Angel Beats! / First Impressions

「Favorite Flavor」

God damn, the SSS is nothing more than a bunch of school bullies with the way Yuri runs her so-called operations. This is no longer a battle against Tenshi (real name Tachibana Kanade) anymore, as it’s downright mean how they pick on her for no good reason. Of all things, they decide to take the upcoming “fierce battle” to the examination rooms by making Tenshi fail all her exams and lose respect as the student council president. Granted, it was still pretty damn hilarious though, starting with them drawing ballots to try and get the seat in front of Tenshi to perform a test paper swap when they pass their exams to the front. With Takeyama, a.k.a. Christ, drawing the lucky number and Hinata getting the nod for executing the diversion at the end of the first physics exam, Yuri and the rest of the gang’s stupidity became even more prevalent when they didn’t even no what name to put on the sabotaged exam paper. With the “Tenshi” and “Student Council President” obviously not going to fly, Otonashi was kind enough to save some of my brain cells by asking her for her name when presented with the opportunity. Naturally, a face palm is in order when he returns only to find out that Yuri knew that at one point but didn’t care to remember.

As for Hinata and soon to follow Takematsu and Ooyama on diversion duties, the slow motion replays of the propulsion engines that Yuri strapped under their seats was pretty much laugh-until-you-cry funny because of the way they played snippets of the Brave Song ending theme during them. The absolute fear of trying to come up with a good diversion or reaping the skull-splitting pain from Yuri’s ceiling-crashing backup plan was just as good too, because it became blatantly obvious that she only got this many people for this operation so that she could cycle through them. Her “boy who cried wolf” reasoning didn’t sit too well with Takematsu though, so I thought he gave it a good attempt when he stripped down and declared that he’s actually a person that looks surprisingly slender in clothing. Likewise with Ooyama having to confess to Tenshi in front of everyone and her accepting (!), which was hilariously followed up by a second round of some one-on-one ceiling time for Hinata because of the supposed emotional damage Ooyama already endured. So with that, I guess Yuri is considerate of other people’s feelings… about one in every thousand times.

Those were undoubtedly the comedic highlights, but there were some subtler jokes such as Yuri’s suggestions for incorrect answers for Takeyama to put on the sabotaged exam, which ranged from aliens invaded the Earth for world history to answering everything in katakana for English. Due to that and everything mentioned above, I have to say that the humor doesn’t cease to both surprise and entertain me to no end in this series. I also like how they’re pumping out concert scenes like no tomorrow with another Operation Tornado (i.e. steal meal tickets), which had Yui as the new lead vocalist/guitarist performing a song that Iwasawa left behind, “Thousand Enemies”. Given how Yui wrote the lyrics to that song and how we’re back to the normal opening sequence now with Yui replacing Iwasawa, I think it’s pretty safe to say that she’s the new face of Girls Dead Monster.

The most eye-opening part of this episode though was the eventual dismissal of Tenshi as the student council president thanks to Yuri’s stupid prankster-like operation. Having lost the respect of the NPC students and the teachers for “failing” all her exams, Tenshi actually looked visually depressed when she went to buy a meal ticket for her favorite dish, mapo tofu, which was heartlessly snatched away from her as well. Seeing as she was being completely non-resistant to SSS’ operation at that point, I’m glad Otonashi took notice of that and they didn’t attack her. Still, her meal ticket ended up in Otonashi’s hands at the end, leaving him wondering if they should invite her to be one of their allies after he pictured how lonely she probably is when she eats alone. Watching that scene made me realize that if anyone’s going to be able to reach out to Tenshi, it’d be Otonashi, so I was a bit disappointed when he backed down from the idea.

Anyway, with Naoi as the newly appointed student council president and giving them no slack to do whatever they want, it’s pretty clear that life under Tenshi is going to look like sunshine and rainbows compared to his regime. Because of that and the way Tenshi was depicted here, I really hope she ends up being one of the good guys before this is all said and done, even if the “good guys” here means being with a bunch of idiots. 🙂

* Note: In addition to Yui replacing Iwasawa in the opening sequence, Takematsu is now showing off his muscles in the ending.

 

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107 Comments

      1. me too. poor kanade

        she is sooooooo cute. too bad she is now sad. kinda wiching she will join forces with SSS.
        though i think she will be pissed that they did that to her

        karnos
        Reply

  6. Hinata’s role as the comedy man was cemented though his attempted diversion was really….. -_-;

    We finally got to see more of tenshi and with otonashi’s link of her name to music and her op piano, maybe her regret is tied to music as well

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

  8. Kanade really is just misunderstood. I’m guessing she can’t find her peace like Iwasawa, so she’s been trying to help others find it in their own way. By the way, Yui on vocals made my day, though I would’ve rather had a few more episodes with Iwasawa.

    TehJawknee
    Reply

  9. I whole heartily agree with Divine;

    Kanade Tachibana, is not mis-understood. I think its because we’ve been seeing everything through Yuri’s eyes. But I pray to god that her character is expanded on, and we get to see more of her. Her quiet voice is so cute <3.

    I feel kinda sad now 🙁

    chingoo
    Reply

  13. I wasn’t expecting Takematsu to be shirtless throughout the exams. But, thanks to this episode, i’m really sympathizing with Kanade. Her meal ticket flying away was sad.

    fall3nbs
    Reply

  15. Man, I did laugh out loud at the astronaut comments and flying gigs.
    I did feel the biggest role in the episode went to Tenshi. She is definitely not the antagonist everyone in the series had made her to be. Seeing how she seemed to care in her scene with Otonashi asking her name, it was truly sad to see her expression at the concert along with the scene where she ate by herself.
    Right now, whatever will happen, Tachibana Kanade is becoming one of my favorite characters in the series (Even though I have a feeling she might return to be the main antagonist sooner or later).
    Did anyone notice how she tried to walk away only to be pushed back during the concert? Right at that moment, I would have rushed to push those guys out of her way! >.<

    Shinjiro
    Reply

  21. One of my favorite character archetypes is the enemy, a genuine nemesis, that becomes a protagonist as the show goes along. Viral from TTGL is one that immediately leaps to mind. In cases such as these, we get to look back at their character at the beginning and realize that it was merely a stepping stone for that character to become a true hero. I hope Tenshi’s story ends up being like that.

    lvlln
    Reply

  22. Wow, for the first time I felt attached to Tenshi. I guess because her voice is so cute and she now has a real name.

    Still, why were they attempting to fight her if she was really just a school president? And why does this school, if it is not associated with God, have weapons and henchmen and stuff?

    innerchihiro
    Reply

  27. I think that the ability to develop powers may come from being the student council president, or Kanade’s special powers were found after discovering some secret to the world they’re in. If the new president though portrays use of special powers, I think that it’ll definitely be proof that position as president allows use of special abilities.

    Click
    Reply

    1. That is unlikely to be the case. If you go back and watch the next episode’s preview, Kanade has a line where she says something like “Hand Sonic V2” the same way she said it in the first episode when she used it. That means we’ll most likely see her using it in combat next week.

      Sentinel
      Reply

    2. Yuri said she developed them the same way that SSS did. She probably just was able to create that sort of power because she has a better understanding of the world than they do.

      Bruce
      Reply

  28. Hm yeah the first part of hilarious as heck, but then I was really feeling for Kanade when the truth came out.
    Damit Yuri’s such an inconsiderate… even in the Light Novel too. I mean holycrap she’s only concerned with herself. When she found out the truth she didn’t reflect on her actions at all. All she did was think “Oh damn so the person we’ve been shooting with guns and bullying all this time WASN’T an Angel? Oh well.” Ugh I was desperately hoping for Otonashi to find Kanade and return her Mapo tofu. You disappointed me Otonashi. Still, he’s the only one not brainwashed by Yuri’s “LOL SHE’S AN ANGEL” theory so he can probably pull through and save her.
    This Nao person looks like trouble though. He’s using the normal students card to prevent the SSS from using their weapons. But lol knowing Yuri I wouldn’t be too surprised if she decides to gun down defenseless students in cold blood. “You won’t die after all”

    FlameStrike
    Reply

  29. Excellent use of the ED song in the slow-mo replays of Yuri’s minions, especially Hinata, being propelled to the ceiling head-first. LMAO

    Otonashi – Literally “soundless”
    Kanade – Literally “to play (an instrument)”
    With such seemingly resonating names, guess it’s no surprise that it’s Otonashi that is the first to sympathize with Tenshi – who is still referred as such in the credits for some reason only Maeda Jun knows.

    Yui is a good replacement for GDM. We now have two Yuis as bandleaders this anime season, one for GDM, the other for HTT (Houkago Tea Time). 🙂

    Maybe I’m tolerant to spice, but most mapo tofu I’ve tried isn’t that bad, it mainly depends on how spicy it’s prepared.

    Just realized Naoi is voiced by Ogata Megumi (Ikari Shinji of Evangelion fame). Amazed she’s still around these days, when both her fellow Evangelion co-stars have more or less gone into semi-retirement, save to reprise their roles for the new Eva movies these days.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  31. The Comedy of this series never ceases to amaze me: ) I was laughin so hard at the exam session that I could barely breathe XD.

    The plot development around Tachibana Kanade is what grabbed me the most in this episode. Despite the short actual screentime, the scenes showing Tachibana’s character (friendly side :P) were done very well, including the scene where Otonashi was confused on why he feels regretful on the actions he played apart in. All of this is making me still hooked on this series and making me cringe to know that another episode is a week away. ;-;

    As expected of Maeda Jun’s work =D Hopefully the Emotion Bombs will drop soon as we are approaching halfway mark in this series. The one thing that pricks me the most though is the fact that if Tachibana knows that Yuri/SSS members are a “threat”, why does she act neutral/friendly to them?

    Talk to yall Laterz

    Liberta
    Reply

  34. I like how this anime balances both comedy and drama without ruining it.

    poor kanade, she was just doing her job as prez and was just gonna have mapo doufu to ease the pain.

    probably nothing serious will happen to them despite what the cliffhanger shows.
    hopefully

    amado
    Reply

  40. a nice way to make us sympathize with a certain char. who knows maybe kanade (assuming shes human) & otonashi’s previous lives were more tragic compared to yuri’s

    Alec
    Reply

  47. Tenshi is a very lonely girl. All she did was doing her job as the student council president but nobody seems to understand that. It’s typical for other students to be against what the presidents thinks is for the best – as seen in episode 3 when Tenshi took down some flyers and the other students got angry with her. If I remember correctly tenshi was speaking to herself after that scene like “Why am I the bad person now?”.

    Does anybody else also think that all SSS members – especially Yuri – didn’t even try to talk with Tenshi?

    Nightseer
    Reply

  50. This is a very intriguing series so far, if they won’t screw up (and given who’s pulling the strings I doubt it’ll become bad) it might even become my favorite this season, even though I was pretty sure that K-ON will grab that place.

    I’m really starting to take a dislike in Yuri’s selfish character, no matter how sad was her past, although some more twists are guaranteed, so for now, I won’t judge her completely. I’m glad we’ve got to learn Tenshi’s real name, it adds a LOT to her character.

    Jurkasz
    Reply

  51. As much sympathy that I feel for Tenshi, everyone needs to remember the situation that the original members would have had to be in when they made her an enemy. Effectively, to that world, disappearing is death (again). If you suddenly woke up in a strange world, knowing that you had died (as the majority of the cast does) then found this student council president deliberately attempting to make your new found friends disappear, would you take kindly to it?

    It’s a case of a fight of noble causes. Yuri is fighting against the unfair lives that the ones around her and herself had to go through before they came there and Tenshi was attempting to provide a good role model for the school and fulfill her duties as class president.

    I get this feeling we will be seeing more and more sad notes as this anime continues.

    Vornesoul
    Reply

  55. OH I almost forgot! Can you guys explain why Yuri gave the order to hold fire to her members when the Student Council ran in? Her reasoning was that they are ‘normal students’ but I thought they were NPCs and Yuri did not care for NPCs. In the Track Zero prequel, one of her ideas to get God’s attention was to slaughter everyone in the school lol. I only read the first chapter since that was the only one translated at the moment. If the answer is in the later six chapters then I will simply have to wait abit : )

    Care to help me out here? XD

    Liberta
    Reply

    1. @ Liberta: Maybe because they’re caught by surprise, not to mention being grossly outnumbered? Nobody dies for real, and even if the SSS managed to slaughter their way out, the Student Council will simply revive, learn that being unarmed against SSS is stupid, and start making their own arms.

      Still, nice work Haru- err, I mean Yurippe, that is one classic example of Victory Disease. I guess nobody in the SSS is smart enough to think that the new president might attack them before they’re ready? Or do they think that the new guy is weak just because he doesn’t have Protoss-like combat skill? Well whatever it is, they’d better hope that the “detention room” doesn’t have waterboarding equipments.

      Now that I think about it, does any SSS member besides Yuri have ever tried to talk with Kanade? I mean a long talk though, not the “You’re already dead – (stab)” kind of talk. Oh well, I guess that’ll be Otonashi’s role…

      Nestor
      Reply

    2. Maybe they noticed that some “NPCs” are human too after Ooyama, nto to mention Yuri noticed that it would psychotic of her to kill everyone after Hinata mentioned it.

      From the size of the SSS, its likely they made some rules later. Now at chap 7 and its still only Yuri, Hinata, Ooyama, Chaa, Noda and Shiina(?) while mentioned in episode 1 and seen in episode 5 were nameless members of SSS

      Zaku Fan
      Reply

  56. OK, poor Tenshi – or rather Kanade?
    Seems like her former subordinate Naoi will become much more nuisance to the “resistance” than Kanade ever was.
    Otonashi should just quit hanging out with Yurippe and her merry team of fools and go have serious talk with Kanade, maybe invite her for that hot-spicy meal?

    ewok40k
    Reply

  57. Poor Kanade, the SSS really are just bullies. I liked Yuri at first but she’s seriously starting to radiate more Haruhi vibes, which annoys me. Leave Kanade and her mapo tofu alone. ;_;

    If Kanade developed her powers in order to stop the SSS, then why would the SSS decide to target her first? Unless they were already being disruptive for some other reason and Tenshi decided to stop them, which led to them seeing her as a threat?

    akani
    Reply

    1. Someone before them (Chaa) was disruptive by taking the principal hostage. The principal mentioned that it happened a lot so Chaa was not the first. Likely Tenshi created her guard skills to handle such situations. The SSS saw her increadible abilities and jumped to conclusions, leading to the poor girl being targeted for no real reason.

      this is in the light novel

      Zaku Fan
      Reply

  58. I really really hate Yuri now, after this episode…
    Kanade-chan~~~

    Btw, no one seemed to have mentioned that Tenshi/Kanade has both First and Last Names ? Is there anyone else with both ?

    RFayt
    Reply

    1. Naw, you shouldn’t need to. Think of this way, Yuri initially attacked Tenshi to fight against God and make sure no one disappears. However, Yuri herself also realized near the end that Tenshi is not who she really is so I say you should give Yuri points for realizing that too together with Otonashi (although he’s only feeling that at the moment).

      But wow, feel sad for Tachibana right now too.

      Silver
      Reply

  59. Well, it was pretty obvious that she is not really a bad person, like come on look how innocent she is.
    I think it’s the first quiet-type anime character that I really like. I usually find it boring but this one intrugues me and sympathizes with her.

    AznSoulBoy
    Reply

  60. Well, near the end, it seems that Yuri starts to realize that Tenshi is not who they thought she was. Together with Otonashi who feels that Tenshi is not who they though she was. As of now, only Otonashi and Yuri have thoughts that Tenshi is actually human while everyone else still thinks Tenshi as an enemy and nothing like them.

    Silver
    Reply

  62. Right when things were starting to get a little more exciting, too… 🙁

    This episode reminded me of the main reason why I hated Haruhi… Haruhi’s narcissistic self-centeredness was the driving force behind the whole show- it was simply a complete turn off for me.

    Here Yuri is portrayed in a similar light; in my eyes she seemed to be little more than a selfish bully. Here’s to hoping that there will be some development to move Yuri’s character away from this direction (I’m sure there’s a deeper meaning behind her behavior).

    I simply can’t stand this kind of character as a protagonist- I think they make better villains.

    Sentinel
    Reply

  63. oh man good episode well good thing about Yuri is she is starting to feel bad towards Tenshi finding out there is no god.
    anyways only failure to this episode is not enough Yui Nyan

    Andy
    Reply

  64. funny funny funny…
    on the arc side i see a flashback coming up to a mom making tofu for a ginger boy and a gray haired girl… if… that was set up next week it would step the pace up a bit, ep 5’s always got to be action packed and that would make a pritty good reveal for the end.
    this shows pritty clever with its animation, the hole show seemed to be built up of repetition so they could have made the show with half the clips, and rely on the writing. i’m thinking they where doing that to get a head start on a heavy work load of animation coming up.
    more more more…

    fugu
    Reply

  65. Im a little dissapointed with Angel Beats, i thought i was gonna watch a super actiony tear jerker (like regular KEY >.>) BUT NOOOOOOOO its a light harded comedy that started strong and NOW FAILZZZZZZZZ. But still, i will await til its ready to stop messing around and get to the point ><"

    Nikku
    Reply

  66. i have a feeling that Angel is invisible(dont standout) because he has no friends and when he rip the poster from episode 3 nobody notices that she was already gone.

    Croosboy
    Reply

  69. I feel really sorry for Tachibana Kanade, I just hope someone like TK could cheer her up. I also just hope the SSS would make hell out of Naoi. That guy seems like a more decent target. I kind of hope someone like Haruka Suzumiya comes in as a new character, I miss her leadership skills.

    Code Fanboy
    Reply

  71. The first half was super hilarious to the point of “laugh-until-you-cry funny” as you said, divine. However, I also felt sorry for Kanade with her stolen meal ticket ;_;

    I always enjoy your analysis of anime series; Otonashi WOULD be the one to reach out to Tenshi. Yui definitely stands out in GirlsDeMo with that pink hair of hers O_O

    Anyway, I really appreciate your posts, divine, and look forward to more of Angel Beats!

    okami
    Reply

  72. Well, I think it would be neat if Otonashi left Yuri to team up with Kanade. He seems to be constantly questioning the motives of their group, so he must either want answers/more information or decide to leave:P. Anyways, might just be a far off hope.

    LaN
    Reply

  74. Poor Kanade. That shot of her losing her meal ticket actually made me cry. The poor girl didn’t even get to eat her favorite food.

    Also, Hinata getting launched again after Ooyama’s confession had me spitting on my computer screen in laughter.

    Kraven
    Reply

  75. “Ooyama having to confess to Tenshi in front of everyone and her accepting (!)”

    I don’t really think she accepted. It’s kind of ambiguous, but I thought this is what she meant:
    Ooyama: Sorry I didn’t pick a better time and place for this. Blah blah blah….
    Tenshi: Please pick a better time and place for this then.

    cclragnarok
    Reply

      1. Ooyama didn’t ask for a date. He asked her to go out with him. It’s kind of unnatural to accept the confession by saying that.

        What she said can also mean “you need to pick a better time and place for this stuff.” This makes more sense to me since it’s in reply to what Ooyama said. I think this is one case where a literal translation can be misleading.

        Everyone in the show reacted like he was rejected, so I’m pretty sure about this.

        cclragnarok
        Reply

      2. I had actually interpreted it the way cclragnarok did. Maybe it was the way it was subbed, but I thought she wasn’t turning him down or accepting him. I’m not sure why he would be in tears afterward if she accepted, heh. That might just be me though.

        LaN
        Reply

  81. I don’t think he backed down from the idea of reaching out to Tenshin. I think the episode just needed to end, so that’ll be next time. Honestly it’s predictable and we knew from the begining Otanashi would become close to Tachibana.

    charizardpal
    Reply

  82. ‘Tenshi’s’ case is helped by the fact that she isn’t shown being as much an antagonist as she was in the first two episodes. I am a bit irritated with the new president though, based on appearance, actions, and stereotypes common to this he’s probably going to be a boring smug villain.

    Grant
    Reply

  83. Wow am I late. This week is exam week. It’s noted here that there are ordinary students. See what I told you… there are normal students, hence the point of these random acts lol. Not much analysis of right now, I gotta get study hard for these 2 exams that are coming up lol. Very hilarious episode and notes the importance of Tenshi.. well now we know as Kaede Tachibana. (Tenshi is what I normally called her in reference to the fact that she didn’t say she was literally an angel) It’s surprising how docile she is considering the fact taht she might have been in the world for a very long time. And OUT OF NO WHERE

    The vice president comes out. Now, that’s something I’ll admit as not expected… if I didn’t think that everyone was NPC’s lol. Either way, it’s a pinch this week. I’m going to read up the novel to see what I miss as well… so look forward to better analysis. I’ll save this spot for the time being.

    Sora no Kaze
    Reply

    1. wow… this episode was hilarious and also pissed me the …. off. Yuri is such an inconsiderate B****. I quite honestly thatTenshi will join the SSS and team up with them but the SSS is reminding me of another similarly abreviated group (at least the heroines/leader is)

      btw, Sora, what exams are you taking (sry for the random questions)

      kuroi
      Reply

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