「Alive」

I was hoping to see a follow-up to Naoi’s sudden backstory and learn how he eventually died, but it looks like he’s already hopped the bandwagon and become one of the many SSS idiots. This was a somewhat predictable outcome given the direction thus far with Kanade, but I’m still hoping they’ll get back to his subplot sometime later on. In particular, I want to know what happened to him following the apparent death of his father. For now, I can’t say that I’m opposed to Naoi joining Yuri’s crew, since his hypnosis ability led to some hilarious moments when he made Hinata feel more worthless than a clothes-pin as payback for making fun of how he cried after getting hugged by Otonashi. That was some serious comedic gold, which compounded in hilarity when it became evident that Naoi is indeed pretty grateful to Otonashi — potentially in a homoerotic kind of way.

Amidst all that humor, it was nice to see Otonashi’s backstory come to light with the help of Naoi’s hypnosis, making that another plus of having him around. It came much earlier than I was expecting, but it was pretty touching to see how he went from being a person with no goals in life aside from buying manga magazines for his sickly sister Hatsune (Nakahara Mai), to a diligent hard-working student entering university (med school) after realizing that making her happy was his only purpose in life. It goes without saying that it was really unfortunate to see Otonashi Yuzuru simply die in a train accident not too long after; however, I actually didn’t find it as tragic as I was anticipating.

After seeing how Otonashi saved up some money from his part-time jobs to take Hatsune out for Christmas, treat her to food, and buy her a present, there was an extremely ominous sign with a flower petal falling in her hospital room while he sneaked her out that was never made good on. Rather than a train accident, I was more or less expecting Hatsune to pass away during the outing like someone in another Key series and Otonashi committing suicide after losing his new-found purpose in life (…if suicides were allowed given the story). I figured a double death in such a manner would have been much more tragic, so Otonashi’s tears after recovering his memories weren’t as heart-wrenching as I felt they could have been. Still, his backstory was a pretty decent one with the help of the younger sister character. (It was a double death after all. See my update below.)

In contrast to that, there were actually a lot of lighthearted moments in the rest of the episode during operation “Monster Stream”, better known to us normal folks as river fishing. In addition to introducing another quirky character, “Fish” Saitou (Midorikawa Hikaru), this so-called operation was fun to watch because Otonashi successfully reached out to Kanade again. Given how they already have the acting student council president amongst them, Yuri was okay with it too, which led to some pretty good laughs when Kanade’s super-human strength from her passive “overdrive” ability sent Takeyama flying. The best part of that of course was hearing how he was only concerned about being called “Christ” even as he’s about to die. Paired up with how Naoi always wants to be called “God”, the two of them are proving to be some really good comic relief in this series.

With the silliness continuing due to Kanade snagging the master of the river and making mincemeat out of it, I was honestly wondering if this series would ever start working towards a dramatic finish. It almost felt like a last episode of sorts with everyone getting along, Yuzuru and Kanade now on a first name basis, and all the SSS members feeding a ton of fish stew to all the NPC students. As such, the arrival of a wounded Yuri and a different red-eyed Tenshi than the one we’ve been following put a nice spin on things. It was definitely a nice cliffhanger, but I’m not going to begin speculating just yet, as I don’t think anyone was really expecting this turn of events.

* As some people have already noted, the afterimage that split from Kanade to save everyone had red eyes, so perhaps it’s an imperfect ability she used out of desperation that is now running amok.
* I should also point out that the kanji for Hatsune’s name is
「初音」, which literally translates to “First Sound”, compared to her surname Otonashi 「音無」 for “No Sound” or “Silence”.

 

Update (5/16): Contrary to what I originally thought, it looks like Hatsune did pass away during the outing as foreshadowed. Seeing the little girl get discharged from the hospital is what prompted Yuzuru’s new direction in life.

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140 Comments

  1. Clothespins and Tenshi.
    Anyone notice when Kanade saved them from the Monster Stream, she made a copy of herself to attack it? The copy’s eyes were red, just like the final boss. Maybe its her inner strength form?

    Pw3age
    1. Just watched it and was just about to bring up the red eyes, but you guys are way ahead of me. I’m guessing either Harmonics is broken or Kanade forgot to limit her clones lifespan while programming. I’m guessing we’ll see Kanade vs Saika/Tenshi next week and maybe find out how the powers work.

      And that was no fish, it’s one of the guardians that eats people who try to escape there’s probably worst in the forest.

      Firefly
    2. Well since we are speculating, my guess is her harmonics brought out her locked emotions and we get Kanade’s story in episode 9 after episode 8 where she confronts her clone alone in order to protect her friends.

      Zaku Fan
  2. Just putting it out there, Yuri said much earlier that no one committed suicide in this world of afterlife noted in episode 2. Probably the basis of this is found in the Prequel Novel.

    Anyways… going to comment/analyze 6 and 7 in a bit.

    Sora no Kaze
    1. I also wanted to point out that I think the ability could be Harmonics. As seen in episode 3. Harmonics is shown as Tenshi ahem, sorry Kanade as splitting into two. Funny enough though… Harmonics makes no sense as a name compared to the others unless it’s in reference to Sounds bouncing back and forth similar to a mirror creating the split. I also want to say that it could also be her being hypnotize as it’s Naoi ability. I’ll repeat an analysis in a bit. I to just get food lol.

      Sora no Kaze
  3. I think Kanade created the other red-eyed ‘Tenshi’ so that they’ll have someone to fight other than herself. When Otonashi told Kanade that he wants her to be their friends and stuff, she probably created the other one so that she can be with them.

    Either that or there really is another ‘Tenshi’ o_O

    Xineohp Erif
  4. I was a bit disappointed with Otonashi’s story. I was expecting something more tragic/shocking considering that he was like the only member who couldn’t remember his past.

    Enna
    1. It’s not tragic enough for you? D:

      He lived his life not having a purpose and finally when he did he couldn’t even accomplish it… I think that’s pretty tragic. I mean wouldn’t you be devastated? On top of that his little sister died and he couldn’t even do more for her and spend time with her outside the hospital when she was in better condition.

      How did you want his story to be like out of curiosity?

      Xineohp Erif
      1. I’m normally a sucker for this tear-jerking stuff, but Angel Beats’ way of going about it hasn’t been working for me either. In comparison, I’ve been on the verge of bone-chilling tears several times this season watching RAINBOW.

    2. I see your point, but it’s important to remember that Otonashi did not forget his past because of it being particularly traumatizing. Back in Episode 1, Yuri tells Otonashi that memory loss is not uncommon, since those who die of head trauma lose the memories they held in life. When Otonashi falls in the train incident, his body is thrown backwards, and he seems set to land on his head (hence his death). Long story short, spaghetti head = memory loss, not “the worst past ever” = memory loss. So there’s no real reason for Otonashi’s past to be especially sad, especially when Iwasawa and Yuri’s pasts are hard to top in terms of excruciating tragedy.

      Kururi
    3. There are very few things more personally tragic than finding something just before losing it (and realising you had it) then succeeding in finding it again yet losing it just before touching it.

      A person external to this sort of experience would not feel the emotional impact unless he or she experienced it before.

      Zaku Fan
  5. since another tenshi appeared, maybe there are multiple copies of her in case she doesnt do the job or the move harmonics is not completely working.

    I almost thought it would turn a bit into slice-of-life anime.

    amado
  6. I think the Angel duplicate was hypnotized by Naoi. After all, when Naoi used his hypnotism his eyes glowed in the same way. And it would explain why Naoi joined the SSS so easily — to take them down from the inside. Plus, there has to be more to his past/motives for becoming God than “being accepted as Ayato” since he didn’t disappear even when Otonashi acknowledged him in episode six.

    When the producers spend another three episodes with deredere Naoi and then dramatically reveal that he’s still evil, along with the rest of his backstory + how he died, just know that I called it 〜(m~-~)ノ

    Kururi
  7. Not a bad episode. But the abruptness in which Naoi seems to been assimilated by the group (We are the idiots, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile) was very jarring to me. Until the whole clothespin thing. Finding out about Otonashi’s story to me was more heart wrenching. As an older brother, and particularly someone who often related to the still-living Yuzuru many times throughout his own life, and add the fact my baby sister is someone I’d lay down my life for, I was close to tears in the end.

    But yeah. More silliness. I think they could’ve expanded the series to at least 20 episodes, I’m having issues with the pacing. Anyone else feel that too?

    Jusuchin
    1. I also found it tragic. I don’t have siblings, nor am I particularly close to any of my cousins but it does seem tragic for someone to figure out what he wanted to do with his life after loosing the very reason behind it. i think the reason it may not appear as tragic is that from loosing his sister, Otonashi Yuzuru managed to attempt to make something of the rest of his life, as a way to atone for not doing better with his sister. The fact that even that chance at redemption was taken from him by a twist of fate doesn’t impact us as much because we were feeling recovered as we saw him recover from the loss. I am not sure if he is trying to keep with his desire to help others by helping Kanade, if by chance he does desire to be obliterated(though if ones desire is to help all, then he might never achieve it and therefore he might just live forever, or become God, depending on what is the reason behind this after life.) but his being in this life does seem like it might help the SSS people and everyone else to make something out of life and maybe find peace.

      zeroherrera
  8. Cue ominous music…GASP! Another tenshi appears. This one seems to be more offensive than Kanade. As stated in the last episode her skill is used for defense. Hope to see new moves on the red eyed tenshi. Kudos to Otonashi for being bold. Holding hands, hugging her from behind(he took advantage of the situation) and first name basis relationship. This show just got better!

    conyo985
    1. Good.. It’s not awkward. They didn’t bring up too much of EP6. Comedy was spot on as usual. Otonashi’s story on the other hand is sad but the execution is not on par with the Iwasawa’s mini arc.

      megalith
  9. I like Naoi and I’m glad he didn’t disappear last episode. His clothespin hypnosis made me lol so hard. Also, does anyone else notice that Kanade and Hatsune look similar? Perhaps Tenshi is Hatsune herself in this world, or something?

    I admit Angel Beats hasn’t really brought in the tearjerker moments yet. You get the since of “Oh, that’s really tragic.” but it doesn’t actually break your heart like the other KEY anime adaptations. However, Angel Beats! is still a very enjoyable show for me and I will watch it till the end.

    akani
  10. I don’t think anyone in Angel Beats had a tragic life leading up to their death. In fact I believe its the opposite- something traumatic happened giving them a fresh hope and a brilliant future in life- only to have it snatched away by something as annoying as death. This is why they all rebel against going to heaven- which essentially means a permanent death.

    QnTiria
    1. Maybe…but to be honest, I was hoping for a heart wrenching backstory for Otonashi. Damn it, I want my heart strings to be tugged at! Was a little disappointed at the outcome.

      KayDat
  11. About Cliffhanger

    Alright. Its been bothering me in the end. So I did a frame by frame of the scenes Kanade was in. And it clued me in to what she says about Overdrive being passive. The thing that atatck Yurippe Show Spoiler ▼

    Jusuchin
      1. If anythign, looking at the TvTropes page might also add weight to it. And no, a Kanade was left in the air with the fishing pole. There was one that sliced the fish apart on the ground with two punching-sword-style weapons. Dunno, I’ve been checking the thing frame by frame to try and ‘catch’ it.

        Jusuchin
      2. I don’t know.. Look more closely… Since you’ve been checking things out frame by frame (I did too) compare the last scene with Red-eyes on the rooftop to the fish dissection one. And you’ll find that the Red-eyes in the final scene has a much darker shade of red for her eyes, while fish-cutter has a certain yellowish hue to hers. Perhaps only a connection between Red-eyes and her special powers is implied, not that they’re the same person- but I’m telling you, smells like a red herring to me…

        Sentinel
      3. Yeah, it does sound it. There’s lighting, and other factors. If it is a red herring, then crap, this series likes to play mind games. XD

        Looks like this will drive me crazy, and I’ll be working all day for a concert and various other shows Thursday to Sunday next week, so I won’t know. DX

        Jusuchin
  12. The variable pace this story is going is rather surprising despite being a work from Key. However, I am up to see what Maeda Jun has up his sleeve to hit me with while im still surprised/confused XD

    The releationship development between Yuzuru and Kanade is very enjoyable to see. I wonder if Yuzuru’s efforts in gathering friends for Kanade will work : )

    P.S. T.K. is awesome as usual in this episode : )

    Liberta
  13. WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?! Now I’m all confused… Oh well, wait til next week.
    By the way, love triangle between YurixOtonashixKanade? Definitely getting a dark vibes from Yuri when the other two are together.

    innerchihiro
      1. If we’re adding to the love tetrahelix, might as well put it out there that in a small way (Angel Beats: Chapter Zero) Hinata likes Yuri, too.

        So we have HinataxYurixOtonashixKanade + YuixHinataxOtonashixNaoi + NodaxYuri + YuixGirlDeMo… my head’s starting to hurt.

        TehJawknee
  14. Finally we have Otonashi’s past and name. Loved how Naoi was mad that Otonashi’s response to his and Yuri’s assurances of comradeship being so different.

    Yui seems pretty M, constantly pestering Hinata for more wrestling 🙂

    Everybody hid behind Yuri (except Yui and Shiina) but Noda and Fujimaki was the worst. So much for the heroics from the tough guys.

    The plot twist at the episode end was good.

    Zaku Fan
  15. “I was more or less expecting Hatsune to pass away during the outing”

    What are you talking about? She did pass away then. His new found purpose in life wasn’t to save her, it was to prevent the same thing from happening to others.

    Noririn
  16. I really like how he had the strength of heart to pull him self out of the depression, I really felt Otonashi’s past strongly because I could relate to how he was in highschool, how society seems to determine someone’s ‘worth’ by how studious they are– it reminded me of Tomoya, even though he never got accepted into university it was similar to the Tomoyo/Tomoya ep. where he found a reason to keep studying again and find a place for him self.

    (Also, it just wouldn’t be relate-able if you ask me, if Otonashi died in a giant ball of fire because of a neo-nazi movement, or something along those lines. Apparently having a tragic and unfair life isn’t flashy enough. I like Kururi’s point about how traumatizing someone’s past is doesn’t determine the memory loss, it was the injury; i.e. him falling inside a wrecked train.)

    Maybe the fact that I could sympathize with his past is why I was teary-eyed, but I could see how people don’t expect a 10 minute flash back to be the most dramatic moment in anime history. I wasn’t sobbing, but the beautiful music and Hiroshi’s monologue always manages to deeply move me.

    I personally just like what they’ve done; I think Angel Beats stands out on its own without having to compete against Clannad and Kanon for the ‘how-many-times-can-we-get-you-to-cry-this-episode’ record. My deepest respects for Maeda on this orginial piece. : ]

    [last note BTW] I’m not really interested in speculating the -gasp- Kanade thing, and I could be wrong about this, but when I re-watched I noticed her eyes became red when she used the ‘split’ ability to kill the fish, which I’ve never seen happen before. Maybe that has something to do with it?

    Dawn
  17. So far from all of the ‘death scenes’, no one seems to have died certainly yet. From Kanon/Clannad/Little Busters, I just have this feeling they’re all lying unconscious somewhere that allows a last minute revival en masse.

    Kanade’s past might be the most tear-jerking of them all – noticed that some time was given to the part where she didn’t feel disgusted by the live bait.

    vv
    1. I dunno what I would feel if this series based the climax similar to Little Busters. I would probably feel rather worried if they do because that would kinda diminish the chance and/or value of ever making an animated version of Little Busters.

      I will strive to live until I see an animated Little Busters! =D

      Liberta
  18. Man. Maybe this will be a KEY production that will NOT have any kind of super built up emotional story? I keep expecting something to happen, but this whole one episode thing is making me kinda sad.

    But, in a general view of the entire Anime, it is a really good anime. I’m fine with no dramatic build up, but I hope that Kanade doesn’t disappear. I’m really, really liking her character, and her voice actor is doing great too (:

    First, Iwasawa disappeared. If kanade goes I’m leaving >:(

    chingoo
  19. Anyone notice that
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Ryouichi
    1. Pretty much what I thought, especially from this episode when he saw Kanade in the garden as she looked back at him, the guy actually blushed a little and got embarrassed. Plus he always had her on his mind ever since the first episode. Also he’s probably the only one who actually notices or looks at her as a normal girl.

      He got to hug her this episode, confessed, and now are in first name basis, their relationship just improved a lot! Now I’m hoping that Otonashi will also make the red eye Kanade become close with him.

      X
  20. Not really what I expected for Otonashi’s death, wasn’t expecting to see it anytime soon till today. My tears welled up at the Christmas street part, as someone pointed out to the similar death of a certain child in the last episodes of Clannad: After Story. The animation during the hospital visits were awesome, lightning was perfect for sympathising with Otonashi and Hatsune.

    In the end, they had to go for such cliff-hanger. Well, lets await next week!

  21. I wonder if Yurippe created that Tenshi doppelganger. She is the one who needs an enemy the most and she didn’t look pleased at Otonashi integrating Kanade into their clique. Add to that the fact that she was conspicuously absent during the fish stew distribution I think she may have either intentionally or unintentionally created another Tenshi.

    bearzerger
    1. Doubt it. Yuri is extremely smart but at the same time, focused. Her goal to to find and destroy the creator of the world. All her actions up to now have been to understand how the world works as the first part of her plan. Several of her actions show her capabilities (handing the walkie talkie to Otonashi as she knows the most likely person to approach Tenshi is him, trailing Naoi by herself, backup plans on failure, etc) and she has no problems with dropping theories that are shown to be incorrect either.

      Her inaction when everyone joined in catching the fish was actually the intelligent action for a leader. On the chance the whole team gets eaten, she would retreat and plan a rescue. In case the fish did not eat them all at once but attacked, she would plan an orderly retreat, possibly sacrificing 1 or 2 as rearguard. On the chance that they successfully catch the fish without problems, it gives her an objective view of Kanade’s capabilities in case she becomes the enemy again.

      Her decision to increase the pace of Otonashi’s return of his memory also points out her desire to stabilize his continued prescence in the SSS (if he decided to walk, she would need to replan her long term actions as she would not have a “in” fella with Kanade, not to mention a capable 2IC)

      Zaku Fan
      1. You really think she didn’t join in on catching the master of the stream because she was planning in case they all got eaten by it? That’s too much for me to swallow.

        bearzerger
      2. Yes because her standard modius operandi is always as a overseer if possible. Tornado, baseball, exams, etc. She does not take a straight hand in things (at best she presses the rocket chair button on plan A failure).

        The only time she goes in with the mission is newbie orientation (Guild, though this may simply be because she initially had other things to do there), full scale combat (Naoi) or if forced to (delaying Tenshi).

        Zaku Fan
  22. Yuzuru – The stringing of a string instrument
    Kanade – The playing of an instrument
    Hatsune – First sound

    Such compatible names. It’s no wonder Otonashi gets along so well with Kanade.

    But there’s probably another reason: Otonashi, admit it – you’re a lolicon. 🙂

    First there’s his affection for his sister, and then his natural attachment to the petit Kanade. lol

    Probably explains why he feels so freaked out by Naoi’s flirtatious looks at him. XD

    (Sarcasm totally intended, in case anybody is too dumb to realize that it’s supposed to be a joke)

    Kinny Riddle
  23. Did Otonashi just confessed indirectly to Kanade lol? It really sounds like it, plus I always thought that Otonashi had an interest to Kanade. Although this is just my bias mind thinking about things like this lol, I have a soft spot on smart (and a bit weird) weak-looking, soft-spoken or quiet, and very mysterious girls (like Yuki in Haruhi no Yuutsu). I always root for them to hook up with the main guy, like Kyon and Yuki, but unlike Haruhi no Yuutsu, there might actually be a chance that Otonashi hooks up with Kanade. After all he’s probably the only character who reached out to her and truly cares for her.

    THOERY About the Red eye Kanade:
    When Tachibana reeled in the fish and wanted to save them at the same time, she used one of her powers, if you can see it clearly the other manifestation of herself HAS RED EYES. Looking at how that other manifestation handled such a big fish so easily, made me think that this manifestation might be a different form of herself like a different mode. Think about it, we have known from the last episode that Kanade had always been in defense (or passive) mode since all her moves so far had been for self-defense. So what if this form was for offense? Looking at her closely as she sliced up the fish, she was using two weapons at the same time, this manifestation for offense might have a different personality all together from her usual passive self.

    @DIVINE: Yeah i know what you mean! Their deaths are never really shown or explain, it is only implied. Like with Yuripe we were never shown how she died, same with Hinata, and probably the same with Otonashi (or else just as you said his story would be really plain, if not with his sister playing a major part of it).

    X
    1. your missing the part that its usually kyon who understands and is pretty close to yuki than with haruhi.

      and actually, hinata’s death was implied in angel beats track zero that he got hit by a car or something.

      amado
      1. Yes that’s actually what i meant, Kyon is much more closer to Yuki and probably is interested in her or understands her better than Haruhi IMO. It is the same here, but it is much more obvious that Otonashi is completely interested in Kanade than he is with Yuri.

        That’s also what I meant about their deaths only being implied and not really shown or explained. For me and for the rest of the people who didnt read the novels, from just watching the anime, we would all just assume that their deaths are implied, I would have thought for sure that Hinata died through drug overdose or something (seeing as it was implied in the baseball episode).

        Glad to hear that you shed some light into this. How about the others? like Yuri? I’m interested to know if it was explained to the novel.

        X
      2. Yes he got hit by a car, but, there could always be a possibility that he still made it out alive in a coma state. There wasn’t any funeral shown and that’s the only thing that could make me conclude that everyone did died.

        foomafoo
      3. ive only read up to chapter 4 and so far not yet.
        and ill make it a bit more clear on hinata:
        “I couldnt move in the highway, I remember seeing a truck…”(something like that) when he was asked by yuri on what he remembers before coming here so its likely he was paralyzed by the drug then hit by a truck which still makes it the drugs fault.

        amado
  24. This is what happens when you use something not debugged correctly… I was starting to wonder why we hadn’t seen the Cloning ability that was present on her computer. Kanade must have known it was glitchy and used it as a Last Resort since she couldn’t have sliced the fish without the extra speed and then everyone would have been eaten…

  25. i think Otonashi looks to Kanade as a sister or some form of attachment to past because since the beginning he had a different behavior to Kanade compared to Yuri or even all other SSS member. And judging from how it goes, Otonashi might disappear if Kanade says “Thank You”with emotion to Otonashi or Kanade might disappear if she finds here emotion.

    Another part is, The new Tenshi might be a clone as everyone’s though or Yuri might built the new Tenshi as she is obsessed with it. (she has the copy of how Kanade made the power and all) Notice she was the only one that stayed back when catching the fish looking at all the people helping one another.

    “Keys” always use the emotions as a theme as; Otonashi a helping kind person, Kanade emotion less, Yuri obsession and might go crazy if no where to put anger into, etc.

    Walker
  26. I was half-expecting Otonashi to be crushed to death by debris from the construction site that he was working at (redirecting the traffic) aka Stephen Chow’s CJ7. Oh well…death by train derail is a bit…hmm…anti-climatic?

    Chris
  27. i sure hope hatsune won’t pop up as a senior ( npc, maybe? ) chara later and get otonashi to disappear… well in fact, this could be a good way to end the series… xD
    still wondering if we’ll get to see hatsune somewhere in school again. ^^

    Nightflame
  28. maybe kanade was a reincarnation of hatsune? just thinking aloud.. 😀

    angel beats’ way of drama’s not working to me either. i mean, i’m a sucker for tearjerkers (i cried many times in clannad) but here it just doesn’t work. maybe because i feel the rushed pacing too much. idk. anyone with me?

    nagi
  29. The expectation of a tearjerker here is it own undoing. We are waiting for that terrible moment to show and it kinds of slips away every time. the fun stuff and silliness is over shadowing the tragedies of the sss members. Maybe the producers will be able to turn everything around and drop the bomb the final 3 or 4 episodes. I like some of the characters for instance I hate to see Hinata vanish and will make me cry. But the sheer size of characters makes it difficult to attach emotionally to all of them. For instance the “rapper” if he vanish next week I could care a rat’s ass about him (can’t even recall his name). I’ll sticj to the end but I’m losing steam.
    When Otonashi and Naoi stared at each other my Hideyoshi system alert went off. TRAPS FTW!!!

    Island Esper
      1. LoL must be because his eyes aren’t never shown. His character design doesn’t appeal to me at all. His dialogue is so shallow; just one liners. Is like I said ,I want to cry and suffer not smile and enjoy. So far he doesn’t fit that and there’s not enough episodes left to fix that.

        Island Esper
  30. I feel that nobody in the anime is truly evil, so probably clone Kanade was hypnotised by Naoi because he wants to keep Otonashi to himself from Kanade/Yurippe/so on… like a prank.

    rexeren
  31. Some interesting thoughts in these comments. All of these implied death situations really leave me suspicious though. In some cases, the cause of death is never even hinted at. In a show like this I suppose I will remain suspicious until I see a corpse, and given this series that might not even be enough. Either they aren’t dead and are unconscious as stated above, or maybe they are dieing and this is a split second event where they get to reflect on their life.

    Also Lol @ the love dodecahedron.

    LaN
  32. I hope Im not the only one who doesn’t want Otonashi to end up with Kanade. To tell the truth, I really don’t find her that great at all. Yurippe is a million times better XD. Otonashi x yurippe forever! ^_^

    Kewldude
  33. Very interesting theories everyone has made about how everyone is not really dead.

    If that is true, then this world is probably a holding centre for souls who are on the edge of life and death (like being in a coma via being traumatized or via accident), until they figure out whether they want to move on or come back. Though this world seems to be egging people towards moving on, hence Yuri’s resolve to fight this system.

    BTW, I see the second GDM album Thousand Enemies (with Yui as lead singer this time) is out with 3 new songs. The title song Thousand Enemies we’ve already heard in episode 4, wonder if we’ll hear the other 2 songs in coming episodes?

    Though I still preferred the first album. I now have Alchemy as my ring tone. And instead of K-ON, it is GDM that has reignited my passion to play the guitar once again.

    Kinny Riddle
    1. Wasn’t Thousand Enemies played at episode 5?

      Anyway, how do you turn your mp3s to ringtones? I have absolutely no idea how, and I want to put my ringtones in my phone too…

      Karis
  34. Maybe its just me but I got the distinct feeling that Hatsune died when he took her out at Christmas. The last thing she says before the cut is thank you, and his last line before the cut is “I continued talking to myself”. That at least made me believe she died. The girl being discharged looked different to me as well. This makes his story more tragic to because he dedicated himself completely to becoming a doctor in her memory and was on the cusp of success when he died. I mean I don’t really see how his sisters successful recovery could make such a dramatic change in him. Anyone else feel like that?

    huffer
    1. I felt the same and like Divine the moment I saw the petal fall off of the flower I thought “omg she’s gona die while he’s carrying her and he won’t notice”.So yeah since they didn’t say otherwise it must be what happened.

      Rockmanshii
    2. I wondered about that too since Hatsune was never shown again after that, but none of Yuzuru’s monologue really suggested that she died. Instead, I saw that scene of him watching a girl get discharged from the hospital as him hoping to see Hatsune in that same situation some day and it sparked his new-found determination to get into med school.

      1. It could also be seen like this – By seeing that girl get discharged, it reminded him of his own helplessness with his own sister, and he’s determined never to go through that feeling of helplessness again by saving as many lives as possible.

        His motives for his interactions with Kanade can be seen in the same light as well.

        Kinny Riddle
      2. I have no doubt in my mind that Hatsune died during the outing since Yuzuru never went to visit her anymore. He ALWAYS went to visit her but now he suddenly stops?

        I guess it just depends on how you interpret his past.

        okami
    3. When he said his life left had nothing left, i’m pretty sure she’s gone. There was an implication she kicked the bucket when Yuzuru took her out, as it referenced him not receiving a reply at all (about him continuing his one sided talk).

      The only thing was that she was still holding on to him, which would mean it happened after the camera panned up

      Zaku Fan
    4. I assumed she passed away too… There’s a line in his monologue “And now that I’ve lost her, is my life over?” that supports this in addition to what’s been pointed out so far, but at the same time it could be her conditioned worsened and she entered a coma. If she was really dead, Key doesn’t really seem to shy away from the sort of tear jerking scene of him over her dead body or at the funeral, so it could be a plot point that could somehow come up later. I just don’t know how that could matter much unless his memories aren’t fully recovered and the train scene wasn’t his death.

      EnderTheXenocide
  35. I don’t know if this has been suggested before, but Show Spoiler ▼

    Mind you, I hadn’t even heard about this before the anime, and I certainly haven’t played or looked into the game.

    Wannabe_Otaku
    1. Seeing as this is an original series not based on any game, you’re free to speculate. I doubt Yuri’s a god though, seeing as we already got a glimpse into her past life. I don’t know if I’d be okay with her being god either, simply because she does resemble Haruhi both in terms of appearance and attitude. i.e. She does whatever the hell she wants and bosses people around.

      1. She sure the hell bosses people around. However, there is one thing that makes her entirely different from Haruhi. She may not act like it but she definitely cares for the people around her as well as being deep in thought many times. Her outside (surface) is very similar to Haruhi but deeper down, I find her very different. Who knows, it would be funny if the Kanade in a way is the manifestation of Yuri’s deeper self (smart, observant, quiet, and etcetera).

        Silver
      2. I believe that it using some of the basis from the Prequel Light Novel. I can only read 3 chapters of it though out of the 7. Hinata is the main character as noted from earlier posts.

        Sora no Kaze
  36. I think people are expecting Jun to make this super tear jerking. I really think he’s going in a more dramatic path. He is good at tear jerking scenes, when there needs to be a scene like that, but I think he’s trying to go for a different path with this show.

    Derangedtaco
  37. Is it just me or was Yurippe looked like she was really pissed off or at least didnt like it at all when she heard Otonashi defending Kanade and this time even calling her in a first name basis? This was when she was held by Otonashi in his arms and Otonashi showing more concerned about her accusation against Kanade than her condition lol.

    Do I smell jealousy I wonder?

    X

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