Cover art of the first DVD compilation released by Aniplex, featuring main character Yuri
The 13-episode Angel Beats! Japanese anime television series is based on an original concept by Jun Maeda with original character design by Na-Ga; both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key known for producing such titles as Kanon, Air, and Clannad.[1] It is directed by Seiji Kishi and produced by the animation studio P.A. Works and production company Aniplex.[1][2][3] Composed by Maeda and arranged by the group Anant-Garde Eyes, the music is produced by Aniplex with Satoki Iida as the sound director.[1] Chief animator Katsuzō Hirata is also the character designer and the screenplay was written by Maeda.[1] The plot takes place in the afterlife and follows the main protagonist 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 SSS—Shinda Sekai Sensen (死んだ世界戦線?, lit. Afterlife War Front)—an organization she leads which fights against God. The SSS fight against the student council president Angel, a girl with supernatural powers.
The series aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010 on the CBC television network in Japan.[4] It aired at later dates than CBC on BS11, MBS, RKB, TBS, and TUT.[4] The first episode was previewed on March 22, 2010 to a selected number of people who participated in a lottery held that earlier that month.[5] The first BD/DVD compilation volume containing the first two episodes was released on June 23, 2010 in limited and regular editions; the limited edition came bundled with a drama CD written by Maeda and performed by the anime's cast. The second and third BD/DVD volumes were released on July 21 and August 25, 2010. Another drama CD was bundled with the limited edition of the fourth BD/DVD volume released on September 22, 2010.[6] The fifth and sixth BD/DVD volumes was released on October 27 and November 24, 2010; a third drama CD was bundled with the limited edition of the sixth BD/DVD volume.[7] The seventh and final BD/DVD volume released on December 22, 2010 featured an original video animation episode, as well as a bonus short which serves as an epilogue to the series.[8][9]
The series makes use of two pieces of theme music: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "My Soul, Your Beats!" by Lia, and a remixed version sung by LiSA was used for episode four. The ending theme is "Brave Song" by Aoi Tada. Several insert theme songs by the in-story band Girls Dead Monster are also used, featuring songs sung by Marina and LiSA. These include: "Crow Song" (episode one), "Alchemy" and "My Song" (episode three), "Thousand Enemies" (episode five), and "Shine Days" and "My Most Precious Treasure" (一番の宝物 Ichiban no Takaramono?) (episode 10). "My Most Precious Treasure" is also used in episode 13 sung by Karuta.
Episode list[]
| # | Title[10] | Animation directors | Original airdate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Departure "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
April 3, 2010[11] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| A boy named Otonashi wakes up in the world of the afterlife with no memories of the time when he was still alive. Immediately after waking up, he meets a girl named Yuri pointing a sniper rifle at a girl in the distance named Angel. Yuri wants him to join her group the SSS—Shinda Sekai Sensen (死んだ世界戦線?, lit. Afterlife War Front)—in fighting against Angel, but Otonashi goes to talk to Angel instead. After Otonashi asks her to prove he cannot die, as he is already dead, Angel creates a blade out of thin air and stabs him through the heart. He wakes up the next day terrified by what happened and tries to find a way to escape the world he has come to leading him to the headquarters of the SSS. There, he meets many of the other SSS members and decides to join them for the time being. Yuri later explains things about the afterlife to Otonashi, such as the existence of numerous people Yuri deems "non-player characters" (NPCs) as they are not human, but look and act the part. That night, the SSS prepare for "Operation Tornado", a plan to steal some meal tickets from the NPCs. A girls band named Girls Dead Monster in the SSS distracts the NPCs inside the cafeteria while other members engage in battle against Angel outside long enough for the plan to succeed. After the operation, everyone retreats back to the cafeteria to eat with the meal tickets they obtained. | |||||
| 02 | Guild "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
April 10, 2010[12] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| Since the SSS is low on supplies, Yuri decides to lead seven SSS members to the Guild far below the surface where their allies make the weapons they use. While the Guild initially disables various traps set for Angel, the SSS find them reactivated due to Angel's advance on the Guild. Yuri and the others attempt to navigate through the traps, but everyone dies except for Yuri and Otonashi. While taking a short rest, Yuri tells Otonashi how her three younger siblings were murdered after burglars entered their home while their parents were gone. This is Yuri's impetus for fighting against the cruel fate God gave her. By the time they arrive at the Guild, Angel is almost there, so Yuri decides to destroy the Guild with explosives. The Guild members, led by Chaa, decide to go along with Yuri's plan and relocate to the previous Guild location which has been out of use for a long time. When Angel arrives at the Guild, Yuri buys them time long enough to escape and make it to the old Guild where the Guild members immediately set to work. Yuri contacts the revived SSS members and tells them the news, while Otonashi watches from afar and recognizes her as a great leader. | |||||
| 03 | My Song "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
April 17, 2010[13] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| Yuri decides to have Girls Dead Monster distract Angel long enough to sneak into her room and crack the password on her computer, but Yuri does not think the new ballad called "My Song" the band's vocalist and guitarist Iwasawa wrote would be useful for the operation. While taking a break from shooting practice, Otonashi hears Girls Dead Monster playing and talks with Iwasawa while the band is taking a break. Iwasawa tells Otonashi how her parents used to always fight and music was her only escape. After she graduated high school and left home, Iwasawa began to follow her dream of making music and soon showed promise. Unknown to her, an old head injury caused during her parents fighting developed into a stroke and subsequently her death. When Yuri's operation begins, Girls Dead Monster starts playing in the auditorium while the others, with the aide of the hacker Takeyama (who likes to be referred to by his username "Christ"), break into Angel's room and hack her computer. Girls Dead Monster are soon subdued by several teachers, but Iwasawa breaks free and begins playing "My Song", but disappears after she is finished. This indicates that one does not necessarily have to obey Angel in order to disappear. The SSS learn that Angel is not getting her powers from God but is making them herself, the same way that the team is creating weapons. | |||||
| 04 | Day Game "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
April 24, 2010[14] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| With Iwasawa gone, Yui suggests she take Iwasawa's place as the vocalist, but the other SSS members do not agree. Yuri suggests that the SSS illegally participate in the upcoming baseball tournament and any SSS team which does worse than the NPC students will receive a punishment worse than death. Hinata starts with recruiting Otonashi, followed by hyperactive Yui (much to Hinata's reluctance). Shiina follows as a way to atone for her failure in the descent operation, with Noda being the last to join after failing to get several other more athletic members that already had teams. With still four players needed, Yui gets three NPC girls, who are fans of Yui's, to join their team. During the first round of the tournament, the SSS teams beat their NPC counterparts, but soon each one falls to Angel's team made up of members of the school baseball team until only Hinata's team is left. As the game is nearing its end, Hinata recalls how he missed a fly ball in a similar baseball game in life, and Otonashi believes that Hinata will disappear if they win the game. Just as Hinata is about to catch a pop fly and win the game, Yui comes from behind and places Hinata in a strangle hold. Angel's team wins as a result much to Yuri's frustration. | |||||
| 05 | Favorite Flavor "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
May 1, 2010[15] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| During the exam period, Yuri wants to make Angel fail all her tests so as to make her lose her status in the school. For the plan to be a success, Otonashi manages to find out that Angel's real name is Kanade Tachibana. The SSS members create distractions to get Kanade's and the NPCs attention in order to switch their fake answers with Kanade's. When the results come out, Kanade loses her position as student council president and is replaced by the vice president, Naoi. During another instance of "Operation Tornado", the SSS members observe Kanade going to buy a meal ticket while ignoring Girls Dead Monster and the rest of the crowd in the cafeteria. Kanade loses the ticket due to the operation's success and Otonashi coincidentally finds and uses it. Otonashi wonders if Kanade could join the SSS now, but this receives negative responses from everyone else. Moments later, the new student council president arrives with a group of NPCs and tells the SSS they will be punished for their constant disobedience. | |||||
| 06 | Family Affair "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
May 8, 2010[16] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| After the SSS members are removed from the reflection room, Yuri suggests everyone try to create disturbances in class to see how far they can go without Naoi interfering, but Naoi comes after them anyway. Otonashi convinces Kanade to accompany him to the cafeteria to eat the spicy mapo doufu, but Naoi arrives and throws them in a more secure reflection room for eating when it was not lunch. It is there that Otonashi discovers that whoever befriends Kanade disappears. Shortly after, the SSS begin a battle between Naoi, who uses the NPCs as shields to prevent the SSS from attacking him or the NPCs, whom Naoi had hypnotized to make them cooperative. Yuri tells Otonashi via a walkie-talkie that she saw Naoi beating up NPCs and that he is actually human, thus enabling him to become a model school president while negating his disappearance. Kanade agrees to break out of the room, but by the time she and Otonashi arrive at the battlefield, the SSS members have been massacred. After attempting to hypnotize Yuri Otonashi attacks Naoi who has a flashback about his unfair life. Naoi had to take his older twin brother's place after his death and became his father's apprentice in pottery, but eventually his father also died. Otonashi embraces Naoi and tells him that he has acknowledged him. | |||||
| 07 | Alive "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
May 15, 2010[17] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| Yuri gets Naoi, who has joined the SSS, to use hypnosis on Otonashi so he can regain his memories. In life, Otonashi visited his bedridden younger sister Hatsune in the hospital frequently, which he felt was his sole reason for living. On Christmas night, Otonashi sneaked Hatsune out of the hospital so she could see the trees covered in lights in town, but she died in his arms that night. Otonashi later regained purpose in life with the goal of going to medical school, but died in a train accident before entering college. Otonashi deals with his regained memories and agrees to continue fighting in the SSS. One day, due to the lack of food and meal tickets, the SSS carry out "Operation Monster Stream", which entails fishing out of a nearby stream. Otonashi invites Kanade too who snags a humongous fish (Monster Stream) with the help of the SSS; Kanade manages to slice the fish before it can eat everyone. The SSS decide to serve it to the NPCs too so it does not go to waste. While preparing the food, Otonashi tells Kanade that he does not wish to fight anymore and that he wants her to join them and, more specifically, to stay by his side. Kanade and Otonashi make a promise that Kanade will join the SSS so they will always be together. From that moment on, they start calling each other by their given names. That night, Yuri appears covered in wounds after being absent from the food serving. She says she was attacked by "Angel," and the other SSS members notice another Kanade with red eyes glaring down at them from the school roof. | |||||
| 08 | Dancer in the Dark "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
May 22, 2010[18] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| The SSS try to defend themselves against the red-eyed Kanade, but it takes the original Kanade to stop her by stabbing her, only to get stabbed herself in the process. The SSS realize Kanade used her "harmonics" program to create a battle-oriented copy of herself when she sliced the huge fish from earlier, but the clone did not disappear. While Yuri uses Kanade's computer to find something to defeat the clone, the others spend time in class pretending to be good students while actually concentrating on other things. Yuri ends up rewriting "harmonics" so the next time the original Kanade uses it, the clones will be absorbed after ten seconds. After the original Kanade is kidnapped and taken deep underground to the Guild's old location, the SSS pursue. One by one, SSS members sacrifice themselves as they encounter more Angel clones on the way until only Yuri and Otonashi remain. At the bottom, Yuri fights the last clone and Otonashi goes to save the original. After she manages to activate "harmonics", the clone tells Otonashi that the ruthless clones that attacked the SSS all have their own consciousness. She questions with a smirk on what will happen if they were all to be absorbed at once. As the "absorb" program activates, the Angel clones return to the original and Kanade writhes and cries out pain as Otonashi embraces her. | |||||
| 09 | In Your Memory "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
May 29, 2010[19] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| Otonashi stays by Kanade's side while she is unconscious after absorbing the many ruthless Angels. The SSS decide to rewrite some of her programs as a temporary measure and wait to see what happens after she wakes up. Otonashi remembers everything about how he died. After the train accident, he and a handful of others were trapped in a tunnel with short supplies of food and water. Otonashi helped the injured with the assistance of a man named Igarashi. After a week trapped in the tunnel, Otonashi, feeling his life slipping away, registered as an organ donor on his ID card, which prompted the others to do the same. Otonashi died shortly after, moments before rescue workers managed to finally break through into the tunnel. After Kanade wakes up, she remarks that it is a miracle that her original self managed to overcome the other ruthless Angel personalities. Otonashi comes to realize Kanade's sole reason for existence is to help people move on by fulfilling any regret they had in life by giving them a chance to experience a normal youth. Otonashi decides to cooperate with Kanade so everyone can move on, but first he must learn more about their pasts. To this end, he requests that Kanade must fight once again against the SSS. Meanwhile, Angel is reinstated as the student council president, while Naoi returns to being the vice president. The rest of the SSS believe Kanade lost her memories of her time with them and has returned to how she was before. This, however, is the secret pact made between Otonashi and Kanade. | |||||
| 10 | Goodbye Days "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
June 5, 2010[20] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| Otonashi tells Kanade that the first person they should try to get to pass on is Yui because he believes her to have little left to fulfill, only to discover she has many things left she wants to do. This is because Yui was paralyzed in life from the neck down at a young age due to being hit by a car, leaving her unable to have a happy life. Otonashi manages to fulfill her wish of performing a German suplex after some practice, and another wish of scoring a goal single-handedly against five opponents (the so-called Goal of the Century"), though with some extra help from Kanade. Otonashi next tries to fulfill her wish of hitting a home run, but is unable to accomplish this after several days of trying. Yui's last wish is to get married, which prompts Hinata who overheard the conversation to say he will marry her. Despite Yui giving excuses about her being handicapped in life, Hinata promises that they would have been happy together had they met before they died. With her last wish fulfilled, Yui passes on. Hinata agrees to help Otonashi in allowing their friends to finally be happy and pass on. In the school hallway, Ōyama is attacked by a mysterious creature and Noda is able to fend it off. Yuri hears the report from Yusa who calls it a "shadow". | |||||
| 11 | Change the World "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
June 12, 2010[21] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| Hinata and Naoi argue about who should help Otonashi when a shadow monster suddenly attacks Naoi, but Otonashi and Hinata are able to destroy it in time. Yuri calls Kanade to a meeting to figure out if she is involved with the shadows, but the meeting is cut short when a group of shadows attack Noda, TK and Shiina. Yuri and the others jump in and everyone is safe, but Yuri notices during the battle that one of the NPCs transformed into a shadow. Fujimaki appears to relay that Takamatsu got devoured by one of the shadows as Ōyama helplessly looked on as Takamatsu was absorbed into the ground. Takamatsu later reappears, but is now an NPC whose soul has been eaten. Yuri calls an emergency meeting with all of the other SSS members, Yuri reveals she knew about Otonashi's plan of helping members pass on, and she tells everyone to think about passing on, lest they be eaten by the shadows. Yuri later reveals that Kanade is a human to Otonashi, Hinata and Naoi before going off by herself to discover the source of the shadows. Yuri deduces that someone must be turning NPCs into shadows and she heads to the computer room in the library, as it is the only viable place to do such an operation. She finds a man programming a computer who tells her someone keeps stealing computers and he was programming a new one. After the man leaves, Yuri searches for the method the thief used to take the computers and discovers a hidden passage that leads back into the Guild. | |||||
| 12 | Knockin' on heaven's door "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
June 19, 2010[22] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| As the girls of Girls Dead Monster and many other SSS members decide to pass on, Otonashi and the others continue to fight off the other shadows, which are increasing in number. Meanwhile, Yuri explores the Guild and comes up against many shadows. She gets ensnared by one and becomes an NPC, but she manages to fight it and returns thanks to Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi, who have come to aid her. While they fend off the shadows, Yuri comes across a computer room where all the stolen computers are, and she meets a strange boy who talks about the programmer of the Angel Player software, which manipulates the world. The boy tempts her with the prospect of being God of the world herself, but Yuri declines for the sake of her friends and destroys all the computers. As she rests from destroying them all, she has a vision of being forgiven by her siblings before waking up in the infirmary where Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi are waiting. | |||||
| 13 | Graduation "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
June 26, 2010[23] | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| Three days after the shadows incident, only Otonashi, Yuri, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi remain, the others having already passed on. Per Kanade's idea, they hold a graduation ceremony, where they thank each other for their support. After the ceremony ends, Naoi takes his leave. Yuri makes her peace with Kanade before she leaves, followed shortly by Hinata. With Otonashi and Kanade left, Otonashi suggests that they could stay together to help others who come into the afterlife world, revealing in the process that he is in love with her. Kanade is hesitant to respond, as her one regret was never saying thanks to Otonashi, whose heart kept her alive in the real world due to the donor card he left behind when he died. Kanade thanks him and disappears in his arms, as Otonashi cries over the disappearance of his newfound love. Otonashi passes on shortly after. In an epilogue, in the world of the living, a girl resembling Kanade is humming "My Song" when a boy resembling Otonashi happens to pass by and recognizes the melody. When the girl turns to walk away, the boy chases after her to tap on her shoulder. | |||||
| OVA | Stairway to Heaven "{{{RomajiTitle}}}" ({{{KanjiTitle}}}) |
December 22, 2010 | {{{FirstEngAirDate}}} | ||
| Yuri comes up with 'Operation High Tension Syndrome', encouraging the other members to behave as wildly as possible in order to provoke a reaction from Kanade in the hopes of leading them to God. They attempt this by acting exciting in class, gorging themselves with food and playing epic playground games. However, when Kanade comes to inspect them, everyone is too tired. They later follow Kanade down to an underground base where they assume they'll find God, but instead find a turnip garden. As the side effects of the excitement come into effect, everyone but Yuri ends up dying due to exhaustion. | |||||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "スタッフ" [Staff] (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
- ↑ "Key's Angel Beats! Project Gets TV Anime Green-Lit". Anime News Network. May 27, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- ↑ "Key's Angel Beats! Anime Promo Videos Streamed". Anime News Network. May 30, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "放送情報" [Broadcast Information] (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- ↑ "イチ早く『Angel Beats!』を見たい人に試写会応募情報をお届け" [Notification of an Application for a Preview Party of Angel Beats! for Those Wanting to See it Quickly] (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. March 8, 2010. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- ↑ "Blu-ray & DVD ｢Angel Beats!｣ 第4巻" [Blu-ray & DVD Angel Beats! Volume 4] (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
- ↑ "Blu-ray & DVD ｢Angel Beats!｣ 第6巻" [Blu-ray & DVD Angel Beats! Volume 6] (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
- ↑ "Angel Beats' 7th BD/DVD to Include Unaired Special". Anime News Network. June 24, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "Angel Beats! Gets Another Epilogue Green-Lit". Anime News Network. September 27, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
- ↑ "あらすじ＆次回予告" [Summary & Previews] (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年4月2日（金曜日）の番組表" [April 2, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年4月9日（金曜日）の番組表" [April 9, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年4月16日（金曜日）の番組表" [April 16, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年4月23日（金曜日）の番組表" [April 23, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年4月30日（金曜日）の番組表" [April 30, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年5月7日（金曜日）の番組表" [May 7, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年 5月14日（金） の番組表" [May 14, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年 5月21日（金） の番組表" [May 21, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年 5月28日（金） の番組表" [May 28, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年 6月4日（金） の番組表" [June 4, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年 6月11日（金） の番組表" [June 11, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年 6月18日（金） の番組表" [June 18, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "2010年 6月25日（金） の番組表" [June 25, 2010 (Friday) Program Table] (in Japanese). Tokyo Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on June 24, 2010. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
External links[]
- Angel Beats! official website (Japanese)
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vi:Danh sách tập phim Angel Beats!