Angel Beats! / First Impressions

「Dancer in the Dark」

Guard skill: harmonics. If you were thinking that was the case last week, then kudos to taking notice of the foreshadowing from way back in episode three. In what turned out to be a skill none too different than a “shadow clone” (kage no bunshin) of Naruto-fame, a key difference to Kanade’s harmonics is that it seems to retain the mindset she had at the moment it was created. With the split occurring during their run in with the master of the river, this second Kanade ended up becoming “Evil Tenshi” simply because of the killing intent she had at the time. While I could easily consider that a fundamental flaw in its design, I’m more curious as to why Kanade didn’t just use her absorb skill to dismiss the clone right after. Given how there doesn’t appear to be a range limitation on it, I figured there was ample time to use it during the huge fish feast even if there was some of sort of cooldown period (yay, more video game lingo). In any case, that struck me as a bit odd, but I won’t deny that a second descent into the remnants of the Guild after they blew it up was as humorous (and stupid) as the first one.

Before that happened, I’d sure like to know how the hell Yuri managed to add some code of her own to Kanade’s “Angel Player” software. As hot as the glasses look on Yuri was, I still see them as nothing more than datte megane (i.e. “fashionable lenses for show”) and not any indication that she knows a damn thing about programming. Granted, she only added a timeout (… sigh, timewait) to Kanade’s harmonics ability so that it would call absorb ten seconds later, but if it was indeed code and not a mere setting then that’s at least a few lines in C++, Java, and almost any other programming language. Details aside, I’m just going to cast that off to computers in the afterlife being more dummy proof. She did get it to work after all, but not before Evil Tenshi already made a several more copies of herself. Giving Yuri the benefit of the doubt programming-wise, I would have thought she’d come up with a better plan than the “line up to die” one to handle each of the clones, but alas stupidity reigns supreme in Guild-related adventures.

Evidently for comic relief, it was pretty hilarious seeing everyone try to act cool before they died, except for Ooyama of course who died a nice delusional one thanks to Naoi. The funniest moment of that repeat gag though had to be Naoi offering to go next and no one giving a damn about his death. That was a pretty laugh out loud moment for me, especially after all the respect he expressed for Otonashi while calling everyone else trash. I still find it interesting how Shiina’s deaths never get shown explicitly, but Yui going splat is always there for us to see. I guess that goes to show exactly how much she’s considered one of the guys, and possibly even one of the dumbest ones at that with the way she goes head-to-head with Hinata all the time. Not that I mind one bit, as I love watching Kitamura Eri play idiots like she did in NEEDLESS. Yui’s fear of pissing her panties out of fear and no one giving a damn were pretty cheap laughs, but boy did I enjoy them.

Upon witnessing everyone go flop one after another, I was really starting to wonder why the hell none of them bothered to learn how to fight hand-to-hand. I guess Noda should be pretty effective in that regard, if he’s not off dying first yet again. Yuri on the other hand is pretty crafty with her hand-grenade and knife usage, so it’s always cool seeing her fight against Tenshi. Here, she not only managed to outsmart one of the Evil Tenshi’s newly developed howling ability with earplugs, but actually kill it off too. As such, I wonder if this is the first time she’s actually killed Tenshi, clone or not. Whatever the case, I found it kind of odd how all the Evil Tenshi clones couldn’t move after having a corpse slumped over them, because I was under the impression that Kanade had a passive super-human strength “overdrive” ability.

The more pressing concern though is how Kanade will deal with all the bloodthirsty clones being absorbed back into her now, as their consciousnesses merge along with their actual bodies — again, akin to a shadow clone. It sure made for a good cliffhanger at the very least, with Otonashi helplessly holding onto her in hopes that she won’t be consumed by murderous intent. Kanade!!!

* In addition to the opening sequence, there was some reshuffling in the ending sequence this week to fit Naoi in.

 

Preview

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129 Comments

  9. oh finally, most of the SSS members got to hug “Kanade”

    “Naoi offering to go next and no one giving a damn about his death”
    not even Otonashi, poor him.

    why they make TK act like a PERVERT? see “that” jump!

    FlamingYu
    Reply

  16. KANADE-CHAN!!! D: If she dies, I’m gonna be ultra sad. Especially since I’m pulling for a KanadeXOtonashi relationship.

    Is it wrong that I laughed during every person deaths? And by the way, T.K. had some great lines in there, including some sweet break dancing ;D

    Click
    Reply

    1. I was thinking the same thing as far as Kanade being hurt and all. I have the impression she will survive but something will change with all those violent/aggressive clones getting back in her. Hearing her pain made me clench my fists….She better be alright.

      Shinjiro
      Reply

  18. If you think you like Angel Beats 2010 just wait till Key makes Angel Beats 2014, that one will be 24 episodes long and will have all the best parts that were left out of the 2010 edition.

    Oh and, KANADE!!

    joshua
    Reply

  22. Kudos to TK for sacrificing himself w/o any hesistation *sniff XD

    It was nice to see Yuri’s intelligence and combat abilities are up to par to someone like Tachibana/Tenshi clones. Divine put a good point in terms if Yuri killed Tenshi before. Well, I guess its pretty situational when it comes to killing someone w/o hesistation. For example, if you already know if your target is not “real/human” or know the fact that they are dead and come back later will probably make the hesistation diminish.

    I also had the same thought on the lack of the clones using the Passive Overdrive ability. It was the first thing that came to my mind when Matsushita sacrificed himself. I can prolly think of many reasons why they did not but just a thought XD

    I was kinda surprised that Shiina did not put up a fight w/ one of the clones! :O However, Ooyama’s death was hilarious! Almost spat out my dinner when I watched that part XD

    Can’t wait to see the results of all the consciences returned to Tachibana as well as the “big” emotional hammer that is lurkin amongst the last 5 episodes : )

    Liberta
    Reply

    2. I think Tenshi Sisters do possess overdrive ability, just as shown when Halberds get impaled and she lift him up and throws him like an empty can with left hand only, and jumps off the rooftop at the beginning of the ep was also oblivion normally. Yuri then said her monstrous strength can be restrained with Yudo, which we do laughed at.

      An
      Reply

      1. But you must remember that this is a clone of a clone we’re talking about… if you respect the laws of Multiplicity (I know, lame example), then the 3rd generation may lose an ability. Hence, be a little weaker or something. We never know which one is really which, so for all we know, the one that did Noda in was the original clone.

        I think I just hurt my brain thinking… ow.

        TehJawknee
        Reply

  23. lol so many Kanade fans. Well i am one too. XD
    It reminds me of Yuki fans from Haruhi.
    Well i would really want to see Haruhi’s movie that still haven’t come out after the premiere.

    banzemanga
    Reply

  25. I think that TK needs to be the new “IT’S A TRAP!” poster child — he and his three scenes totally stole the show. Again.

    Hell, I think he ought to get his own spinoff series. It’d just have to be in the form of a string of 30-second webisodes wherein he dances around, says something incomprehensible, and jumps out a window.

    Thrashy
    Reply

  26. @DIVINE: Even I was wondering why the evil clone Tenshi didnt have the super human strength that is the passive ability, Overdrive, but isn’t that a clue to itself? Seeing as the evil clone tenshi at the time only had evil intent and had used offensive attacks, that’s why she probably cant use a passive ability like Overdrive. Oh well, that’s my guess.

    I find this episode quite amusing once again, I dont care about the waterworks anymore, because the comedy and humour in this show far surpasses Clannad and other key works! I love this show for its originality and mystery, especially its humour! I wouldnt care if the show just continues and finishes at this rate without drama, so long as they bring some sort of closure, even if they all stay together in this world even without knowing why they are there in the first place. Although I would be really ecstatic if Kanade and Otonashi becomes a couple. Man finally Yuri starts to notice Otonashi’s support for Kanade. Do I smell jealousy from Yuri I wonder?

    Can you guys tell me what the narration in the preview was? I may have misheard or misinterpreted (or likely both), but I think I’ve heard Otonashi saying he remembers it all. Don’t know if this is correct, but I wonder if Otonashi’s past will be fully revealed or at least Kanade’s? Hoping that it is the case.

    X
    Reply

    1. Actually,they showed his past in the last episode,kinda disappointing for me though,since I expected him to have some kind of memory loss on purpose and that he would only recover it around the ending point of the anime.

      Okazaki-san
      Reply

      1. Yes I know they did show Otonashi’s past, but the preview keeps bothering me about Otonashi saying he finally remembers it all now. So it makes me wonder what if, the back story we’ve seen from Otonashi isn’t all of his memories that probably caused him to go to this world? What if something more tragic on a personal level happened to him? After all, it is the same as Yuri whom she always regrets her inability to help her siblings, but it was never shown how she died or perhaps the complete reason as to why she like everyone else is stuck on the world. Is the reason, regret perhaps? I

        f it is, then it makes sense that Yuri, Iwasa, and Hinata sense they all had a complete regret they had in their former lives, in Yuri’s case, she couldnt help her siblings, in Iwasa she couldn’t sing her heart out anymore just as she was finally getting recognition, and Hinata was not able to fulfill his dreams and felt responsible for the loss. What about Otonashi though? He didn’t have a purpose to his life until his sister died, which then he started studying seriously and was on a better road ahead of him when that train accident happened, so what was his regret?

        I feel that if his regret was not able to achieve that purpose in his life, then I guess it’s alright, but I feel that it doesnt have a good impact. I also sense a foreshadowing in the preview, when he mentioned if he is going to disappear. This makes me wonder if there is a connection towards Otonashi and Kanade, especially since Otonashi is the only person who tries to reach out to her and is probably the only person to whom Kanade has a huge impact on.

        X
        Reply

  27. That makes no sense.

    Why they did assume that ‘Tenshi’ and the program was synched? Why would that make any sense at all? That’s a huge freaking flaw. I was under the assumption that the “Angel Player” program was merely a tool to design her abilities, i.e. a blueprint, not the abilities themselves.

    And assuming that they knew it was synched and what they changed on the computer affected her as well, why didn’t they just delete her abilities back in ep3 when they hacked it?

    Needle
    Reply

    1. I was thinking about that too. One would assume that you’d have to sync up to the computer somehow to get the update?

      But, assuming that the newest harmonic-ed tenshi knew that there was a change in the program, maybe as soon as Yuri made the change, all the clones knew of it?

      Infinite wireless range in the afterlife. I like it.

      chingoo
      Reply

    2. Remember that in ep 3, they did not want to arouse suspiscions or else they would have gone with the entire “grab the harddisk and run” idea.

      As for knowing the abilities were synched, its more likely they only knew this episode when Yuri looked through the manual. Standard manuals will likely put the summarised explaination for what a program is used for right in the first chapter or the introduction (though did Kanade write it or was it a software that came along with Macrosoft Winding XP?!?)

      Yuri commented on how she did not have the time to read the freaking big manual (LOL, don’t we all say that in real life?) so her knowledge of the “timewait” command was likely a quick flip to the standard functions chapter.

      The only part that is hard to understand through implicit explainations is the passive Overdrive ability not existing for evil Tenshi. I put this down to them not really having a “physical” body (aka no real flesh/bones/blood for overdrive to enhance).

      Still i liked how they mentioned Kanade’s clones being petite, enough that even Ooyama and Naoi being heavy enough to be a human paperweight (Matsushita and TK being heavy was mentioned in earlier eps and Takamatsu is obviously no slouch in the weight department either)

      Zaku Fan
      Reply

    3. If I were to have a program that allows to use Guardskills, then I’d have thousands of backup stored in safe places. Using this mindset, even if the program is the ability itself and altered by anyone, Tenshi can always restore them back with the backups, it’s just a matter if she can get to her PC (or probably any PC).

      An
      Reply

    1. Probably… Most likely… Yeah.

      I tend to make careless typos when I try to get posts out quickly, so feel free to point out corrections. I make minor edits here and there after posting but mistakes still slip through, so I appreciate the extra proofreading. 🙂

      divine
      Reply

      1. No problem. It was bothering me, kinda like how I proofread my essays after staying up all night to write em.

        “What the hell did I type there.” *edit edit edit*

        Jusuchin
        Reply

  33. Maybe Kanade realized somehow that absorbing the clone would add its conscience to her own and that’s why she didn’t use absorb. It makes sense if she didn’t realize that would happen when she made the program but figured it out when she made the first clone. It could be that her harmonics ability was never tested and so she hadn’t worked out the bugs. I get the feeling that the clones will overwhelm her and Kanade will take a turn for the worse! T_T God please let me be wrong! Let no harm come to tenshi! T_T

    Could this be Jun Maeda’s plan!? What he has really been trying to do this entire time is get us attached to kanade all along. He might have planned for something bad to happen to her! NOOOOOO! If something bad happens to kanade, I will never forgive you JUN MAEDA!

    wings_xx
    Reply

      1. You should see some of the hashtags I read today on twitter.
        Examples:

        “Dear Jun Maeda: #AngelBeats ep 8 was an act of emotional terrorism. My heart is in shreds. I almost hate you. See you next week.”

        “I am going to see #AngelBeats soon, and I expect nothing less than a emotional breakdown that would leave me dehydrated.”

        “Naoi should just hypnotize Yuzuru and then what ?! { then get their boyxboylovesceneoverwith ??!!] #Angelbeats.”

        That last one is just… wrong. o.0

        TehJawknee
        Reply

    2. Show Spoiler ▼

      rrw
      Reply

      2. *remembers After Story ep16 and Nagisa’s Death, then Ushio’s…*
        It took Clannad one and a half series to build up the momentum for Nagisa’s death, and almost two to build up for Ushio’s. If Angel Beats! can beat(no pun intended) that and make an equally painful death here, it’d just be strange. More likely they will have Kanade break down or something and then deliver the final blow in some unexpected way. It wouldn’t be as emotional seeing Otonashi become depressed and blame himself like Tomoya did, it’s been used already and wouldn’t really work in Angel Beats… More like having Otonashi kill her somehow. That would make more sense.

        Uppfinnarn
        Reply

  35. yuri is awesome when she’s fighting tenshi.
    I think its now clear that yuri is NOT interested, romantically, with otonashi and we also have some more confirmed relationships:
    yuzuruXkanade-no surprise there
    hinataXyui-well on yui’s side at least

    obviously kanade will be the enemy again and perhaps yuzuru will return her back to normal and both will disappear(my guess).

    amado
    Reply

  37. Poor Hinata, getting pushed into being impaled. I liked how Yuri commented on Yui’s combat abilities :). Otonashi’s handling of the situation and the willingness of everyone else to listen to him (not to mention again being the last 2 survivors in Guild adventures) does seem to show his abilities

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

  39. With so much programming involved in AngelPlayer, perhaps Kanade used to be a computer geek in her lifetime. Or even a StarCraft otaku. 🙂

    http://www.atalude.net/2010/05/18/the-starcraft-champion-that-never-was/

    If programming was that hard for Yurippe, why didn’t she thought to get Takeyama, aka “Christ” to help her out like last time?

    Wow, Evil Tenshi looked pretty badass smirking evilly like that. And for a while, I nearly couldn’t recognize Hanazawa’s voice when she’s that evil. lol
    https://randomc.net/image/Angel%20Beats!/Angel%20Beats!%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2020.jpg

    Naoi’s constant ass-kissing of Otonashi while dissing the rest of the SSS team finally got back at him, I see. lol

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  40. I still fail to see why yuri is the commanding figure in the anime. Granted she is liked by the group, but it takes more then popularity to become a leader. She lacks prior planning, and the mindset of thinking things through. I see this more and more clear as the episodes go by, and it’s ridiculous. The only reason I watch now is because of the hilarity that ensues with the other characters. I feel sorry for the guys who have to follow her orders…

    RayPenbar
    Reply

    3. well she did recruit the members(actually hinata suggested it) to the SSS brigade technically making her the leader and she was the one who stood up to fight god(they probably saw her determination or something like that). for her leader skills:
      expert in close combat-to protect her allies, distract tenshi and to fight more evenly with tenshi
      knowledge on her allies capabilities-she doesnt really plan but she does know what each member will do or the outcome(giving otonashi a walkie talkie, knowing he will most likely meet tachibana and be prepared if they needed her help against naoi, is an example of her knowledge)
      experience-she has so far been seen as the longest person still in that world without disappearing(aside from maybe kanade), knows what usually makes them disappear until the ep 3 and knowing kanade(she did have tea with her in kanade’s room in track zero)
      lastly(maybe) her beauty-just look at her, what can you say if you meet her in person?

      all in all, she is the best candidate to be the leader in a rebellion.

      amado
      Reply

    4. It’s not like anyone else is smart enough. Like the pink haired girl said, everyone in the group is an idiot.

      Matsumada has glasses but he’s actually dumb.
      Purple haired guy is dumb and is always the first to get killed.
      Hinata is dumb.
      Pink hair is dumb.
      Shiina has OCD.
      TK… is mysterious and he speaks English.
      Ooyama has no ambition.
      Christ is smart but he’s too caught up with the whole “Christ” thing.
      The delinquent doesn’t seem too smart.

      Now possible candidates:
      Otonashi but he’s the new guy so he doesn’t have enough trust.
      Naoi… but he’s got a God complex.
      Matsushita (the big guy) would be a good candidate actually but he lacks the charisma.

      Needle
      Reply

    5. She’s the most capable and she is one of the founding members of the group (actually the founding member if we start from her “recruitment” of hinata though that was arguably never for making a real group)

      Then we have the top and most capable upper management of SSS (in order of their suitability for leading the group)

      Yuri – Good combatant, good observation skills and common sense, good knowledge, flexible tactically, good planner (you can see this if you look carefully and keep in mind the rules of the world they are in). Also worst death memory (assuming Iwasawa was correct thus sympathy vote) and longest in group

      Otonoshi – Yuri level except for combat and Hinata level on people affinity. Best leader if Yuri gets it but not in the group long and lacks emotional detachment for good strategic planning

      Hinata – The group glue due to his affinity for people but lacking in the brain department and not particularly decisive

      Masushita – Good combatant, good common sense, likely not particularly flexible if Hinata is believed

      Shiina – Loner, good combatant but bad at planning, no common sense (balancing brooms?!?) and poor at human interactions. Good decisiveness

      Takematsu – Poor common sense but above average knowledge, better than Ooyama combat skills. Poor planner

      Takeyama christ – Good knowledge but poor human social skills, combat skills also likely Ooyama level

      Ooyama – Average in everything and poor decisiveness

      Fujimaki – Not shown much but what is shown is a constant attempt to project bravado but is actually a coward

      Noda – Worthless in the brain department and easily provoked

      Yui – totally brainless and spur of the moment actions are not what a leader needs to do

      Zaku Fan
      Reply

  42. …there’s a manual on how to use “Angel Player”. <_<

    So like, couldn't they just get that smart "call me 'Jesus'" kid to reprogram Kanade maybe?
    Jus sayin.

    Baww, Naoi is still my favorite character. :'D gotta love his hypnosis.

    AznCoffee
    Reply

      2. Went back and took a look and yes he’s there. In which case, Yuri really should have gotten him to go along with her unless she either did not trust him completely or felt having more than 1 person on the mission would increase the risk to unacceptable levels. The alternative would be scout then a second mission with takeyama christ but that would take too long given they were time limited

        Zaku Fan
        Reply

  44. As a programmer, just thought I’d let you know that there are pretty much some one line commands in programming languages to wait for 10 seconds. Java has wait() and it’s a standard feature in most scripted languages (which is what I assume the Angel Player is). More ridiculous part is how they’re synced with Kanade supposedly and how a wait command would fix the issue with absorb since it seemed all she was doing was harmonics(); timeout(10); absorb(); which would still call a defective absorb() function. But meh.

    Kobukson
    Reply

    1. You missed the part where she grouped the commands into a single batch command. Notice she selected multiple commands form the interface and the connectors to all three

      Zaku Fan
      Reply

  47. It was so funny when everyone simultaneously committed suicide
    just so the others can continue. What cracked me up the most was when
    Naoki hypnotized Oyama to block Tenshi.

    rasone0104
    Reply

  55. Poor Kanade-chan T_T. But it’s Jun Maeda so I predict a giant deus-ex-machina performed by Otonashi. And also was wondering why didn’t they brought Takeyama… oh well.

    haitechan
    Reply

  56. um… If I had to answer the first question in the post, I’d say that the ‘absorb’ skill wasn’t created at that time. I believe Yuuri created it once she used Angel’s computer(Winding XO? Cool name!)

    Maybe I’m wrong(I have a hunch that I am) but still…

    salman
    Reply

    1. The Absorb skill was already there, all Yurippe did was link them up in a batch file to automatically execute when the Harmonics skill was executed. Pay attention when watching the episode (if you actually did).

      Skribulous
      Reply

  57. It’s almost definitely YuzuruxKanade. It get this feeling from how Yuri is constantly theorizing silently, more of an amazing admired leader then everyone’s friend, and this weird vibe she gives off that everyone will eventually disappear/move on and she’ll be the last left.

    This will need season two D:

    raliice
    Reply

  61. Whoah, it totally few over my head that almost all of Kanade’s guard skills are named after stomp-box effects pedals. The one that’s not — Hand Sonic — is named for a drum machine. As if this series wasn’t awesome enough already..

    Thrashy
    Reply

  65. remember when Yuri sneaked into Kanade’s room to re-check on her abilities, when she clicked on something after Harmonics, the copy floated above the original on the screen, and the number 186.00 appeared? that might have been the current number of copies of herself after they multiplied

    rexeren
    Reply

      1. Not likely
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Zaku Fan
        Reply

  75. I love this show so much! I hope it ends well, or at least gets a second season instead of just dropping off at the last episode.

    I remember I used to hate Kanade, but watching more of the show I realize I have more in common with her than I would like to admit and THAT is probably why I did not like her at first.

    Destiny
    Reply

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