Angel Beats! 13 - More ♥ For Mapo Tofu

I know I should be crying on a graduation day, but I just can't resist making fun of them after seeing the screen shots.

Who knew Kanade is another crazy nutshell?

Can't you read?
It's a list of instructions on how to do the Mapo Mapo Dance!

Prepared by none other than Kanade herself!

Let's do the Mapo Mapo Dance!

That's not the right MMD!! He's a MikuMiku Dance copycat!!

You did great!!
Your Tofu stunts were particularly good.

I'd love to do the MMD, but I'm low on Mapo energy level now. Pass.

Hey bro, sorry to disappoint you, but I've got some bad news for you instead of the Mapo Tofu ultimate secret recipe you were hoping for.

Whut?
Kanade's sueing me?
For sleeping on her chest??

It wasn't my fault that the bed so narrow!!!

Ohohoho.
He's in big trouble now.

Nah, she was just joking. Come, let's have a hug.

Wasn't your fault?
Don't lie, what did you do?

A shooting star~ Quick, make a wish!!

Oh hai dere.
I'm standing here because Maeda Jun says so.

Otonashi's wish to become a stalker came true.

Cut! That was not according to Maeda's keikaku!!!

Final Impression:
It's really a pity that we didn't get to see some amazingly fun characters' stories. I'd love to know what happened to TK! An OAD/OVA perharps? I'm hearing that there'll be a 14th episode in the DVD/BD release~ xD One can hope~

Ever since I started watching Angel Beats!, this *points upward* ECG graph-like design has always left me wondering how does it connects to the series itself. The connection was finally made through the revelation of Kanade being Otonashi's heart recipient.

Though, as many viewers find out the plot hole of Kanade entering the after-life world earlier than Otonashi despite that she should be dead later than him. As Maeda stated, the 13 episodes storyboard really limits what can be done to make Angel Beats! complete. With this tragic limitation, it's up to us to think of a logical explanation for the plot holes.

My first guess:
How does one define death? Brain dead? Heart failure? People see deaths in many ways. So in this case, I'm guessing that you have to completely dead to enter the after-life world. And when I meant completely dead, I mean every cell in your body has to die. Since Otonashi's an organ donor, he probably had other recipients who lived some longer lives and he had to wait for his time to arrive. Thus he got in later than Kanade did.

Logical? It does to me at least. However, I don't like this theory very much since it's very very cruel. You did something good for others and yet you had to suffer. That's not fair! And so, another theory came up.

My second guess:
Kanade obviously didn't live a happy life. But she was grateful for everything she had and when she received Otonashi's heart, she was so grateful to him that it became a regret for being unable to say 'thank you' to Otonashi. So she ended in the after-life high school.

Without his heart, physically and mentally one of the most essential organs, Otonashi was lost when his soul finally left his body. Since he had no memories of his past, he didn't know that he should feel happy and contented, so he wander around for sometime and finally ended up in the after-life world being attracted by his own heart beat.

A better theory on how the soul and world work. But never mind that, it's not really important.

I knew that Otonashi cares a lot for Kanade, but I always treated it as a brother-sister relationship like Otonashi and Hatsune's. But a love confession??? Wow. That totally blew my mind. What was Otonashi thinking, or planning to be more exact? He wants to rule the world with his queen Kanade guide every soul? How noble of him.

When exactly did he make up his mind to stay back? Did he choose to do so in order to be with Kanade forever? That's pretty clever. Sadly, Kanade wished to leave, and Otonashi was pretty heart-broken seeing her vanishing without even a 'poof'. Keikaku failed.

Once again, the after-life world shows Otonashi 'death' in its world. Indeed you can't die if you're already dead, but being unable to see a certain someone ever again is almost equivalent to death in this world. And that pain is something that the inhabitants in both the after-life world and the living world shares. That part, was pretty realistic and touching to me.

As for the rising star that appears in the scene later, it can be either a sign of Kanade leaving or even Otonashi following her foot step, wrapping up their ending nicely.

In overall, Angel Beats! was a fun series to follow. It was my pleasure to watch the SSS members doing their crazy stuff every week. If you break the story into sub-stories, they're nothing but a bunch of cliche plots stringed together. But the special element in Angel Beats! and its inconsistency really surprised and delighted me in many ways that they make up for its flaws. It's definitely another anime series to recommend to my friends.