The Angel Beats! -1st beat- Perfect Visual Book has recently been made available for purchase in Japan. Along with many illustrations, graphics and a walkthrough, the book also includes a number of interviews. In particular, a particularly large and exclusive interview with two of the writers of 1st beat: Jun
Thanks so much for the translation! I’m jazzed to hear Maeda is working on another album. Owari no Hoshi no Love Song was lovely.
Awesome interview. Thanks so much @HeliosAlpha for taking the time to transcribe and translate it!
Im disappointed theres nothing about 2nd beat in there, but maybe thats part of “Key’s new games”? Either way, a new Maeda album is definitely hype.
I was shocked to hear there were around 700 options! Could this probably be Key’s game with more options? What about CLANNAD? (it would really benefit from a “Record” too).
Also, I like how humble Maeda is about his writing saying Leo’s is better. And how he said he likes to hear the opinions of the community online. And how, even after everything he’s written and all the experience he has, he still is worried if what he wrote was fun enough.
Humble Maeda: Otonashi Breaker! -1st Beat-up-
They don’t seem to be talking about the 2nd beat… But I’m glad that almost all of the characters have a backstory 
Very VEry VERy VERY VERYY Curious about Miyuki’s backstory, Shiina’s backstory, Yusa’s backstory, Hisako’s backstory, and of course, Tenshi’s.
Hisako’s backstory from what HeliosAlpha teased from what the 1st beat gave out, seems very interesting. I’m interested how they would resolve that if its even possible.
Yusa’s backstory is just screaming out PERFECTION. WE NEED YUSA ON THE SECOND BEAT. Or Last Beat, save the best for last !
Shiina’s from what we know about her, seems like hers would be interesting to read, considering what she was when she was alive.
Miyuki is actually an interesting character. From what we can see, all of the SSS members seem to carry a sense of regret, and Miyuki is pretty much the only one that seems innocent and seems hopeful. It would be nice to see what her backstory is.
Tenshi. Well. I’m not exactly expecting Kanade to have a backstory, since she (when she was alive speculation) was most likely born with a weak heart, or a heart that just stopped working Which means that a backstory wouldn’t be needed as much, but only to tie the ties. It would be interesting if she does have a backstory. She’s so careless about life and so lonely, I would hate to see her being bullied and stuff for having a personality like that.
A little worried about Maeda. Please look out for your health. We all care about you Maeda.
I’m a little curious as to why it didn’t sell well compared to previous Key games. Although it’s understandable, since past Key games were basically the whole package. I bet the sixth beat will sell like crazy.
WHAT MAEDA ?!?!?! YOU’RE WORKING ON PREPARATIONS FOR KEY’S NEW GAMES ?!?!
NEW PROJECT WHEN ?!
YAYYY, NEW MAEDA MUSICCC !
Maeda must have been suffering. Rewrite was a huge project. Not to mention that it got Harvest Festa later on, which isn’t huge, but still a good amount. Thinking of Maeda writing parts of it alone sounds tough.
Well, like you said, its incomplete. None of the “beats” are probably gonna do as well as other Key games, because they’re all just partial games.
There’s also the “I’ve seen the anime, I dont need this” factor. And hell, lets just face it, nothing was gonna outsell Sakura no Uta this year. AB! had some decent competition.
Don’t forget that the VN market is in decline anyway, I wouldn’t expect it to sell as well as previous games regardless.
Just curious but… have you read Heaven’s Door? They go into a bit of Yusa’s backstory in that one, if you are interested.
Anyways this interview does feel very Maeda; all the way from the writing insecurities to the high level of alcohol… But what does surprise me the most is that he hasn’t started looking into what other people think of 1st Beat yet, since that’s usually the first thing he does when a game is released…
But, from what I’ve observed at least, most of the complaints directed towards the AB VN are with regards to the episodic format. I guess nobody really likes paying 6 times just for one series. But hey, none of that was Maeda’s decision after all (damn you, Baba!)
I’m not a big manga fan. I try finding summaries for those. I did read the first one, just because everyone said it was good, but I stopped halfway through (actually, 5 pages in), since it didn’t seem like anything too serious. I know that it might get serious later on, but other than that, I’d rather just find summaries.
Oh well. Putting Angel Beats! as one whole VN would have been Overkill. Would have been Rewritex3. Not to mention it would have been delayed with Key staff working on Charlotte, Harmonia, and Rewrite.
Is it only me or Maeda really comes off as really pessimistic? I hope his hiatus was not due to depression or something
