Angel Beats! - Episode 3 Discussion / Poll

[GDB]

Originally Posted by K3cT

And writer who did the burglar backstory should be shot in the head. It didn't even make sense!

How so? People have older siblings watch over their other kids all the time. And burglars do steal things, and when they get angry, they can kill people. It happens all the time in real life, so how does it suddenly not make sense in an anime?

[Hilo Hello]

Originally Posted by K3cT

And writer who did the burglar backstory should be shot in the head. It didn't even make sense!

*coughcough*

Seriously, the burglars were probably gonna kill 'em all anyway, they just decided to see if they could get Yuri to lead them to the money.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Hilo Hello

Well, yeah. But then she's all like, "Why are they mad?" And it's not like they're hurting anyone. I mean, besides her.

Which also ties into another theory. She's decided to try and help people move on by making them conform.

It's the school rules. She's the student council president. Even in inpatient therapy for certain conditions, there is a structured environment that the therapy sessions are in. This is no different imo.

[Hilo Hello]

Originally Posted by orion

It's the school rules. She's the student council president. Even in inpatient therapy for certain conditions, there is a structured environment that the therapy sessions are in. This is no different imo.

Which leads back to the big question: If she's just another dead person trying to move on, why is she bearing the burden of rule-enforcement and maintaining order? She's one of the patients.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Hilo Hello

Which leads back to the big question: If she's just another dead person trying to move on, why is she bearing the burden of rule-enforcement and maintaining order? She's one of the patients.

It's possible that her, or someone close to her, died because she failed to maintain order while she was alive. So she's now trying to atone for that by maintaining order here, believing it to be the best course for helping others move on (which, according to Yuri, may have proven to be successful on a relatively decent level).

[kache]

Originally Posted by Mentar

Fascinating.

I don't remember when the last time I went from "hmm... what the heck is this about?" after ep2 to "aaah, so THAT'S how it is" in ep3 so much. But there have been several big-deal revelations in this last ep, and I feel like making several predictions even up to the final climax and ending. How's that for hubris?

What this afterlife is about: Obviously, it is about people who carry over some major grudge or unresolved issue like an unfulfilled wish. As long as you haven't dealt with this, you cannot pass on.

Is "being erased" a bad thing? No. It's rather the opposite, it means that you have finally resolved your issue, and you can finally "pass on". How do we know? Because we saw it happen with Iwasawa. And she went out and disappeared in her moment of completion and happiness. She finally found what she was looking for. She was finally able to sing the song she always wanted and even Yuri denied her in the beginning. It was no sad death, it was a _happy passing_.

How does Angel fit into this? This is the twist I liked the most. I'm pretty sure that Angel doesn't "work for god". She is just like Yuri and the others. Obviously she was Seitokaichou in her former life, and she feels that she failed. She's in this afterlife to atone, just like Yuri is in this afterlife to rebel and exact revenge. Evidence for it: Yuri's revelation that Angel is progressing just like she and her band of merrymen are.

But what about Yuri's earlier explanations? Yuri is wrong. This is the story she made up for herself, to live out her rebel+revenge issue. However, Angel's issue (keep a school safe as Seitokaichou) is diametrally opposed to Yuri (incite a revolution). Therefore they will have quickly crashed head-on, and the charismatic Yuri will have won followers where the very uncommunicative and introverted Angel could not. Which led to the situation on hand. The only one who seems to realize parts of it so far is...

What's the role of Otonashi? He will become the _mediator_ between Yuri and Angel. He was livid when they broke into Angel's apartment. He's also very curious about her and wants to know more. The upcoming triangle will be Yuri - Otonashi - Angel. All other characters are essentially irrelevant. And the role of Otonashi will be to somehow settle the issues between the two extremes of order (Angel) and rebellion (Yuri).

How will this story progress? Otonashi will learn more about both Angel and Yuri and be torn over it. I could even imagining a developing romance between them, in a true triangle fashion. He will manage to begin some form of relationship to Angel, and he'll also grow closer to Yuri while having his relationship increasingly strained with Yuri's henchmen, particularly when he continues to defend Angel.

And the ending? Otonashi will lose both Angel and Yuri by helping both of them pass on. It's his fate to reconcile both extremes with each other and helping them to leave this afterworld. However, in true key fashion, the ending will be very bittersweet: By doing so, he will also lose both girls he'll fall in love with. Unless, of course, they go for a cop-out ending of waking up out of the coma

What remains to be seen is how the "memory loss" aspect will play into this. I wouldn't even be surprised if in the end, Otonashi was the only "artificial" construct in the afterlife, created to resolve the Angel-Yuri battle. Or there's some more story on the meta-level, and the three of them somehow had dealings with each other in their former lives. Let's see.

In any case, my opinion on Angel Beats increased significantly after ep3. Let's bring it on.

Incredible! O__O
Now I'm curious to watch the next episodes and see if you were right!

[xBTAx]

Originally Posted by Hilo Hello

Which leads back to the big question: If she's just another dead person trying to move on, why is she bearing the burden of rule-enforcement and maintaining order? She's one of the patients.

Which also leads to some bigger questions about the school itself...

How did the school even begin? Was she the one who made it, or was it always there? Was there someone else acting in the same position before her, and she's just taking that person's place after they passed on? And if the NPCs were humans too, what are the teachers- can adults also be brought into this world? What happens when the NPCs graduate- do they pass on as well? Do enough people regularly enter the world and become NPCs for the school to continue running? How can the school even run if there's no way to get funding- and, speaking of which, is there any outside world beyond the school?

And I'd like to bring back up the question I asked earlier- why didn't Otonashi check the list of names for his own, or at least ask Yuri to copy it for later? Was it just a plot hole, or does he really remember more than he's letting on? Is there anyone else in this world who's lost their memories? I think Yuri said something about the way he died causing the loss, but is this the real reason? Is there anyone in this world that remembers anyone else in the world, and if so, is there someone that could possibly know Otonashi?

/endlessquestioning

[Lostdreams]

Originally Posted by ZGMF-X10A

this was a good episode but my favourite character is now gone, Iwasawa

In the ending it looks like Iwasawa is gone. I'm guessing as people disappear they will also disappear in the ending leaving Yuri all alone in the end.

Iwasawa is gone and this other invisible girl is gone also but the 4 eyes dude got inserted into the ending.

:O invisible girl. I think Yuri's lying to every1, and invisible girl was her friend who moved on, but Yuri doesn't want to move on!

[Haak]

I'm just gonna put up the lyrics for the ballad Iwasawa played at the end, ofr everyone. Maybe it might have some answers as to why Iwasawa disappeared.:

Spoiler for Japanese Lyrics:

Joushiki butteru yatsuga warrateru,
Tsuugi wa donna uso so tsuku?
Sorede erareta mono?
Daijini kazatteokeru no?
hito wa sore demo susumanakya naranai
Sonna no wo utau yo
Naiteru kimi koso,
Kodokuna kimi koso,
Tadashii yo,
Ningen rashii yo,
Otoshita namida ga
Kouin wo,
Konna ni mo utsukushii
Uso ja nai
Hontou no bokuro wo
Arigatou

Spoiler for Mazui Translation:

The ones who ignore common sense laugh,
What will they lie about next?
What will be gained?
Can we hang it proud?
Man must go on regardless,
That is my song,
It's because you're crying,
It's because you're lonely,
You're right,
That's being human,
Those tears I cried
In time,
It's so beautiful,
It's not a lie,
For the real us,
Thank you

In the end she says "To go on singing like this, this is why I was born. Just as I was saved, I'll save someone else like this. Finally...I finally found it."

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Lostdreams

:O invisible girl. I think Yuri's lying to every1, and invisible girl was her friend who moved on, but Yuri doesn't want to move on!

She's not invisible. She's clearly in episode 3, and trips one of the teachers. She's part of the band.

Originally Posted by ZGMF-X10A

Iwasawa is gone and this other invisible girl is gone also but the 4 eyes dude got inserted into the ending.

Why you took that picture, or didn't reference the episode afterward, to see that a second or so after that she's fully materialized, I don't know. As I said above, she's clearly there like a second later, and she's part of the band.

[jinnous]

The invisible girl in question is Yusa, she's like SSS's communication specialist in their operations (Or primarily for when the diversion squad is needed)

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Hilo Hello

Which leads back to the big question: If she's just another dead person trying to move on, why is she bearing the burden of rule-enforcement and maintaining order? She's one of the patients.

you are under the assumption that she is trying to move on. She could be trying to help others move on as her own way doing penance. My guess form this ep is that both Yuri and Tenshi have survivor's guilt and Yuri deals with it by open rebellion while Tenshi does it by getting people to follwo the rules.

[kache]

From my point of view there are two ways of passing over, represented by the two groups:
- Yuri is the rebelious and self building one. Basically, like the buddhist monks, you work on yourself, solve your problems and get to know yourself to the point of enlightment, thus passing over.
- Tenshi, on the other side, is the social passing over. Basically, instead of working on yourself and try to know yourself by solitude and rebellion you heal your wounds in society and try to use the comunication with others to understand yourself, thus passing over.

The first one is harder, and that's why so few people were able to pass over on the Yuri group (even though it doesn't seem like they have such big problems, being that she said at the beginning that a few of her people disappeared when they tried to blend with the Tenshi group).
The second one is easier and more natural so that's why so many people disappear in the Tenshi group. Because of that Tenshi thinks she is right, so she tries to disband Yuri's group, thus allowing the member of the SSS to pass over.

My 2 cents.

[Ezilled]

The general idea about finding their "inner peace" through moving on whilst having a grudge on reality's unfairness is somewhat underwhelming in my opinion. If it's true, then the following SSS members, who have sad, dark past, will have their own spotlight and a chance to forgive-and-forget their predicament as the story progresses. It should be clear that the only ones will be left out are the key characters like Otonashi, Tenshi, and Yuri, and I wish there will be an upcoming twist prior to this event.

As for the characters, I thought Iwasawa’s moment to sing on her own way was well done. Meanwhile, Takeyama’s phrase “Call me, Christ” gets repeated and annoyed the hell out of me, but then again, TK and Yusa are the redeeming part of the episode. Tenshi still has vague information about herself; however, it’s safe to assume that she quite knows on how the afterlife world works.

For the next episode, it may seem they’re going to have a punishment-based baseball game, and Yui will be going to join the team. Hope’s up on next week.

[Hedd]

Something that came to mind was if there was a significance(symbolic or otherwise) to Yui's demonic (albiet moe) appearance.

[germanturkey]

great episode. I need to get my hands on Alchemy.. emotionally powerful. that's all can be said about Iwasawa's back story and final resolution. I wonder if they'll do a "one character resolved per episode" type thing. though if each of their back stories are as painful as this one, it'll be very emotionally draining.

and holy crap, Angel speaks!! since they found out that she has to make her own weapons like the SSS, its not too farfetched to assume that she's like them. except for rebelling against her fate, she's accepted it. and perhaps accepting doesn't lead to disappearing. you can tell she wants to be included too, but due to her role, she can't. hence why she said, "this makes me look like the bad guy" and why she turned around when they started playing again. but i'm still sticking with my original theory: Tenshi was the first to rebel against her fate, and she wants to stay there forever because she couldn't face what happened to her. Everyone there fights back because they didn't accept what happened to them, and thus they acknowledge what happened to them. Tenshi is probably the opposite.

PA works continues to impress. everything was beautifully animated and the concert scene was stellar. they definitely know what they're doing. their stock still go significantly higher after this show. and they did a headphone fetish scene just for me

the op is growing on me too. they also have custom animations for each episode's opening. they have select scenes show at around :53 that are specific per episode. like last week they had TK holding up the roof, and this week, they have Iwasawa listening to music and the band playing.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Hilo Hello

Which leads back to the big question: If she's just another dead person trying to move on, why is she bearing the burden of rule-enforcement and maintaining order? She's one of the patients.

She may not be trying to move on. The PV implied that she sacrificed something. I think that she sacrificed her future life to help others move on whereas Yuri is sacrificing her future life to stay put and take revenge against the higher deity.

[kk2extreme]

lesson from this ep so if you get wacked in the head, you should seek doctor immediately

[Eisdrache]

Would you please not make Yusa disappear? After all she's my favourite character in this show ._. 15:48-15:49 was adorable <333 Oh and if possible I would like for Sekine to stay too >_> edit: 15:43-15:44 is totally cute too. Though it always amazes me how

Originally Posted by RedWing

Was unimpressed by this episode to be honest. Boo hoo hoo life is unfair, cry cry moan moan. Not a fan of the singing, but can appreciate it. I felt that Yurasawa's past was worse than what we've seen of Yurippe's. Yurippe was a single bad event, that a bit of therapy could get over, whereas Yurasawa had a long time of neglect and abuse leading to he death just when she was getting on her feet.

as it prooves that some people have clearly no idea what they are talking about. Little bit of therapy my ass.

Anyway this was a surprisingly nice episode. Made you really feel happy that you don't have this kind of life. Did I mention that Hisako is rising on my list rapidly too? Yui was pretty funny too. And the alchemy song is nice.

[Tsuchi]

Cool episode. The flow of information doesn't stop even with that musical overdose.

A quote I liked from this episode:

Tenshi: "It's almost like I'm the bad guy."

I can understand her.

Also, Christ has potential.