Polar Express. The powers disappear when they grow up because they no longer believe at all.
Also, Charlotte is either almost certainly the name of the comet, or the name of the project of which all the documentation “were enclosed in envelopes.” Or both.
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That’s actually pretty good, and I don’t see any flaws in that theory so far; of course, we might learn more as we go, but for now, it fits very very well.
That also raises a bunch of questions, though, especially how they go about receiving these powers in the first place. Well, I can only hope that we are given some sort of explanation in the future. It also makes me wonder whether one can change their powers by changing their own thoughts.
Right now, Charlotte is kind of a mixed bag for me right now.
I can say right now that the characters introduced right now are pretty interesting and awesome so far (Yusa is my favorite! :3) . But the story so far isn’t really that interesting as the other stuff Key has made. But hey, only three episodes has only aired so far so I can’t really give it that much negative criticism yet, right? 
I know that they mostly right now are spending time introducing characters but i cant wait until more interesting stuff in the story happens.
(apperently i like to say the word “interesting” alot…)
How Low Hello’s Real reminds me so much of Flaming June’s Hifukiyama no Mahoutsukai.
@Pepe sorry, I didn’t realize that you had been saying a similar thing to my theory in the podcasts the whole time, and then I came in and acted like it was a completely new thing ^^;
I think the main difference between what your theory and mine is that while you seemed to be implying that the kids are given powers based on their personalities and mindsets, I am saying that the kids are almost like “wishing” for their power to happen and something, assumedly the comet, allows these “wishes” to come true while they still believe that they can be.
You guys brought up “then what the hell is up with Kumagami’s power” in the podcast. I think its actually kinda simple: While I have no idea what could have possibly caused him to need this ability (which is what we’d be hoping to see, of course), the reason he needs to be drenched while fully clothed is because thats how he was when it first happened. His power now must be triggered by that because he believes that it has to be triggered by that. And its convenient for him to be able to have the water droplet land on the map 
So I was talking to my friend who is also watching this series and thought. Is the general negative outlook on the show (mainly episodes 3 and 4) from more how most of us have been following since it was announced, reading and creating theories, getting hyped over every bit of news? He went in because Crunchyroll’s description seemed cool and I asked him what he thought so far and he said “it’s pretty good. I like how all the powers seem to have a huge flaw with them” He also said it seems like a fun series but can’t tell if the protagonist is supposed to be Yuu or Nao. He had no complaints about baseball, filler, pizza sauce, early backstory, rushed Misa episode ending so I was wondering if the reason we’re so negative is we know it will have Key’s usual “feels” we know there will be a switch in tone.
I tried thinking of other series I went into with hype and the only one I can think of is Shokugeki no Soma but my hype was because I was already reading the manga so I knew exactly where to place my expectations and the only way I’d be let down is if it was a bad adaptation. I also wasn’t really paying attention to what other people were saying, just watched the PVs, read about voice actor reveals and that’s it.
I also looked the the anime series I’ve enjoyed most this year and all of them I went into only know what Crunchyroll or MAL or someone else had written as a summary in 5 sentences.
I’m not saying the show is good or bad yet (I will reserve judgment on that until I have seen episode 13) but I’m wondering if we’d like it more if our expectations weren’t so high from the hype caused leading up to it.
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Possibly? But it isn’t like it’s not hitting my expectations. Also of note I went into Insight this season with high expectations and that has managed to one up them. And earlier in the year I went into Yuri Kuma Arashi with fairly high expectations which they more or less met. Expectations and how they effect you are very personal things. High expectations can often make me like a show more.
I guess so. I just noticed how mine and his opinions of the show differ quite a bit and the only difference I can think of him not knowing anything about it and me knowing about it. As I said, I don’t really have a comparison as most anime I don’t pay attention to before release unless I’m already reading the manga which Shokugeki no Soma (and now One Punch Man) and in that case I know exactly where to place expectations.
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Well I think there are two parts to this really:
- Yes, I guarantee what you’re describing is part of it for lots of people here, including myself. Most of us already know that this show is heading towards something amazing around episode 6. So having to wait week after week for that, only getting episodes that seem like theyre just for fun in between, thats whats kinda frustrating me at least.
Of course we didnt have to wait a week after every episode, the fact that some are lower quality than others, or that some are almost seemingly just filler, wouldnt bother us as much. And if we didnt know that something else was coming (even if we just suspected it from it being a Key work), the fact that we arent getting too much toward that something else atm wouldnt be so bad.
- I think the other part is, this is a community made up entirely of dedicated Key fans. And often times, the greatest fans of a creator are also its biggest criticizers. We all have our own personal high standards for what a Key work should do to match up to the rest of them. And if Charlotte isnt doing that atm, then even if its still a good show, lots of us are still going to criticize it, often much more heavily than it might really deserve.
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“Negative outlook” is probably the wrong way to say it. I think most people here have a positive outlook on how Charlotte ends up being. But precisely because I expect it to ‘get better’ is why I’m not particularly positive on the current episodes.
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That’s probably true too. I think he’s only watched Clannad and Angel Beats!, not sure if he knows they’re all by the same company.
I meant negative outlook on the current episodes. That was poor wording on my part though.
I think it’s just a subject-by-subject thing. All of the people I know who were watching Charlotte and don’t know about Key have dropped it.
I’m also really quick to get bored of a show. I can drop a show within the seconds it takes to go from one episode to another. Some people will have longer sustained interest in anime.
I suppose. It would be interesting to see how non-Key fans feel about the series though. I only have one guy who watches anime that isn’t a Key fan so I can’t get a very big pool to try.
Now wouldn’t it be interesting if Charlotte addressed everyone’s complaints with character development by doing the unexpected - having Yuu regress back to a selfish bastard? Maybe after finally growing close together, some tragedy pulls the group apart, and Yuu becomes distanced from the others, going back to his old ways. Maybe Tomori would lose her trust in other people and just block everyone out. If we saw some regression like that, it would give some more purpose to everything we’ve seen so far, and allow for some very interesting development.
Just a random shower thought.
EDIT: Also, one thing I’m really liking with this series so far is how it’s handling the musical incorporation. When I heard the series had two bands, I was immediately worried, but unlike Angel Beats!, the music has played a very background role in the story, and never gotten in the way of what’s happening on screen. I know it’s an easy way of making money, but I’m not complaining. Any excuse will do for some cool music by ZHIEND!
It’ll be interesting to finally see ZHIEND take centre stage in the next episode. Hopefully this is where things start getting interesting.
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well, from the preview we kinda see Nao getting “attacked” by a female student, which I’d guess is Misa, since I dont really see any of the other girls currently shown do something like this. In case it is Misa, it would mean, that something enraged her, which probably has negative aspects on the group. Just my speculations about some stuff from the preview.
(Little Busters) Wouldn’t that basically be Little Busters where Kyousuke’s plan with Rin at the other school fails, all the heroines disappear and Kengo, Rin and Masato are how they were before Kyousuke saved them? I might have misunderstood you though.
If that is what you meant I wouldn’t mind that happening as long as it is different.I don’t want Key using the same plot device a second time.
That’s not unexpected. It was the first idea that came to mind after the first episode. He’s gonna split from the group, return to being a jerk, and then slowly progress. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it either on the forums or on Twitter…
It’ll be nice to have some good music in the show finally.
Hell is other people.
Yuu = Hell?
