These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Angel Beats
Broken Base: Is Yuri cruel or kind? Is Otonashi The Messiah or a fool rushing into things? Is disappearing the best thing that can happen to people in the afterlife?
Complete Monster: The crooks from Yuri's flashback, that threatened to kill to kill her siblings if she doesn't find anything valuable to them. They do and it is implied it was out of impatience or the hell of it.
You will not forget ''Theme of SSS'' and ''Kanade''. that just example what the OST offer. Everything in there is awesome.
Many will not forget the ridiculously earwormic bassy jig that plays after the credits, as they reveal the next episode. Otherwise known as Let's Operation!.
For being named after a guy who's name means 'No Sound', Otonashi is quite the earful.
Die for Our Ship: There's some degree of Angel/kanade hatred from people who want Otonashi with others, specially Hinata. Her and Otonashi's last scenes made them go all "Strangled by the Red String! EWWWW!"
Dude, Not Funny!: Yes, pulling all of those stunts to make Angel fail her tests was hilarious. However, it suddenly stops being so amusing when you learn realize that: a) Angel is a real human girl named Kanade Tachibana and had to suffer the consequences for getting zeroes on all her tests and b) Naoi, her Ax Crazy vice-president, replaced her. Oh, and just to rub the salt into the wound a bit more they then go and steal her comfort food. Seriously, she's so sad, it makes you want to give her a hug.
Ensemble Dark Horse: TK is remarkably popular among viewers. In a recent popularity poll Angel and TK dominated...of course, that they had such a huge amount and proportion of the votes reeks of internet vote rigging, however...
On this very wiki, Naoi's section is huge compared to other character's
Epileptic Trees: There've been a few here and there, but it wasn't until the appearance of the red-eyed Angel that they started spreading like wildfire.
Anonymous: I see what's going on. You are really TK, who is God, but Yurippe beats you and takes you memories, and then she becomes God, but she knew Otonashi in her past life, who was her childhood friend, but she fell in love with him, and when as God she realized he was going to die, so she made his sister who is really Angel who is waiting for Otonashi into the enemy and with her God powers made this world so that when Otonashi got there he would think Angel was the enemy and now she made a new Angel after Otonashi befriended the old one who is really his sister and she wants to tear them apart.
Fan Dumb: Hinata haters claim that he doesn't even belong in the afterlife for tragic early deaths because his only regret was not being able to catch a baseball costing his team an important match. In reality, Hinata's regret was more than the ball. He fell into despair, took drugs, lost all his friends, and made a mess of his life.
There's also Red Angel and Gold Angel, based on their eye colors, to differentiate between the two.
The SSS Brigade!
"Funny Aneurysm" Moment: Yui prevents Hinata from winning his team's baseball game in episode 4. Six episodes later, Hinata helps her move on by promising to marry her in her next life even if she's paralyzed in that life too, meaning if it weren't for him she'd be stuck in Purgatory for a long time!
Glurge: The Aesop seemed to be: "Any desires you may have or actions you may take are completely useless and you shouldn't have them. Strive instead for nonexistence. All you should want is to be erased, you and your meaningless journey though life."
Although that is essentially the Aesop of Buddhist philosophy.
Alternatively, the Aesop could be interpreted as "Even if you're treated cruelly by life, you can still find happiness and bring joy to others, and those feelings won't have been meaningless, even after you're all dead and gone." Still somewhat glurge-y, but, well, it's Key.
Hype Backlash: There were a good deal of /a/ browsers extremely displeased at the abundance of Angel Beats threads that made discussing any other anime rather difficult.
Some of Otonashi's wild imagination regarding SSS operations became this, especially the giant monster fish and SSS fighting multiple Angels. Both of which turn out to actually happen, albeit slightly differently from what he imagined.
Angel is the cutest Protoss Zealot you'll ever lay eyes on. And turned Up to Eleven in in the finale where she smiles, sings a song about mapo doufu, and does this◊.
And with the revelation of her Harmonics skill, there's a possibility that she can become Agent Smith. Zealot Smith, even.
Clothespins are quickly becoming objects that are praised to be fragments of God.
Moral Event Horizon: Averted in the manga. In order to force God out of hiding, Yuri seriously considers killing every single student in the entire school... Starting with the first graders. Thankfully, Hinata talks her out of it.
Also averted in Stairway to Heaven due to a Foregone Conclusion from watching the entire anime. Yuri makes everyone starve over a simple miscalculation she had made; however, the anime had already established her as redeemable by the time Stairway to Heaven rolled along.
There are also close-ups whenever Otonashi takes Kanade's hand.
She smooths his face with her hand in episode 9.
He in return pats her head in 11.
They are confirmed to be the Official Couple by the series' end.
In the manga, there's quite noticeable teasing with Hinata and Yuri. Considering that the events of the manga came before the anime though, things didn't seem to go anyway.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Since the anime is only 13 episodes long, there isn't a lot of time to focus on any of the interesting side characters, so they come and go without us knowing anything about their pasts, nor do they get a decent sendoff onscreen.
What an Idiot: Even after all the time they've been fighting Angel, nobody in SSS has ever bothered trying to figure out Angel's real name.
Well, Yuri had apparently heard it before. She just didn't bother trying to remember it.
Also, in episode 8, Yuri attempts to reprogram Angel's Harmonics technique, but has trouble because she doesn't quite understand the programming language. Remember that SSS has Christ Takeyama, who is a master hacker and computer expert, and he doesn't even show up in the episode at all! Although Takeyama became A Twinkle in the Sky in the last episode, he was seen again during the fish barbeque, so his absence from episode 8 is even more jarring.
Most of the cast also qualify but varies from character to character. Yuri, Masami, Naoi, Yui and even Hinata (despite what the Fan Dumb says) have significantly worse pasts consisting of murder of loved ones, guilt and death, parental abuse and death, death of loved one, long term paralysis and depression-fueled fatal drug addiction. Other characters don't even have that much development.
