エンジェルビーツ Episode 02
Angel Beats! – 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With an influx of new members and a lack of ammunition, Yuri decides that SSS needs to pay a visit to the Guild to resupply and gives them a call so that the anti-Tenshi traps will be deactivated. Taking several male members of SSS as well as Shiina, Otonashi discovers that the entrance to the Guild is under the gym. Upon entering one of the access tunnels, an anti-Tenshi trap is set off, killing Noda. Yuri believes that the Guild didn’t forget to deactivate the traps, but left them in place because Tenshi is near. Since they need the supplies, they head on but the traps eventually take out every member of SSS save for Otonashi and Yuri.

Yuri is frustrated over what she feels is a lack of leadership on her part. Otonashi attempts to comfort her and cites what he believes makes her a good leader. While they take a break, Yuri tells Otonashi of an incident that happened when she was a child. As the oldest sister in a well off family, she was subjected to some burglars who broke in when she was in charge. The burglars can’t find any cash or valuables and so tell Yuri to find something or else they will begin killing her younger siblings. She cannot find anything but a vase that she breaks and her siblings are killed before cops arrive. When asked how she died, she avoids the question but does state that no one in this world committed suicide.

Moving on to the Guild area, Otonashi sees the giant underground factory where weapons are made from dirt, providing the people remember how to make them. Traps are heard to go off, announcing Tenshi’s arrival. The traps only slow Tenshi and Yuri makes the decision to abandon the Guild and destroy it. Guild leader “Chaa-san” orders the evacuation to the former Guild site.

Realizing they won’t be able to evacuate in time, Yuri leaves to buy time and Otonashi decides to join her. She shoots Tenshi who then raises her distortion field to deflect further shots. The bullet in Tenshi’s let is ejected and Yuri rushes to attack. Yuri holds her own in the fight until Tenshi uses her “Delay” ability, which makes Tenshi much faster. Before Tenshi can kill Yuri, Otonashi charges in and knocks Tenshi aside. The Guild raises a giant cannon to shoot Tenshi with but it blows up upon being fired, the blast does knock Tenshi down. Blowing the Guild, Tenshi is sent to the fiery depths below. At the old Guild site, work begins on setting up shop, causing Otonashi to see how good of a leader Yuri is.

Thoughts/Review:

For some reason, I want to think out of the box for this series. Why? Because things don’t make sense in a traditional sense, which means that we either have an out of the box situation, or something that won’t be satisfactory upon conclusion.

When Yuri announces that they would be traveling to the Guild for a resupply and then called them up to let them know, I thought, “Why aren’t weapons delivered from the Guild?” That makes the most sense to me. However, I figured that this was Yuri’s way of showing Otonashi (and thus the audience) more of the SSS operation, after which she has the boys haul up ammo. So in that regard, I can let it slide and move on with the adventure.

The journey through the long tunnels filled with traps isn’t anything new. For me personally, the new part was the traps killing people at every turn. While new, it certainly wasn’t unexpected considering these people can die but are regenerated. It gave Maeda-sensei a chance to throw in more death humor, which I really don’t find that funny. I was mildly amused at Noda’s removal as well as when the boy who kept forgetting traps got removed (Ouyama?). The scene with Otonashi having to climb up Yuri was amusing as well and starts the hints of their possible relationship.

I can’t really say this was amusing, but the guy who can’t swim (Fujimaki?) getting taken out reminded me of my own past since he had told Otonashi that Otonashi would be the next to be taken out. When I joined the Air Force, I remember a loud mouth going up and down the isle of the bus telling people that he bet they’d be the first to drop out and go home “crying to their mother.” When he reached me, I told him that loud, squawking losers constantly bashing someone ad nauseam only reveal their own inadequacies. He didn’t like that and bashed me some more but guess who quit basic training by peeing in their bed five nights in a row and who went on to serve their country with honor? ^_~

The whole weapons building thing is complete and utter crap. I’m not talking about making weapons out of dirt. Heck, as a Fullmetal Alchemist fan, I can give them a pass and assume that there is some sort of magical, alchemical process that turns dirt into whatever. However, it is stated that these teens working in the Guild need to have memories of what they build before they can build it. Otherwise, they make something that looks good but is in fact worthless, like the cannon at the end of the episode. So, just where do Japanese teens (and even non-Japanese teens) learn to make 9mm, semi-automatic weapons? Or the more elaborate, modern firearms? Or even the anti-Tenshi traps?

Yuri’s story of her childhood is clearly designed to pull at the heartstrings of the audience. It was as if Maeda-sensei said, “What is the most fracked up thing to have happen to a child?” After coming up with a list, he settled on butchering Yuri’s younger siblings. I was afraid that there would be a raping of Yuri as well, considering the Japanese love of rape and lolicon hentai materials. Even still, the brutal murders were bad enough and the story serves its purpose in getting people to understand Yuri’s reason for fighting “god.”

Question is, is Yuri lying about there being no suicide people in this world? If so, what has killed so many stinking teenagers? Why is there one adult in their midst? Why did Yuri dodge the question of her own death? What else is Yuri not saying? Why can’t Otonashi remember anything?

As the Guild was destroyed, I couldn’t help but think of early in The Empire Strikes Back. The rebel base had been discovered and the rebels immediately retreated. They had to delay the unstoppable enemy long enough to make their escape good. That was how the Guild evacuation played out, but I kept thinking, “What’s to evacuate? Other than sparing the Guild people the pain of dying, they will simply come back to life if Tenshi kills them so who cares?”

That leads me to Tenshi herself. Based on everything we’ve seen, this fight between SSS and Tenshi has been going on for years. That said, Tenshi is 100% reactive to the situation. She has enormous abilities, but she does nothing proactive beyond patrolling. In combat, she always starts off with no weapons or protection. Her initial reaction is to create her blade (or blades) and slaughter the offender. If the offender has resistance (such as the guns the SSS use), Tenshi escalates her abilities to the next level and continues moving in for the kill. At close range, she uses her “Delay” ability to make the kill.

So, who or what is Tenshi? Why be in 100% reactive mode? Why are there no repercussions on SSS after an encounter with Tenshi is over? Why is she apparently targeting Otonashi? I say this because in the first episode, she immediately kills Otonashi when he tries to warn her of the danger he perceived. During the fight later to get the meal tickets, she again goes to Otonashi’s location. Then when SSS takes Otonashi underground, suddenly Tenshi is going to the underground and the Guild, something she apparently hasn’t done for quite some time if ever (at this location at least). To me, it makes me wonder if there isn’t something more to Tenshi than what appears on the surface.

One odd last thought — what if Tenshi is one of Yuri’s murdered sisters who’s accepted the role of getting people to the next life and Yuri can’t accept that? Meh. Cliched thought, but it popped into my head for some reason after watching Tenshi and Yuri fight.

I’ll keep blogging this one because there is an interest level here for me.