エンジェルビーツ Episode 11
Angel Beats 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Naoi lends his assistance to Otonashi to help get people from SSS to pass on when a Shadow appears and attacks him. Hinata and Otonashi manage to kill the shadow and the incident is reported to Yuri. Yuri decides to consult Kanade (Tenshi) about this and uses the P.A. system to summon her. Hinata, Naoi, and Otonashi also come, Naoi stating that he authorized it as vice president. Kanade denies creating the Shadows and tells Yuri what program modification she has made (wings). She grants permission to have her computer searched and her words are proven true.

The meeting is interrupted by the sounds of gunfire outside as three members of SSS are surrounded by Shadows. Otonashi has Kanade enter the fray and she leaps over the balcony, sprouting wings and dropping down but using her wings to land softly. Yuri does the impossible to get down there quickly and enter the fight, so Hinata, Otonashi, and Naoi soon do the same. The fight is a desperate one with only Kanade dispatching Shadows without breaking a sweat. As the fight continues, Yuri witnesses an NPC turn into a shadow to join the fight.

Once the battle finally ends with all Shadows slain, Yuri ponders if these Shadows are because they’ve stayed in this world too long and are being forced to move along. Word comes that Takamatsu has been consumed by a Shadow, but the next day, he shows up wearing a regular uniform instead of the SSS uniform and has no clue what the other members of SSS are talking about. His insistence on attending class leads Yuri to state that he’s been turned into an NPC and to order that all SSS members travel in pairs for safety.

Yuri calls a meeting of the entire SSS at the gym (auditorium) where she announces their new enemy, the Shadow. She has had the announcement made that they will have to move as a group to defeat this new enemy, but she acknowledges there is another plan and has Otonashi come forward. Realizing that Yuri has known all along of his plan to send people on out of this world, Otonashi lays it out for the SSS members. After Otonashi gives his presentation, Yuri dismisses the SSS members and tells them to consider their options.

After the meeting, Yuri meets with Otonashi, Naoi, Hinata, and Kanade. Yuri wants Kanade on the front line with her skills and when she states that Kanade isn’t an angel, Otonashi is stunned, having believed that “Tenshi” was in fact an angel. Kanade again denies being an angel, reminding him that she said the same thing at their first encounter. Otonashi wonders why she’s still here to which Yuri states that she has a reason. As such, Otonashi wants to make sure Kanade gets off this world as well.

Yuri says she’s going to do some solo investigation and that if she comes back and everyone is gone, she’ll assume Otonashi successfully sent them away. Both Otonashi and Hinata promise to wait for her, something she finds silly but she thanks them and leaves the fighting in Kanade’s hands. As the SSS ponder whether to pass on or stay and fight, Yuri arms herself and heads for the PC lab, the only place programming like Kanade does could be done. She learns from a custodian that PC’s are being stolen and her further investigation causes her to discover a tunnel under the lab that leads back to the former guild.

Thoughts/Review:

Gah! Between work and the desperate need for time-sinks, I’m WAY late on this review. ^_^; Well, better late than never. ^_~

I gotta admit that I found Naoi pretty funny this episode. After Yui’s departure, I was thinking the humor levels would be almost non-existent but his performance early in the episode proved me wrong. Toilet paper being flushed indeed. *lol* And then his covering for Otonashi in Yuri’s meeting with Kanade while talking about how Kanade stabs him every day. *lol*

Speaking of humor, TK made me laugh during the first major engagement of the Shadows. “Dancing in the shadows” was one thing, but the “I kiss you” before pumping a Shadow full of lead struck me as rather droll. ^_^ Seriously, if this anime gets licensed and dubbed, they gotta use the Michael Rivas’s stuff from the Japanese audio or just have him re-record his stuff. They HAVE to incorporate the Japanese and English mix in the English dub or else it loses everything that makes his character fun. I sense a great loathing in the force to have Japanese in an English dub though. *_*

Now to the plot. I find it interesting that despite Kanade denying being an angel and Yuri accepting that fact by calling Kanade by her given name, something still does not add up with Kanade. She made the angel wings as Otonashi requested and stated they were for decoration purposes only. A check of her computer confirmed this. However, when she leaped off the balcony at Otonashi’s request to enter the fray, she sprouted her wings and then flapped them at the end to give herself a hover for a moment before soft landing. Decorative wings should not do that. Indeed, the Japanese pointed out on 2CH that Kanade traveled quite some distance on those fake wings.

(Yuri’s move to the battle field was quite impressive too considering she had no wings.)

Regardless, Kanade seems to be an order taker and she obeys Otonashi. In the fight, she is her normal self and doesn’t even break a sweat as she slaughters the Shadows. Maybe she’s the ultimate NPC?

I liked how Otonashi decided to question why Kanade was still hanging around this world. The look she gave him when he patted her head was humorous in that it seemed to express more emotion than Kanade usually does.

So, the question becomes who is creating these Shadows and why? Why is the old guild such an integral part of this anime so far?

Another good episode and hopefully, I can get to the next episode sooner than later. We’ll see how real life acts to that. ^_^;