Angel Beats

Is a 13-episode Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex and directed by Seiji Kishi. The story was originally conceived by Jun Maeda, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music with the group Anant-Garde Eyes, with original character design by Na-Ga; both Maeda and Na-Ga are from the visual novel brand Key, who produced such titles as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. The anime aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010. An original video animation episode was released on December 22, 2010. The story takes place in the afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. He is enrolled into the afterlife school and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront—an organization she leads which fights against God. The Battlefront fight against the student council president Angel, a girl with supernatural powers.

Plot
Angel Beats! takes place at a high school acting as a limbo for those who have died, where students learn to give up any lingering attachments they still have from life before passing on. Those in the afterlife school can still feel pain as they did when they were alive, as well as dying again, only to awaken later with no injuries. The story follows the main protagonist Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. He meets Yuri, a girl who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront (死んだ世界戦線 Shinda Sekai Sensen (SSS)?), an organization she founded and leads which fights against God for the cruel fates the SSS members experienced in life. In the SSS, there is a four-girl band named Girls Dead Monster that acts as a diversion during missions, and an organization called the Guild that mass-produces weapons out of dirt and supplies them to the SSS. Their only enemy is Angel, a girl who has supernatural powers and fights against the SSS. Angel creates her powers with the aid of a computer program called Angel Player. The rest of the afterlife school is populated by a large number of "normal" students and teachers Yuri deems "non-player characters" (NPCs) as they are not human, but look and act the part. The first of the characters to fulfill her dream and pass on is Iwasawa, the leader of Girls Dead Monster. Angel, whose real name is Kanade Tachibana, loses her position as student council president and the vice president Naoi succeeds her. Naoi uses powers of hypnosis to control NPCs to fight for his own interests against the SSS, but Otonashi stops him after acknowledging Naoi's existence and he subsequently joins the SSS. Otonashi regains his memories with the aid of Naoi's hypnosis and agrees to continue with the SSS. Otonashi befriends Kanade and invites her to join in on SSS activities. After Otonashi fully remembers the details of his life and death, he starts cooperating with Kanade to help the other SSS members move on, and Kanade is reinstated as student council president in accordance with their plan. Yui, the girl who replaced Iwasawa after she passed on, is the second of the characters who passes on. When mysterious shadow monsters begin attacking the SSS, Takamatsu gets devoured by one, only to reappear as an NPC. Otonashi reasons with the other SSS members and many of them agree to pass on in lieu of becoming an NPC, including the rest of Girls Dead Monster, Chaa of the Guild, and several unnamed members. Yuri destroys computers responsible for the shadow program, which was programmed to activate when love was detected in the world, to prevent it from becoming a true paradise and maintain its limbo state. Those who are left—Otonashi, Yuri, Kanade, Hinata and Naoi—hold a graduation ceremony where they thank each other for their support. After Naoi, Yuri and Hinata pass on, Otonashi learns that Kanade's regret was not being able to thank him for the heart she received from Otonashi after his death. Otonashi is heartbroken after she thanks him and passes on, as he has fallen in love with her. In the epilogue, a reborn Otonashi and Kanade meet each other on the street in the real world. In an alternative epilogue, Otonashi is shown to have stayed behind in the afterlife to help people pass on, which may have occurred before the events in the epilogue.

=History=

Manga
A four-panel comic strip manga, illustrated by Haruka Komowata and titled Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Bokura no Sensen Kōshinkyoku (Angel Beats! The4コマ 僕らの戦線行進曲♪ Angel Beats! The 4-koma: Our Battlefront March Song?), began serialization in the December 2009 issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine. Komowata was also in charge of illustrating a manga which showcased the progress of the Angel Beats! project and was serialized between the September 2009 and July 2010 issues of Dengeki G's Magazine. The first tankōbon volume for Angel Beats! The 4-koma was released on December 18, 2010 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics EX imprint; three volumes have been released as of October 27, 2012. A manga illustrated by Yuriko Asami, titled Angel Beats! Heaven's Door, began serialization in Dengeki G's Magazine in the May 2010 issue. Heaven's Door is based on the Angel Beats! Track Zero short stories. The first volume for Angel Beats! Heaven's Door was released on December 18, 2010 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint; five volumes have been released as of April 27, 2013. An anthology titled Angel Beats! Comic Anthology was published by ASCII Media Works on December 18, 2010.

Anime
The 13-episode Angel Beats! anime TV series is directed by Seiji Kishi and produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex. It aired in Japan between April 3 and June 26, 2010 on the CBC television network. The first episode was previewed on March 22, 2010 to a selected number of people who participated in a lottery held earlier that month. The screenplay was written by Jun Maeda, who originally conceived the series. Chief animator Katsuzō Hirata based the character design used in the anime on Na-Ga's original designs. Sound and music direction was headed by Satoki Iida. The series was released on seven BD/DVD compilation volumes between June 23 and December 22, 2010 in limited and regular editions. Three drama CDs, written by Maeda and performed by the anime's cast, were released with the first, fourth and sixth limited edition BD/DVD volumes. The seventh BD/DVD volume featured an original video animation episode, as well as a bonus short which serves as another epilogue to the series. Each of the BD/DVD volumes contained commentaries by the characters performed by the voice cast and written by Maeda. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime,[60][66] and along with distributor Section23 Films, released the series on BD/DVD on July 26, 2011. Siren Visual licensed the anime for Australia and New Zealand. The series has also been licensed in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment and released the series on BD/DVD on June 25, 2012.

To learn more about the anime Angel Beats!, visit: http://angelbeats.wikia.com/wiki/Angel_Beats_Wiki