「Angel Beats!」 : Penitential Rite [Presentation]

Key Fanworks
#1

Hi again! As several of you know, I enjoy giving presentations on KEY works at conventions. Over the past several years I’ve made a habit of presenting at Anime North in Toronto as there always seems to be a sizable number of KEY fans in attendance.

This year I was particularly excited to give a presentation on Angel Beats!, covering it’s development from original concept to the upcoming release of the visual novel. This is in part because I had never presented on a future release before, and also because I was unveiling some early character concept images never formally released to the public. Don’t worry; I notified VisualArt’s of my intentions and they didn’t have an issue with it. (Na-Ga even chose to independently unveil some concept images after my correspondence yet several weeks before the presentation. A post was made on this site about his release.)

You can find the presentation video below. I had to maintain a fast pace to present 74 slides in 55 minutes, so please excuse the handful of verbal slip-ups. I should have already made annotations to correct them.

Special thanks goes to Jacob Sundberg, Anthony Zarifa, Ralph Malunes, Denpa, and Cloud668 for their assistance in the presentation’s recording and ticket/prize/CD distributions. Complete credits, citations, and disclaimers can be found at the end of the presentation video. Comments welcome. Enjoy!

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Topic Proposals
#2

How did you get your hands on never-before-seen concept images…?

#3

Through countless hours of scouring online and offline auctions, resellers, and pawn shops, not to mention contacting other collectors, and getting help from a Japanese friend who helps me search and serves as a proxy. There’s no big secret to it, really. I just have experience doing it and get lucky on occasion. Part of the reason why I have so many doubles available for sale or trade is because some people don’t want to part with certain items unless you purchase a collection of goods in bulk.

The most challenging part is determining the authenticity of a particularly rare or unique item. By now I’ve processed enough items to have a pretty keen eye for that sort of thing, but it’s taken quite some time and a fair number of whiffs to get here. I’m rather pleased with the outcome of this effort, both for the concept art as well as other items I’ve acquired. I am entirely confident in the concept images’ authenticity.

Just to be clear, I don’t know who had previously seen the images (outside of a handful of prominent stakeholders) and who hasn’t, which is why I said they were ‘never formally released to the public’.

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#4

This sounds like a cool job! It’s great you were able to collect these and share them with us!

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#5

I gotta say, that was a pretty outstanding presentation. It was both informative and entertaining! So I thank you for uploading it online as I quite enjoyed watching it :smiley:

I’d like to correct you about one thing, though; TK’s lines weren’t necessarily song titles, rather, they were song lyrics. The easiest counter-example to this is TK’s famous “Get Chance and Luck” which wasn’t a title, but a line from TM Network’'s “Get Wild”. But yes, most, if not all, were from TM Network, and while it hasn’t been confirmed, TK seems to be a homage to Tetsuya Komurou, producer of TM Network. So yes, thank you for adding in that montage of TMN videos :smiley: But why were people laughing ;; Such amazing music ;;
(I know this more because I’m kind of a fan of TMN xP)

Huh, I don’t remember that post being made over here :o care to refresh my memory, as I would like to see them again!

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#6

Im pretty sure I remember seeing them here:

Anyways, pretty good presentation, its a wonder where you got all that info.

Just some comments and questions, I guess:

Where did you that Key Clinic image? 'Cause I kinda want that.

Wow, I actually see the resemblance between Kanade and Shiki/Saber… but why Nasu XD

Guess Maeda was right. Naoi is pretty amazing.

I must have been misunderstanding something: On the LiSA slide, there’s a bullet point saying Maeda “Didn’t think it was good for Yui”. But on the Quiz, it says Maeda said “The only voice actress suitable to sing as Yui was LiSA”…

Also, just curious: Where did you see/hear that there were going to perspective switches for ALL characters? I’ve only ever seen perspective switches themselves confirmed, not for any specific characters.

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#7

@Kerticana: Thanks for the kind words. I’m happy I am able to share my findings with others who appreciate them.

@Pepe: Thank you Pepe, I really appreciate it! ‘Informative and entertaining’ were the exact two traits I was aiming for, so I’m glad I was successful at it for you.

I apologize for the confusion concerning the TK question. I attempted to construct the question to allow for leeway in interpretation by using the words ‘many of these correlate’ and ‘commonality’. Bob Dylan’s ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ seems to be the classic example of a non-TMN track mentioned by him. Regardless, none of the other answers were applicable.

Yerian was correct in linking you to the correct topic, though there was another link as well… somewhere. You should be able to navigate to them from the topic’s links regardless. Finally, I wouldn’t be too concerned about the audience’s laughter at TMN; I’m sure they just weren’t expecting the style of music and performance they witnessed! xD

@Yerian: Thank you, Yerian. It certainly took a long time to find the materials, acquire them, and have them translated! I cited all the sources I used in my presentation at the end, so you should be able to find most of them if you’re so inclined. As for your questions:

a. The image is from Pixiv by an artist named ‘K3’ or ‘Dolphin Brain’. You can find it HERE.
b. Unfortunately, I don’t have much information regarding why Maeda suggested Kanade look like those two… I only know Producer Toba wasn’t fond of the idea. What Maeda wants he usually influences in, though!
c. After LiSA’s audition, Maeda was convinced she was the only person suitable to perform as Yui. This was in part because her voice was powerful, yet not as polished as other candidates. However, when LiSA began performing at the recording session, she sounded much more polished than she originally did at the audition. The polished sound is what Maeda thought was a bad fit for Yui. Regardless, LiSA was eventually able to accommodate Maeda’s vision and finish her recordings that same day.
d. My understanding is that the December 2014 Dengeki G issue confirmed there would be brief perspective changes for each of the main -first beat- characters. I don’t know about any characters from future beats. I suspect the perspective changes will be in the form of initial meetings and flashbacks.

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#8

Well I skimmed the topic looking for a post by you, but I didn’t see one o_O Unless it had been posted by somebody else?

But yeah, I can accept that change for the TK question. Just me fanboying over TMN, don’t mind it :wink:

#9

Loved the presentation! I learned alot from it and theres no doubt that other people did as well.

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#10

@Pepe: Rather than have you wade through the entire topic again, here’s the link to Na-Ga’s interview/posts. Be sure to click on the ‘Na-Ga’ button when you’re there.

I forgot to mention that I’m glad you appreciated the TMN montage. I suspected some people may have known they were an influence for TK but doubted that most of them would have ever actually seen or heard a TMN performance. The music is catchy… as you saw, I was compelled to dance during ‘Dive Into Your Body’! Lots of fun. ^^

@Goldiefc8: I’m glad you enjoyed it! If Angel Beats! fans are able to learn something from it while enjoying themselves, then I did my duty! lol

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#11

I would be so happy if you could share the sketches on that specific thread :3
But if you’re not interested to share them because of the exclusivity, and/or having a pact with Na-Ga or other illustrators not to share them, it’s fine too~!

Also, that was an awesome presentation! Wish I could attend.

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#12

Oooooh wow I’ve actually never even seen these :o Niiiiiice~
Were you the one who tweeted to him about it?

#13

@Hirato: Thanks for the compliment, Hirato! I would like to share the images, especially with this community, but I’m going to refrain from posting them directly for the time being. It isn’t much, but I can at least offer these modified images: Kanade Concept Sketch | Yuri -1st beat- Inverted Concept Sketch

If by chance you’ll be attending Anime Expo, let me know! On occasion I’ll bring some KEY items with me when attending conventions, and for AX, I’ll be bringing one of my favorites. I think you’d enjoy examining it.

@Pepe: Nah, I didn’t tweet him. I almost never use my Twitter account. The VA representative I’ve been corresponding with probably relayed my intentions to him so he could release some images first.

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