Imagine a world that has been created especially for kids who never got to life a full life. Imagine a world designed specifically for kids to get a chance to life that full life. Imagine a world with no adults. Imagine a world full of dead teenagers who are not yet ready to be reborn into the real world. A world where they can life a normal life. A world where they can be the kids they never got to be when they were alive. That world exists. That world is governed by Angel. And that world. That world has rebels. Youths who have rejected that they must live a “normal life” and then get obliterated from that world. Youths who have decided to stay there forever. Youths who are rebels against the God.

No, I don’t believe in reincarnation, nor do I believe that such a world exists. But this show proposes an interesting concept. What if there were an in-between world that helped us come to grips with never having had a chance to really live life as a kid when we were alive? What would we do with that chance? What if we didn’t know what would happen to us when we vanished from that world? Would we want to leave or do anything we could to stay? Would we fight against an Angel? Would we fight against a God whom we believe has turned his back on us?

This is not a philosophical show. It does not set out to really explore those possibilities, nor do I believe it sets out with an agenda to alter any beliefs you may have. It sets out with a premise and a few assumptions and creates a world. A world in which they can tell a story. A story that will make you laugh. There is not a lot of sadness in this story. There are a lot of “oh no that did not just happen” moments. It’s a clean show with a good plot. I mentioned Clannad above and I will mention it again here. Clannad is probably my single most favorite Anime thus far. I would have to put Angel Beats! in a close second. It is, sadly, short. Too short at only 13 episodes. But it tells a great story.

I will say while the content is clean it isn’t exactly child safe. Remember I mentioned the whole rebels against the God thing earlier? Well this story revolves around a group of kids who have decided they are not going to just be good kids and get obliterated from this world. They are going to fight back. Nobody actually dies (heck, they are already dead right?) and they don’t really do anything gruesome… okay well scratch that. They don’t really do anything over-the-top bloody gruesome. The first episode probably has the most gruesome thing happen that is visualized on screen, which a sword through the gut. I don’t have kids so I can’t really say how I would feel about my kids watching it if they were young, but I would again say teenagers no problem. They probably has seen more gruesome stuff at their friends houses or at the movie theatre.