Angel Beats! - General Discussion

[Aspirety]

About Angel Beats!

Series Topics

Anime Discussion
Visual Novel General Discussion
Heaven’s Door Discussion
Visual Novel Details and Speculation
More to come!

Route / Character Topics

Bold = Route topic. Spoiler warning.

Yuri Nakamura
Kanade Tachibana
Hideki Hinata
Yuzuru Otonashi
Ooyama
Chaa
Shiina
Masami Iwasawa
Hisako
Shiori Sekine
Miyuki Irie
Ayato Naoi
Noda
Yusa
Yui
Takamatsu
Matsushita
Fujimaki
TK
Takeyama

Miscellaneous

Angel Beats! Fanart
Angel Beats! Quotes
Angel Beats! Operation Wars

General discussion for the Angel Beats! franchise. Please tag late-game spoilers with the [spoiler] tag.

It has quickly gained a massive fanbase among western Anime fans, but many people have issues with the short length of the series compared to Key’s other works. What do you think of Angel Beats? Do you think it stands up to other Key Anime, or could it have been something more? Are you excited for the Visual Novel adaptation, or are you going to wait for something new from Key?

[Takafumi]

I’m looking forward to the Visual Novels that will be released. I want to know how time works in the world of Angel Beats! Mysterious stuff~ (Stuff like Angel getting there before Otonashi, or Shiina still being around.)

I’m hoping for some background information on TK. I think he’s the most mysterious character~ I think Shiina will be interesting too. I want to know about C7’s journey through Fuedal Japan~

[Takafumi]

The thing I want to know most, is how long Shiina was in the After Life. Either Shiina was underground for ages, or time works completely differently in the After Life. (Which might help explain Otonashi’s late entrance.) It doesn’t however, explain why Otonashi woke up in the afterlife with amnesia and a new pair of clothes though ^^; Or why he didn’t disappear until a while after everyone else~

Otonashi is pretty mysterious… It feels like he has more knowledge about stuff than he shows~

[Bizkitdoh]

How time works in the Afterlife world is totally bizarre. Not only is Shiina from the distant past, but Otonashi appears wayyy after Tachibana. It’s so very strange why it’s just this group of people here- The order they appear in, when they died, how they died, when they appear, why they appear and how some of them seem to have some type of connection at times (huge example being Tachibana/Otonashi…) All things we know basically nothing about for 80% of the cast, and barely about for the 20% or so we have such information on or can infer about.

[Takafumi]

And why they appear to remember stuff from the After Life!
I really hope they show a bit of life after they vanish and get reborn!

Kanade was humming a song that shouldn’t exist in the normal world… Unless Iwasawa released it at some point before her death, which she didn’t. If she had released the song, she wouldn’t have had a regret to land her in the After Life.

I think the connection between Kanade and Otonashi can be explained as Kanade waiting for the person who gave her a bit of extra life. Her regret of not being able to say thank you was strong enough to both keep her sentient, and keep her in the After Life.

[Bizkitdoh]

These are some of the many reasons why I’m of the impression that what we’ve seen and are thought to believe may not actually be the case or the full story, but only what was able to be done for the anime.

I think the VN will be bringing a lot more to the table, just it’s hard to explain without first putting up everything we know about the series to show just how little we really know. Lol

Basically, that connection goes-

Real world:
Otonashi death > Tachibana heart failure of some kind > Transplant > Regret > ‘Afterlife’

Afterlife:
Tachibana present for long time > All of SSS arrive + ??? > Otonashi arrival.

[EisenKoubu]

By the power of ‘Uguu’, I command this dead thread to rise.

Like a lot of people, I found Angel Beats rather rushed and flawed, but it’s still has a lot of merit. For one thing, I do love the characters. There were too many to focus on in just 13 episodes, but they all still had their quirks. The presentation is quite stunning. The animation is top-notch, the music is great and the Japanese voice acting is exceptional. It would have left another void in me if it weren’t for the 14th episode (which still makes me laugh).

I am very much looking forward to the six-part epic coming soon, starting with 1st Beat!. I’ve always wanted to know what was up with characters like TK, Takamatsu, Shiina, Noda, and the Girls Dead Monster members.

[EisenKoubu]

I finished Episode 14 for the third overall time today. I think it’s still funny, but I do admit that the ham is a bit excessive. If they spaced it all out, it would have been a lot less stressful and easier to take in. Other than that, this is the most rewatchable episode in the anime so far. It’s not as rewatchable for me as Carnival Phantasm, Acchi Kocchi, or even Lucky Star, but it’s more rewatchable than any other Key anime adaptation.

[Aspirety]

Don’t suppose you’ve taken a look at Heaven’s Door yet have you?

[EisenKoubu]

You mean the manga? I read a bit of it, but I stopped reading it because I was put off by Yurippe’s personality.

[Pepe]

What?! But the kicking-people-off-roofs trait is so endearing!

[EisenKoubu]

I’m probably not the only one who’s said this, but she’s too much like Haruhi Suzumiya. And I just don’t like Haruhi Suzumiya.

[Bizkitdoh]

MY OH TEE PEEEEEEEEE

The Manga made me REALLY like Yuri. Lol. She’s an amazing combination of strength and determination- And fear of failure. My Fem-Kyousuke <3 I don’t see the relation of her to Haruhi any more than Coke to Pepsi.

They’re sugary soft drinks but they’re most certainly different beverages.

[Aspirety]

Yeah I don’t really get the Haruhi thing. She looks kinda similar I guess, but she’s not a god or a chuunibyou. She may be bossy, but she’s never unreasonable - she’s just taking the actions she deems necessary to accomplish her goals. And for the most part, the team respects and admires her strength. I don’t really see the connection.

[Yerian]

Charlotte - Pre-Release Discussion & Speculation

So you are saying that if AB was planned for 13 episodes, it’d be “not probably very amazing at all” in contrast to the butchered story we did get? I don’t see how it could have been worse really… I mean, at least we would have got a coherent story, instead of getting fragments of one.

You can only use this argument with 24-26 episode anime. Saying a butchered 13 episode anime could have worked as a non-butchered 13 episode anime makes no sense from a debate standpoint…

No, not in contrast to the anime we got, but in contrast to the concept and meanings as a whole. If Angel Beats had been written to fit perfectly into 13 episodes, it wouldn’t have been Angel Beats.

[quote=“Pepe, post:299, topic:728”]
I think what he means by “amazing” is that it has immense story potential. A short and sweet story would be “amazing” in an informal sense (very impressive; excellent) but it wouldn’t be “amazing” in a literal sense (causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing)
[/quote]This is exactly what I meant. To me, as a personally opinion, Angel Beats has the potential to be my favorite thing ever. Being 13 episodes would not have allowed it to have the qualities, the meaning, that I love so much about it.

[quote=“Pepe, post:299, topic:728”]
They could have made Angel Beats as 26 episodes and it’d still be lackluster.
[/quote]I in fact think I would have been. Well, not lackluster. It could have been a ton more expanded and polished. But I still doubt it would have been able to include everything Maeda has in mind. Clannad was 49 episodes and it still was missing a bunch of stuff from the VN. Maeda had a huge VN size story that he was trying to fit into an anime. It just doesnt work.

The Angel Beats anime most certainly would have been better if it was written for a 13-episode size story. But, like I said, it would have (probably) been complete, and we would (probably) have never gotten what we are getting today.

[Bizkitdoh]

Angel Beats! was intended to begin with Hinata, ie Track Zero, and that content is still being made! Not to mention that the integral 3 days of backstories was still never shown, and that would have taken a lotttttt of episodes. Even at 46 I think AB! would have had some problems. The story is just not easy to put into anime. Maeda bit off more than he could chew going for anime with this and I think he had to accept that.

[EisenKoubu]

Well, that’s why they’re making the VN, right? Since it’s obvious to Maeda at this point that he can’t fit so many characters’ backstories into a 13-episode anime, writing a VN (something he has more than enough experience doing at this point) that’s at least twice the length of CLANNAD, if not longer, should do the trick.

[Bizkitdoh]

Just a heads up for now that moving forward to the very close release of -1st beat- I’ll be rolling out character discussion topics for this series and updating this topic here to make it an even better hub! <3

[raiyan]

So as usual I was getting into the “dark” side of youtube, and i stummbled across this,

Making of “Angel Beats!” Full: How Anime is Made
Can’t believe that I’ve never seen it before.