May 15th, 2010 
AstroNerdBoy エンジェルビーツ Episode 07
Angel Beats! – 07
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Naoi joins the SSS and Yuri decides to use his hypnotic ability to allow Otonashi to recover his memories. Though somewhat reluctant to do so, Otonashi agrees. There, he recalls having a younger sister who’d been in the hospital for two years. Otonashi had dropped out of school and worked part time jobs so that he could buy her things like various manga during his frequent visits. With Christmas approaching, 
he decides to work more to buy his sister Hatsune something nice as well as sneak her out of the hospital so she can enjoy the Christmas lights. He does this and she is grateful but dies sometime later. Otonashi gets his act together and studies hard, but just as he’s about to start the next phase of his life, he dies in a train accident.
After Otonashi gets over the ordeal of recalling his life, Yuri
announces they are going to take care of their food problems by Operation Monster Stream. This involves fishing in a nearby river. On the way there, Otonashi sees Tenshi tending a garden and gets her to come with them. The SSS members are stunned by this and more so when Yuri agrees to it. Arriving at the river, Saitou has the fishing gear waiting for them and Otonashi teaches Tenshi how to fish. She soon lands the monster of t
he river, causing the SSS members, save for Yuri, to form a chain to brace her. Using her passive, supernatural “Overdrive” ability, Tenshi yanks the monster fish out of the water, but the members of SSS are now airborne and falling to its open mouth. Tenshi appears to activate her Harmonics ability in addition to Hand Sonic, where she makes minced meat out of the fish to save SSS.
SSS decide to serve the monster fish to the students at school, which amused Otonashi since it is something he’d never imagine SSS doing before. Tenshi helps and Otonashi tells Tenshi his given name is Yuzuru. He gets permission to address her by her first name, Kanade. As they clean up that evening, SSS ponders where Yuri has gone when the beaten and dirtied Yuri shows up, accusing Tenshi of attacking her. Since Tenshi has been with them, that seems impossible until a second Tenshi with red eyes is seen on a nearby roof.
Thoughts/Review:
Well, lots of stuff happened here from the melodramatic, to the comedic, to the sweet, to the surprising twist at the end of the episode.
First, Otonashi’s back story. While the story about his sister is sad, it felt like a standard Key plot element where one character is sickly or knows someone sickly. However, because there was no setup, there’s really no emotional payoff either when Hatsune dies. Of course Maeda-sensei may not be going for much emotional impact, but just wants to show the sad tale of Otonashi’s sister.
Interestingly enough, I think the revelation that Otonashi died in a train accident pretty much removes the suicide theories that still abounded. When I read that Hinata died in a traffic accident (revealed in the novel), I figured that this meant that Yuri spoke the truth when she said there were no people who committed suicide in this world. However, one 
could say that Hinata committed suicide by stepping in front of a vehicle. With Otonashi, we saw that he’d taken the “lemons” of his sister’s illness and death and turned it into lemonade by become an outstanding student to study medicine. So he was not suicidal in addition to not being able to control the fact that the train he was on had an accident that killed him.
While I’m thinking about it, why is Naoi in the group? Seriously, after what he did to SSS, his actions are much more vicious than anything Tenshi did. Yet despite that, Naoi is in the group. I guess that Maeda-sensei needed Otonashi to remember his life and so Naoi became the convenient tool for that.
On the comedy side, there’s the fishing trip. Tenshi’s 
learning to fish caused her to snare Hinata in the mouth and then later send Takeyama flying, both of which were funny moments. However, it was Yui seeing an opportunity to gain revenge on Hinata for picking on her that made me laugh out loud. They really are like brother and sister. *lol* It makes me wonder more about Yui’s termination.
Tenshi’s decision to help out SSS by dispatching the monster fish was a cool. However, a clue gets dropped here which I believe explains the second Tenshi at the end of the episode. Watch this animated sequence (courtesy of an anonymous Japanese fan).
Here’s the still shot of what I believe is Tenshi subconsciously using her Harmonics ability.
If that’s the case and this is just an ability of Tenshi’s to clone herself, whey didn’t the clone fall to Earth as well? For that matter, why perform Harmonics at all when the situation did not require it? Why does the clone have the same red eyes that Naoi has when he uses his abilities? Why did she then attack Yuri, or did she attack Yuri? After all, Yuri has held a long-time grudge against Tenshi and despite agreeing to have Tenshi on the fishing trip, she may have been plotting more revenge against her rival. Yuri knows about Tenshi’s Harmonic ability and may be trying to place Tenshi back into a bad light.
There are a lot of unanswered questions there.
Still, this was an enjoyable episode to be sure. There was melodrama and angst without going too overboard. There were some nice humor moments as well as some sweet moments between Tenshi and Otonashi. And there was that twist at the end.
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Hey you’re almost timely for a change. Good job! ^_~ Plz post evil Tenshi pics when you find them.
On the topic of Otonashi’s sister I am wondering if she actually died the night he took her out of the hospital for Christmas given Otonashi stating that after his sister thanked him he just continued walking and talking by himself. Which if the case would probably cause him more guilt.
His sister’s name Hatsune is yet another musical name meaning first sound ironic given that Otonashi means no sound or silence.
There is also the question of the anime cliche lack of parents as they are not mentioned at all and when Otonashi leaves where he was staying the conversation seems more like leaving a family friend or relative than parents. Does this mean his parents are dead or was he and his sister estranged from them for some reason.
Given the Flashback it seems that Otonashi could have a good chance of dissapearing if he remains acting the way he has as it appears that his unfulfilled wish is to help people and he seems to be doing a lot of that. Though there is also a chance that his happiness criteria is being reunited with his sister and apologising for being a bad brother (which IMO he was not) in which case he may have a problem leaving.
One thing the Flashback does not do though is confirm whether they are actually dead or “just” in a coma as Otonashi’s last thoughts are of falling backwards and it could be the accident caused him to become unconscious rather than killing him.
Moving on to Naoi his conversation with Otonashi just prior to his hypnosis and the change in voice tone and signs of affection towards Otanashi, have left me supporting the theory that Naoi may actually be a girl. If this is the case, being accepted as a girl is probably his prompt for dissapearing.
As for the duel Tenshi while I agree there is a good chance that it is an accident due to the event at the river, given that things can be created through thought in this world there is also a chance that the “Dark” Tenshi may have been created by someone or may even be an actual angel given Tenshi’s form given that is how the SSS thought an angel looked like.
My theory on the new Tenshi is maybe this one has emotions, and may have attaked yuri-ppe because of a grudge.
If this one does have emotions we may finally see some canon
tenshi X otonashi
I suspect that the reason for Naoi’s inclusion in SSS is threefold –
First, it’s pretty clear that the only person able to keep him in line is Otonashi. At the start of the episode we see Naoi slipping his leash once again and abusing his hypnosis. Otonashi appears to be the only one genuinely able to keep Naoi in line, so it’s good to keep Naoi close at hand where an eye can be kept on him.
Second, his attitudes in this episode seem reminiscent of a student idolizing an upperclassmate – although typically in anime the two students involved are female. So he’s probably following Otonashi around. And do you really want to risk the results of what might happen if he’s rejected?
Third, if SSS can keep the acting student body president in their pocket, then they have pretty much free reign of the school.
A couple of items regarding Tenshi –
Given that being a “good” student is supposed to make you disappear, why hasn’t Tenshi moved on? She’s the epitome of the dutiful student, and yet she’s still here.
Second, Yuri’s state at the end of the episode doesn’t make much sense if Tenshi (either one) is responsible. Tenshi’s never attacked without provocation before. So what gives?
And finally – I half expected the guy from the guild to vanish after they caught that giant fish… I wonder if there will be any repercussions from landing it? It doesn’t seem like something that should just be hanging around at the bottom of the river.
hmm . . from what i see , the image of Kanade activating her skills left an afterimage of sorts , not exactly a double like her skill “Harmonic” supposed to do , but seeing from the point that if she is in fact using the skill , she probably used it as a stepping platform (lol Naruto) to perform her dash , which means the body double disappear as soon as she made her dash.
and about red eyes Angel , i am having a few wild guess about her.
1.Yuri created it , by using the program from Kanade while they are out fishing.
2.GOD sent it , either because the school need a President (by using Angel as a default avatar interface) or GOD is pissed at them and wants them disappear.
3.Kanade’s evil twin sister (ROFL) not , Harmonics gone wrong.
Honestly no.1 seems right to me ,judging from what Yuri is willing to do so far. but no.2 has its merit too.
@Anon — I got lucky. ^_^;
@Mister_Random — I wondered if she died on that trip out as well. Why? Clannad. ^_^;;;
“There is also the question of the anime cliche lack of parents as they are not mentioned at all and when Otonashi leaves where he was staying the conversation seems more like leaving a family friend or relative than parents. Does this mean his parents are dead or was he and his sister estranged from them for some reason.”
And on that same track, why are there only high school kids in this purgatory world? I’m told that even Chaa is a teen even though he looks older.
“One thing the Flashback does not do though is confirm whether they are actually dead or “just” in a coma as Otonashi’s last thoughts are of falling backwards and it could be the accident caused him to become unconscious rather than killing him.”
That’s true. These may all be coma victims.
“Moving on to Naoi his conversation with Otonashi just prior to his hypnosis and the change in voice tone and signs of affection towards Otanashi, have left me supporting the theory that Naoi may actually be a girl. If this is the case, being accepted as a girl is probably his prompt for dissapearing.”
I hadn’t thought about that, but that could be true and wouldn’t be the first time an anime has had a girl disguised as a guy (and vice versa).
“…there is also a chance that the “Dark” Tenshi may have been created by someone or may even be an actual angel given Tenshi’s form given that is how the SSS thought an angel looked like. “
Heh!heh! I like the idea.
@Corey — So Tenshi’s copy displayed some negative emotion toward Yuri for all the abuse Yuri has heaped on her? Interesting.
@junior — Interesting thoughts on Naoi.
As to Tenshi, I started thinking about that earlier tonight. She’s obviously a model student and even student body president. By what we’ve heard, that should make her a prime candidate to leave but she doesn’t.
As to Yuri’s “fight” with Tenshi that is implied, Tenshi’s normal modus operandi is to only fight when attacked and then to go for the kill. So Yuri being alive at all struck me as odd. I’m suspicious of Yuri because of her need to have an enemy but Tenshi may not be without blame either.
“I wonder if there will be any repercussions from landing it? It doesn’t seem like something that should just be hanging around at the bottom of the river. “
Interesting, especially since the gigantor fish seemed to be the guardian of the river. That would explain why the river is off limits and why SSS retreats the moment that whirlpool is detected.
@OneSin — That would explain why the “clone” didn’t appear on the ground, but since we didn’t see the copy of Tenshi disappear, it is still possible that this is her clone at the end of episode 2.
I like your theory of Yuri possibly creating Tenshi. It would be interesting for sure.
Interesting stuff you guys thought of. ^_^
this is geting interesting ^^
yeah I’m for Yuri making that clone, they pretty much lampshaded it in this ep, without an enemy to fight they’re not an army anymore. by fighting against the so called Tenshi that gave the SSS a reason to keep from disappearing but when Tenshi became Kanade Yuri sorta lost her purpose she she “made” a new one.
Did you people watch the anime? it’s all explained. For one, the Harmonics clone was created as a guard skill when Tenshi was “evil”, so therefore the clone is evil. That’s just the nature of the clones.
For another, the only person who fell into a coma is Iwasawa. We watch Otonashi die in episode 9. Also, the reason Tenshi didn’t pass on is because she wanted to thank Otonashi, as is shown in ep. 13.
We don’t know if Hatsune really died on Christmas, it’s possible but the way I see it Otonashi would’ve been a lot more upset if she had.
The evil clone and Tenshi are in no way connected to God, and the clone has the same/fewer emotions as Tenshi.
I agree with junior’s beliefs on Naoi joining the SSS, however it could also just be because Naoi’s so funny and Key/Maeda Jun wanted some additional comic relief. I also agree with the theory that he could possibly be a girl.
For another thing, red eyes symbolize evil. They didn’t mean to connect the clone and Naoi.
No way in hell Yuri made the clone. It’s a guard skill.
Not sure what happens to his parents, but its not really a big deal. Cut the show a break.
As I probably said earlier, the clone didn’t attack Yuri for anything like a grudge, nor did Yuri stage a fight. That’s just the nature of the clone.
There aren’t just high schoolers, but the story only focuses on them. (For one, too young kids wouldn’t have the emotionally capability of going to Afterlife, and old people are usually too wise.) Also, correct me if I’m wrong, Otonashi had already graduated and was going to take a college entrance exam when he died.
Fishing Saito could very well have passed on after they caught Monster Stream, since we never see him again afterward.
Sorry for the scattered thoughts, I was just really angry.
>Sorry for the scattered thoughts, I was just really angry.
No problem, say on. ^_^
Arigatou.