Kanade is the character that kept the show going for me.
She seemingly starts out as this expressionless doll with a frightening presence, and every scene she appeared in put tension on the other characters. But Otonashi feels curious as to why she is like this. The truth is that she is distressed because whenever she tries to make friends with someone, they get ‘obliterated’. So, in order to make sure no one else suffers the same fate, she distances herself from others. It’s also my guess that she used the Angel Project in order to defend herself from the SSS, even though she can’t die.
Kanade doesn’t get a whole lot of backstory in the anime, which is saddening because she’s the most interesting character for me. Whatever backstory we did get ended up being a massive plothole, so I hope the VN will address that when the time comes.
One of the other things I would like the VN to address is why she became the Seito Kaichou in the first place. She doesn’t seem to gain much from it, although she does hold up the responsibility quite well. My guess is that it’s one of the few things she can do to have fun, because that seems to be her main motivation for everything. She can’t play with friends because they get obliterated, so she has to find fun things to do in her solitude, such as gardening and watching the SSS do crazy stuff.
Speaking of which, she’s always interested in what the SSS does, even though they have a clear ‘no Kanades allowed’ mentality. She doesn’t stop their antics in the classroom, she observes their outside activities, and she probably even wanted to become friends with them at some point, but couldn’t because she was afraid of obliterating them. I suppose that makes Otonashi a fitting significant other for her, because he has very little personality to speak of and we never exactly know what Otonashi’s regrets are, therefore making him plot-immune to obliteration.
Final word: Can’t wait for her route.