Discussion of Iwasawa’s route & character in the Angel Beats! series.
All known information about Iwasawa may be discussed without the usage of any spoiler tags whatsoever when it comes to the anime, Manga, and her VN route content. Please mark all other route content with [spoiler] tags.
Bless the festival.
What would you rate this route?
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IIRC, Iwasawa in anime is so emo while Heaven’s Door Iwasawa is much more interesting. I wish we will get to see more of her true color in the VN.
I’ve recently seen the crazy side of Iwasawa by reading the first few chapters of 4-koma.
Tree Iwasawa best Iwasawa
I never viewed her as ‘emo’ and I don’t think that’s a very good depiction as I view that idea as ‘someone who cares far too much and is bummed out by immense empathy’ as opposed to ‘doesn’t give a fuck and does what they want, following their heart’- I viewed her as free spirited from the beginning and that stood true to the end, but we can all agree the anime was a trashy representation of her for the most part anyways.
In further works we got to much better know her as astronomically passionate about what she’s passionate about, not being great with words and still being very much in her own little world with things, not particularly giving a damn about the outside of how things look from the outside in. All of these things come together to make her pretty freakin’ comical, too. You can tell she cares a lot about Hisako (perhaps not as much as Hisako needs her but that’s besides the point) because it’s one of the most entertaining things seeing her try to be social- Which I think starts to come more naturally over time. Anime/VN era Masami came a pretty long way and still has things to learn, but it’s all a part of why she’s so great~
She wasn’t already crazy in Heaven’s Door and Track Zero? lol
Not crazy enough!
Non spoiler spoiler:
Maeda reaaaallly needs to give Otonashi a break.
So I just finished this route and I have to say, that was quite a ride. I honestly thought I was heading for a bad end when Yui told me to break up with Iwasawa and I just had to stop reading for a while when Hisako said “it was all a game”. Regardless, the bittersweet ending was lovely but how the fuck did he wear that paper ring for so long without it getting wet or tearing?
Could someone who knows Japanese please translate the end of Iwasawa’s route (The Letter) when they get to it?
I’m not very good at translating, and honestly there are emotions in this that are way too difficult to be expressed in English, but the letter says:
At the moment I am writing this letter, I am happy enough.
I have nothing left to leave as far as memories go.
It wouldn’t be strange for me to disappear any time now.
It could be today, it could be tomorrow, or even the day after.
It could even be the very moment I put this ring on your finger.
Basically, t’s only a matter of time.
So here’s what I wish.
After I disappear, nothing will be left
The child I’m bearing, is nothing but a spirit left for me by god.
What has life, cannot be born in this world.
So what I left for you should only be the letter you are reading that was once the ring I gave you
I don’t want to leave you tied up.
The fact that we loved each other is truth. There are no lies behind that.
But, time spent in this world is frighteningly long.
I don’t want to prolong my existence like this any further.
There are plenty of new encounters waiting for you.
You might even fall in love with someone else.
I don’t want to be a hindrance to that.
So, right here, right now, I want you to dispose of this ring.
And along with that, I want you to forget me.
That is my wish.
Lastly,
Thank you for all this happiness.
- Otonashi Masami
I shed many tears reading this, and even translating this makes me want to cry.
well,i still don’t play since VNR doesn’t work at all. But i’ve read some spoilers( not a good thing). And i was crying while i read the letter. This is the first time i’ve cried just because of a game character.
“You might even fall in love with someone else.
I don’t want to be a hindrance to that.
So, right here, right now, I want you to dispose of this ring.
And along with that, I want you to forget me.”
Masami completely stole the show.
Hope Key will make a sequel to her route
Anyone else prevented Iwasawa from disappearing but didn’t go on her route? They may not have ended as lovers but the two did have some sorta unresolved tension between them–especially during that “pretend to be a student” op.
Well this route was certainly a more unique experience. I couldn’t really get behind the romance, which is a problem I rarely have. There were other good points though. For the first time the story gets really dark. We’ve seen the cruelty in the characters backgrounds, but now they actually made the afterlife itself seem cruel. The school is made up to be, pun intended, heavenly. The characters don’t see it like such a place though, to them it’s a battlefield. So, why shouldn’t it get dark at points? Towards the end when Otonashi says he now has a reason to beat up God, I believe it after all that shit.
Best part is definitely Iwasawa herself though, and I really didn’t expect to say that; I wasn’t a fan before going in. With the common route being filled with Otonashi teaching her things it comes as a real shock that Iwasawa understood so much of what was going on. She seems like a person who acts on emotions more often than logic. Her choosing to stay in the forest shows that she is much wiser than originally displayed. And, the letters from beyond always seems to get me, every time. While I got less emotional about this route than I usually do, the feelings from receiving the letter and realizing she knew combined very well.
One thing I got from this route that I’ve really been missing was a sense of camaraderie. If anything is ever going to compete with LB! than it has to be AB!, but I haven’t had gotten that much from the SSS. They’re a huge association, allowing for many different interactions, but they act independently to often. GDM is a much more closely knit group, so I got more out of them. Sekine and Irie were just golden through out the entire thing. I loved every second they were on screen.
Also, man Takamatsu just earned all the bro-points with that last scene. The picture was posted in the general topic but I didn’t pay attention enough, so I figured it was Hinata.
Almost forgot. Does that sex scene really need to exist? It wasn’t as bad as the LB! ones, but that isn’t really praiseworthy. I thought Key had understood that they should stay away from that stuff. It never ends well.
Well, everybody can say that I like her quietly for some reason after I saw her in anime and this character make me respect to her so much. 
I now noticed that they actually changes Iwasawa’s name to Otonashi Masami in the credits. That’s such a neat little detail to add. Form what I can find, this is the first time they change the name because characters marry.
boy oh boy, her route was one hell of a ride. i felt the same bitter-sweetness i got from the ending and yui’s final moments. i enjoyed every bit of it (even the sad parts), i especially enjoyed every moment sekine and irie were on screen (sekine and irie routes in 2nd beat pl0x). this was a good route by all means. it had the perfect balance between comedy and drama, and it left me with a broken heart (that letter at the end, and NPC takamatsu consoling otonashi). all in all it was a good route, just what you’d expect from key. on a side note, i found it playable with a machine translator so try that if you don’t know japanese.
