A bit late to the party (how did I not see this topic?!), but I had to pitch in. Was just about to make a similar topic before the Search bar helped me out
Iāll be upfront and preface this: the majority of the inspiration and emotion comes from something outside of Key that this work happened to link up with. Of course, in a sense, thatās true for all our answers; I just mention it because itās not actually an explicit theme of the work (though you can argue for implicit). It comes to bear more clearly once Catholic first principles are applied. So Iām not sure anyone else will have the same experience haha.
In any case, be aware: Iāll be speaking about religion and faith, as I canāt separate it from why I felt as I did. Youāve been warned!
(most fitting BGM)
I was most affected and (re)inspired by the Angel Beats! anime.
First time: I binge watched it, finishing at 3 in the morning on a weekend at seminary. That should tell you my state of mind and stranger state of affairs. I remember seeing the first episode, hearing the ED, and being deeply moved. I had a sense I was going to encounter something incredible and awesome - emphasis on the awe.
As I watched, I enjoyed it; the humor was fun, and the story played out well.
Then came Episodes 10 and 12.
I cried.
But not because I was sad. It wasnāt sad the slightest bit to me.
You see, as I watched this from my seminarian view, this is the general outline I saw: these teens died tragic deaths with their lives incomplete somehow and ended up here. Theyāre searching for a meaning to their suffering - their lives. And, when they find it, coming to peace with their lives-
This is where my Catholic understanding parted from the story. In the actual story, they disappear and are reincarnated. At least, the reincarnation is hinted at with the final few moments.
Thatās not what I believed; so, before seeing that final scene, I had been interpreting everything in a wholly different way.
Their disappearance was akin to them entering Heaven.
That probably doesnāt seem very emotionally moving to you, which is understandable. Heavenās where you float around like angels and stuff. Itās abstract happiness. Whatever; you donāt think about it much, and the mention of it isnāt a big deal.
However, I (and, hopefully, all the other priests/seminarians) have a different understanding of it. The very reason we wish to become priests is because we know the nature of Heaven, happiness, and God.
Love. Incredible, overwhelming, all-satisfying, unbelievable, shocking, absolute, almost terrifying Love. I do not joke when I say I have never known any pleasure, joy, emotion, or happiness greater than the love this heavenly, godly life entails.
It is a life of love - the purest happiness - which we long for every person to know and live, forever and ever, because of how supremely good it is.
So Angel Beats! changed, for me, from a story about reincarnation to a story of souls, after suffering painful lives and deaths, finding their way to the greatest, purest Love I know.
Itās quite literally the End that weāre all striving for, and the most beautiful.
I cried, and I remembered why I wanted to give my life away.
Love.
So yeah; itās not exactly what Maeda intended to write, judging from reincarnation being there, but Iād like to think similar themes ran in the background (esp. with āGoodbye Daysā being as it is).
Thatās why Angel Beats! is my favorite, as well as the one that inspired me the most.