Angel Beats ★★★

Yuzuru Otonashi

Angel Beats is beautiful and solemn. The story follows Otonashi who dies and wakes up and finds himself in a sort of purgatory so to say. It's set up as a school where students have to learn to give up their worldly attachments. However Otonashi finds himself still stuck there, but with no memories of his life.

Yuri Nakamura

Otonashi meets Yuri who is the leader of a group called SSS. She explains to him that those who have had unfair deaths end up here. Her own personal background is later revealed and explains her determination to find God.

Angel

SSS is Shinda Sekai Sensen or Afterlife War Front. Their purpose is to find and rebel against God. In order to find God they pursue Kanade Tachibana whom they call Angel. They assume that she is working under God and see her as a way to get to him.





Kanade Tachibana is generally very quiet and stoic except for during a few occasions.
Her face is always emotionless even when being attacked by the SSS. She loves Mabo Tofu and likes to garden in her free time. Both of these things along with her crestfallen appearance after being demoted from being Student Body President, lead Otonashi to try and really get to know her. A strange connection occurs between the two that isn't explained really until the end of the anime. 

Throughout the series you get to know more of the characters that are in the SSS and their back story. They're all tragic but when they pass on, there's something satisfying and fulfilling about it. It's hard to describe unless you've actually seen it.

Masami Iwasawa

One of the characters you get to know is Masami Iwasawa. She's the leader of the girl group Girl's Dead Monster or GirlDeMo for short. They're in charge of distracting the rest of the student body while the SSS does whatever mission they need to. However Iwasawa finally decides to make music the way she wants to and in doing so, passes on.

Otonashi and Kanade hug before they disappear

The ending is happy but in a sort of sad way. It's sort of like when you say good bye to a friend after hanging out, but know that you'll see them again soon. Anyways it closes with everyone else "graduating" and passing on, but leaving Otonashi and Kanade alone. After a sad scene where everything is explained about Kanade being there they both pass on.


After the credits on the last episode Otonashi or someone who resembles Otonashi a great deal runs by someone who looks a lot like Kanade and you see them meeting. Though it can be assumed that they get together after that, the audience really doesn't know. It seems like a happy ending, but it leaves the feeling that it wasn't.

Otonashi remeets Kanade in the next life

The biggest thing about this anime is that it would have been nice if they had gone more in depth with the other characters and developed them more, since only about five of them out of about twenty actually had a back story that they showed.

Angel Beats SSS

Another flaw was that they never explain how and why Kanade gets her program that allows her to have wings and use hand sonic. Though I suppose there it doesn't really matter. How does the SSS know how to make so many weapons or even know how to use them? I mean they're all high school kids pretty much.

Overall beautiful concepts and a story line that captivates. There was some action and romance and even some mystery in it all. Though I wonder if they ever do meet God before their next life. I wouldn't mind a sequel though unfortunately I doubt that there will be one.