[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Jarmel

I'm fully aware that I'm overanalyzing this but I just wanted to point out some of the flaws in the writing(it's a hobby of mine).

Putting flaws regarding small details that are arguably taken out of context is really not a fair hobby, especially considering we are talking about an anime series.

The main reason I brought up the traditional definition is because I'm trying to establish what would be common sense for the characters and what would be natural assumptions as well as conclusions.

You are using common sense based on a position of a third party totally unrelated. I wonder if you consider the context at hand, especially that you are involving a complete different culture.
Again, if you ask "what" is an angel for asians, they would generally picture them as "agent of god, generally with wings and guiding/keeping order among the souls in the realm of god", something along the lines. It isn't like you can expect adults to have the complete definition of a concept used in a foreign culture, let alone -kids-. I might overgeneralize a bit here, but so far, I rarely saw anything remotely "fitting" to the true definition/description in our culture.

Would a person who entered Tenshi's room or watched her on a daily basis be surprised at how human she behaves? Especially over an extremely long time period? Would a person who is a spiritual being (and know they are) not act surprised over the need of sleep and food?

I'm sorry, but the "how human" is really relative, and we had insight that SSS could obviously not witness. I mean, I sure would rather call someone like Kanade a "machine" when they are moving in the same fashion and automatically shift between hostile/normal mode under specific conditions. That would be the "natural" conclusion, save few characterization that only us viewers could have.
Furthermore, who said they weren't surprised of their need of eating and sleeping? Otonashi surely was, and we don't know how the rest of the SSS reacted, since they were established in the afterlife for much longer than him. This point is rather moot.

You're also assuming that they're in heaven or some supernatural dimension. It's still quite possible that this could turn out to be something else completely.

And mind telling what kind of other possibility it is? For all it is worth, the "matrix" thing is totally whacky, because it doesn't make sense to "unplug" people when they are in state of settling their regrets and so forth. Heck, if it was the sole objective, that would simply require the "engineer" behind it to forcefully unplug SSS if they are a problem.
De facto, the whole concept doesn't hold the water since people do remember of their death, so they obviously know right from the get go it is a fake world... so what's the purpose of such world? To "plug them in", when they are obviously not conditionned as if they were still alive? And it doesn't make sense for people behind such scheme to possibly chase after brain dead people who have regrets only (quite convenient to boot).
The only other possibility is a dream, and I certainly can't swallow the idea that someone would have an imagination of such magnitude to include people's background and so forth.