Angel Beats! 06

We open with the SSS members being let out of the reflection room after being caught in the cafeteria by Naoi last episode. They’re a little worse for wear, having been forced to sleep on hard floors, but are generally alright. Yuri notes that things have taken a strange turn: for the first time, it has been ordinary students who’ve sent them for punishment. Could Tenshi (who will now be known as Kanade here) have been keeping them in check? The team are at a loss for how to proceed, so Yuri instructs them to experiment: now that Kanade isn’t ruling, they should do whatever they want in class. And, of course, the gang make it their mission to be as crazy as possible.

Crazy baby.

Cut to class and we get people munching on snacks, a mahjong game between friends (Hisako is scarily good), Yui running back and forth to the toilet, Takamatsu doing push-ups, Noda sleeping on a desk and Shiina training herself again. Consider their parade rained on, though, when Naoi and his lackeys burst in. Most of the gang run – with TK jumping out the window and uttering “I’ll be back” – and some cover up what they’ve been doing. Noda is taken to the reflection room after a blunder, but otherwise, not much is lost. We’re then shown Naoi as he beats up a couple of students on the school rooftop for no apparent reason, and it’s revealed that Yuri has been watching him do so.

RIICHI DESU WA~!

Next, the focus turns back to Otonashi as he treats Kanade to some mapo tofu. Everything is going swimmingly when, naturally, Naoi appears: eating during breaktime, which the two have done, is against school rules. Kanade evidently knew this… but she’ll go to great lengths for her favourite dish (and she polishes it off in an instant before they’re escorted out). They’re taken to a mysterious place, which is shown to be something akin to a prison cell, and Otonashi panics. Kanade goes to sleep on the bed.

She'll do anything for mapo tofu.

We return with Otonashi desperately trying to contact Yuri with the walkie-talkie he’s been given. After a while, they get in touch and Yuri reveals that Naoi isn’t an NPC. He’s a human, like them, and he too has a soul. The reason he hasn’t disappeared is that he’s been attacking students while maintaining a facade of good behaviour. Yuri tells Otonashi that the SSS has begun battle against Naoi, who’s been using NPCs as human shields and hostages. Clearly, he knows their M.O. The SSS are going to submit: comrades are falling left and right, and they haven’t been able to find Otonashi and Kanade because they’re not in one of the reflection rooms. She says that Kanade is their only hope to stop the fight and that Otonashi has to help her escape. We hear gunfire and screaming in the distance, and Yuri signs off.

Otonashi shakes Kanade awake and begs her to help him. She obliges, attempting to use her Guard Skill: Hand Sonic to break them out. It doesn’t work, though: it was created by her purely for self-defense. He takes this opportunity to ask her why she attacked him when they first met, to which she replies that he asked a strange question. Otonashi notes that maybe, had he not asked that, they might have been friends. Kanade answers that she doesn’t have any friends, because any she might have will disappear. It’s the truth – should anyone befriend Kanade, they would thus be living a normal, obedient life and pass on. At this point, Otonashi is crying at the unfairness of this. Kanade now activates versions two (a longer sword), three (a trident), and four (which is shaped like a giant lotus) of Hand Sonic. She manages to break them out using a combination of two and four, and they run hand-in-hand towards the Grounds.

Don't worry! The cuteness works!

It’s raining outside as we’re shown snapshots from a brutal massacre. Hinata is lying half-dead in a pool of blood (don’t worry, fangirls! None of them can die, remember?), and Naoi has his boot on top of him. Otonashi rushes to help his friend and Naoi orders them to leave. Instead, Kanade activates Hand Sonic. Naoi asks if they’re rebelling against God, and before they can answer, announces that he himself is God. He opines that this is a world which chooses its own God, and that he has earned the right to be that figure because of his awful life before he died. He pulls up Yuri, who’s been lying with her face planted in the ground, and says that she will rest in peace now. He notes that the fulfillment of dreams in this world causes a transition into the next (after disappearance), before revealing that he will use his powers as a hypnotist to do the same to Yuri. He activates his ability and forces her to see the smiling faces of her murdered brothers and sisters, so her wish will be granted. Just as this is about to happen, though, Otonashi lunges at Naoi and breaks the hold of the illusion.

We then get a flashback into Naoi’s past. His father was a famous potter, and his twin brother was named the heir to the family because of his immense skill. Naoi, on the other hand, was reclusive and introverted, staying in his room alone all day. Then, his brother died and he was forced to take his place and essentially become him. He endured years of difficult training and his father’s constant berating, and still aimed to be the best potter in the country. But then his father became terminally ill and, without his guidance, Naoi wasn’t able to continue with his dream. He says that his life was a fake, and was worthless compared to his brother’s. Back in the present, Otonashi sweeps him into a hug and tells him that his life really did have meaning. (Some dialogue that wills drive the fujoshis into a frenzy follows this. N: “Will you acknowledge me?” O: “Who is the one in my arms?”, among other things.) The episode ends with Naoi remembering the one time he beat his brother and the acknowledgment he received from his father as a result. The credits roll and a ‘To Be Continued’ notice appears after this.

The question that must be asked: who's the uke?

This episode was excellent. Every week, Angel Beats! will do something to challenge what I think about it or what I expect from it. This week, there was a huge change of pace. We also received a healthy dose of drama and some twists, in the forms of Naoi’s power and in his role in the world. Questions were answered – we now know for sure that the granting of a wish results in one’s disappearance, and also that Kanade never set out to attack the SSS – and others were raised. We also learnt about the tragedy that Kanade is facing every day, with regard to the situation with any friends she might make. I was quite affected by this, because with the way the world has been set up, she was almost guaranteed to be alone (before Otonashi). As for Naoi’s backstory, I thought it was excellently done: it was easily the most creative effort yet, it was easily relatable, and while it was certainly heart-wrenching, it was the least over-dramatic of those that have been presented. It’s definitely my favourite so far. I also think Naoi is a really fascinating character; his motivations are hazy but certainly different to those of any other person we’ve met. This brings me to something else I want to point out about the series: the characterisation. I feel it is of an extremely high standard. Each character is three-dimensional and interesting, and I don’t feel as though archetypes/tropes are relied on all that much. The show also forces you to rethink your perceptions of the people it presents, with twists often being pulled (and successfully executed). Nobody in the Angel Beats! world is easy to figure out, and everyone has mysteries surrounding them or their pasts. I must admit that this worries me, though. We’re already about half-way through the series, and there are still so many questions that demand answers with regard to the characters. We hardly know who many of them are, much less how they came to be in this world. In this respect, I’m concerned that the creators have bitten off more than they can chew. I hope they haven’t: I’d hate to see this series go downhill because goals that could have been met with better planning, aren’t. Nevertheless, I’m really loving the show and, once again, I can’t wait for the next episode. This has been a riveting ride so far, and I just hope things can continue at the level they’re at now.