Angel Beats! - Speculations & Theories

[Marcus H.]

The problem lies in the "NPCs". As of now, we are not certain that they are real humans or placeholders for interaction. Also, we do not know who created them: Tenshi, Yui, or some other being much higher than any character right now. It might be even Otonashi. o.o

Another theory might be that Otonashi IS the administrator of the afterlife and Tenshi is working for him directly. Tenshi might not know of his existence because she never saw him and Otonashi might not realize this because of his amnesia.

[blewin]

Originally Posted by The Wild Turkey

I'm of the school of thought that Angel is some sort of caretaker who's job is to help souls pass on/reincarnate etc (note her comment 'It's almost like I'm the bad guy'). In which case Yuri and co are not just fighting against God, they're fighting against 'natural order' and their own ability to pass on.

I agree. After watching episode 4, this suspicion just grew stronger... which means we can expect to see more character history in future episodes.

[Crontica]

Originally Posted by The Wild Turkey

I'm of the school of thought that Angel is some sort of caretaker who's job is to help souls pass on/reincarnate etc (note her comment 'It's almost like I'm the bad guy'). In which case Yuri and co are not just fighting against God, they're fighting against 'natural order' and their own ability to pass on.



I don't know about that, it could just be an act to deceive them all. And she did interrupt Hinata's disappearance. You know the saying 'the devils greatest trick was convincing the world he didn't exist'

Hinata would be G.O.N.E if he didn't overirritate Yui. That is the plain truth.

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by Crontica

Hinata would be G.O.N.E if he didn't overirritate Yui. That is the plain truth.

Really his Karma just bite him in the but there, or saving him depending on your opinion .

[The Wild Turkey]

Originally Posted by Crontica

Hinata would be G.O.N.E if he didn't overirritate Yui. That is the plain truth.

She interrupted him right when he was about to make the match winning catch. She could have just as easily picked another time. She just happened to pick the exact moment when he was about to disappear. That's a little too coincidental.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by The Wild Turkey

She interrupted him right when he was about to make the match winning catch. She could have just as easily picked another time. She just happened to pick the exact moment when he was about to disappear. That's a little too coincidental.

She specifically said "Ha! You left your guard down" so perhaps any other time wouldn't have worked.

Besides, i thought there was a hidden meaning behind it. Like how the only reason that was keeping Hinata here was friendship, and actually was having a fun time with Otonashi/SSS/Yui the whole time or something sweet/corny like that

[MeoTwister5]

Right now it fees almost obvious that Mr. Scythe-Idiot's problem that ties him there would likely be related to beating a certain someone, abstract/concrete or otherwise.

[The Wild Turkey]

Originally Posted by Haak

She specifically said "Ha! You left your guard down" so perhaps any other time wouldn't have worked.

Besides, i thought there was a hidden meaning behind it. Like how the only reason that was keeping him here was freindship, or something sweet/corny like that

I don't think even she would be stupid enough to ruin her teams chances of winning the match, seeing how into it she was before hand.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

Right now it fees almost obvious that Mr. Scythe-Idiot's problem that ties him there would likely be related to beating a certain someone, abstract/concrete or otherwise.

I figured it was that but in relation to competing over a girl, judging from his infatuation with Yuri. Maybe when he was alive, he lost a girl to someone or something like that. If that's the case then likely he's here to stay.

Originally Posted by The Wild Turkey

I don't think even she would be stupid enough to ruin her teams chances of winning the match, seeing how into it she was before hand.

Maybe she is just that stupid. Or maybe she actually deduced that Hinata would disappear. So either she's really smart or really stupid.

[Kunagisa]

Originally Posted by Haak

I'm sure there has to be a reason why they're trying so hard to avoid anyone flat out stating their cause of death.

Me thinks they all did commit suicide. And maybe the reason why Otonashi can't remember isn't because his cause of death involved head trauma...

This makes the most sense to me. I was watching this with my friend and his speculation is that this is the place for all those who were unhappy with their life to relive their life (Did they say this in the anime? My memory's kinda blurred at the moment.).

Premise/Setting/Story.
As such is the case, every single conscious came from suicide. All the adults went to make weapons for the students, and the show is done from the high school suiciders' perspective. The intent of the story is to demonstrate how stressful high school is for all these kids.

Points of stress include sports, parents, romantic relationships, classes, accidents, traumas, assaults etc.

Angel/Tenshi.
There is no God, only Angel. Only one Angel. Angel reacted to the music and stopped taking down the posters are being pestered by the npcs/souls. Angel obviously has the ability to wipe them out but never did so. Capable of evolve. Unclear function and purpose of creation outside of maintaining order in the afterlife. My original theory is that Angel is a baby that died either to miscarriage or before own conscious began to form, hence she is given a spot to observe and help others pass on so she could realize the life she never had and eventually form her own story and move on. This theory obviously fail if there's only 1 Angel.

Sound/Music/Beat
There are heavy emphasis on this theme. Ranging from the piano, guitar, and even the little wave on the title logo. All the Angel's abilities are sound related. The Harmony ability seem to be synchronization rather than duplicates to me. They could be just riding this theme for similarity purpose, but the traces seem too suspicious to me to be purely artificial since the main character has sound as part of his name too.

[Crontica]

Originally Posted by The Wild Turkey

She interrupted him right when he was about to make the match winning catch. She could have just as easily picked another time. She just happened to pick the exact moment when he was about to disappear. That's a little too coincidental.

*Rewatches ep 4*

Hinata was in the gallery at the first round
batter at the second round
Round 4 ~ 7 he was watching by the sidelines then Tenshi came
Baseball flashforward - 7 ~ 10 rounds pass by
Hinata was the runner at the 11th round
Hinata is now the catcher at the 13th round, the ball hasn't come to him yet
Hinata asks Otonashi WHTF Takewara is doing eating noodles while catching, Otonashi says he gave him free meal tickets, Hinata uses Yui as a punching bag for Otonashi's stupidity which at this point probably made Yui snap.

4 rounds pass and the ball hasn't come near him yet, if Yui went to kick his ass now he'd catch her before she could even blink.

Otonashi notices Hinata is acting odd before returning to the pitch then the overhead ball comes.
This is the first time in the entire game the ball has come towards Hinata this being the special Karmic ball his guard is down then Yui lands the chokehold.. LOL Hinata broke out of the hold.. failed to remember that.

[Marina2]

About Yui's devil appearance. I think those tail and chains are the equipment that she wear to show she is the GirlDeMo(n)'s fan.

I don't think they are related to the plot.

[HashiriyaR32]

Okay, this isn't exactly a speculation or anything, but if Angel can initiate "Hand Sonic" for both hands, I'd love to see her pull off one of Gundam Exia's spinning slash moves. Plus, she's got quantization (Delay).

[Hedd]

Originally Posted by Marina2

About Yui's devil appearance. I think those tail and chains are the equipment that she wear to show she is the GirlDeMo(n)'s fan.

I don't think they are related to the plot.

It's not necessarily a literal thing. In an anime about angels and afterlife, a character that appears demonic has some significance symbolically in the very least (even if it's just a red herring).

[Ice Block]

Originally Posted by Marina2

GirlDeMo(n)

Girls Dead Monster. Her devilish clothes make her look "trendy", or at least that's what the SSS guys say. It also fits her rock/metal music theme. The reason for speculation on her identity is because the SSS "higher-ups" act like they don't know her (though Noda obviously does, as seen from Ep03), she has NPC friends, and she is some kind of obsessive fan with peculiar clothes (and an underling in the diversionary squad, she says).

Originally Posted by Haak

Me thinks they all did commit suicide. And maybe the reason why Otonashi can't remember isn't because his cause of death involved head trauma...

Iwasawa's and Hinata's deaths can be considered as significantly strong evidence against the suicide theory:

• Iwasawa - lost her voice, paralyzed, possibly brain-dead.
• Hinata - see Track Zero chapter 1.

Next, attitude. Do you see someone like TK, Matsushita and Chaa committing suicide? How about Noda, Ooyama and Christ? Tenshi and Yui? (Note that they are in the post-suicide state, therefore, their suicidal tendencies and/or depression should leave some trace.) I'm betting that they all died due to complications involving their past "regrets", but definitely not suicide.

Originally Posted by Haak

Besides, i thought there was a hidden meaning behind it. Like how the only reason that was keeping Hinata here was friendship, and actually was having a fun time with Otonashi/SSS/Yui the whole time or something sweet/corny like that

The prequel novel (Track Zero) is from Hinata's point of view (and the first three translated chapters actually show quite a bit of characterization). I think it is necessary to understand the motivations of the characters (specially the founding members of the SSS), since I doubt it will be covered in the anime.

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Another theory might be that Otonashi IS the administrator of the afterlife and Tenshi is working for him directly. Tenshi might not know of his existence because she never saw him and Otonashi might not realize this because of his amnesia.

I highly doubt this. Also, I believe this theory originally roots from the Haruhi comparisons, which has a similar "Kyon is God" theory (which is just as slippery as this one, though it has a little more supporting events).

Reasons why I do not support this theory:

• Amnesia is nothing special in this world. Yuri even said so in Ep02.
• His arrival is similar to Hinata's, suggesting similar death experience.
• He gets killed like any other normal human.
• Finally, assuming the above are all "just as planned", I find it senseless for "God" to make himself human, have amnesia, play around with the humans and even try to prevent one from passing on.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Ice Block

Iwasawa's and Hinata's deaths can be considered as significantly strong evidence against the suicide theory:[LIST][*]Iwasawa - lost her voice, paralyzed, possibly brain-dead.

Oh I see. I didn't know Iwasawa was paralysed. (Btw, I'd like to figure things out without all the prequel info so thanks but no thanks. Seems like I should probably stay out of this thread, though)

Next, attitude. Do you see someone like TK, Matsushita and Chaa committing suicide? How about Noda, Ooyama and Christ? Tenshi and Yui? (Note that they are in the post-suicide state, therefore, their suicidal tendencies and/or depression should leave some trace.) I'm betting that they all died due to complications involving their past "regrets", but definitely not suicide.

I honestly didn't expect Yuri to have such a horrific past, considering how she is now, but you know, I'm sure being in an afterlife like this can change a person. And i don't know how long they've been there. They could've been there for decades and eventually realised it's hard to have suicidal tendancies in a world where you can't die.

[Marcus H.]

Actually, I'm not thinking about Kyon when I posted my speculation.

[Leo Keichi]

I wonder how an Angel Beats! visual novel would be like. Something like Persona perhaps?

I don't believe most of the people committed suicide. Yuri even called their group the 'Like hell I'm dead brigade' once. Why would a suicidal be so revolted against his death like this?

Originally Posted by Ice Block

The reason for speculation on her identity is because the SSS "higher-ups" act like they don't know her (though Noda obviously does, as seen from Ep03), she has NPC friends, and she is some kind of obsessive fan with peculiar clothes (and an underling in the diversionary squad, she says).

I'm not even sure if the other people are really NPCs. I've got suspicious of this when I was reading the novel and saw that Hinata's room partner was human after all. Yuri likes to call Tenshi's room, which looks pretty normal, a special headquarter. Maybe they just want to believe all the other people there aren't real, because it fits their vision better.

[Crontica]

Another thing is how long have they been fighting? Since the majority of them are still upbeat maybe only 10 years have passed.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Leo Keichi

I don't believe most of the people committed suicide. Yuri even called their group the 'Like hell I'm dead brigade' once. Why would a suicidal be so revolted against his death like this?

Oh, good point actually.