Table of Contents
Angel Beats!
Angel Beats is a multimedia franchise that started with an Anime created by Key. The anime was quickly followed by a Light Novel, and then a few Manga spin-offs. Key then released a Visual Novel intended as the first part of six…we are still waiting for parts 2-6. Finally, a Manga was released that would go over the story intended for the VNsA)1).
Broadly, Angel Beats is about a guy who dies and finds himself in an afterlife, with amnesia. There, he meets a group of people who have sworn to beat up God as a form of revenge.
Reviews
Anime
I quite liked the Anime. Sometimes the animation looked iffy, but that’s a minor detail.
The characters and their interactions were handled pretty well and it’s likely one of my favourite parts of the show (along with the gags, both foreground and background).
The worst part of the show is how short it was. We get a bunch of characters who are either:
- Introduced, but we don’t learn much about them.
- Have unique designs, but they almost never have plot relevance.
I read somewhere that this was because it was originally planned to have twice as many episodes, but some behind-the-scenes stuff reduced it to 12. At least the extended material (including the OVAs) minimize this short length.
I highly recommend the OVAs. They are mostly comedic, but they’re still worth watching. They made me laugh, if that means anything.
Heaven's Door
Chapters 1-70 focus on the first year. Time is then compressed, by a lot. This is the aspect I dislike the most. The time between individual chapters goes from a few days or weeks to several decades. I’m not joking.
Overall, I like the Manga; since we get a deeper look at the characters and the start of the Battlefront.
1st Beat
As I was playing the VN the first few times through, I knew it would become my favourite VN.
It manages to do exactly what I’ve always wanted from both VNs and Games and surpassed my expectations a bit. I’m sad I didn’t try to play it before I did.
Basically, every choice you make affects the game in some way. A seemingly unimportant choice near the beginning can lead to a completely different outcome near the end. The best part? There are hundreds of choices. You can play it hundreds of times and you’ll still end up seeing things you’ve never seen before.
For your first playthrough, I recommend making decisions you would make IRL. Then, play the complete opposite (usually a huge pervert for some reason). You’ll understand immediately what I meant in the previous paragraph.
Also, although this might just be me, the VN is incredibly immersive. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything as immersive as this. Very early in my first playthrough I already felt like I was a part of the world, I didn’t see myself as following Otonsahi’s view… I was the one experiencing everything.
Although it’ll sound strange, I have a tough time separating Otonashi from myself in my mind. He’s just… a part of “me”. (This may have philosophical value, so wait for Soul!)
Route;Iwasawa
This route radically diverges from the Anime.
The Iwasawa route honestly broke me for a while. So much that I still feel bad about it and I wholeheartedly believe I will still feel bad about it for the rest of my life. Thinking about it makes me tear up.
The route is a rollercoaster, going from extremely happy to extremely depressing in the span of a few hours.
Overall though, the ending is bittersweet. I’m not sure if I’ll experience anything like it again.
Takamatsu’s bro status took me by surprise and… it’s just so heartwarming.
Route;Yui
This route is basically just the Anime.
Overall, the Yui route is a lot better than what we see in the Anime. First, it takes place over a longer time frame. Second, you get to learn more about all the characters involved (Yui, Hinata, etc.). We actually get to learn Hinata’s backstory here, his backstory is pretty interesting too.
While I thought I wouldn’t cry (because I didn’t really cry in the Anime for Yui, heartless I know), I was taken by surprise. Something about this just works much better than in the Anime. I actually buy the relationship between Yui and Hinata.
Overall, a pretty good route.
Route;Matsushita
This route doesn’t diverge from the Anime as radically as the Iwasawa route.
Although I hesitate to say so, I think this is the weakest route. That being said, it isn’t bad.
The whole route is basically the bromance between Otonashi and Matsushita, one that is… beautiful, honestly.
This one did make me cry as well, I’ll admit. Though aspects of it did get on my nerves, but I can’t remember what those were.
Trivilinks
- Official Site (Note: JP)
- 1st Beat Site (Note: JP)
- Wikia (Note: Pretty bad)
- After some bare-bones research on the VNDB forums, I discovered that parts 2-6 of the VN had been unofficially canceled…or at least put on hiatus for the foreseeable future. Development originally stalled due to the writer, Maeda Jun, experiencing severe health problems. While he has recovered since, development hasn’t started up again. There is still a chance the remaining parts will be created, but nothing concrete has been confirmed. The Manga Angel Beats! The Last Operation covers story intended for the VNs, and it’s currently still releasing.