Charlotte

Time to pinch off another anime series that Noshi watched and I hadn't so far.

 

And this time, it is Charlotte, an anime exclusive from 2015.

 

Taking place in an alternate reality where the comet Charlotte passes Earth every 75 years, it spreads a dust over our planet that triggers special powers in certain children.  In Japan, Yuu Otosaka, receives the power to possess others for 5 seconds, using this to live a carefree life at school.  But he is caught out by Nao Tomori, and is forced to join Hoshinoumi Academy.  

 

Here he meets other people with powers, like Takajo who can move at incredible speeds.  He joins the student council, who's job is to prevent children falling in the hands of organisations wanting to exploit their powers.  A Japanese idol, Yusa, is also recruited, who is a medium to her deceased older sister Misa, who can take over her body and in doing so use her own pyrokinesis skills.  When Yuu's younger sister suddenly manifests a power that causes things around her to collapse, she dies in this event.

 

This causes Yuu to fall into a deep depression, going out to beat-up low level crooks to alleviate his loss.  Nao manages to pull him out and when he attends a concert of the band Zhiend, he thinks about his older brother, now deceased, Shunsuke who could time-travel.  He also learns his ability's true nature actually allows him to steal other people's powers, and uses the powers of his brother to go back in time to prevent his sister's deadly accident.

 

Nao and Kumagami, one of Shunsuke's closest friends, are kidnapped by a terrorist organisation, and Yuu tries to free them.  However, Yuu is seriously injured in this event while Kumagami is killed, and when he awakens from his injuries Yuu vows to travel the world and using his powers to protect all ability users.  This puts a drain on his memories and he collapses after finishing his job of stealing all the powers around, but he is taken back to Japan left with no memories by Shunsuke.  Nao tells him she is his girlfriend, and they set out to make new memories of their own...

 

A nice little, highly enjoyable series it must be said, and I binged through it over the time of two shifts as it has that little "addictive" trait of wanting to know what happens next.  

 

Certainly recommended!