There are some things about this show that just don’t make any sense. It’s been established by now that Tachibana somehow managed to create all of her abilities out of self-defence. Why then did she bother to also create the ability to spawn an evil clone? Even if someone else was behind it, wouldn’t she have noticed when she logged on? Then there’s the pink-haired girl. I mean, what the heck was her purpose again? If she was just a random side-character, then okay. But was it really necessary to put her on the promo-art for this series, along with Yurippe and Tachibana? Wouldn’t it have made much more sense to put Otonashi there, so that you really get the three central characters there?
In any case, with this we’re two-thirds in. In the next episodes, this series is going to have to deliver. Angel Beats overall has been nowhere among my favourites, but it’s definitely been fun. Knowing Key however, they do tend to hold a ton of trumps that they only plan to use near the end, and if anything this episode very much hinted to that when Tachibana absorbed all of those thousands of clones. Now, there are two possibilities after this: Tachibana turns evil and makes everyone’s lives miserable, or Tachibana turns into the typical Kyoani Key female lead. Of course I hope I’m wrong with this and things turn out a bit more nuanced than that.
As for the humour, it’s very typical of the director: his humour either just works, or it just falls flat, and this episode was about fifty-fifty in that. On one hand, the heroic sacrifices were pretty funny, however it also kept reusing a ton of jokes, like that annoying pink-haired girl, and the former student council president’s double-takes over Otonashi also were used way too much.
In any case though, this series has been very varied so far, and that’s what I like about it. Even though this episode revisited a previous location, it’s very different from the second episode and I’m glad to see that the creators didn’t just delete it when it blew up. Again though, I feel that these final few episodes are going to make or break this series. It’s been fun, but it’s definitely been building up to something. I really suspect that whether I’ll remember this series fondly or not will depend on how well the creators are going to handle these final episodes.
Rating: * (Good)
Baww ;___; Kanade…
My hopes are that she does /not/ go all evil again.
Eh, for the question about the harmonics skill…
I think that skill was not supposed to make an evil clone. It just happens that the skill was imperfect.
i think….
zomg: as a programmer, I just can’t buy that. A computer program isn’t just something that randomly generates cool new features whenever it feels like. Bugs don’t work that way unfortunately.
I think that is exactly it. For me, I’d take on step further from psgels opinion and say that the humour has made the show for me and it will always be memorable. Sure, there were flat parts, but even for a comedy to make me laugh 50% of the time equals major success. Big thumbs up Maeda Jun!
Well now it’s goodbye to Kanade-as-we-knew-it…
you would think that Yuripee would know english,
or that the software manual would come in more than one language…
From what I gathered when I watched this subbed, the clone copied the aggressiveness Kanade had the moment she used it. She was about to slice that fish into pieces when she used it, so the clone turned up into a very aggressive one, forever.
The other clones are evil too because they are clones of the clone.
So, it wasn’t that the program was buggy or anything.
Although, why did she use that skill in the previous ep anyway? Why did she need a clone to kill that fish? Did she kick off the clone to gain some momentum or something?
Also, since there are a lot of digital aspects in this series (MMO metaphors, all the zeros and ones effects when tenshi uses her skills, the facts that the skills are created by programming them), does anyone get the feeling this is a virtual afterlife?
Maybe some sort of afterlife… matrix. Maybe all the characters are in a coma (and maybe they are purposefully avoiding to show us their original deaths so they can throw a twist later “ha! they are actually in a coma”), connected to this virtual afterlife, that is programmed to eject them once they feel content, so they can die peacefully (or maybe it is to help them wake up? I don’t see that sort of happy ending being in a key story though).
And Tenshi is either an AI, programmed to help them feel content, or maybe some uber hacker?
I’ll be pissed off if I’m right though, because I find my explanation boring… 😛
I think the second half of this episode returned to comedy goodness for the first time since the big fish appeared. I had no problem with the evil clone (though why its all in english is questionable, perhaps she obtained the programming manual from someone else?). But remember this is a wolrd where if you picture something you can create it.
I agree with you psgels, I’ve somewhat liked the series so far, but it hasn’t really connected with me on a level that a drama series should. Generally I’ve felt pretty disconnected from the cast as a whole. I hope they’re really able to pull off the final third of the series.
@starburst0927: I think she knows english, but only at a typical high school level, so it’s probably a pain to read, especially a textbook worth of it.
As a drama series its lacking somewhat but as a comedy its been a blast for me. The sacrifice spell in the middle had me in stiches I don’t think I found something that funny for a while.
It’s weird how no one noticed the clone when she made it. also gotta admit the last-scenario-shonen manga joke was pretty damn funny.