Angel Beats!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Angel Beats! |
Cover art of the Angel Beats! DVD compilation set released by Section23 Films, featuring main characters (from left to right) Yuzuru Otonashi, Yuri Nakamura, and Angel (Kanade Tachibana). |
エンジェルビーツ!
(Enjeru Bītsu!) |
| Genre |
Action, Comedy-drama, Fantasy, Tragedy |
| Light novel |
| Angel Beats! Track Zero |
| Written by |
Jun Maeda |
| Illustrated by |
GotoP |
| Published by |
ASCII Media Works |
| Demographic |
Male |
| Magazine |
Dengeki G's Magazine |
| Original run |
November 2009 – May 2010 |
| Volumes |
1 |
| Manga |
Angel Beats! The 4-koma:
Bokura no Sensen Kōshinkyoku |
| Written by |
Jun Maeda |
| Illustrated by |
Haruka Komowata |
| Published by |
ASCII Media Works |
| Demographic |
Seinen |
| Magazine |
Dengeki G's Magazine |
| Original run |
December 2009 – November 2013 |
| Volumes |
4 |
| Anime television series |
| Directed by |
Seiji Kishi |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by |
Jun Maeda |
| Music by |
Jun Maeda, Anant-Garde Eyes |
| Studio |
P.A. Works |
| Licensed by |
|
| Network |
CBC, MBS, RKB, TBS, TUT |
| Original run |
April 3, 2010 – June 26, 2010 |
| Episodes |
13 (List of episodes) |
| Manga |
| Angel Beats! Heaven's Door |
| Written by |
Jun Maeda |
| Illustrated by |
Yuriko Asami |
| Published by |
ASCII Media Works |
| Demographic |
Seinen |
| Magazine |
Dengeki G's Magazine |
| Original run |
May 2010 – ongoing |
| Volumes |
6 |
| Original video animation |
| Angel Beats!: Stairway to Heaven |
| Directed by |
Seiji Kishi |
| Studio |
P.A. Works |
| Licensed by |
|
| Released |
December 22, 2010 |
| Runtime |
24 minutes |
| Manga |
Angel Beats! The 4-koma:
Osora no Shinda Sekai kara |
| Written by |
Jun Maeda |
| Illustrated by |
Haruka Komowata |
| Published by |
ASCII Media Works |
| Demographic |
Seinen |
| Magazine |
Dengeki G's Magazine |
| Original run |
December 2013 – ongoing |
| Game |
| Developer |
Key |
| Publisher |
Visual Art's |
| Genre |
Visual novel |
| Platform |
Windows |
| Released |
|
 Anime and Manga portal |
Angel Beats! (エンジェルビーツ! Enjeru Bītsu!?) is a 13-episode Japanese
anime television series produced by
P.A. Works and
Aniplex and directed by
Seiji Kishi. The story was originally conceived by
Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with the group Anant-Garde Eyes, with original character design by
Na-Ga; both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the
visual novel brand
Key, who produced such titles as
Kanon,
Air, and
Clannad. The anime aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010. An
original video animation
episode was released on December 22, 2010. The story takes place in the
afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his
life after dying. He is enrolled into the afterlife school and meets a
girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront—an
organization she leads which fights against God. The Battlefront fight
against the student council president Angel, a girl with supernatural
powers.
Key worked in collaboration with
ASCII Media Works'
Dengeki G's Magazine to produce the project into a
media franchise. Three
manga series are serialized in
Dengeki G's Magazine:
two illustrated by Haruka Komowata, and one drawn by Yuriko Asami. A
series of illustrated short stories written by Maeda and illustrated by
GotoP were also serialized in
Dengeki G's Magazine between the November 2009 and May 2010 issues. Two
Internet radio shows were produced to promote
Angel Beats!. The first part of a
video game adaptation produced by Key will be released in Q2 2014 for
Windows.
Angel Beats! received generally positive reviews by critics.
The integration of various individual elements together, such as musical
performances, humor and action, was praised in one review, but panned
in another, saying that the story is overloaded with too many elements.
P.A Works was praised for the animation of the action sequences and
attention to detail with the weapons used. A major flaw noted by
critics, however, is that the anime is too short, which leaves many of
the characters with untold
back-stories. The anime was selected as a recommended work by the awards jury of the 14th
Japan Media Arts Festival in 2010.
Plot
Angel Beats! takes place at a high school acting as a
limbo
for those who have died, where students learn to give up any lingering
attachments they still have from life before passing on. Those in the
afterlife school can still feel pain as they did when they were alive,
as well as dying again, only to awaken later with no injuries. The story
follows the main protagonist Otonashi, a boy who
lost his memories of his life after dying. He meets Yuri, a girl who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront
(死んだ世界戦線 Shinda Sekai Sensen (SSS)?),
an organization she founded and leads which fights against God for the
cruel fates the SSS members experienced in life. In the SSS, there is a
four-girl band named Girls Dead Monster that acts as a diversion during
missions, and an organization called the Guild that
mass-produces
weapons out of dirt and supplies them to the SSS. Their only enemy is
Angel, a girl who has supernatural powers and fights against the SSS.
Angel creates her powers with the aid of a computer program called Angel
Player. The rest of the afterlife school is populated by a large number
of "normal" students and teachers Yuri deems "
non-player characters" (NPCs) as they are not human, but look and act the part.
The first of the characters to fulfill her dream and pass on is
Iwasawa, the leader of Girls Dead Monster. Angel, whose real name is
Kanade Tachibana, loses her position as student council president and
the vice president Naoi succeeds her. Naoi uses powers of
hypnosis
to control NPCs to fight for his own interests against the SSS, but
Otonashi stops him after acknowledging Naoi's existence and he
subsequently joins the SSS. Otonashi regains his memories with the aid
of Naoi's hypnosis and agrees to continue with the SSS. Otonashi
befriends Kanade and invites her to join in on SSS activities. After
Otonashi fully remembers the details of his life and death, he starts
cooperating with Kanade to help the other SSS members move on, and
Kanade is reinstated as student council president in accordance with
their plan. Yui, the girl who replaced Iwasawa after she passed on, is
the second of the characters who passes on.
When mysterious shadow monsters begin attacking the SSS, Takamatsu
gets devoured by one, only to reappear as an NPC. Otonashi reasons with
the other SSS members and many of them agree to pass on in lieu of
becoming an NPC, including the rest of Girls Dead Monster, Chaa of the
Guild, and several unnamed members. Yuri destroys computers responsible
for the shadow program, which was programmed to activate when love was
detected in the world, to prevent it from becoming a true paradise and
maintain its limbo state. Those who are left—Otonashi, Yuri, Kanade,
Hinata and Naoi—hold a graduation ceremony where they thank each other
for their support. After Naoi, Yuri and Hinata pass on, Otonashi learns
that Kanade's regret was not being able to thank him for the heart she
received from Otonashi after his death. Otonashi is heartbroken after
she thanks him and passes on, as he has fallen in love with her. In the
epilogue, a reborn Otonashi and Kanade meet each other on the street in
the real world. In an alternative epilogue, Otonashi is shown to have
stayed behind in the afterlife to help people pass on, which may have
occurred before the events in the epilogue.
Characters
Main characters
- Yuzuru Otonashi (音無 結弦 Otonashi Yuzuru?)
- Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (Japanese), Blake Shepard (English)
- Otonashi is the main protagonist of Angel Beats!. Due to his past, he has a caring personality and does not want anyone to experience pain or sadness. After dying, he lost his memories of the time when he was still alive,[1] but later regains them.[2] He had a younger sister, Hatsune (初音?, Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese), Jessica Boone (English)),
who died of cancer and who he cared for very much. When she died, he
decided to go to school to become a doctor, but died in a train accident
before he could take the entrance exam to college.[2] Initially unskilled in any equipment, he starts to practice his marksmanship,[3] and pulls through for the team when they are in danger.[4] He carries a Glock 17.[5]
- Yuri Nakamura (仲村 ゆり Nakamura Yuri?)
- Voiced by: Harumi Sakurai (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)
- Yuri, also known as Yurippe (ゆりっぺ?), has a determined personality but is secretly very sensitive and protective.[6] She invites Otonashi to join the SSS, an organization she founded and leads which fights against God.[1] She is smart and decisive when making operations and decisions.[6][7] She carries a silver Beretta 92.[5]
Not only is she skilled with a gun, but she is also capable in close
range hand-to-hand combat, which is shown when she fends off Angel's
hand sonic with a combat knife.[6]
She vowed to fight against God after her three younger siblings were
murdered by burglars looking for valuables and never forgave herself for
failing to prevent their deaths.[6] She is an effective leader, but does not think so.[6] She regrets even fighting with Kanade later in the story, because she feels she could have been great friends with her.[8] She disappears after the graduation ceremony.[8]
- Angel (天使 Tenshi?) / Kanade Tachibana (立華 かなで Tachibana Kanade?)
- Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Emily Neves (English)
- Angel is the student council president at the afterlife school.[1]
This places her at odds with the SSS as her responsibilities require
her to suppress delinquency and other disruptive activities that the
team does. The SSS initially calls her "Angel" since they do not know
her real name, but they still refer to her by it even after finding out
her real name to be Kanade Tachibana.[7]
It is difficult to understand what she is thinking due to her rarely
showing any outward emotions and her way of talking bluntly.[2] She is personally dedicated to helping others overcome their regrets and pass on.[9]
However, she often lacks a proper understanding of others, as she never
thinks to try to explain to the SSS why she was doing what she did.[10] She enjoys eating mapo doufu, a spicy dish.[4]
- Despite her gentle demeanor and small frame, she is incredibly
powerful and near indestructible to the point of ejecting bullets out of
her wounds during battle.[1][2][11] She creates her powers known as "guard skills" via a computer program called Angel Player.[3] Her primary ability is "hand sonic", a blade on one or both forearms with five forms.[4]
Other skills include but are not limited to: "distortion", an invisible
barrier that deflects bullets or other projectiles away;[1] "delay", which creates an after-image to disorientate an enemy in close range;[1] and "harmonics", where a clone with a consciousness of its own is formed from the original.[2]
These abilities are activated at her will; however, her ability
"overdrive", which gives her great physical strength, is always on.[11]
SSS members
The characters of
Angel Beats! (from left to right): Irie,
Sekine, Takamatsu, Matsushita, TK, Naoi, Otonashi, Yuri, Angel (Kanade),
Noda, Hinata, Yui, Ōyama, Fujimaki, Iwasawa, Hisako, Takeyama, Shiina,
and Yusa.
- Hideki Hinata (日向 秀樹 Hinata Hideki?)
- Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), David Matranga (English)
- The protagonist of Angel Beats! Heaven's Door, Hinata is a bright, dependable boy who is the closest to Otonashi.[12] He always tries to save his friends if he can and is a reliable force in the team.[6]
He and Yui constantly irritate one another on a daily basis, but deep
down, he cares for Yui, as shown when he helps her pass on by telling
her he would marry her.[13]
He is a talented baseball player, and his regret in life was his
failure to catch a baseball, which cost his team an important baseball
game.[12]
He nicknamed Yuri as Yurippe when they co-founded the SSS as he did not
feel comfortable calling her Yuri, because his mother has the same
name. He died from getting hit by a truck.[14] He uses an RPK-74 and an S&W 645.
- Takamatsu (高松?)
- Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima (Japanese), Kalob Martinez (eps. 1–7), Illich Guardiola (eps. 8–13) (English)
- Takamatsu is an honor student who has a polite personality and wears
glasses. He mainly contributes to the SSS through intelligence
gathering and other affairs but does not actively fight. Yuri herself
says to not be fooled by his glasses and that he is actually an idiot.[1] Though appearing to be slender, he works out and is actually well-built muscle-wise.[7] After he first reveals this, he tends to take his shirt off, much to everyone's discomfort.[2] He is absorbed by a shadow and is turned into an NPC.[10]
However, having strong enough feelings (according to Yuri), he is able
to regain his senses and manages to disappear like the others.[8] He carries a Desert Eagle as a side-arm, but is also seen using a Sig 552.
- Noda (野田?)
- Voiced by: Shun Takagi (Japanese), Leraldo Anzaldua (English)
- Noda is a self-reliant boy who executes the strategies formed by the SSS and fights with a halberd.[1] He does not listen to anyone other than Yuri, for whom he has adoration, and is antagonistic to almost everyone else.[6]
He has a one-sided rivalry with Otonashi. He is a complete idiot whose
weakness is education; at one point, Takeyama is able to knock him out
by reciting pi. He is not afraid to harm or kill anyone who gets in Yuri's way.[10] Though he prefers to fight with his halberd, he sometimes uses guns out of necessity, the type of weaponry that he hates.
- Eri Shiina (椎名 枝里 Shiina Eri?)
- Voiced by: Fūko Saitō (Japanese), Melissa Davis (English)
- Shiina is a female ninja who fights with dual-wielding kodachi and shuriken.[1]
She is able to sense when danger is coming and is a highly capable
fighter. Despite her serious demeanor, she has a weakness for cute
things like stuffed animals.[6] She is strict in her training and is very self-critical when she fails, especially to a newcomer like Otonashi.[7]
She decides that her weakness is having little concentration. She is
shown balancing a broom and other objects with her fingers for long
amounts of time.[12]
She rarely speaks but will normally remark "how shallow-minded" or "how
foolish" ("this is so stupid" in the English dub) whenever the obvious
or something stupid is said.[1] As she didn't have a name when she arrived in the afterlife, Yuri named her Shiina after her callsign, 'C7' (Shi-nana).[17]
- Yusa (遊佐?)
- Voiced by: Yui Makino (Japanese), Serena Varghese (eps. 1–9), Elizabeth Bunch (ep. 10, OVA) (English)
- Yusa is an operator in the SSS who conveys the state of the battlefield to Yuri.[1]
She is a calm and gentle mannered girl with a straightforward
character. Much like Angel, she does not express her emotions and is
called scary by Otonashi and Hinata.[12]
She cannot calm down without her earphone. She rarely talks, and she
sometimes hurts others' feelings even though she does not mean it.
- Fujimaki (藤巻?)
- Voiced by: Yūki Masuda (Japanese), Andrew Love (English)
- Fujimaki is a delinquent who fights with a long shirasaya,[1] and he is similar in character to Noda. He picks on Otonashi when he initially joins the SSS. He cannot swim.[6] He uses a PPSh-41 submachine gun.
- TK
- Voiced by: Michael Rivas (Japanese), Adam Van Wagoner (English)
- TK is a mysterious character who wears a large bandanna over his eyes and tends to break out in dance every so often.[1][7][12]
No one knows his real name or past. He speaks in semi-nonsensical
English phrases depending on the situation, mainly quoted from pop
culture, but apparently does not know English fluently. He saves the
team many times and does know some Japanese but rarely speaks it. He
carries Browning Hi-Power and LAR Grizzly handguns or a PP-19 Bizon submachine gun during missions.
- Matsushita (松下?)
- Voiced by: Eiichirō Tokumoto (Japanese), Rob Mungle (English)
- Matsushita, also known as "Matsushita 5-dan" ("Matsushita the Fifth" in the dub), has a large build and is a master at judo.[1] He never forgets a debt he owes, especially when it involves food (specifically niku udon). He carries heavy weapons such as rocket launchers or machine guns into battle.[6] He later loses weight after training in the mountains.[10] He uses a H&K P7 and an MG3 light machine gun.
- Ōyama (大山?)
- Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (Japanese), Corey Hartzog (English)
- Ōyama is an ordinary boy who has no special talents. He does not
excel at anything, but is as capable as any normal person; in other
words, he is a Jack of all trades.[6] He is a pure boy whose feelings will get hurt from things like making fake confession or watching his teammates "die".[6] He carries a Remington 700 sniper rifle or a P226 handgun.
- Takeyama (竹山?)
- Voiced by: Mitsuhiro Ichiki (Japanese), Dylan Godwin (English)
- Takeyama is an intelligent boy who is good at hacking computers.[3]
He wrote the "Briefing Manager" program that Yuri uses to brief the SSS
prior to a mission. He insists that he be addressed by his username "Christ," but no one ever does so.[3]
He tries to execute all plans as perfectly as possible. He does not
engage in combat or any other physical operations, but rather gathers
data and information.[3]
- Chaa (チャー?)
- Voiced by: Hiroki Tōchi (Japanese), Illich Guardiola (English)
- Chaa is the leader of the Guild.[6] Despite looking much older, he is about the same age as Otonashi and the others.[22]
He is the fourth member to join the SSS, at which time he had no facial
hair. He first met Yuri and Hinata by holding the principal of the
school hostage at gun point in an attempt to learn more about God,
causing him to get stabbed by Kanade.[14]
- Ayato Naoi (直井 文人 Naoi Ayato?)
- Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)
- Naoi is a human originally thought to be a non-player character (non-human).[7] After he died, Naoi developed hypnotic powers that allow him to control others and cause them to enter a dream-like state.[4]
In life, he was the son of a famous potter. However, it was his twin
brother who had the talent in pottery and as a result, Naoi was ignored
by everyone. When his brother died, he was made to replace him by his
father and was given strict training in pottery. As a result, he felt as
if his own life was fake and all he wanted was to be acknowledged for
his own existence.[4] He later befriends Otonashi after he acknowledges him and joins the SSS.[2]
As acting student council president for a time and self-proclaimed God,
Naoi is strict and arrogant, but this is quick to disperse when
Otonashi chastises him. He is affectionate to Otonashi, much to the
latter's chagrin, and always tries to earn his affection.[2] He uses dual USP 45 handguns.
Girls Dead Monster
- Masami Iwasawa (岩沢 まさみ Iwasawa Masami?)
- Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese), Luci Christian (English), Marina (singing)
- Masami Iwasawa is the initial leader of Girls Dead Monster who is in charge of the vocals and is the rhythm guitarist.[3] She also writes the lyrics and composes the music for the band's songs.[3] She plays a Sienna Sunburst/Maple Fender Stratocaster guitar.
While usually a quiet girl, she is able to fascinate listeners by
striving to create music that speaks her thoughts. She used music as an
escape from her constantly fighting parents in life, but ended up dying
from a brain injury she received.[3] She disappears playing her own song, "My Song". She accepts that she will use her voice to someday influence others.[3]
- Yui (ユイ?)
- Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Hilary Haag (English), LiSA (singing)
- Yui is a big fan and initially an assistant to Girls Dead Monster.[3] She is known to be hyperactive and talks extremely fast.[12]
Hinata finds Yui annoying, which results in bouts between the two of
them though in truth, they truly care about one another, saying that had
they met before they died, they would have fallen in love with each
other.[13]
She wears a devil tail and shackle bracelets on her wrists, giving her
an image of an imp or devil. She also has wings hidden by her hair on
her back. After Iwasawa's departure, Yui becomes the new rhythm
guitarist and vocalist of Girls Dead Monster, as well as its leader.[12] Yui plays a Gibson SG Special electric guitar. She later becomes a part of the main SSS, following them along on missions, though she does not contribute much.[11]
In life, she was hit by a car and was paralyzed from a young age as a
result. Her regret was not being able to do anything with her body.
Otonashi helps fulfill most of her wishes that include many things she
saw on TV when she was alive.[13]
- Hisako (ひさ子?)
- Voiced by: Chie Matsuura (Japanese), Elizabeth Bunch (eps. 3–4), Jessica Boone (eps. 5–6, 12, OVA) (English)
- Hisako is second-in-command of Girls Dead Monster who plays a Fender Jazzmaster electric guitar as lead guitarist. She has a candid personality and likes to play mahjong, which she has incredible luck with.[7] As noted by Hinata, Hisako is also athletic and is greatly admired by Yui for her guitar riffs.[12]
In life, she was a part of a band whose main vocalist ended up
committing suicide, but after meeting Iwasawa, she forms Girls Dead
Monster with her.
- Miyuki Irie (入江 みゆき Irie Miyuki?)
- Voiced by: Kana Asumi (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)
- Irie is the drummer
of Girls Dead Monster who, despite being dead herself, is bad with
hearing stories about ghosts or spirits, which Sekine likes to take
advantage of. She is best friends with Sekine and joined Girls Dead Monster at the same time as her.
- Shiori Sekine (関根 しおり Sekine Shiori?)
- Voiced by: Emiri Katō (Japanese), Serena Varghese (English)
- Sekine plays a G&L L-2000 bass guitar in Girls Dead Monster. She likes to play pranks on those around her to see the surprised faces of her victims. She also likes to abruptly improvise during performances, much to Hisako's chagrin.
Production
Creation and conception
The original creators of
Angel Beats!,
Jun Maeda and
Na-Ga of
Key, were interviewed in the July 2009 issue of
ASCII Media Works'
Dengeki G's Magazine. Around the time Key completed the first release of their sixth
visual novel Little Busters!, Hironori Toba of
Aniplex (himself a fan of
Key's works)
approached Maeda around October 2007 about collaborating to produce an
original anime series. Maeda began meeting with Toba and Aniplex on a
monthly basis and the story started to gradually progress. Aniplex
wanted Maeda to write a screenplay that would be very "Key-like, with
touching moments of laughter and tears," but initially Maeda found
himself at a loss to write a story more amusing than
Little Busters!, because he thought that he had reached a limit with
Little Busters!
in regards to a "Key-like story". However, one day Maeda was struck by
inspiration, where he thought up the initial idea of a story set in the
afterlife. Furthermore, with everyone already dead, Maeda conceived of
flashy battles where the combatants go all out without fear of death.
According to Maeda, the theme of the series is "life", which in
Angel Beats! is depicted as a precious and wonderful thing, despite the characters in
Angel Beats! who fight against their fate.
[29]
Maeda nominated Na-Ga to begin work on the character designs near the beginning of 2008. Na-Ga was worried that other
computer graphics
(CG) work for Key would get delayed, but he took the position because
of his accumulated experience in CG. Maeda nominated Na-Ga because of
the popular characters he designed in
Little Busters!, and
because of his frankness. Na-Ga designed Yuri based on her personality
as a leader, though it was per Maeda's request that he added the black
headband, taken from the character
Yukiko Amagi from
Persona 4,
who was Maeda's favorite heroine from that game. The length of Yuri's
hair and the addition of a green ribbon were decided from production
committee meetings. Angel's original concept began with the idea of a
brave, fighting girl. Maeda cited that Angel's image had changed
considerably over the development process and that originally she was
similar to
Shiki Ryōgi from
Kara no Kyōkai. Eventually, Angel's concept changed to being a "silent and mysterious girl".
[29]
Before Na-Ga decided on Otonashi's design, Maeda told him that anything
would be fine and to just draw something, and eventually drew up a
prototype for Otonashi and Hinata, among others. Some of the characters
had vague initial conditions given by Maeda, such as asking Na-Ga to
draw an "
all female band bass guitarist"
in the case of Girls Dead Monster member Sekine and particularly the
cryptic "character who speaks in puzzling English phrases" for TK.
[30]
Anime production
The Aniplex producer of
Angel Beats!, Hironori Toba, was interviewed in the November 2009 issue of
Dengeki G's Magazine, where he commented that a 13-episode anime with about 21 minutes per episode was not enough to tell the whole story of
Angel Beats! Maeda had envisioned. Therefore, the various additional media, such as the illustrated short stories and
manga,
contain some of the story that was unable to make it into the anime
because of time constraints. Toba wanted fans of the series to be able
to enjoy it to the fullest by exploring all of the media types.
[31] Maeda found it tiring to go back and forth between
Osaka and
Tokyo
for business meetings when he was in the process of writing the script,
and found it difficult to write an entire script by himself, since he
had never done that before with any of the games he produced as a member
of Key. It was only after the script was done that Maeda was able to
work on the music, which he greatly enjoyed and never tired of it. Maeda
composed about 15 songs for Girls Dead Monster and spent about two days
each composing each song. He made sure to create songs for Girls Dead
Monster that high school girls would compose, including the lyrics. Due
to this, Maeda pointed out that the opening and ending theme songs for
Angel Beats!, which Maeda also composed, sound like they were composed by a different person compared to the Girls Dead Monster songs.
[32]
In regards to bringing in P.A. Works as the animation studio, Toba
had taken notice of the company from back when they provided in-between
animation and production assistance for
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003–4) and
Darker than Black (2007), respectively; Aniplex helped produce both series. After watching just the first three episodes of P.A. Works'
True Tears (2008), however, he was shocked at the high quality and immediately went to P.A. Works' studio in
Toyama Prefecture
to meet with the production staff in the hope that one day Aniplex
could collaborate with them on a project together. The following week,
Maeda brought up the subject of deciding on an animation studio for
Angel Beats! and mentioned that he too had seen
True Tears
and had become interested in P.A. Works. Shortly after that, Toba
formally made the proposal to P.A. Works to animate the project.
[31]
Maeda focused on making jokes an important part of
Angel Beats!,
leading Toba to seek out Seiji Kishi to be the director, because of his
experience in directing and his pulling power influence on the staff of
P.A. Works, where there are many that are still young.
[31][33]
Kishi was ultimately approached by P.A. Works representative director
Kenji Horikawa about working on a "school comedy written by a game
scenario writer" and was shocked after taking the director's position to
discover Maeda was the screenwriter. Kishi commented how, far from just
being a comedy, the series contains many different aspects, including
flashy action scenes, live musical performances, and drama. Kishi stated
that normally he would be hard pressed to cover this range of aspects,
but was motivated by Maeda's uncompromising attitude in regards to the
script.
[33]
The decision to add in the all female band Girls Dead Monster was due
to Maeda's intent to add in many different and interesting elements into
the series.
[32]
Kishi specifically requested that sound and music director Satoki Iida work on the project, who also helped with the
proofreading of the script due to Maeda's fixation on the music production.
[31] Iida was interviewed in the April 2010 issue of
Dengeki G's Magazine, where it was stated that Maeda and the group Anant-Garde Eyes received Iida's approval to employ a
minimalist approach to the
background music (BGM) used throughout the anime. Iida admitted that it was uncustomary to use this
music genre in anime and that he had to go through various
trials and errors
with Maeda and Anant-Garde Eyes to get the music right. Maeda and
Anant-Garde Eyes strove to create individual quality music tracks, while
Iida pursued the goal of having music that would be useful as BGM
tracks, which caused problems during the creation process. Iida realized
that it was important for the music and the visuals to combine together
to create a synchronization between the two.
[34] Toba first took notice of
Angel Beats! character designer and chief animator Katsuzō Hirata during the production of
Gurren Lagann
(2007) with his skill as an artist and ability to finish work quickly,
but thoroughly. It was after Toba saw Hirata's work as chief animator of
Strike Witches (2008), however, that he pursued Hirata to join the
Angel Beats! staff; Maeda also gave his seal of approval for Hirata.
[31]
Media
Internet radio shows
A four-episode
Internet radio show to promote
Angel Beats! called
Jun Maeda's Brutal Radio (麻枝准の殺伐ラジオ Maeda Jun no Satsubatsu Rajio?)
aired between May 30, 2009 and March 31, 2010. The show was hosted by
Jun Maeda, though guests did make appearances, such as Hironori Towa,
the producer for
Angel Beats!, and Na-Ga. One month after each regular broadcast, an additional shorter broadcast called
Postwar Disposition (戦後処理 Sengo Shori?) was released.
[35] Another Internet radio show to promote the series titled
Angel Beats! SSS Radio had a pre-broadcast on March 18, 2010, and had 51 regular weekly broadcasts between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011.
[36] Produced by Hibiki Radio Station, the show was hosted by
Harumi Sakurai (the voice of Yuri),
Kana Hanazawa (the voice of Angel) and
Eri Kitamura (the voice of Yui).
[36]
The first volume of a CD compilation containing the first four
broadcasts, as well as the pre-broadcast and brand new recorded
material, was sold on June 23, 2010.
[37] A limited edition of volume two was sold at
Comiket 78 in August 2010, and became available for general sale on September 22, 2010.
[36] Volumes three through seven were released between October 27, 2010 and July 29, 2011.
[36]
Books and publications
A series of seven illustrated short stories written by Jun Maeda and drawn by
GotoP entitled
Angel Beats! Track Zero were serialized between the November 2009 and May 2010 issues of
ASCII Media Works's
Dengeki G's Magazine.
[38] Track Zero is a prequel to
Angel Beats!
featuring Hinata as the main character and tells the story of how the
SSS was formed. A special extra chapter focusing on Girls Dead Monster
was published in the sixth volume of
Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe
on March 29, 2010. The short stories were collected into a bound volume
released on June 23, 2010 and included an additional chapter along with
the other eight chapters.
[39]
The chapter titles for the stories are taken from song titles from
various musical artists. The first chapter, "Two Person Rocket"
(二人のロケット?, "Futari no Rocket"), was posted online with illustrations by ASCII Media Works.
[40] ASCII Media Works published the
Angel Beats! Official Guidebook on December 22, 2010.
[41]
The guidebook contains story summaries of the anime episodes including
the OVA, information on the cast of characters, interviews from the
voice acting cast and production staff, and illustrations featuring art
from the anime.
Manga
A
four-panel comic strip manga, illustrated by Haruka Komowata and titled
Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Bokura no Sensen Kōshinkyoku (Angel Beats! The4コマ 僕らの戦線行進曲♪ Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Our Battlefront March Song?), was serialized between the December 2009 and November 2013 issues of ASCII Media Works'
Dengeki G's Magazine. Komowata was also in charge of illustrating a manga which showcased the progress of the
Angel Beats! project and was serialized between the September 2009 and July 2010 issues of
Dengeki G's Magazine.
[43] The first
tankōbon volume for
Angel Beats! The 4-koma was released on December 18, 2010 under ASCII Media Works'
Dengeki Comics EX imprint;
[44] three volumes have been released as of October 27, 2012.
[45] The fourth volume will follow on November 27, 2013.
[46] Komowata also illustrates the
Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Osora no Shinda Sekai kara (Angel Beats! The4コマ お空の死んだ世界から?) four-panel comic strip manga, which began serialization in the December 2013 issue of
Dengeki G's Magazine.
[47]
A manga illustrated by Yuriko Asami, titled
Angel Beats! Heaven's Door, began serialization in
Dengeki G's Magazine in the May 2010 issue.
Heaven's Door is based on the
Angel Beats! Track Zero short stories.
[39] The first volume for
Angel Beats! Heaven's Door was released on December 18, 2010 under ASCII Media Works'
Dengeki Comics imprint;
[48] five volumes have been released as of April 27, 2013.
[49] The sixth volume will follow on November 27, 2013. An
anthology titled
Angel Beats! Comic Anthology was published by ASCII Media Works on December 18, 2010.
[50]
Anime
The 13-episode
Angel Beats! anime TV series is directed by Seiji Kishi and produced by
P.A. Works and
Aniplex.
[51][52] It aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010 on the
CBC television network.
[53][54][55]
The first episode was previewed on March 22, 2010 to a selected number
of people who participated in a lottery held earlier that month.
[56]
The screenplay was written by Jun Maeda, who originally conceived the
series. Chief animator Katsuzō Hirata based the character design used in
the anime on
Na-Ga's original designs. Sound and music direction was headed by Satoki Iida.
[57][58]
The series was released on seven
BD/
DVD compilation volumes between June 23 and December 22, 2010 in limited and regular editions.
[59][60] Three
drama CDs,
written by Maeda and performed by the anime's cast, were released with
the first, fourth and sixth limited edition BD/DVD volumes.
[59][61][62][63] The seventh BD/DVD volume featured an
original video animation episode, as well as a
bonus short which serves as another epilogue to the series.
[64][65] Each of the BD/DVD volumes contained commentaries by the characters performed by the voice cast and written by Maeda.
[59][60] Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime,
[60][66] and along with distributor
Section23 Films, released the series on BD/DVD on July 26, 2011.
[67] Siren Visual licensed the anime for Australia and New Zealand.
[68] The series has also been licensed in the
United Kingdom by
Manga Entertainment[69] and released the series on BD/DVD on June 25, 2012.
Video game
It was reported in 2010 that Jun Maeda was writing the scenario for a video game adaptation of
Angel Beats!,
[70] and the game was officially announced in September 2013.
[71] Developed by
Key, the all ages game will be split into six volumes, with the first volume set to be released in Q2 2014 for
Windows PCs.
[72]
The first volume will cover up to the tenth episode of the anime as
well as Iwasawa's, Matsushita's and Yui's routes with Otonashi as the
main protagonist. The subsequent volumes will cover the rest of the
character routes.
[73]
Music
The anime's music is composed by Maeda and the group Anant-Garde Eyes, who also provided the musical
arrangement. The music is released on
Key's record label Key Sounds Label. The opening theme is "My Soul, Your Beats!" sung by
Lia and the ending theme is "Brave Song" sung by
Aoi Tada.
The single containing both songs titled "My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave
Song" was released on May 26, 2010 in limited (CD+DVD) and regular (CD)
editions; the limited edition's DVD contains the opening and ending
videos without the credits.
[74] The in-story band Girls Dead Monster is made up of the real-life singers
Marina and
LiSA.
[74]
Five singles for Girls Dead Monster were released. The first, "Crow
Song", was released on April 23, 2010 featuring songs sung by Marina.
The second and third singles, "Thousand Enemies" and "Little Braver",
followed on May 12 and June 9, 2010, respectively, with songs sung by
LiSA.
[74] The fourth single was "Last Song" by Marina and the fifth single was "Ichiban no Takaramono (Yui final ver.)"
(一番の宝物～Yui final ver.～?) by LiSA; both singles were released on December 8, 2010. A Girls Dead Monster album titled
Keep The Beats! was released on June 30, 2010. A version of
Keep The Beats! containing instrumental tracks was released on July 28, 2010 bundled with a 256-page
band score book. The anime's original soundtrack was released on July 28, 2010 as a two-CD set.
[74]
Events
There were several live performance events to promote the music from
Angel Beats!. The first was on April 24, 2010 at the
Tower Records in
Shibuya, Tokyo
where Marina and LiSA performed four songs. The first two, "Crow Song"
and "Alchemy", were duets, while the third song "My Song" was sung by
Marina, and LiSA sang "My Soul, Your Beats!".
[75]
On June 5, 2010 at the same venue, Lia and Aoi Tada sang their songs
from "My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song", Tada and LiSA sang "Crow Song"
as a duet, and Lia and LiSA also sang "My Soul, Your Beats!" as a duet
for the encore.
[76] An event titled "Angel Beats! Fes.: Thousand Bravers" was held on August 1, 2010 at Studio Coast in Shingiba,
Koto, Tokyo featuring singers Lia, Tada, Marina, LiSA and Karuta, as well as several voice actors from the anime.
[77]
A national
concert tour
featuring LiSA titled "Girls Dead Monster starring LiSA Tour 2010: Keep
The Angel Beats!" was held across Japan August 3 and September 2, 2010;
all of the venues ultimately sold out.
[78] A BD/DVD video album box set titled
Girls Dead Monster starring LiSA Tour 2010 Final: Keep The Angel Beats! of the tour's final performance was released on June 1, 2011 by Key Sounds Label bearing the catalog numbers
KSLV-0001–0003.
[79]
The last concert of Girls Dead Monster was held on December 27, 2010 at
an event called "Girls Dead Monster Last Live: Final Operation"
featuring Marina and LiSA at the
Tokyo International Forum.
[80]
Reception
Critical reception
Angel Beats! received generally positive reviews. In a review by
Anime News Network,
reviewer Theron Martin praised the series for integrating individual
elements together, including the Girls Dead Monster musical performance
scenes, scenes where humor dominates, and action scenes.
[81] A common theme in supernatural anime, according to Martin, are souls discontent with their former lives, but the concept of
Angel Beats!
is described as "quite unusual" because it features all the main
characters as such souls and gathers them in one place. In the series,
"maintaining distinctiveness is essential for survival as an
individual," which Martin calls a "sly condemnation of the rigorous
conformity impressed upon students by Japanese schooling." Overall,
Angel Beats! was lauded for "requir[ing] no great familiarity with anime to enjoy."
[81]
On the
DVD Talk
website, reviewer John Sinnott praised the plot for advancing and
changing in unexpected ways: "The plot evolves quickly and by the end of
the series it's quite a different show than what it was at the
beginning."
[82]
Both Martin and Sinnott agree that a major flaw in the anime is that it
is too short, and does not go into detail for a large number of
characters.
[81][82]
Stig Høgset at THEM Anime Reviews, however, panned the series in part
because it "overloads the story with too many elements in an attempt to
please as many people as possible." Høgset went on to describe
Angel Beats as not having "any compelling characters" and the series' humor is largely thought to be annoying.
[83] However, Høgset praised P.A. Works for the animation of the action sequences,
[83] as did Martin, who added that there is "great detail work on the weapons and instruments used."
[81]
The sixth episode of
Angel Beats!, which aired on May 8, 2010 on Osaka's
MBS
station in Japan, achieved a record 4.9% rating for an anime series
broadcast during the late-night "Anime Shower" timeslot in the past
three years.
[84] The
Angel Beats! anime was selected as a recommended work by the awards jury of the 14th
Japan Media Arts Festival in 2010.
[85]
Sales
Each of the
Angel Beats! Blu-ray Disc (BD) compilation volumes ranked in the top three on Japan's
Oricon weekly BD sales chart. Volumes one and four ranked at No. 1,
[86][87][88] volumes two and five ranked at No. 2,
[89][90] and volumes three, six and seven ranked at No. 3.
[91][92][93] The DVD volumes, however, ranked lower than the BDs on Oricon. Volume one ranked at No. 5,
[94] volume two at No. 10,
[95] volume three at No. 13,
[96] volume four at No. 11,
[97] volume five at No. 8,
[98] volume six at No. 12,
[99] and volume seven at No. 15.
[100]
The opening and ending theme song single "My Soul, Your Beats! /
Brave Song" debuted at No. 3 on Japan's Oricon weekly singles chart,
selling about 80,000 copies in its first week of sales.
[101] "My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song" was awarded a Gold disc by the
Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in May 2010 for shipping over 100,000 copies.
[102] Girls Dead Monster's single "Crow Song" debuted at No. 7 on the Oricon singles chart,
[103] selling approximately 16,400 copies in about four days.
[104] "Crow Song" sold over 25,000 more copies over the next three weeks after its release.
[105][106][107] "Crow Song" was awarded a Gold disc by the RIAJ in November 2011 for shipping over 100,000 copies.
[108]
The Girls Dead Monster single "Thousand Enemies" debuted at No. 4 on
the Oricon singles chart, selling about 28,000 copies in its first week
of sales.
[106] "Thousand Enemies" sold over 18,000 more copies over the next two weeks after its release.
[107][109]
Girls Dead Monster's third single "Little Braver" debuted at No. 2 on
the Oricon singles chart, selling about 38,800 copies in its first week
of sales.
[110]
Girls Dead Monster's fourth and fifth singles, "Last Song" and "Ichiban
no Takaramono (Yui final ver.)", ranked at No. 2 and No. 3 on the
Oricon singles chart, respectively, both selling about 35,000 copies in
their first week of sales.
[111] The Girls Dead Monster album
Keep The Beats! ranked at No. 6 on the Oricon albums chart, selling about 51,000 copies in its first week of sales.
[112] Keep The Beats! was awarded a Gold disc by the RIAJ in September 2010 for shipping over 100,000 copies.
[113] The version of
Keep The Beats!
with instrumental tracks and a band score book ranked at No. 14 on the
Oricon albums chart, selling just under 9,000 copies in its first week.
[114] The
Angel Beats! Original Soundtrack ranked at No. 9 on the Oricon albums chart, selling about 13,300 copies in its first week.
[114]
References
- General
