History Headscratchers / AngelBeats

* Why hasn't anyone tried to move beyond those hills? What's beyond them? There's no mention of it anywhere in the series.

*** They had the Angel Player manual, remember?

*** They had the Angel Player manual, remember? No real hacking required.

*** They had the Angel Player manual, remember?

*** They had a book telling them how to use Angel Player, remember? They didn't truly "hack" anything. They just changed how some of her powers worked.

*** [[MS3TKMantra They had a book telling them how to use Angel Player, remember?]]

*** alternatively the irregular nature of time in the school simply meant that brute forcing it took literally no time. We've seen the effects computers have on reality, so why not the reverse?

* So apparently, your memories [[ArtisticLicenseBiology are]] [[spoiler: stored in your heart?]]
** He was hypnotized and [[spoiler: happened to hear his own heart. Plus, it's just what Angel said, doesn't mean it's right.]]
** It's also a reference to old Japanese folklore that said [[spoiler:memories are stored in the heart.]] The kind of thing that flies over foreign viewers' heads, since we don't have the cultural background.

*** [[spoiler:Actually, he did save someone. Kanade reveals in the last episode that he saved her from a heart condition.]]

* If amnesia in the afterlife can be caused by head trauma at the time of death, [[spoiler:shouldn't a character who died after suffering a stroke due to a blow to the head still be paralyzed?]]
** That would remove the whole point of the purgatory, which was to [[spoiler:give children/teenagers the happy youth they never had in order to help them pass on.]] [[spoiler:Keeping the person paralyzed while in the afterlife wouldn't help this much.]] It's also been shown that the SSS doesn't know nearly as much about the afterlife school as they believe they do.
** Additionally, Otonashi's amnesia is the result of a cultural subtlety that's lost on Westerners: Japanese folklore holds that [[spoiler:memory is stored in the heart.]] Otonashi's last act was to [[spoiler:sign away his organs for donation, including his heart.]] This cultural reference is backed up by the fact that he died [[spoiler:from internal bleeding, not head trauma.]]
* If Angel has her passive skill Overdrive that grants her SuperStrength, and that ability is [[spoiler:passed on to the clones]], then how come [[spoiler:the Angel clones couldn't even manage to lift a corpse off of themselves?]]

* How did Otonashi lose his memories[[spoiler: if he didn't die being hit on the head, but dies from hunger, or thirst?]]

** This has to do more with Japanese thinking of where the 'soul' is. Similar to Egyptians the Japanese see the soul as existing in the center of your body, ie. your heart. It's explained pretty well on the notes for the Wedding Peach manga because that's where Peach launches her heart/love attacks, from the center of her body under the solar plexis, the center of her soul. [[spoiler: Without his heart Otonashi is essentially missing his 'soul' or by extension, his memories.]]
*** If you are fulfilled you could easily "disappear" from purgatory. Normally you only come to that purgatory if you died unfulfilled in your life. Otonashi died content he would have just disappeared the moment he woke up. He may have been sent by God [[ThePlan to help the SSS members pass on]] as well as fulfill Angel's wish to [[spoiler: thank Otonashi for the heart he donated]].
* Why did [[spoiler:Yuzuru confess his love to Kanade again if he knew she was going to disappear if he confessed his feelings? He wanted her to stay with him forever so that he'd never be lonely again...]]
** [[spoiler:Perhaps he was resigning himself to the fact that they really would need to move on. I mean, it wouldn't be him if he were to try to keep her there by withholding his feelings. Besides, they do meet again after.]]
** [[spoiler: Because it would have been an incredibly dick thing to do to be like "I can easily help you find complete and total contentment, but screw that, I'm gonna keep you here with me forever"?]]

* Why did Kanade wind up in that world, when [[spoiler:she survived thanks to Otonashi's donated heart?]]. The only reason I can think of is that people don't necessarily have to die at a young age to get stuck there. But then it's still strange that she appeared long before Otonashi did, unless the time of death is unrelated to the time of appearance. Oh, my brain!
** Perhaps [[spoiler:the heart]] didn't last long, or she had a sudden death of some other variety, like a car crash. If I remember correctly, wasn't it also said that she had never graduated before? From that I would assume that she died early. I don't understand why she was there first either though.

*** The fact that he arrived in purgatory [[spoiler:without his heart]] could very well be a good hint to this assuming this isn't just a case of NarniaTime.
*** This purgatory is where people end up in when they have shit childhoods. When they die is meaningless, Yuri's childhood was stolen when [[spoiler: her siblings were killed]] she could have lived to 20, 40, or a hundred. It's irrelevant, her childhood was shit. Otonashi is there because his childhood was spent [[spoiler: caring for sick a sister who died anyway]] he had no good childhood because of that. Kanade is there because [[spoiler: she had the regret that she never got to say thank you to the man who's heart saved her life]] She could have also lived to a hundred. When you arrive in this purgatory is irrelevant but God, who obviously must exist because nobody else could create an afterlife, obviously cared about Kanade and Otonashi enough to send them at different relative points in time so they could fulfil each other's desires [[spoiler: plus he's a major bro for setting them up together afterwards too.]]
*** From what I remember, Kanade herself didn't technically regret her life, [[spoiler:she regretted the fact that she couldn't thank the heart donor]], and she said that in trying to find them [[spoiler:(Obviously someone who donated their HEART would be dead and in the afterlife)]] she wandered into this world. So in a way, she was [[spoiler:just like Otonashi in that she ended up in this world by accident]], which could mean that they arrived at different times because it wasn't directly after their death.
** Also, if you believe in the theory that Otonashi was sent down from heaven or by God, not by accident, then his late arrival would make a bit more sense, as the timing (and in some way, his amnesia) is convenient as he joins the SSS (but remains somewhat doubtful of their actions against God and 'Angel'), gains their trust, befriends Kanade and eventually helps both sides reconcile, then he proceeds to help everyone pass on, and the most important one that he helps is [[spoiler: Kanade, since it is his heart that Kanade received, he is the only one that can truly give her what she wants, the chance to thank her saviour]].
* So ... what happens to "Purgatory" world now ? It's obviously being [[spoiler:repopulated when Otonashi and Kaede leave]], and Otonashi even mentions [[spoiler:that Purgatory is being repopulated with NPCS and the second-chancers]], even after Yuri [[spoiler:destroyed the second computer room running the place]]. Wouldn't removing the [[spoiler:no love and thus no attachments rule]], essentially lead to a worse situation, since new arrivals could be stuck there forever [[spoiler:like the creator if they fall in love with a disappearing second-chancer]]?

*** [[spoiler: According to the other epilogue, yeah, "Purgatory" is still the same.]]

* Why do they need to eat? Presumably, since [[spoiler:one can survive without a heart]], they wouldn't need a stomach or anything either.
** Maybe Otonashi's a special case? Since [[spoiler: Kanade had to have some way of knowing who donated her heart to her?]]

* Why doesn't anyone use [[spoiler:Angel Player to alter reality, or give themselves powers]]? Is there some reason why they can't?
** If the third drama CD is to be believed, with [[spoiler: sufficient time and coding prowess, one can indeed change reality.]]

* During the third episode, why did, when the teachers stop the concert, they actively try to [[spoiler:throw Iwasawa's guitar away? I don't claim to be an expert on how NPC's work, but it seems that they would more realistically just confiscate it, instead of just "Hurp Durp, we'll throw it out." The whole reason that confiscation rules exist is so teachers don't just destroy and throw away items that students may have worked hard to get, or may be sentimentally valuable to them.]]

** Well she may have decided to stay there forever if she thought she felt she could feel fulfilled by playing for the people in purgatory. After all [[spoiler:When love was detected in their world someone decided to create the shadows to intervene since that may cause them to decide and STAY in purgatory. Or it could be that god decided to pull a [[BatmanGambit Gambit]] to get her to move one.]]

** We never learn how Yuri died, only what happened to her in life that caused her to end up in this afterlife. She could have died several years after [[spoiler: her siblings were killed]] and still ended up where she did if she never forgave herself.
** Considering how she responded to Otonashi in episode 2 when he asked her it seems she [[spoiler: committed suicide eventually after her siblings were killed.]]


*** She says [[spoiler:"Idiot. I didn't commit suicide or anything. Why would someone who commited suicide bother fighting? And anyway, there's no one in this world who died by suicide". She is clearly stating that she did not commit suicide.]] I assume you think she's lying, but it doesn't look to me like she's lying, but rather that she just doesn't want to discuss it and that it's not currently relevant.

** In a prequel-ish series Angel Beats! Heaven's Door it shows the SSS being formed so this may be their solution to this. The series at this point is only about 15 chapters though, with irregular releases. Also, a second epilogue was released with [[spoiler: Otonashi staying to help students adapt to the school and eventually pass on, while he awaits Angel's return]] so a second season or another series is possible. Though it's uncertain if that will take. Plus I kinda like the first epilogue better.

* So why [[spoiler: Yuzuru's dead little sister]] never have showed up or hinted to have shown up in this purgatory since her case is something similar to Yui? Sequel perhaps?

* FridgeLogic: I'm not sure if this is explained somewhere, but [[spoiler: Kanade, who had received Otonashi's heart in a transplant, somehow managed to establish her system in the afterlife before Otonashi even arrived there.]]
** [[spoiler: Considering Otonashi came in through different circumstances and defied the rules of the afterlife world, one could argue that he was probably put there long after he
died, and considering that heart transplants has a 14% mortality rate in women for the first year alone, it might not have even been all too long. Still, it's a bit of a stretch.]]

* What's with the glasses? If Yui can [[spoiler:be mobile despite being paralyzed in life]] than shouldn't their eye problems go away?

* Why did Kanade [[spoiler: wait until last episode to thank Otonashi for his heart? Wasn't she aware that she had his heart]] since episode 9? If not even earlier? If that's her [[spoiler: greatest wish, to thank him, why wait until the end?]]

** Otonashi [[spoiler: stated in that episode that he wants to help the others pass on as well, something Kanade has also been doing all that time.]]

* Otonashi and the baseball guy (sorry I cannot recall his name) made it clear that they understood that finding happiness might make you disappear,("dont catch that ball", or "dont force her to pass on with those fake memories" yet in episode 9, its as if he just found that out for the first time. Moreover, if he knew that already, how did he not piece together what the school actually is?

*** alternatively the irregular nature of time in the school simply meant that brute forcing it took literally no time. We've seen the effects computers have on reality, so why not the reverse?
* So did Otonashi know what the true nature of the school was or not? In episode 9 Otonashi says he had know idea, but made it clear before he did know ("don't make her move on with fake memories!" and "no dont catch that ball!" Moreover, Yuri seemed to know in episode 6 what happy memories entail with that hypnotism, so does she know too?

** [[spoiler: Considering Otonashi came in through different circumstances and defied the rules of the afterlife world, one could argue that he was probably put there long after he died, and considering that heart transplants has a 14% mortality rate in women for the first year alone, it might not have even been all too long. Still, it's a bit of a stretch.]]

*** alternatively the irregular nature of time in the school simply meant that brute forcing it took literally no time. We've seen the effects computers have on reality, so why not the reverse?

** It wasn't a matter of loving someone, it was a matter of being loved. She felt useless because in her real life she could do pretty much nothing with herself, and was convinced that no-one beyond her own mother could have feelings for her. Cue Hinata and his CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in which he declares that he would have loved her anyway, giving her a feeling of self-worth and a reason to pass on.

* So apparently, your memories [[YouFailBiologyForever are]] [[spoiler: stored in your heart?]]

* Angel's Overdrive is a passive power, which means it's permanently active. If that's the case, why didn't she just punch her way out when she and Otonashi got jailed?

** I would assume the faculty [=NPCs=] would be the source, considering Yuri finds a worker who is installing a new computer. If the second-chancers had to make the computers in order to use them, that would likely mean that they would need to build everything, including the school building.

** Additionally, Otonashi's amnesia is the result of a cultural subtlety that's lost on Westerners: Japanese folklore holds that memory is stored in the heart. Otonashi's last act was to sign away his organs for donation; this reference is backed up by the fact that he died from internal bleeding, not head trauma.

* How do they have computers? Are teenagers really going to have the complete schematics of a computer in their memories, with all the precise details of all the circuit boards and microchips and every single data bit in the hard drives? A teenager is going to be able to recreate something that complicated just from their memories? Did a computer engineer die, go to that place, and build some kind of huge, fully automated computer factory before reincarnating?