Podcast XIII: Angel Beats!

Professor Irony

CYBER FUNKER
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We Aten't Dead!

Nakama Britannica 13 - "I went to Purgatory, but all I got was this lousy t-shirt"

By popular request (maybe), we assemble to discuss popular ecumenical boxing series, Angel Beats, joined this time by our special guest, Otaku-san. The first section is a guaranteed* spoiler free review, followed by some more in-depth discussion after the jump. Stay with us for righteous indignation, the plight of fully grown women who look 10 and our epic plans to remodel the entire series as we see fit, armed with only crayons and a five pound note.

Give it a shot. You might get CHANCE AND LUCK.

Massive thanks also due to Sayo, our editor on this episode, for generally saving me a huge amount of time.

iTunes inbound.

*Not guaranteed in the land of the living.
 
I didn't like Angel Beats all that much. It was entertaining at the start and all but near the end it really dropped in quality. It probably would have been a bit better if it had a few more episodes to deal with characterisation.

Anyway the podcast cleared up some misconceptions I had about the show such as Tenshi being in a coma as opposed to actually being dead. Which makes the whole part about her being in the purgatory place at the same time as Otonashi plausible. Also, there were some interesting facts about Maeda. I didn't know he studied psychology, though it doesn't really surprise me given the nature of his titles.
 
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ConanThe3rd said:
Gah! You should have said something, dood. I would have exploded in pure love for Seiji Kishi.

I didn't even realise myself until quite late on in the process. It doesn't really feel like his work.

Greenmeido said:
I didn't know he studied psychology, though it doesn't really surprise me given the nature of his titles.

Yeah. It makes you wonder if he's actually kind of cynical with his writing.
 
Greenmeido said:
Anyway the podcast cleared up some misconceptions I had about the show such as Tenshi being in a coma as opposed to actually being dead. Which makes the whole part about her being in the purgatory place at the same time as Otonashi plausible.

I skimmed through what was a surprisingly long talk about the show and from what I can tell that's just one persons interpretation/explanation. It fits to a certain extent and we don't have confirmation from her that she actually died but then again we don't know the rules or the length of time she's been there. For all we know Otonashi died, led a new life and died again before being brought back to meet her, or perhaps souls are held for a time before being returned to the cycle making it possible for him to be brought into that world as he was needed.

The original epilogue suggested they were both alive and met by chance when Otonashi heard Tensi humming one of the songs from the show, Tenshi being in a coma and Otonashi moving on would result in a large age gap. Of course the extra epilogue messes that up suggesting Otonashi didn't move on but then again perhaps they are right on the money that they didn't really know what they were doing to end the show.
 
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Before listening, can I have some assurance that at least one of you hated Angel Beats? Because I don't think I could listen to all four of you lavishing praise on it for nigh-on two hours.

I wanted to like this show but gave up after 5 or 6 episodes. The circumstances surrounding Yuri's siblings' death were ridiculous enough, but it was that character who was introduced at the start of episode 5, I think, that killed it for me. He spent 15 minutes being a dick and 5 minutes telling a sob story, after which there were tearful manly hugs abound, and presumably I was supposed to feel something other than a desire to gnaw my own fingers off.
 
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I'm afraid we were all somewhere in the middle on this one. The tl;dl would be "interesting idea, lousy execution".

Actually, I had completely forgotten about that guy until you mentioned him - kind of the sentiment echoed throughout the review, I think.
 
Eh, that'll do I suppose. It's not as if I hated everything about the show myself, but the things I did hate were just too big an issue for me to continue with it.
 
Is it me or is the professor stuck on leet posts

also I particular didn't enjoy the fellow with glasses in this podcast!
 
^ Either I forgot to mention it in the second recording or it didn't make the cut, but that sacrifice scene is the funniest in the entire show for me. Laughed my head off throughout. Still laughing. Haha.
 
VivisQueen said:
^ Either I forgot to mention it in the second recording or it didn't make the cut, but that sacrifice scene is the funniest in the entire show for me. Laughed my head off throughout. Still laughing. Haha.
I think Otaku-san made comments to that effect.
 
Yeah, I meant that this was the funniest thing in the show for me. It's not an important point generally, just an aside for this thread. Seeing it again on youtube was priceless.
 
My reaction when Irony mentioned Saint Young Men.

IMG_1071_zpsa403b122.jpg


Anyway, it's been a while since i've watched Angel Beats, the only two things I can remember from it was TK and the comedy, which sort of shows the things the show tries to tackle and never really goes deeper with them.

So I pretty much agreed with everything on what you guys were talking about but I'll probably will watch the show again one day.
 
I still feel, looking back on this episode that, there was more we could have said on certain matters, but because this was our second take on the recording we just missed a lot. Certain bits on characters and story elements for example. We still covered the main bases i believe which is what matters.

Overall though it was still an ok show, just a lot of lost potential.
 
When I first heard about the concept of the series I thought it'd be similar in tone to the wonderful Hirokazu Koreeda film, After Life. I guess that assumption was FAR off the mark.
 
Arbalest said:
I still feel, looking back on this episode that, there was more we could have said on certain matters, but because this was our second take on the recording we just missed a lot. Certain bits on characters and story elements for example. We still covered the main bases i believe which is what matters.

Overall though it was still an ok show, just a lot of lost potential.
You left out Not-Naoto completely, for example.
 
I've always believed the show couldn't of been much better with more episodes. The last few episodes felt far too rushed.

I also didn't really get how main guy fell in love with silver haired girl? It just seemed random to me & just "put" there for the sake of adding romance & I do wish they fleshed out some of the other characters, I think they're beginning to do that now though with [Manga Spoiler:] the dark haired Ninja type girl apparently being from ancient Japan, which I do hope they explain in full.....
 
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