Angel Beats! is a 13-episode Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and directed by Seiji Kishi. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with the group Anant-Garde Eyes, with original character design by Na-Ga; both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key, who produced such titles as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. The anime aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010, on CBC. An original video animation (OVA) episode was released in December 2010, and a second OVA was released in June 2015. The story takes place in the afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. He is enrolled into the afterlife school and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront, an organization she leads which fights against the student council president Kanade Tachibana, a girl also known as Angel with supernatural powers.
Key worked in collaboration with Dengeki G's Magazine published by ASCII Media Works to produce the project into a media franchise. Four manga series are serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine and Dengeki G's Comic: two illustrated by Haruka Komowata and two drawn by Yuriko Asami. A series of illustrated short stories written by Maeda and illustrated by GotoP were also serialized in Dengeki G's Magazine between the November 2009 and May 2010 issues. Two Internet radio shows were produced to promote Angel Beats!. A visual novel adaptation titled Angel Beats! 1st Beat was produced by Key and released for Windows on June 26, 2015.
Angel Beats! received generally positive reviews from critics. The integration of various individual elements together, such as musical performances, humor and action, was commended in one review but panned in another, saying that the story was overloaded with too many elements. P.A. Works was praised for the animation of the action sequences and attention to detail with the weapons used. A major flaw noted by critics, however, was the length of the anime, with its short run leaving many of the characters' back-stories unexplored. The anime was selected as a recommended work by the awards jury of the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2010.
Plot Angel Beats! is set in the environment of a high school in the afterlife, a type of limbo for people who have experienced trauma or hardships in life and must overcome them before passing on and being reincarnated. The story follows Yuzuru Otonashi, a boy with amnesia who ends up in the afterlife. He meets Yuri Nakamura, a girl who invites him to join the , or SSS, an organization she founded and leads which rebels against an unseen God for their unfair circumstances in life. Their enemy is Angel, the student council president, who has supernatural powers and is believed to be God's associate. After joining the SSS, Otonashi meets other members, including Hideki Hinata, the co-founder; Masami Iwasawa, the lead vocalist of a four-girl rock band, Girls Dead Monster (GDM); and Yui, a younger fan of GDM. Other than the SSS members, the afterlife is populated by fabricated students and teachers, whom Yuri refers to as "non-player characters" (NPCs).
Otonashi participates in several SSS operations and missions, despite still questioning the morality of their actions. During one of GDM's diversion concerts, Iwasawa passes on from the afterlife after achieving satisfaction through her music. After the SSS manages to demote Angel from her position, Otonashi partially regains his memories with the aid of deputy president Ayato Naoi's hypnosis. He later befriends Angel, whose real name is Kanade Tachibana, and remembers the rest of his past while in her presence. Otonashi helps her make peace with the SSS and learns of the afterlife's true purpose. He subsequently offers to aid Kanade in helping other SSS members to pass on, and Kanade is reinstated as student council president in accordance with their plan. They are joined by Hinata and Naoi, with the former helping Yui move on by fulfilling her desire for marriage.
Mysterious shadow-like entities begin appearing, attacking the residents of the afterlife by turning them into NPCs. Otonashi reasons with the other SSS members and many of them agree to pass on in lieu of becoming an NPC. Yuri destroys the source of the shadows, which were created by computers programmed to activate when love was detected in the afterlife to prevent it from becoming a paradise. Her affection for the members of the SSS allow her to finally overcome her regret, and by this time, the only other ones who have not passed on are Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi. The five remaining students hold a graduation ceremony before Naoi, Yuri and Hinata pass on leaving only Otonashi and Kanade.
Otonashi confesses to Kanade that he has fallen in love with her and wants them to remain in the afterlife to help others move on. However, Kanade reveals that her regret was being unable to thank her heart's donor, Otonashi, for extending her life. Otonashi is heartbroken after she thanks him and passes on, leaving him alone in the afterlife. Later, two people resembling Otonashi and Kanade encounter each other on the street in the real world. In an alternate epilogue, Otonashi becomes the high school's student council president and helps lost souls depart from the afterlife while waiting to see Kanade again.
Characters
Main
Due to his past, Otonashi has a caring personality and does not want anyone to experience pain or sadness. After dying, he lost his memories of the time when he was still alive, but later regains them. He had a younger sister, , who died of an unknown but debilitating illness and whom he cared for very much. When she died, he decided to go to school to become a doctor, but died in a train accident before he could take the entrance exam to college. Initially unskilled in any equipment, he starts to practice his marksmanship, and pulls through for the team when they are in danger. For his weapon, he carries a Glock 17. Before graduating, he confesses to Kanade, and passes on, but it is shown he meets a person like her once more and it can be heavily implied that he reunites with Kanade.
Yuri, also known as , has a determined personality but is secretly very sensitive and protective. She invites Otonashi to join the SSS, an organization she founded and leads which fights against God. She is smart and decisive when making operations and decisions. She carries a silver Beretta 92. Not only is she skilled with a gun, but she is also capable in close range hand-to-hand combat, which is shown when she fends off Kanade's hand sonic with a combat knife. She vowed to fight against God after her three younger siblings were murdered by burglars looking for valuables and never forgave herself for failing to prevent their deaths. She is an effective leader, but does not think so. She regrets even fighting with Kanade later in the story, because she feels she could have been great friends with her. She disappears after the graduation ceremony.
Kanade, initially known as , is the student council president at the afterlife school. This places her at odds with the SSS as her responsibilities require her to suppress delinquency and other disruptive activities that the team does. The SSS initially calls her Angel since they do not know her real name, but they still refer to her by it even after finding out her real name to be Kanade Tachibana. It is difficult to understand what she is thinking due to her rarely showing any outward emotions and her way of talking bluntly. She is personally dedicated to helping others overcome their regrets and move on. However, she often lacks a proper understanding of others, as she never thinks to try to explain to the SSS why she was doing what she did. She enjoys eating mapo doufu, a spicy dish. Despite her gentle demeanor and small frame, she is incredibly powerful and near indestructible to the point of ejecting bullets out of her wounds during battle. She creates her powers known as "guard skills" via a computer program called Angel Player. Her primary ability is "hand sonic", a blade on one or both forearms with five forms. Other skills include but are not limited to: "distortion", an invisible barrier that deflects bullets or other projectiles; "delay", which creates an after-image to disorient opponents; and "harmonics", where a clone with a consciousness of its own is formed from the original. These abilities are activated at will; however, her ability "overdrive", which gives her great physical strength, is always on.
Hinata is a bright, dependable guy who is the closest to Otonashi. He always tries to save his friends if he can and is a reliable force in the team. He and Yui constantly irritate one another on a daily basis, but deep down, he cares for Yui, as shown when he helps her pass on by telling her he would marry her. He is a talented baseball player, and his regret in life was his failure to catch a baseball, which cost his team an important baseball game. He nicknamed Yuri as Yurippe when they co-founded the SSS as he did not feel comfortable calling her Yuri, because his mother has the same name. He has shown romantic feelings towards Yuri in Track Zero, although he finds himself getting attracted to Yui much later in the series. He died from getting hit by a truck. He uses an RPK-74 and an S&W 645.
Naoi is a human originally thought to be a non-player character (non-human). After he died, Naoi developed hypnotic powers that allow him to control others and cause them to enter a dream-like state. In life, he was the son of a famous potter. However, it was his twin brother who had the talent in pottery and as a result, Naoi was ignored by everyone, including his own parents. When his brother died, he was made to replace him by his father and was given strict training in pottery, even getting scolded harshly if he messed up. As a result, he felt as if his own life was fake and all he wanted was to be acknowledged for his own existence. He later befriends Otonashi after he acknowledges him and joins the SSS. As acting student council president for a time and self-proclaimed God, Naoi is strict and arrogant, but this is quick to disperse when Otonashi chastises him. He is affectionate to Otonashi, much to the latter's chagrin, and always tries to earn his affection. He uses dual USP 45 handguns.
, LiSA (singing) Yui is a big fan and initially an assistant to Girls Dead Monster. She is known to be hyperactive and talks extremely fast. Hinata finds Yui annoying, which results in bouts between the two of them though in truth, they truly care about one another, saying that had they met before they died, they would have fallen in love with one another. She wears a devil tail and shackle bracelets on her wrists, giving her an image of an imp or devil. She also has wings hidden by her hair on her back. After Iwasawa's departure, Yui becomes the new rhythm guitarist and vocalist of Girls Dead Monster, as well as its leader. Yui plays a Gibson SG Special electric guitar. She later becomes a part of the main SSS, following them along on missions, though she does not contribute much. In life, she was hit by a car and was paralyzed from a young age as a result. Her regret was not being able to do anything with her body. Otonashi helps fulfill most of her wishes that include many things she saw on TV when she was alive, although it is Hinata who fulfills her last desire to be married by proposing to her.
Supporting