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First- A message from our sponsor.
Take it away, @Aspirety.
“The hype is increasing for Key’s upcoming Visual Novel, the adaptation of Angel Beats! It’s Key’s first time adapting an Anime into a Visual Novel. Do you have high hopes? Please share any details you have about the game, and feel free to speculate on how you think the game will turn out to be! Also be sure to tag spoilers from the Anime with [spoiler].”
Well said, right?
So, seeing as this is both a details and a speculation type of thread, under a ‘discussion’ category… I suppose we should cover all of our bases, no?
First off- The details. What do we know about the Angel Beats! Visual Novel? Let’s sum up what we have so far! If you want to stay in the dark, turn away now. Some spoilery goodness ahead! Hey, it’s how they’re marketing it, not me!
Angel Beats! is being released in an episodic format, with -1st beat-, the first volume, being released June 26th, 2015. Originally they were to release 2 volumes a year, but after a year long delay, that may be changed. Details on future volume releases is more or less unknown aside from this.
First Press Editions of AB1st come with the following:
- Angel Beats! -1st beat-
- Million Star, the new Girls Dead Monster single.
- A Na-Ga special illustration of Kanade.
- Angel Beats! Piano Arrange Album.
- Angel Beats! SSS Radio Special Version.
- SSS Rubber Coaster.
- Weiβ Schwarz and Chaos TCG Promo Cards.
- 3 cards for Angel Beats! Operation Wars.
- SSS Activity Log booklet.
You can view the PV of -1st beat- on the VisualArt’s YouTube here.
Here’s the full OP from the official VisualArt’s YouTube- You can view it with English subtitles here.
Here’s a quick and simple list of things we know are present in the VN and its volumes, or what we’ve been promised. As always, take things with a grain of salt due to this all being translated from Japanese news.
Story/Setting:
- It is being written by Jun Maeda, Kai (Clannad), and Leo Kashida (Mio in LB, Tomoyo After), and for the first time, Jun Maeda has full editing control.
- Otonashi is the protagonist.
- Otonashi’s personality is said to change depending on the choices the reader makes, altering the script in many ways.
- The setting and areas are identical to the anime.
- Routes for every single SSS member. That comes out to 19.
- New supporting characters are being made by NaGa- They will not, however, be present in the first volume.
- It appears that the reader will be given 2 choices per day in common.
- Readers will choose what area they go to and who they speak with via a ‘world map’ of sorts.
- Each choice the reader makes will cause significant branching. No meaningless decisions.
- Perspective switches!
- A route does not always end with obliteration.
- When you complete a route, you cannot do it again.
- When a character is obliterated at the end of the route- They will not be present your next playthrough.
- The Shadow Program can initiate in any route, seeing as it does in the Iwasawa route.
Content:
- New OP, “Heartily Song”, sung by Lia and written and composed by Jun Maeda.
- New ED, “Subete no owari no hajimari” or roughly, “The Beginning of the End of Everything”, sung by Suzuyu and written by Jun Maeda, composed by Tomohiro Takeshita.
- The VN will feature a new ED, with “Brave Song” as Yuri’s ED.
- The VN will be all ages.
- Otonashi will be voiced ONLY during the aforementioned perspective switches
- Routes will not all be romance, but it has been hinted that a male romance may be possible.
- Heaven’s Door content, in some regard, is confirmed (Non-SSS Uniform CGs).
Routes:
All confirmed routes and their authors (as we know them) are as follows:
-1st beat-: Common (Maeda), Iwasawa (N/A), Yui (N/A), Matsushita (N/A).
Future unknown volumes: Sekine (Maeda), Yuri (Maeda).
Multiple CGs have been released. Information regarding a few of these scenes has been translated. TLs can be found here and here, currently. Looking into getting more.
The CGs themselves are gathered below for your convenience in the best quality I could find.
(Note: Imgur albums may not appear for you- If so, make sure your browser isn’t blocking the script.)
All released character design images can be seen here and below.
A few images have been revealed that beautifully present the Afterlife School setting. They can be seen here and below.
So… What’s left? Ah, yes. Speculation and discussion… So, have at it!
As news rolls in, I will be updating this post.
Various sources of the above information:
Official Site, Dengeki 1, Dengeki 2, Dengeki 3, Dengeki 4, Siliconera, Nonsense TLs, 4Gamer.
If you would like something more along the lines of information across the anime and written works or speculation on what it means for the VN, you can read my (VERY OUTDATED) goliath of an article here.
