Netflix’s catalog of anime has only been growing over the years, especially its collection of long-demanded hits that have found even bigger audiences thanks to the site’s streamlined layout. On February 15th, Netflix added a brand-new anime series to their lineup that fits right in with their other collection of shows — Charlotte. Originally released in 2015, Charlotte takes place in a low-fantasy world wherein a small percentage of children develop superhuman abilities due to a comet passing by Earth called “Charlotte”. The main character of the series, Yuu Otosaka, has the ability to possess other people for five seconds – and while he initially plans to use his power to skate through high school, he’s eventually exposed by another student, Nao, who coerces him to transfer to Hoshinoumi Academy.
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Charlotte is an interesting spin on the concept of teenagers having superpowers, as it tries to use the powers to develop the individual’s character arcs while simultaneously building up a deeper subplot filled with political turmoil. It’s an interesting mix of ideas, and while the show struggles to balance them all in the best way, it does a decent job with the limited world and story that it has in only 13 episodes. With dedicated fans backing Charlotte over the last decade, its popularity allows it to sit alongside modern like Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, and Psycho-Pass among MyAnimeList’s greatest hits with over 1.6 million dedicated followers.
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Charlotte Works Best When It Focuses On Singular Character Moments
While Charlotte is absolutely worth binging with its shorter run, it’s important to note when going into the series that it works best when the audience is willing to accept the sporadic world-building as it is and instead appreciate the truly interesting and well-written character moments the show tries to deliver to its audience. Where Charlotte struggles to deliver a meaningful political drama, it succeeds in showing the effects of “gifted kid burnout” and even exploring the consequences of putting too many responsibilities on the shoulders of someone who hasn’t even reached an age where they know who they are.
The concept of the world is extremely interesting, working as a smaller-scale version of a series like My Hero Academia, where being a superhero and having powers is normal and commercialized, in Charlotte, having superpowers is rare – a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon for human society that sparks some interesting questions about what society looks like having these individuals walking among “regular” humans. While this is briefly touched on throughout the main plot, if the show had just a handful of additional episodes to help flesh it out, Charlotte would have truly solidified itself as a modern sci-fi masterpiece.
As confirmed by Charlotte’s listing on Netflix, where you can stream the series now.