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"That's right. Our main weakness is that we're stupid."

—Yuri

Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Everyone does so eventually.
Badass Crew: They're a group of stupid teenagers armed with military weapons.
Brainless Beauty: Most of them are attractive but not very smart.
Character Development: A select few gain it in the anime, while the others do in additional manga and visual novels.
Classical Anti-Hero: The reason why they even stay in the afterlife is because of their inability to let go of their past.
Custom Uniform: The girls wear Sailor Fuku uniforms, while the guys wear blazer-style uniforms, whereas the normal students have blazer-style uniforms for the girls and gyakuran for the guys. When Otonashi first wakes up, he wonders why he's the only one with a different uniform, until Yurippe tells him that he has the standard uniform.
Death Is Cheap: At least one character gets fatally injured each episode, only to be completely healed one scene later. Justified since they're already dead and their souls just materialized in a purgatory dimension.
Delinquents: The image they more or less give off at school to avoid getting obliterated. They frequently cut classes, when they do show up they always cause a disturbance, and they all wear Custom School Uniforms.
Fire-Forged Friends: As a result of rebelling against a god.
Idiot Hero: All of them really. They're all idiots. Yuri even calls herself one even though she's the smartest.
Karma Houdini Warranty: Otonashi, Yurippe, Takeyama, Hinata, Takamatsu, and Ooyama swap Angel's test sheets with fakes, causing her to fail and lose her Student Council President position. They get away with it until the end of Episode 9, when Hinata tells the principal about the deception, resulting in Angel being reinstated and those involved being punished.
No Full Name Given: Only the five main characters, some members of Girls Dead Monster and Godan Matsushita have their full names revealed.
Rage Against the Heavens: They believe that God is the one responsible for the sufferings they experienced in the living world and they wish to exact revenge for it.

Main Characters

Otonashi

Yuzuru Otonashi

"When it all ends, what will happen to us?"

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (JP), Blake Shepard (EN)

The protagonist. He wakes up in the afterlife, not knowing where he is, or who he is. He only remembers his last name.

All-Loving Hero: Otonashi tries to help and become friends with everyone, including Kanade and Naoi who both were introduced as the SSS's enemies.
Amnesiac Hero: The story starts with Otonashi waking up without remembering anything besides his surname and being told by Yuri that he's dead. He decides to join the SSS hoping his memories will eventually return.
Anguished Declaration of Love: He confesses his love to Kanade in the final episode as he begs her to stay with him before she passes on.
Big Brother Instinct: In his backstory, he had a sickly little sister he took care of. He brought her manga to keep her entertained and took her out of the hospital in secret to spend Christmas with her.
The Caretaker: Shortly before his death, his medical knowledge allowed him to look after the survivors of the train wreck during the days they were all trapped inside a tunnel.
Curtains Match the Window: He has orange hair and matching orange eyes.
Dark and Troubled Past: When he regains his memories, he learns that his first name is Yuzuru. He was a slacker who spent most of his life working menial jobs to provide for his ill little sister. After she died he realized that she had gotten more out of life than he had despite being bedridden, but in helping her he had found a way to give his life meaning. So he cut his hair and started studying hard, hoping to become a doctor someday. He was on his way to take the college entrance exam when the train he was riding crashed. Trapped inside a collapsed tunnel, he helped keep the other survivors alive for seven days before finally succumbing to his own internal injuries. His final act was to fill out the organ donor information on the back of his ID card, dying just as rescue arrived.
Deadpan Snarker: For the first half of the anime, Otonashi's main role is snarking at the stupid antics of the SSS.
The Defroster: Through his compassion, he discovers Kanade and Naoi aren't cold and heartless as the SSS thought them to be. Once Otonashi befriends them, they start acting like normal teenagers and enjoy hanging out with him.
The Everyman: Subverted. Otonashi may initially be presented as an average guy onto whom we're meant to project, but he ultimately proves to be far more virtuous than your average person.
Foreshadowing: Since his body was probably the only one in good condition when the digging crews finally came for rescue right after his death, it was used for just that purpose. His heart was donated to a still-living Kanade.
Friendless Background: In life, he thought friends were a pain to have and preferred to spend time with his younger sister.
Ghost Amnesia: He can't remember anything from his past life when he arrives to the afterlife, not even his first name.
The Heart: Eventually, he becomes the main source of unity and emotional support for several characters. Kanade and Naoi are able to make peace with SSS only thanks to Otonashi trying to understand them instead of just fighting them senselessly.
Heel Realization: He has one when Kanade says her weapons are for self-defense and he realizes that (barring when Kanade stabbed him in the chest, which he basically asked for) Kanade's never actually attacked them unless attacked first—she didn't even have her guard skill up when Otonashi first pointed a gun at her. The SSS has always shot first.
Heroic Sacrifice: After he was fatally injured in the train crash and tries to help everyone who was still alive, Otonashi's final actions were not panicking or feeling sorry for himself, he signs his organs to be donated for medical use.
Hero Protagonist: He is the main protagonist of the show and is a Nice Guy all around.
Hiding Behind Your Bangs: His hair covered his left eye when he was alive, before his sister's death. It symbolized his antisocial attitude at the time. He cut it to the length familiar to us when he resolved to embrace life and open himself up to people.
I Choose to Stay: After successfully sending away his friends to the other side, Otonashi chooses to remain in the afterlife with Kanade, but it didn't work as she passed on, leaving him alone. "Another Epilogue" shows that he didn't leave for a while, becoming the Student Council President to help out newcomers to the afterlife, either to help them pass on or to replace him.
Important Haircut: When he was still alive, he cut his hair when he decided to quit being a slacker and become a doctor.
Incurable Cough of Death: In episode 9's flashback, Otonashi was coughing blood due to internal bleeding, but ignored his own injuries to help the people trapped in a tunnel with him.
Ironic Hell: For someone who sacrificed everything for the happiness of his friends he himself is denied of his own happiness and is left all alone; however, it all depends on how you interpret the ending. Well, he did get reunited with Kanade after being reincarnated. Perhaps to the point of actually getting stuck in Purgatory as the School President, helping lost souls who were there along the way as seen in the alternative ending epilogue.
Irony: Spends half the show trying to get everyone to pass on and get over their emotional baggage from their past lives, but he's also the only one who doesn't, in the end. Ouch.
Last-Name Basis: Everyone calls him by his last name. Justified since he doesn't even remember his first name.
Love at First Punch: Kanade stabs him through the chest when they first meet and this was before Otonashi knew she can't kill him because he's already dead. As he spends more time with her, Otonashi falls in love with her.
Maybe Ever After: The Stinger in the final episode shows the reincarnated Otonashi approaching a girl who looks like Kanade and is humming the mapo tofu song, implying Otonashi and Kanade will get their happy ending in their next lives.
Meaningful Name: "Otonashi" means "no sound" refering to his missing heart. The word "otonashii" also means "docile/quiet", which is quite fitting for his status as Only Sane Man in the SSS.
The Medic: In life, he wanted to be a doctor. Although he died before he could become a professional, he used his medical knowledge to help the people who were trapped in a tunnel with him for days. After death, Otonashi never shows his skills in purgatory. Not that he needs to.
Morality Pet: After his Heel–Face Turn, Naoi is rude and dismissive to everyone except Otonashi, who he idolizes. It also helps him to become a better person overall despite his edge.
My God, What Have I Done?: He realizes how cruel the SSS has been to Kanade, as well as his own role in that cruelty, after eating Kanade's mabo tofu, and coming to understand that she uses it as comfort food.
Name Amnesia: He only can remember his last name. After his memory fully returns, his first name is revealed to be Yuzuru.
Nice Guy: Despite his snarky moments, he is a guy who is willing to help others in need, hence his dream to become a doctor and is even willing to sacrifice his life and make himself and organ donor so that his remains will be used to save another life.
No Full Name Given: Due to Name Amnesia, he's only known by his surname, Otonashi, for a while. His given name, Yuzuru, is revealed after his memory returns.
One Head Taller: He tops Kanade's height by a full head. The height difference is made very much obvious when he hugs her in the last episode.
Only Sane Man: He's seemingly the only one in the entire cast capable of common sense, as he actually tries to solve the conflicts by talking things out unlike everyone else who jumps right into fighting.
Parental Abandonment: His parents aren't even mentioned in his backstory.
Pinball Protagonist: Otonashi finds himself awakening in an afterlife that looks like a high school with no memories of who he is and having no idea of what's happening. When he gets recruited by the SSS to fight against an "angel", Otonashi admits he's just going with the flow until his memories come back. He becomes more proactive after his memories return and he decides to help Kanade in getting the rebels to pass on and reincarnate.
Please, Don't Leave Me: In the last episode, Otonashi asks Kanade to stay with him. However, it turns out that she was there because she wanted to thank him for his heart donations. When Kanade thanks him, Otonashi hugs her, begging her to not to say it and stay with him, but eventually she disappears, leaving Otonashi alone and heartbroken.
Precision F-Strike: Lets off a "Shit..." when he wakes up after the train derailment and realizes that he's been unconscious for hours.
Promotion to Parent: In his flashback, it appears Otonashi was the only one who ever visited his sick little sister in the hospital.
The Redeemer: Naoi pulls off a Heel–Face Turn because Otonashi comforts him after hearing about his sad past. And even though Kanade was never a real villain, Otonashi makes it possible for her to be accepted by the SSS.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the sensible Blue Oni to Hinata's brash Red Oni. Ironic, considering their hair colors.
Right Man in the Wrong Place: Otonashi lived a fulfilling life and died content. The setting is specifically designed to help people experience the youth and happiness they never had in life. When he regains his memories, he helps everyone move on to the next plane.
Secret Stab Wound: The train crash left him with internal bleeding, though he hides the injury from the other survivors to avoid demoralizing them.
Shirtless Scene: In the first episode, he wakes up in the infirmary with his shirt off.
The Soulsaver: After he fully recovers his memories and understands the real purpose of the afterlife school, Otonashi gains the new goal of helping all the human souls stuck there to overcome their regrets and pass on in peace. At the end of the anime, he willingly remains in the school because he knows a lot of souls will need someone like him to move on and reincarnate.
Super Window Jump: He gets thrown out of a window, courtesy of the SSS. Thankfully, he can't die when he's already dead.
Team Dad: He gradually becomes the reasonable father figure who keeps a balance among the rest of the SSS, humorously to Yurippe's frustration since she's the actual team leader.
Trauma Conga Line: First his little sister dies from a terminal illness. Then he gets in a train accident. While trying to find an exit, he finds out that both sides of the tunnel are blocked, and the remaining survivors have very little supplies. Then he finds out he's got some serious internal injuries when blood soaks through his shirt. Finally, he dies just moments before a rescue crew is able to breach the rubble.

Yuri Nakamura

Yuri "Yurippe" Nakamura

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yuri_vn.png

"Operation, Start!"

Voiced by: Harumi Sakurai (JP), Brittney Karbowski (EN)

Leader of the SSS. She hates God and is willing to lead a rebellion against Him because she is not willing to quietly accept her fate and disappear. She is the one who nicknamed the student body president Angel, presuming her to be an angel of God because of her powers.

Action Girl: She's one of the only characters who's even close to a match for Kanade in single combat, and manages to defeat one of the Kanade clones on her own.
Ax-Crazy: Given her Mean Boss tendencies, Yuri has her moments when she just become borderline unhinged. And that's not even mentioning her Evil Laugh.
Bad Boss: It's Played for Laughs because Death Is Cheap in the setting, but she won't hesitate to abandon the SSS to death traps so she can continue her path. In the second OVA, she orders the SSS to starve to death for her mistake.
Became Their Own Antithesis: She realizes in episode 12 that by antagonizing Angel, she became the opposite of a Cool Big Sis.
Better to Die than Be Killed: In episode 11, she orders her entire militia to put some serious thought into passing on lest they get assimilated by the Shadows.
Broken Bird: Due to the tragedies she suffered in her past life, she refused to accept her fate and she started the SSS to rebel against the Heaven.
Byronic Hero: Though mitigated by the light-hearted nature of the story, she's a passionate rebel motivated by desire for revenge. Much of her anger and hatred stem from tragedy that troubles her even in the afterlife, and she becomes the opposite of who she once was thanks to her vengeful attitude.
Hinata: Why is she so quick to reject the smallest bit of happiness? She's always rushing headlong toward something...
Combat Pragmatist: Has no issue with bringing large munitions and explosives against a durable target, pulling guns in a knife fight, making use of superior numbers, and trying out any and all other dirty tricks if it'll give her an edge against Angel and later on, the Shadows.
Cool Big Sis: SSS looks up to her as an admirable and charismatic older sister figure, which is why they follow her lead.
Dark and Troubled Past: Yuri was the eldest of four siblings. When she was little, robbers broke into her house when her parents weren't home. Unable to find anything worth stealing, they told Yuri that they would kill one of her siblings every ten minutes unless she found them something of value. But Yuri couldn't find anything; not in the first ten minutes, nor in the next. By the time the police arrived 30 minutes later she'd been pushed so far over the Despair Event Horizon that she doesn't recover until late in the series.
Diabolical Mastermind: She had tendencies to act like she is one, particularly in the OVA episode. Yusa even flat out asks her if she's a villain when she gives a maniacal Evil Laugh.
Disney Death: Though Disney Deaths are the norm in Purgatory, Episode 12 deserves a special mention because Yuri manages to escape with her soul despite being assimilated by the Shadows seconds earlier.
Everyone Has Standards: She's quick to threaten her subordinates with punishment for failure, such as sending them flying into the ceiling for not failing to distract Angel during the tests. However, when Ooyama fails when Angel rejects his Love Confession, she instead sends Hinata for flying, since Ooyama suffered enough.
Evil Laugh:
- She gives one in episode 4 when she thinks Otonashi's team is about to win against Angel's team, and another in Episode 12, but for something real serious—when she's considering becoming the new God.
- Lampshaded by Yusa when Yuri does it in the first OVA as she's marveling at the supposed brilliance of her strategy to take down Angel and God for good.
Evil Stole My Faith: She greatly resents God because of the tragic death of her siblings at hands of robbers.
Final First Hug: In the final episode, Yuri hugs Kanade like a friend after they have finally worked out their differences. Mere moments later, Yuri disappears.
Freudian Excuse: The incident where some robbers killed her younger siblings is the source of the hatred that drove her to rebel against Heaven.
Frontline General: She goes with her subordinates to battle.
Heel–Face Turn: By the final episode, she has given up on taking revenge against God and finally lets go of her regrets so she can pass on along everyone else.
Heel Realization: In episode 12, she finally recognizes that she's been in the wrong, especially in regards to her battle with Kanade.
Leg Focus: Her tendency to put her feet on tables often put emphasis on her legs.
Mean Boss: She's frequently insulting and beating up her subordinates.
A Mother to Her Men: Zigzagged. She doesn't take failure lightly and will often torture the other SSS members, but she clearly cares for them.
My Greatest Failure: She thinks she failed at being a good oldest sister by not having being able to do anything to protect her younger siblings from some robbers that broke into their house and killed the younger kids because Yuri couldn't find something valuable to give them.
Nay-Theist: She believes there's a God that's behind people's tragic lives, but wants to rebel against that God instead of praying. She lets go of it in the end, as she realizes that hating an entity she cannot even prove for certain exists is just a convenient way to avoid dealing with her own self-loathing due to "failing" her siblings.
The Not-Love Interest: Due to her being the first girl Otonashi meets and The Rival to Kanade, some would expect Yuri were part of a Love Triangle with them, but she never makes any romantic advances towards Otonashi.
Pragmatic Hero: In her schemes, Yuri is ready to use all sorts of dirty tricks, many which come at the expense of her subordinates.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's the leader of the SSS and is the only one capable of fighting one on one with the Student Council President Kanade.
Rebel Leader: She's the leader of a group of students that oppose the purgatory's system that makes young souls disappear.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's rebellious and temperamental, making her the Red Oni to the disciplined and stoic Kanade's Blue Oni.
Riddle for the Ages: The anime never specifies how exactly she died, although she does tell Otonoshi that she didn't commit suicide since no teenager who takes their own life arrives at the high school. The manga does answer the question; she died after being hit by a car while waiting at a bus stop.
Shout-Out: Her headband is supposedly inspired by Persona 4's Yukiko Amagi.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: "Humans don't have the patience to wait even ten minutes for something!" Cue destruction of computers and the halt to the shadow attack, as well as her redemption.
Smarter Than You Look: Despite being short-tempered and quirky like everyone, Yuri is really good at figuring out what's going on, even when characters actively try to hide the truth from her.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: She's such a jerk because the cruel deaths of her younger siblings made her hate the unfairness of her life. In the end, her so-called rebellion is just her taking out her anger and dissatisfaction over her life on Kanade.
Surrounded by Idiots: Everyone in her team is an idiot and she beats them up when their stupidity annoys her. Although, she admits to being an idiot too.
Survivor Guilt: Robbers killed all of her siblings and she was left as the Sole Survivor. Now that she has died herself, she wants to rebel against God for letting her outlive her siblings.
Took a Level in Kindness: After defeating the NPC controlling the shadows and coming to terms with her own death, Yuri eases up a lot and her attitude in the final episode is a far cry from the rest of the series.
Tsundere: Harsh type. She's unbelievably bossy, fierce and abusive towards the SSS. All in all, she does hold her subordinates dear, which she admits near the end of the anime.
Unreliable Expositor: Most of the information she gives to Otonashi in the first episode is entirely wrong. First of all, the "angel" her team is fighting is just a human girl and the true purpose of the high school is not to have the students be erased by God, but to help the souls of people who died young pass on in peace.
Villain Protagonist: With the reveal of the true purpose of the afterlife school, Yuri ends up looking like the true villain in the series. Kanade is just trying to maintain a peaceful environment that helps the young souls clear their regrets, but Yuri's misunderstandings of how the purgatory works and resentment at her own tragedies are keeping herself and everyone in SSS from passing on as they create meaningless chaos around the school.
What You Are in the Dark: An AI offers Yuri the chance to become God herself, but she violently refuses because she knows she needs to save her companions from the Shadows.

Kanade Tachibana / Angel

Kanade "Angel" Tachibana

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tenshi_vn.png

"I am not an Angel."

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (JP), Emily Neves (EN)

Kanade, initially known as "Angel", is the Student Council President and the enemy of the SSS. The kids in the Battlefront presume she is an angel assigned to oversee their purgatory because she appears to be making people disappear.

Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Played With. While Angel is fully willing and enabled to use lethal force against the SSS, they're also trying to kill her, and Death Is Cheap in the afterlife either way. She also has no apparent capacity to act against them as long as they aren't actively breaking school rules — behave like normal students and she might as well be just another girl in class.
Action Girl: Superhumanly strong and fast and can summon weapons to use.
Arch-Enemy: Being the Student Council President, Kanade's duty is to keep the school in order, which makes her the biggest enemy to the Rebel Leader Yuri. Also, Yuri views Kanade as the representative of the God she wants to rebel against.
Badass Adorable: She's a small and quiet girl with a plethora of powerful abilites.
Badass Arm-Fold: What she does all the time in the baseball episode. She even wears a cool baseball outfit to look more badass.
Billy Needs an Organ: Kanade's reason for remaining in purgatory was to thank the individual who had donated the heart she had received.
Blade Below the Shoulder: She can summon blades onto her wrists using Guard Skill: Hand Sonic, which serve as her main combat method.
Caring Gardener: Otonashi finds her tending the school's garden in her free time. This is one of the things that let him learn about her hidden gentleness.
Cassandra Truth: "I'm not an angel," is literally the first thing she says in the anime, but it takes until episode 3 before the SSS even begins to suspect she might be human.
Chekhov's Gunman: She received the heart that Otonashi donated as his dying act and wanted to thank him for it before ascending.
Close-Range Combatant: Unlike most other characters, Angel is never seen using guns or other ranged weapons, preferring to close the distance to attack with her Hand Sonic. This need to fight at close range is the only real advantage (other than numbers) that the SSS has over her.
The Comically Serious: Despite acting like an Emotionless Girl, she has her own goofy moments.
Defrosting Ice Queen: After Otonashi learns her name, she begins to warm up to him. This is partially due to the fact that she realizes that people who get close to her will move on. In the last episode, because almost everyone has moved on she drops the Ice Queen act.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: She finally manages to pass on and disappears in Otonashi's arms.
Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Because Overdrive works passively, Kanade manages to fling Takeyama by his nose just by casting her fishing rod during Operation Monster Stream.
Dual Wielding: With two Hand Sonic blades, which she needs to slice twice as much ass.
Dumb Muscle: A rare female example. Yuri lampshades on this by saying that Kanade is better at fighting than pondering over a plan.
Dungeon Bypass: She can just storm her way through anything, no matter what the SSS try throwing at her to slow her down.
Emotionless Girl: She is so emotionless that SSS considers her even less alive than NPCs. However, she's more of the "emotionally repressed" type than outright emotionless.
Feigning Intelligence: She does it unintentionally, her Stoic demeanor and good grades make her look intelligent, but closer examination of all her actions reveal that she's just as big of an idiot as everyone else in the show.
First-Name Basis: Otonashi asks if they can call each other by their first names, and she accepts. She later gets onto this with Yuri.
Flash Step: Her Delay ability allows her to move like she was teleporting at close range.
Girl with Psycho Weapon: Her Guard skill, which gives her a blade coming out of her sleeve. It changes as it "goes up" in level, which goes from a short blade, a long blade, a trident, a giant flower, and when she upgrades to a fifth level, a sinister claw. Ultimately, subverted, since it's a defensive weapon and once we learn more about her personality under the chilly exterior.
Gratuitous English: When activating one of her powers, she says "Guard Skill: [English Phrase]."
Healing Factor: When shot, her body spits the bullet out and repairs the hole in seconds. This is noticeable since other characters have to "die" before being auto-healed.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: While she's not exactly a bad guy to begin with, her first Heel–Face Turn came about in ''understanding'' her, at least a little bit. Her Face–Heel Turn from episode 9 was due to Otonashi asking her to feign a relapse into the authoritarian stance, so the SSS will be focused on her while he helps them pass on. Her "last" Heel–Face Turn in episode 13 is permanent.
Hero Antagonist: She's actually just trying to keep the peace in the school so that the students can move on and reincarnate. The SSS is just causing useless trouble with their so-called rebellion, which forces Kanade to get in their way.
Human All Along: She is not an angel as SSS had assumed; she is a normal human, like everyone else.
Immune to Bullets: With Distortion active, they refract through her body like laser beams, causing no apparent damage.
Implacable Woman: A shot to the legs will slow her down, at least until she activates Guard Skill - Distortion, but it won't stop her.
Improbable Aiming Skills: In Episode 10, she shoots a flying soccer ball with a slingshot from the side, causing it to veer to the side, past Hinata and into the goal.
Leitmotif: Angel's Flight from the anime and its Official Soundtrack. The beat seems to resemble a track of heartbeats.
Literal Change of Heart: She was the lucky recipient of the heart Otonashi donated upon his death.
Little Miss Badass: She's a major ass-kicker possessing Super-Strength and great skill with blades while having the appearance of a preteen girl.
Magic from Technology: She conjures hand blades, slingshots and wings using a single computer program called Angel Player.
Maybe Ever After: The Stinger of the final episode heavily implies Kanade and Otonashi meet again after reincarnating, giving them the chance to fall in love and be together again.
Meaningful Name: Her real name is Kanade Tachibana, and Kanade means "playing music".
Menacing Stroll: She rarely moves faster than a casual walking pace, even while fighting, but given her regeneration and ability to cut bullets from the air, she never really needs to. Unlike the real Angel, her clones have no problem with running at full speed and employing Combat Parkour, which substantially ups their threat level.
Musical Theme Naming: Most of her abilities, such as Harmonics and (Hand) Sonic. Also, Distortion, Overdrive, and Delay are various guitar effects.
Mystical White Hair: She has long white hair to emphasize her supposed magical nature as an angel.
Nice Girl: Befitting her name, she's even-tempered, polite to others and good-natured.
Nigh-Invulnerability: She can take an entire barrage of small arms fire and grenades without a scratch, and still get up to kick ass.
No Social Skills: As she herself admits when Otonashi points it out. She's quiet and pretty bad at explaining things when just telling her side of the story could clear up a lot of issues.
Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: She is not making people disappear. In reality, she just helps people achieve peace and move on. Otonashi surmises that she doesn't have any friends because all of them have disappeared and the remaining people don't want to. After Otonashi makes friends with her he quickly realizes that perhaps she isn't quite as different from the SSS members as they might think.
Not So Above It All: Despite looking like a coolheaded character, Otonashi later realizes she's really as much of a moron as everyone in SSS.
Not So Stoic: Despite normally being completely unflappable, Angel goes out of her way to order her favorite food for comfort after being forced to resign from the Student Council.
Older Than She Looks: Looks like she might be a whole handful of years younger than the rest of the cast, but she's still about the same age as them. Turns out she's so small because her heart condition inhibited her growth.
One-Woman Army: Not even all of the SSS attacking her together could stand a chance against her.
Parrying Bullets: She can block bullets with her Hand Sonic.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's one of the shortest characters in the series, being only 150 cm (4'11") tall. Yet, she's hella lot stronger than a young girl of her size should be.
Poor Communication Kills: The entire conflict could have been averted had she talked about her goals and the world's purpose properly. She's aware of it, too. She even admits to having horrible communication skills.
Power Incontinence: Kanade uses her Harmonics skill when it's still faulty and she can't make her clone disappear. Also, the clone she creates is evil and soon after, there's several evil Kanades running around. The SSS uses Angel Player to add the feature needed to re-absorb the Kanade clones into the original.
The Quiet One: She speaks rarely, briefly, and softly.
Race-Name Basis: Everyone in SSS calls her "Angel" because that's what they believe she is, even though she's not really an angel.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's far more powerful than any student in the SSS. Only Yuri can go directly against her. This is probably due to her position as the Student Council President.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Her Harmonics skill creates red-eyed clones of herself and the clones are more lethal than her.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's disciplined and stoic, making her the Blue Oni while the rebellious and temperamental Yuri is the Red Oni.
Rei Ayanami Expy: She's a young girl with white hair, yellow eyes, and pale skin. Her appearance and eerily stoic behavior make her seem otherworldly and mysterious, but the protagonist gradually discovers her hidden human nature. In the end, she becomes his love interest.
The Rival: Since the SSS believes she's an angel, Yuri sees Kanade as the adversary she must defeat to exact revenge against God. Meanwhile, Kanade fights her back because of her job as Student Council President.
Self-Duplication: She develops the skill "Harmonics" to make a clone of herself which has her same powerset, including "Harmonics".
Starter Villain Stays: The first episodes set her up as the SSS's main enemy, but she soon stops antagonizing them after they make her lose the position of Student Council President. She stays as a member of the main cast, even becoming the main heroine and Otonashi's love interest halfway through the anime.
The Stoic: Her face never shows any emotion.
Student Council President: For the earlier episodes, anyway, before stepping down do to sabotaged exam scores. Takes back the position later when Otonashi asks her to resume acting as an enemy to Battlefront in order to cover for his and her plans to help their friends come to terms with their lives and move on.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She could be a perfect example of an Emotionless Girl in the first few episodes but after Otonashi learns her name he begins noticing that she does subtly display humanity and feeling.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: She is believed to be a magical angel, with her yellow eyes being a hint. However, she is not an angel.
Super-Strength: In the same episode, Angel manages to lift both the entire SSS (sans Yuri, plus Fish Saitou) and a giant monster fish by jumping.
Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: She's the acting Student Council President working to keep students in line, and actively stops the SSS from wreaking havoc, with extreme prejudice.
Token Super: The only character in the cast with any (explicit) superpowers. Notably for this trope she's the villain of the story at least at first.
Took a Level in Cheerfulness: After spending nearly all the anime as an Emotionless Girl, Kanade is finally able to smile and act more like a normal girl in the last episode.
Trademark Favorite Food: Mapo Doufu. She likes the taste, and finds it to be the only thing on the school menu worth eating. In the last episode she made a song about it.
Tsurime Eyes: She's an Emotionless Girl with sharp eyes to symbolize her stoicism.
Unaffected by Spice: She can eat mapo doufu without batting an eye, but when another character tries it, he's downing multiple glasses of water just to try and ease the suffering from the heat.
Waif-Fu: While she's tiny and delicate-looking, she can effortlessly catch a gigantic river fish and carry more than half of SSS with her as she jumps with the fishing rod.
White Hair, Black Heart: The only character with white hair, and the only known enemy. Subverted; she's not evil at all.
Winged Humanoid: She has the ability to sprout wings from her back that, while they don't enable her to fly, can be used to slow her descent. They also allow her survive long drops, such as jumping from the roof of a building.
Willfully Weak: Kanade never fighting the SSS class all this time as she's only react whenever they attack first. Comes her evil clones who's more aggressive than her alongside her battle against the Shadows later on and you can see she's holding back her true power all this time.
Wings Do Nothing: Subverted. Kanade's angelic wings seem to be mere decoration at first, but they can function for gliding short distances.
Zero-Approval Gambit: After Kanade finally explains to Otonashi what's the true purpose of the afterlife school, both team up to help all of the SSS pass on. However, Otonashi asks her to pretend she's been corrupted by her evil clones because he thinks it's easier to get the SSS to act as he wishes if they still believe Kanade is their enemy.

Hideki Hinata

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hinata_vn.png

"There's an idiot here."

Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (JP), David Matranga (EN)

The co-founder/co-leader of SSS along with Yuri.

Alliterative Name: Hideki Hinata.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: He and Yui do nothing but fight and irritate each other when they're together. Near the end of the anime, they admit to have romantic feelings for each other when Hinata tells Yui he wants to marry her so she can pass on.
Berserk Button: He hates stupidly cutesy girls, as Yui learned the hard way:
Hinata: *Death Glare* Huh? What did you just say?
Yui: Yui, nyan!
Hinata: *puts her in reverse swastika* THAT'S WHAT I HATE ABOUT YOU!!!
Butt-Monkey: The most notable of the SSS. Even better the 3rd time around.
Chekhov's Gunman: In a way. He turns out to be the key to Yui moving on in the end. No wonder she deliberately derailed his team's baseball game against Kanade six episodes earlier! Though, if you progress through the visual novel in a certain way, he can actually catch the ball that wins the game and still be stuck in the afterlife.
Dark and Troubled Past: In his past life, he was a baseball player who let his team down at a major tournament and has yet to really forgive himself, then was given drugs to make himself feel better. He died in a truck accident. The visual novel adds that he didn't have any memories of his original family, so he was taken in by his uncle and his wife who already had two children. While taken in, there was a barrier between him and his new family, to where they leave him alone at the house while they traveled as a family. With an environment like that, he knew that he would only drift further away from them. He played in little league baseball and enrolled in a boarding school by means of a sports recommendation, all for the reason to stay away from his foster family for as long as possible. The one thing he required from his foster parents was to sign his paperwork, which in his eyes was a humiliating act in itself.
Genre Savvy: During episode 8 he calls out TK's Heroic Sacrifice as a scene from a shonen manga.
Gratuitous English: For some reason, the visual novel has him shouting out "What? Why?" when he gets surprised.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Otonashi quickly become very good friends. In fact, Hinata likes Otonashi so much that Otonashi questions Hinata's sexual orientation. The manga has him be this with Ooyama, though for some reason this is never brought up in the anime.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: There are times where he can be very brash, insensitive, and self-centered, but his heart is always in the right place for his friends.
Kick the Dog: The visual novel reveals there was more to his past life than just letting his team down in a tournament as explored in the anime. One day, a stray dog that had a disability walked onto the baseball field. The team decided to take care of it and he saw what he believed to be the diminishing performance of his team, only viewing his deeds as another good mark on his resume. The team's motivation for practice went down, and they all began to focus on making a prosthesis to help the dog walk. Unable to stand interference from the dog, he decided to act. Taking the dog far away, he climbed through a mountain and went through woods before leaving the dog behind. His team and manager immediately noticed the dog's disappearance and he was quickly ousted as the culprit, since he wasn't the one reacting as badly to the dog's disappearance. He argued, stating that the dog was distracting the team and his manager slapped him, asking him if he's even human. His emotions spiralled and began to think that life was unfair and never thought of himself as in the wrong for doing that. It was only after he helped form the SSS that he had a Heel Realization about that dog.
Mistaken for Gay: A Running Gag is that whenever Hinata expresses he's fond of Otonashi, the latter asks if Hinata likes him that way only for Hinata to quickly deny it.
The Nicknamer: He was the one who first called Kanade by Angel, was the one who came up with calling the other students NPCs, and also calls Yuri as "Yurippe" and Shiina as "Shiinacchi".
Number Two: As one of the original creators of the SSS along with Yuri.
The Promise: He promises to marry Yui in their next life.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the brash Red Oni to Otonashi's sensible Blue Oni. Ironic, considering their hair colors.
Soundtrack Dissonance: Extreme case whilst the rocket propulsion chairs are happening.
Two First Names: His surname Hinata is a fairly common given name for girls in Japan.
Would Hit a Girl: Though Yui is also hitting back and bending him with wrestling moves and it's always slapstick and Played for Laughs.
Wrestler in All of Us: He and Yui lock each other in wrestling moves whenever they annoy each other.

Ayato Naoi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/naoi_vn.png

"You are toilet paper."

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (JP), Greg Ayres (EN)

Was Student Council Vice-President. He then became President when Angel was kicked out for her "bad" grades. He believes that he is God.

Aloof Ally: After joining SSS, Naoi is quite distant and rude towards everyone with Otonashi being the only exception and helps them only when Otonashi asks him to do so or if it's benefit to his sake.
Ambiguously Gay: After his Heel–Face Turn, the way Naoi acts around Otonashi would make anyone think he's got a huge crush on the guy. However, it's never explicitly stated whether Naoi's fascination with Otonashi is a romantic attraction or an exaggerated feeling of gratitude since Otonashi gave him the validation he always wanted. In the Gag Series Kaginado, any ambiguity is thrown out of the window.
Angsty Surviving Twin: As a child, he was forced by his father to switch places with his dead brother who had been a prodigy sculptor. He became very unhinged because of this.
Because You Were Nice to Me: He becomes incredibly attached to Otonashi, the first person to have ever acknowledged his value as an individual.
Blatant Lies: In episode 11, he does this to cover up for Kanade, in order to prevent Yuri from catching onto Otonashi's plan to help everyone pass on.
Commissar Cap: He wears a cap as part of his traditional gakuran uniform.
Cooldown Hug: Otonashi delivers one to him in episode six.
Custom Uniform: Zigzagged. While part of the school, Naoi wore the regular uniform plus his own hat. However, he continued wearing the same uniform even after joining the SSS, becoming the only member to do so.
Dark and Troubled Past: When alive, his twin brother was his father's apprentice in pottery, while he remained in his room, ignored by the world. Then his brother died and he had to take his place, but wasn't nearly as good at the craft as his brother. Having no choice but to live his life as someone else he began to think that his entire life was a charade. It gets worse: just as he was getting the hang of the pottery thing and became determined to be the best, his father became bedridden, unable to teach him further. Without the strict training regimen, Naoi never gets better at the craft and his life, which he perceives wasn't his to begin with, is now pointless.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Played With. While he isn't much of a threat, Naoi is the only malicious human in the story. While he enforces the rules with an army of mooks, the SSS assume he's just an NPC since he's a model student who hasn't disappeared. By the time they realize he's actually a human, it's nearly too late to stop him.
Easily Forgiven: Even if Death Is Cheap, his pre-Heel–Face Turn actions were too much, but the SSS seems alright with Naoi casually hanging out with them. It's still downplayed; while the SSS are willing to tolerate him, nobody exactly likes him, and Yuri mainly sees him as useful for his Hypnotic Eyes.
Evil Wears Black: Naoi is the only genuinely malevolent human to appear within the storyline. He is also the only one apart from Angel to join the SSS and keep the old uniform, which just so happens to be entirely black.
Freudian Excuse: Naoi believes everything about his life was fake because he was forced to replace his dead twin brother. Anyone going through what he went through would wind up with an overly inflated ego to cover their lack of self-worth.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Post-Heel–Face Turn Naoi hangs out with the SSS just because he wants to be near Otonashi, but it's clear they still dislike him as much as he dislikes anyone who isn't Otonashi. When Naoi throws himself at one of the Kanade clones to please Otonashi, no one actually cares and Yui even forgot his name, in contrast to everyone else who was sacrificed getting a tearful farewell.
A God Am I: He believes himself to be God, or at the very least an incarnation of Him.
Guns Akimbo: He's actually pretty good with firearms, wielding two pistols simultaneously during the shadow assault with pretty good accuracy.
Heel–Face Turn: Naoi becomes a lot less threatening after he joins the SSS. This could be due to Otonashi keeping him in check for the most part.
Human All Along: After meeting him for the first time, the cast falls under the assumption that he's just a crazy NPC. He's soon revealed to be a human spirit like everyone in the main cast.
Hypnotic Eyes: He has the ability to hypnotize others by making eye contact with them.
Inadequate Inheritor: In the end, he wasn't able to measure up to his brother's skill in pottery or succeed their father by the time the elder Naoi became too ill to teach Ayato.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: His arrogance and god complex are his coping mechanism for having lived a short life in his twin brother's shadow and never being valued as his own person.
I Owe You My Life: After his Heel–Face Turn, he becomes incredibly devoted to Otonashi, thanks to his acknowledgement as an individual.
Jerkass Has a Point: While he's not exactly the most friendly member of the SSS Class, Naoi often made a right note whenever there's any shortsightedness within their operation.
Jerkass to One: Post-Heel–Face Turn, he's pretty rude toward everyone in the SSS Class except Otonashi, but he has a certain rivalry with Hinata as they often headbutting to be Otonashi's best friend.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After his Heel–Face Turn, he's certainly become a helpful ally to the SSS Class without string attached and tries his best to be a better person in general, even if he's remain rude toward them with Otonashi being exception as usual.
Karma Houdini: He doesn't really get any proper punishment for his actions. See Easily Forgiven.
Knight of Cerebus: When he's made the student council president following Kanade stepping down in Episode 5 and uses his position to go on the offensive against the SSS Class, the series starts to become less light-hearted and the heavier themes begin getting more emphasis.
Manipulative Bastard: Played for Laughs. During the Heroic Sacrifice moments, he hypnotizes Ooyama, making him think he's a clown and the Angel clone is a lonely girl, and Ooyama has to make her laugh as a clown.
Manly Tears: It's implied he starts to cry in Otonashi's arms at the end of Episode 6, and flat out sobs during Episode 13.
Mind-Control Eyes: The eyes of anyone he hypnotizes turn dull.
My Friends... and Zoidberg: An example of positive exclusion. Whenever he insults the SSS members, Naoi will quickly point out that he didn't mean to include Otonashi in his insults.
Number Two: He's second only to Kanade in school authority, as he holds the position of vice-president in the student council.
Redemption Demotion: He never pulls off anything personally impressive post Heel–Face Turn. His threat came from turning NPCs into a personal armed army that the SSS refused to harm due to a code of honor. Untrained NPCs would have given minimal aid against the rogue Angels and the nature of the Shadows would have made said ability useless entirely.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: When using his hypnotic abilities, his eyes turn bright red.
Replacement Sibling: His father forced him to pretend to be his twin brother who died in an accident.
Sixth Ranger: He's the most late to join SSS (Episode 7). Before that, he was an antagonist.
Stalker with a Crush: He makes a hobby out of following Otonashi wherever he goes.
The Stoic: Usually, he acts almost robotic because of his lack of obvious emotions, which is part of why the SSS mistook him for a NPC. His interactions with Otonashi reveal he's Not So Stoic.
Student Council President: He takes over the student council after Kanade is forced to quit because of failing all her tests.
Successful Sibling Syndrome: He had a twin brother who was amazing at the family's pottery trade, while Naoi's own skills were average at best. His brother's death got a lot of stress put on Naoi by his father who wanted Naoi to live up to his brother's talent and become a good replacement.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's cold, condescending, and merciless to everyone. He only tries to be nice and considerate towards Otonashi, who managed to win him over by telling him his life had value.
Theme Twin Naming: His twin brother was named "Hayato", which is only one letter away from Ayato.
Token Evil Teammate: After joining the SSS, Naoi continues to harass everyone (usually Hinata) whenever he feel like it, as well as constantly insulting the rest of the group (except Otonashi).
Tyrant Takes the Helm: SSS makes Kanade fail all her tests, causing Naoi to replace her as Student Council President. Naoi is far more hostile and vicious than Kanade, acting more as an outright villain instead of a Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist.
The Un-Favourite: When he was still alive, his father neglected him in favor of his twin brother who was far more talented in the family business. After said brother died, Naoi was forced by his father to switch his life with his twin brother's. While his father did acknowledge him briefly, Naoi was later forced to live like he was never himself.
Villainous BSoD: Arguably what happened during his confrontation with Otonashi; he was essentially forced to realize that he himself was ultimately responsible for his own misery.
Villainous Face Hold: Averted, but comes very, very close to doing this to Yuri. Instead, he grabs her arms and leans into her face to hypnotize her, rather than touching it directly.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: In his life, he gave it his all to get good at pottery to carry on his father's business. However, his father never acknowledged him as his own person, only treating him as a backup for his brother at most.

Girls Dead Monster

Masami Iwasawa

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iwasawa_vn.png

"Just as I was saved, I'll save someone else."

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (JP), Luci Christian (EN)

The original vocalist and leader of Girls Dead Monster.

Ascended Extra: Iwasawa benefits from this in the most recent Manga Adaptation, The Last Order, which adapts a lot of the additional focus she received in the Visual Novel. In the visual novel itself, she is Promoted to Love Interest in her route.
Berserk Button: The only time she ever shows strong emotion is when someone tries to take her beloved guitar from her.
Dark and Troubled Past: When she was alive, she had a troubled home life, with her parents fighting constantly. As a teenager, she discovered music as an escape and inspiration. Later, she found an abandoned guitar and taught herelf to play, busking on street corners and dreaming of gaining independence from her parents by supporting herself with her music. However, during one of her parent's arguments, her father accidentally hit Iwasawa in the head with a bottle, causing a cerebral contusion which eventually led to a stroke. She woke up in the hospital, unable to speak due to aphasia caused by the stroke, and died in the hospital some time later.
A Death in the Limelight: She's the main focus of Episode 3, which ends with her disappearing.
Dying Moment of Awesome: Not necessarily dying, but her last concert before disappearing was really amazing and touching.
Informed Ability: In life, according to her teachers, she could go anywhere with her grades, however, she doesn't want to depend on her parents any more.
Lead Singer Plays Lead Guitar: She's the leader of the band Girls Dead Monster, where she is the band's lead guitarist and vocalist.
Sacrificial Lamb: She's the first character to disappear during the series after deciding to inspire others with her music in her next life.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Introduced in Episode 1, disappeared in Episode 3.

Yui

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yui_vn.png

"Even death can't cure idiocy."

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (JP), Hilary Haag (EN)

The new vocalist of Girls Dead Monster.

Animal Motifs: Her mannerisms are similar to a cat's and she calls herself Yui-nyan.
Ascended Fangirl: Was a major Fangirl of Iwasawa and her band before being asked on to replace Iwasawa as the band's lead vocalist.
Athletically Challenged: Despite being a Genki Girl, she's rather unathletic, so she needs a lot of practice to perform a German suplex successfully, can only score a soccer goal with interference from Otonashi and Kanade, and ultimately fails to hit a home run. This is justified since she spent much of her life as a quadriplegic, so she never had a chance to participate in any kind of sport.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: Whenever she and Hinata are together, they piss each other off and begin wrestling. Later on, they're revealed to like each other.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She may act like an idiot Fangirl, but she actually proves to be a worthy replacement for Iwasawa, and even writes the lyrics to Iwasawa's final song.
Butt-Monkey: Her clumsiness often causes some painful moments for her.
Catchphrase Insult: She often says "What an idiot" (alternatively "What a moron") when one of the SSS is being stupid.
Cerebus Retcon: You see her hyperactive Genki Girl behavior in a whole new light when Yui tells Otonashi that she was rendered quadriplegic when she was little and now that she can finally move, she wants to use up her body to the limit and try everything she couldn't in her life.
Chained by Fashion: Her armbands and leggings resemble black chains.
Cheery Pink: She's an energetic and lively girl with pink hair and eyes.
Contrasting Replacement Character: She replaces Iwasawa as the vocalist of Girls Dead Monster, but her Genki Girl personality is the polar opposite of the coolheaded Iwasawa. Lampshaded in Episode 4.
Curtains Match the Window: Pink eyes to go with her pink hair.
Cute Little Fangs: She has two pointy teeth like a cat, fitting her energetic personality.
Dark and Troubled Past: As a kid, she was hit by a car, leaving her totally paralyzed. She spent her whole life watching TV and admired lots of things on it. She wanted to do a German Suplex, hit a homerun, and dribble by 5 people and score in soccer, and marriage.
A Death in the Limelight: Episode 10 is focused entirely on her, and ends with her disappearing.
Determinator: The visual novel shows she is this, balancing her band practice with working out to be able to perform a German suplex, then later to hit a home run in baseball. And unlike the anime, she actually succeeds in the latter.
Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Subverted. Just as her violence on Hinata is played for comedy, so is the violence he uses against her.
Expressive Accessory: Her "demon tail" which seems to twitch and move according to her mood.
Expressive Hair: Yui has a difficult time hiding her excitement upon joining Hinata's baseball team.
Fond Memories That Could Have Been: To help her find peace, Hinata talks with Yui about how they could have met when they were alive if he had accidently broken her bedroom window with a baseball. He also swears he would have married her despite her being quadriplegic. Overjoyed to hear that, Yui passes on while imagining a romance with Hinata during her life.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Not nearly as bad as Naoi, but most of SSS finds her utterly annoying, and nowhere near Iwasawa's level of talent.
Genki Girl: She's overloaded of energy, always running and jumping around. Justified by the fact that she did not have the ability to move her own body when she was alive, as she was rendered a quadriplegic after being hit by a car.
Girlish Pigtails: She wears some of her hair in twintails, fittingly giving her the stereotypical hairstyle of a Tsundere.
Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She's an overly cutesy Kawaiiko who is fond of cute tics and has romantic fantasies about what it'd be like to get married. She's also crudely violent and prone to using very masculine slang and vocabulary when addressing her seniors.
Hidden Depths: Yui comes off as selfish and immature, but she feels indebted to her mother for taking care of her, and wishes that Hinata could lighten her mother's burden by helping take care of her.
High Hopes, Zero Talent: She hopes to become Iwasawa's replacement in Girls Dead Monter, but is unable to play the guitar well while singing (but appears to do just fine when she's only singing).
I Just Want to Be Loved: Her biggest regret is that she could never experience romance and get married because of her quadriplegic condition when she was alive. After Hinata proclaims he would have married her if they had met in their previous lives, Yui finds peace and finally passes on.
Idiot Hair: Yui has a strand of hair sticking up on her head and appropriately, she's one of the goofiest characters in the series.
Lady Swears-a-Lot: Cuddly and cute as a button though she may be, Yui has an extremely foul mouth by Japanese standards.
Laser-Guided Karma: In one episode, she indirectly kills Hinata by kicking him into the business end of Angel's knife. In the next scene, she accidentally kills herself by slamming into a steel support beam.
Lead Singer Plays Lead Guitar: She becomes Girls Dead Monster's lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist after Iwasawa's passing.
Little Miss Snarker: Yui is small and she won't ever pass up a chance to remark on someone else's idiocy when she sees it.
Mythical Motifs: Some elements of her outfit are reminding of a demon. Her skirt has a pointed tail, and her ribbons resemble horns.
The Napoleon: Downplayed. While she's tiny, she's very cheerful and only gets angry and violent when arguing with Hinata.
No Full Name Given: She's notably the only member of Girls Dead Monster whose family name is never revealed.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: She's an optimistic and energetic pink-haired girl. For bonus points, her love interest Hinata has blue hair.
Shoo Out the Clowns: She's usually nowhere to be seen during the most serious scenes. She passes on the episode before the series abandons its comedy to start ending to the finale.
Tears of Joy: She cries out of happiness when Hinata makes up a romance they could have had if they had met when they were alive.
Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Yui is the shortest girl in the cast besides Kanade and she bosses the members of SSS around from time to time.
Token Mini-Moe: She's the youngest-looking member of the cast, emphasizing her cuteness. With the revelation that she was quadriplegic in life, it's very likely that she's so short because she spent all her time resting in a bed.
Tragic Dream: During her life, her greatest dream was getting married. Sadly, that was impossible because her body was paralyzed since she was little and she spent her entire life in a hospital bed. Hinata promises he will make her dream come true in her next life.
Tsundere: Sweet type. Yui is usually cheery and friendly, but her aggressive side comes out around Hinata. Otonashi outright asks Yui to decide whether she loves or hates Hinata.
Wrestler in All of Us: She wrestles with Hinata frequently. Also, a portion of Episode 10 is dedicated to Otonashi teaching Yui how to do a German Suplex.

Hisako

Voiced by: Chie Matsuura (JP), Elizabeth Bunch (EN)

The lead guitarist of Girls Dead Monster.

Born Lucky: She always wins at Mahjong, though Sekine claims that she cheats.
The Dreaded: To Sekine at least, she is absolutely terrified of her when she gets mad.
Friendless Background: Aside from her family and bandmates, she never made time for other people in her previous life.
Good Parents: She had them, though she mostly talks about her father in this light. He gave her first guitar, got mad at the fans that attacked her and offered her a spot in his band if she would leave her band, never blamed her for the fan that burned his house down, and even when he was busy, he would smile and tell her about his day.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Has one to the point where it can turn her demonic if her Berserk Button is pressed hard enough.
Informed Ability: According to Hinata, she's very athletic. Zig zagged, as while we never got to see her play in the baseball episode (she was on Takamatsu's team, apparently), in episode 6, she leapt out of the window very quickly when Naoi showed up.
Instant Expert: Downplayed, but it only took her a few months to get good enough on her guitar that she could go into a live house (a Japanese live music club) without being denied entry and she was in middle school at the time.
In the Blood: Her dad had his own band. She even tried to join them a couple of times, even though her musical tastes were very different.
It's All My Fault: When she was alive, the main vocalist of her band committed suicide. She blamed herself for his death and gave up music for the rest of previous life. It was only until she met Iwasawa that she started playing music again.
Living Emotional Crutch: She was one for the main vocalist of her band, as an unofficial part of her job in the band was to make sure he didn't kill himself due to his mental illness.
School Is for Losers: While she never actually skipped school, she never studied, even before she got into music.
Yoko Oh No: In life, she was thought to be in a relationship with the main vocalist of her band, which unfortunately made her the enemy of the vocalist's fans. It got so bad that a fan burned her parents' house down, which was the final straw as she left the band after that.

Shiori Sekine

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sekine_vn.png

Voiced by: Emiri Katou (JP), Serena Varghese (EN)

The bassist of Girls Dead Monster.

Affectionate Nickname: Refers to Irie as "Miyukichi".
Idiot Hair: She as a small ahoge on her head and is the silliest girl in the band after Yui.
The Prankster: She enjoys playing tricks on others to see their reaction.
Shipper on Deck: She becomes a major one for Otonashi/Iwasawa in Iwasawa's visual novel route. Her help is in fact vital to kickstarting the relationship. Before that gets serious, she jokingly suggests that Otonashi try his luck with Irie, stating that she wishes for Irie's happiness above all else.
Unreliable Narrator: The GiDeMo short stories that accompanied the light novel are supposed to be her journal entries. Each one ends with her band-mates discovering the journal and objecting to how they're being portrayed — among other things, Iwasawa is depicted as a crazy perfectionist with a Kansai accent, Hisako is shown cheating at Mahjong, and Irie plays tricks on the NPCs.

Miyuki Irie

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/irie_vn.png

Voiced by: Kana Asumi (JP), Luci Christian (EN)

The drummer of Girls Dead Monster.

Affectionate Nickname: Refers to Sekine as "Shiorin".
Break the Cutie: In her previous life, she was forced to become the Student Council President for her school at the last second. Her inability to perform caused her to be a target of bullying and basically be a laughing stock. Due to this, as shown in Heaven's Door, she has a tendency to severely berate herself for not being able to do any task she was given correctly or amounting to anything, especially when given tasks to practice by Hisako.
Ironic Fear: Despite being dead, she is very afraid of ghost stories.
Shrinking Violet: She is the most reserved and easily frightened of the band's members.

Other SSS Members

Shiina

Shiina (Codename: C7)

"How shallow-minded."

Voiced by: Fuko Saito (JP), Melissa Davis (EN)

Ninja of the SSS. Also very strange.

Action Girl: The strongest fighter of the SSS by miles. In Track Zero, she fights Kanade to a draw.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She's a serious, reserved and mysterious girl with long black hair.
Antiquated Linguistics: She uses an archaic way of speaking.
Badass Arm-Fold: In group gatherings, she's often found off to the side, leaning against a wall with her arms folded.
Badass Boast: "Consider your forces a hundred men stronger."
Born in the Wrong Century: She behaves like someone from feudal Japan. She's clearly bugged by modern school uniforms or English-borrowed words such as "geimu".
Catchphrase Insult: "How shallow-minded." In the dub, "This is so stupid." In Japanese "Asahaka nari", which means "superficial" or "silly".
Charles Atlas Superpower: None of the characters in the story bar Angel are stated to have any superhuman abilities, but Shiina still stands out for her ability to perform ridiculous acrobatic stunts and keep up with the others' firearms in combat while wielding archaic blades and throwing weapons, with no explanation given save for sheer skill.
The Comically Serious: She keeps a dead serious face while acting as ridiculous as all the members of SSS.
Custom Uniform: She remodeled her clothes herself from her school uniform, as she finds it uncomfortable.
Cuteness Proximity: Her reaction to seeing a cute toy is to blush and hug it, which makes it too easy for her to fall into stupid traps. In the special episode she raises the tension meter to 9999 just for saying "CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!"
Defeat Means Friendship: Joined the SSS after they defeated her.
Dumb Muscle: Rare female example; in the Baseball Episode, disappointed in herself for letting her Cuteness Proximity lead her into a trap, she decides to exercise her focus by balancing a broom on her hand at all times. Emphasis on "at all times".
Yui: [upon learning of the above] Yup, she's a moron.
Gory Discretion Shot: Unlike the others who sacrifice themselves to stop the Angel Clones, Shiina's sacrifice isn't shown; just her shadow getting stabbed.
Gratuitous Ninja: The setting is a school in the afterlife and all the other characters are normal-looking, if eccentric teenagers. Shiina moves and fights like a ninja for no apparent reason; it's just her gimmick.
Hidden Depths: She is a decent artist, being able to paint a portrait of Otonashi when asked to. She also claims to have some knowledge in makeup, but the person she applied that skill to was Matsushita, which as expected wasn't pretty.
Inconsistent Spelling: Her name is usually written "Shiina", but the cover of the volume 4 manga writes it "Sheena" and the official guidebook also spells her name as "Seana".
Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite her slender build, she manages to hold up four SSS members from falling into a pit with one arm.
Mysterious Past: Her backstory and how she acquired her ninja skills are never explained. According to herself in the manga, her daily life consisted in "polishing her skills to kill people."
Ninja: It's unknown if she's an authentic ninja, but she does have a silent demeanor and fights with traditional ninja weapons such as dual-wielding kodachi and shuriken.
Not So Stoic: Her stoic front flies out of the window whenever there's something cute in front of her. Also, in the visual novel, she is deeply touched by Godan Matsushita's previous life story and even begins tearing up by the end of it before recomposing herself.
Odd Name, Normal Nickname: Her name is actually "C7". Yuri nicknames her after its Japanese pronounciation ("shii-na").
One-Woman Army: She compares her presence in battle to 100 men.
The Quiet One: She rarely says anything more than her Catchphrase. When she does decide to comment on the situation, the rest of the cast freaks out.
Rebel Relaxation: She's often seen resting against a wall with her arms folded, which suits her mysterious ninja character.
Scarf of Asskicking: During operations, she wears a long black scarf covering the bottom part of her face and her neck, as it's common with ninja characters in anime.
Shout-Out: Possibly named after another socially awkward ninja.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: While she usually acts as a stoic and mysterious ninja, she can't help to blush when she sees something cute.
Super-Persistent Predator: When fighting Yurippe and Hinata, she tracks them down from the bottom of the (very deep) underground base to the school grounds.
You Are Number 6: She doesn't have a name - only the codename "C7".

TK (Totally Krazy)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tk_vn.png

"Get chance and luck."

Voiced by: Michael Rivas (JP), Adam Van Wagoner (EN)

A mysterious person in the SSS. No one knows about him at all, or his past.

The Ace: Seems to be good at everything the plot calls him to do. Except English.
Chained by Fashion: He has handcuffs on his chain necklace.
Character Catchphrase: "Get chance and luck!"
Dance Battler: In the final battle, he takes out Shadows using his dancing techniques.
Dead Star Walking: Some sources say TK was intended to be a rapper and possibly black, i.e. TwopacK. If this was the joke the author intended to make, then this dead star had been walking around outside heaven for more than a decade!
Eyes Out of Sight: He always wears a large bandanna that hides his eyes.
Gratuitous English: His pronunciation is perfect (His VA's a native English speaker), but his vocabulary is limited to Engrish non-sequiturs.
Foreign Culture Fetish: While he's racially ambiguous, it's mentioned that his English stinks, so it can be inferred that he might be Japanese, which makes his entire shtick more of being a case culturally enamored.
The Gunslinger: Tied with his Dance Battler status, TK enjoys toying with Shadows as much as he does his guns.
Informed Flaw: He is apparently bad at English. The reality is a mixed bag, as while his expressions in that language are utter nonsense, they are grammatically correct and excellently pronounced for a Japanese.
Mysterious Past: SSS members admit that they know absolutely nothing about TK's past, or if "TK" is even his real name.
Only Known by Initials: He's only known as "TK". The visual novel explains that TK is short for "Totally Krazy".
Speaks in Shout-Outs: A large number of TK's lines are either attributable to foreign pop culture or J-pop lyrics (see Waxing Lyrical). Some of them are:
Waxing Lyrical: Some of TK's more bizarre lines ("Get chance and luck," "I kiss you," "wild heaven", "come on, let's dance", etc.) are derived from the titles and lyrics of songs by J-pop / rock group TM Network. It may not be a coincidence that TM Network's producer and musician, Tetsuya Komuro, is also known as "TK".

Godan Matsushita

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/matsushita_vn.png

"I feel like I could do the 100 man kumuite!"

Voiced by: Eiichiro Tokumoto (JP), Rob Mungle (EN)

Judo expert. Everyone calls him Matsushita 5th Dan out of respect.

Back for the Finale: Matsushita 5-Dan apparently goes off to the mountains in Episode 10, and doesn't return before episode 12.
BFG: He unleashes a rocket on Angel in the first episode.
The Big Guy: He's the biggest member of the SSS and his judo skills make him a powerhouse in a melee.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: He has thick eyebrows.
Charles Atlas Superpower: After undergoing an offscreen training journey, he returns for the Final Battle able to perform similar acrobatics to Angel and Shiina, as well as obliterate Shadows just by punching them.
Dark and Troubled Past: Like the rest of the SSS. The visual novel reveals that in his past life, he lost his eyesight due to an illness when he was in the 3rd grade of elementary school, though he eventually got used to it and enrolled at a special needs school for his junior high school years where he was introduced to judo by his cousin Hinako, who he was in love with. Then she died just after he had won an important judo tournament and he couldn't get over it.
Eyes Always Shut: His eyes are closed almost all the time. His route in the visual novel reveals that this is because he was blind in his past life.
Formerly Fat: In Episode 12, he reappears after losing weight. The SSS members don't even recognize him.
Formerly Fit: The visual novel reveals he was actually a lightweight before he died, but he got as big as he did because he found the food of the afterlife that good.
His Name Really Is "Barkeep": While the rest of the cast calls him Matsushita Godan ("Matsushita 5th Dan") out of respect for his Judo prowess, Matsushita's given name really is Godan. He claims that someone as young as him could never actually reach a 5th Dan ranking and just rolled with it because he didn't want to correct the rest of the battlefront to avoid confusion.
Kick the Dog: Before he was blinded, a couple of his schoolmates saw him walking with his cousin Hinako and due to her being visually impaired with a cane, they made fun of her while he kept quiet and later joined his schoolmates to play in the playground and abandoned Hinako to do so. He had a Heel Realization after he was blinded and came to treasure her being in his life.
Kissing Cousins: In his previous life, he was in love with his cousin Hinako who was a decade older than him and suffered from amblyopia since birth.
Lost in Translation: The dub has the characters call him "Matsushita the Fifth," since his title of 5th Dan doesn't easily translate into English. Putting his name in Western order, with his given name in front of his family name, also means that the His Name Really Is "Barkeep" twist about his 5th Dan title no longer makes sense.
Trademark Favorite Food: Meat udon.
Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: He describes his feelings for Hinako as one-sided, but even in the afterlife, he still hasn't gotten over her.

Noda

"Do you want to die? 100 times?!"

Voiced by: Shun Takagi (JP), Leraldo Anzaldua (EN)

The supposed rival of Otonashi.

Ax-Crazy: He cuts Otonashi into pieces with an axe the moment they first meet. Obviously, this isn't the behavior of a sane person. Luckily, he can't kill anyone because everyone in the setting is already dead.
Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Noda wields a massive halberd compared to the guns favoured by the rest of the SSS. He's also by far the most ill-tempered and violent member of the group.
Butt-Monkey: Hoo boy... For starter, he always killed first whenever he's roped into a mission.
The Champion: Noda is a lot more passionately devoted to Yuri than anyone else in the SSS. This makes him ridiculously easy to manipulate since he will do anything as long as he's told it's for Yuri's sake.
Crazy Jealous Guy: Noda is murderously furious at Otonashi for getting in Yuri's good graces right away.
Cute Little Fang: Sometimes sports one in the manga.
Dumb Muscle: He can effortlessly carry a giant halberd, but just hearing someone recite the digits of pi is enough to drive him into submission.
Establishing Character Moment: In his very first scene, he violently murders Otonashi with an ax several times. No better way to establish him as Ax-Crazy.
Hikikomori: He was apparently one when he was alive, according to the second drama CD.
Hopeless Suitor: Yuri never shows signs of reciprocating or even knowing about Noda's feelings for her.
Hunk: He has a chiseled, athletic physique.
Large Ham: So much so that in the OVA, when everyone is forced to act as hammy as possible, Hideki remarks that Noda is just acting like he always does.
Mistaken for Gay: Twice in Heaven's Door. First, he runs away in tears after Char calls Yurippe his "wife" (as in "she resembles my wife") and Hinata thinks Noda has a crush on Char. Then he runs away again when he thinks that Hinata and Yuri are a couple. Yuri "logically" deduces that he has a crush on Hinata.
Mr. Fanservice: He's lean and incredibly well toned with a muscular physique.
Precious Photo: He has a photo of Yuri and affectionately stares at it at one point.
Shirtless Scene: He's shown shirtless in Episode 4.
Subordinate Excuse: It's strongly implied he has the hots for his boss Yuri and that's why he's fiercely dedicated to the SSS.
Super Window Jump: In the same way as Otonashi, he chooses to jump from a window istead of using a door.
Tame His Anger: In the last few episodes, he begins to better control his wild emotions and think more rationally, though he's still single-mindedly focused on serving Yurippe.
Undying Loyalty: As a result of his Subordinate Excuse, he'll never turn his back on the SSS even if Yuri herself had allowed him to go do whatever he wanted.
Unknown Rival: He considers Otonashi to be his rival for no other reason than Otonashi initially refusing Yuri's offer to enlist to the SSS. However, this is mostly played for laughs rather than taken seriously, as Otonashi doesn't take their "rivalry" even remotely seriously.
The Worf Effect: He does seem relatively strong, but he is cosistently taken out first by some accident, blunder, or sheer bad luck, be it in the main series or Heaven's Door.
Yandere: He'll brutally maim any man Yuri shows even a slight interest in, but since Death Is Cheap in the afterlife, it's Played for Laughs.

Fujimaki

"You're next."

—Fujimaki to Otonashi.

Voiced by: Yuki Masuda (JP), Andrew Love (EN)

Uses a shirasaya and gives off a tough guy vibe.

Absurd Phobia: The visual novel implies that he has aquaphobia as he avoids getting into baths and even admits he has a bit of trauma going on there.
Balloon Belly: In the special episode, he's left with a belly of the size of a ballon after eating most of the food in the cafeteria with Ooyama.
Big Eater: In the first OVA, he goes with Ooyama to eat so much at the cafeteria that they make a mountain of empty plates.
Gilligan Cut: During episode 2, he tells Otonashi that he would be the one who died next. A few seconds later, that's exactly what happens.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Before he became part of the Top Brass, his ability to shoot was put to the test and he missed all of his shots. Because of his poor aim, his status as a former Yakuza became doubtful. He eventually improved over time, as seen in the anime.
Mook Promotion: He was originally a member of Guild, before he requested to be part of Top Brass.
Noodle Incident: In the visual novel, he admits that he was part of the Yakuza for only one day in his previous life. While the exact details were not disclosed to the reader, that single day was emotional or disturbing enough for Ooyama to break down and Hinata to tear up.
Shrinking Violet: Heaven's Door reveals his personality was a lot more shy and he tended to stutter prior to Otonashi's arrival.
Super Drowning Skills: He cannot swim.
Sword and Gun: In episode 11, he's seen fighting Shadows using both firearms and his sword at the same time.

Takamatsu

"Are you trying to get me naked?"

Voiced by: Daichū Mizushima (JP), Kalob Martinez (EN)

Gives off the vibes of The Smart Guy, but is actually an idiot.

Clark Kent Outfit: He's actually quite well-built under his clothes.
Dumb Muscle: Despite stereotypes, he's an idiot like everyone else. He's also an incredibly ripped idiot under that uniform.
Dumber Than They Look: He wears glasses and seems like a calm, polite bookworm, but he's actually an idiot who's much more muscular than his uniform makes him look.
Fitness Nut: It's implied that he works out quite a lot, and when the SSS try to commit small infractions to get Naoi's attention his solution is to do push-ups in the middle of the classroom. He is fittingly ripped as a result.
Hidden Depths: The visual novel reveals he is a huge Girls Dead Monster fan.
Hunk: Three male members of the SSS were seen shirtless in the anime. Otonashi with an average build, Noda with a lean toned build, but Takamatsu is seen with the most developed abs, chest, shoulder, back, bicep and tricep muscles of the trio, period.
Large Ham: The result of any Shirtless Scene he invokes.
Mad Libs Catch Phrase: "MY BODY WAS MADE FOR [subject]!" in the OVA.
Mr. Fanservice: He has the most muscular body of the male cast (though you wouldn't know it by seeing him in school clothes) and gets the most Shirtless Scenes by a substantial amount.
Sacrificial Lion: In episode 11, Takamatsu is attacked by the Shadows and turned into an NPC, just to show how dire the situation is.
Shameless Fanservice Guy: Has no problem whatsoever with taking his shirt off at the slightest provocation, even in public, and sometimes jokes (or threatens) that he's willing to strip down further.
Shirtless Scene: He's prone to these.
Smart People Wear Glasses: Subverted. Yuri says to not be fooled by his glasses because he's an idiot like everyone else.
Stoic Spectacles: He's an usually calm and polite guy with glasses.
Unexplained Recovery: Near the end of the anime, Takamatsu is absorbed by the Shadows and reduced to a soulless NPC. However, the last episode has the characters offhandedly mention Takamatsu recovered somehow.

Takeyama

"Call me Christ."

Voiced by: Mitsuhiro Ichiki (JP), Dylan Godwin (EN)

A genius hacker who Yuri enlists to infiltrate Angel's computer. He insists on being referred to as Christ, but at the time of writing no-one has ever used this name for him.

Character Catchphrase: Every time his name gets called, he will always respond "Would you please call me Christ?"
The Cracker: He is too serious at his job to be a Playful Hacker.
Do Not Call Me "Paul": He doesn't like to be called Takeyama; he wants to be called Christ.
Genius Ditz: Any "normal" person would know what kind of answers wouldn't fit in a certain subject.
Irony: Everyone calls him Christ in the 3rd Angel Beats Drama CD, though at this point he no longer wishes to be called Christ.
Mouthful of Pi: Enough to subdue Noda.
Non-Action Guy: He does not engage in combat or any other physical operations, but rather gathers data and information.
Scary Shiny Glasses: His glasses shine when he's (trying to be) serious.
The Smart Guy: He's probably the smartest of all the male members of the SSS and limits himself to data and information gathering.
Smart People Wear Glasses: Out of the two glass-wearing guys of SSS, he's a more legitimate smart guy than Takamatsu because he specializes in computers and hacking, making him one of the less idiotic people around.
Stoic Spectacles: He's the most serious of the SSS and one of the two members who wear glasses.

Ooyama

"Ah! I forgot!"

Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (JP), Corey Hartzog (EN)

A member of the SSS and Hinata's roommate. Was thought to be an NPC until Hinata figured out that he wasn't. Notable for excelling in absolutely nothing.

Balloon Belly: In the special episode, he's left with a belly of the size of a ballon after eating most of the food in the cafeteria with Fujimaki.
Big Eater: In the first OVA, he and Fujimaki eat so much at the cafeteria that they make a mountain of empty plates.
Character Catchphrase: "Nante baiorensu!" (Such violence!) or "Nante saabaibaru!" (Such surviving skills!). Lampshaded by Hinata.
Hinata: Are you trying to invokedturn that into a meme?
Cloudcuckoolander: He has some weird ideas at times. In an audio special, Yuri even yelled at him for "going off into his own little dimension again".
Friendly Sniper: He's normally tasked with sniping duties where his M24 SWS variant of the Remington 700 rifle comes into use, but is a friendly guy.
The Generic Guy: He's introduced in the anime as (paraphrased): "His most remarkable characteristic is that he has no remarkable characteristics".
Jack of All Stats: He doesn't specialize in anything, but he is decent at everything.
Master of None: He has no specialties.
Nice Guy: He's one of the nicest members of SSS.
The Nondescript: In the manga, he is so generic that Hinata mistakes him for an NPC.
Prone to Tears: He's overly emotional and cries very easily.
Schmuck Bait: He runs into one of Angel's clones and his death given some "words of encouragement" from Naoi.
Tareme Eyes: His big and round eyes befit his generically cute and gentle character.
Took a Level in Badass: Blowing up a Shadow with a sniper rifle.
Took a Level in Jerkass: In Angel Beats! Drama CD 3, his personality has changed to the exact opposite of the Nice Guy he is in the anime.

Yusa

Voiced by: Yui Makino (JP), Serena Varghese (EN)

Yurippe's eyes and ears around the school. It's through her that the leader keeps tabs on everyone.

Ax-Crazy: In the prequel manga, she first appears as a mad girl who brutally kills every man she meets. The reason why she's an Emotionless Girl in the anime is because Yusa asked Kanade to seal away her murderous impulses and emotions.
Deadpan Snarker: She has her snarky moments, usually towards Yurippe.
Does Not Like Men: She tried to kill every single men she came across before Kanade sealed away her emotions and she joined SSS.
Emotion Suppression: In the prequel manga, she gets Kanade to lock up the traumatized parts of her mind so she can live without torment. After that, she becomes the stoic girl we know from the anime.
Emotionless Girl: Like Kanade, Yusa doesn't show any emotions and speaks in a monotone voice. The prequel manga reveals this is a result of Kanade repressing Yusa's emotions at Yusa's request to put an end to her murder spree of men.
Expository Hairstyle Change: In the prequel manga, she changes her original loose, disheveled hairstyle for her Girlish Pigtails from the anime after Kanade seals her emotions. This symbolizes her change from an Ax-Crazy girl to an Emotionless Girl.
Girlish Pigtails: She keeps her hair tied into twin-tails, but she isn't girlish at all.
Mission Control: She's in charge of communications and is almost always communicating though her headset.
Mysterious Past: She's one of the many characters whose backstory is never revealed, but according to the prequel manga, she went through something bad enough to make her want to kill all men she came across.
Non-Uniform Uniform: Before joining the SSS, her skirt was longer than the other female students.
Not So Stoic: While her neutral expression never changes, she can be seen tapping her foot and bobbing her head along to the beat of the Girls Dead Monster concert.
Pre-Insanity Reveal: Inverted. The prequel manga reveals Yusa used to be dangerously deranged and murderous towards men before she joined the SSS. She changed into the Emotionless Girl she's in the anime after Angel reprogrammed her at her request to get rid of her negative emotions.
Proper Tights with a Skirt: She wears brown tights with her SSS school uniform.
The Quiet One: She talks even less than Shiina, who shocks everyone by merely making a comment.
Shear Menace: In the prequel manga, she kills the guys at the school by stabbing them with several scissors.
Stealth Hi/Bye: In the visual novel, a Running Gag has Otonashi keep getting shocked by Yusa suddenly appearing from out of his sight to inform him of SSS business. He even compares her to Kanade as an angel at one point since he has never seen her walk in his sight and she refuses to do so before he looks away. Even Hinata admits he hasn't ever seen her walk.
The Stoic: Her expression never changes. Only when her feet are tapping along to the beat of the music and a Girls Dead Monster concert can anyone tell she's enjoying herself. Even when starving to death she won't show any reaction.

Char

Voiced by: Hiroki Tochi (JP), Illich Guardiola (EN)

He leads Guild, the SSS branch that develops weapons… from dirt, using their memories.

Ax-Crazy: In the light novel and prequel manga, he first showed up by taking the principal hostage with a gun and boarded up the principals office, while demanding for God to show up.
Boom, Headshot!: In Heaven's Door, he was shot in the head by Yuri twice, once when Yuri accidentally fired an arrow to his head and during the gun shot duel.
Crusading Widower: A rare example in that he's a widower who is dead himself. He and his wife died at the same time, but when he woke up in the afterlife, she was nowhere to be found. He states that if they ever find God, he would ask why he was separated from the woman he loved with all his heart.
The Dreaded: Before he joined the SSS, Yuri considered him a threat even greater than Angel herself, since he had firearms, and would not hold back at all in any way. Yuri feared him even to the extent of considering burying him alive in order to make him unable to escape.
The Engineer: He acts as the supplier of the weapons that the SSS uses.
Gadgeteer Genius: A variant, as he started out by building guns. How? By molding every separate component out of dirt, no less.
Gun Nut: He would have to be one since he can mold every separate component of different gun types, including bullets, out of dirt, from memory.
Happily Married: In his previous life he got married the moment he turned 18. He and his wife both had left their families and friends to be together and wanted to spend eternity with each other.
Manly Facial Hair: He's the only member of the SSS that have a beard and is a very manly engineer.
Only Known by Their Nickname: In the visual novel, he reveals that Char is not his real name.
School Is for Losers: He never went to high school.
Token Adult: He's the only member of SSS to be confirmed to be a legal adult. The others appear all to be teenagers.
You Remind Me of X: He says that Yuri reminds him of his wife.

Saitou

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (JP), Chris Hutchison (EN)

A member of Guild, who has an excessive passion for fishing.

In-Series Nickname: His passion for fishing earns him the nickname "Fishing Saitou".
Signature Headgear: He wears a straw hat, which makes him look like a Huckleberry Finn-like fisherman.

Other Characters

Hatsune Otonashi (Unmarked Spoilers)

Hatsune Otonashi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hatsune_angel_beats.png

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (JP), Jessica Boone (EN)

Otonashi's younger sister who died from illness at a young age.

Death by Origin Story: She died in Otonashi's backstory, which motivated him to study medicine.
Death of a Child: She died very young.
Delicate and Sickly: She was very sickly and spent all her time in the hospital. Her sickness finally took her life.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: She finally passed away from her illness while her brother gave her a piggyback ride.
Disposable Woman: Her early death hit her brother hard and he wanted to become a doctor to help ill people like her.
Expy: She's a Delicate and Sickly girl voiced by Mai Nakahara, similar to Nagisa Furukawa from CLANNAD.
Twisted Christmas: She dies on her brother's back, on Christmas Eve.
Walking Spoiler: Just knowing about her gives away some important part of Otonashi's past life that he can't remember at first.

Igarashi

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Mark X. Laskowski (EN)

A man who helped out Otonashi when they were caved in the tunnel. After Otonashi treated his wounds, Igarashi aids him in assisting the other victims.

Bit Character: He plays a relatively small role, as someone Otonashi met in the last few days of his life.
Last-Name Basis: Both he and Otonshi introduce themselves with only their surnames.
Nice Guy: He's patient and understanding, and one of the only ones who stands by Otonashi. When Otonashi gives up his share of the water after the water thief spills it, Igarashi offers to share his with Otonashi.
Only Sane Man: He's the only one of the survivors besides Otonashi who managed to keep his composure during the scenario.

Yuri's Three Little Siblings

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Angel_Beats_-_12_-_Large_16_8952.jpg

Yuri's younger siblings from when she was alive.

Death of a Child: They were murdered when robbers invaded Yuri's home. They depended on her to find something valuable so that the robbers wouldn't have to kill them. Every 10 minutes that pass, they kill a child. Yuri couldn't find anything and the police came 30 minutes later.
Posthumous Character: They all died as part of Yuri's backstory.

Hinako (Unmarked Spoilers)

Hinako

Godan Matsushita's cousin from when he was alive.

Affectionate Nickname: Referred to Godan as "Dan-chan".
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Downplayed, but in spite of her tragic accident, Godan was told that her face was miraculously undamaged.
Canon Foreigner: She only appears in Godan's backstory which is exclusive to the visual novel.
The Lost Lenore: While Godan was mostly at peace with the fact that it was no one's fault that she died, he can't move on due to not remembering her face.
Nice Girl: She was nothing but kind to Godan, even not taking offense to him abandoning her so he could play with his friends.
Posthumous Character: She died as part of Godan's backstory. She was struck by a drunk driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel in terrible weather. She died instantly.
Tragically Disabled Love Interest: She suffered from a condition known as ambylopia, so she was able to see the outlines of things compared to Godan's total blindness. She was also the love of Godan's life.

Kirisaki (Unmarked Spoilers)

Kirisaki

The main vocalist of the band that Hisako was part of when she was alive.

Bath Suicide: He once cut his wrists in a bathtub, though he survived as Hisako managed to get him help in time.
The Face: He was this for his band; Dirty Blood. Hisako states that it was his charisma that made the band popular.
Feel No Pain: Was apparently born without being able to feel pain, which is why he indulges in Self-Harm.
Insufferable Genius: A rather twisted version, his personal problems and his habit of Self-Harm had driven away his previous manager and the guitarist that was replaced by Hisako. His genius comes from his vocals and lyrics that were inspired by his personal problems.
Only Known by Their Nickname: According to Hisako, Kirisaki is not his real name and she never learned his real one.
Parental Abandonment: When his father's business failed, his parents got divorced with his mother aiming to raise him alone. She eventually couldn't take it and disappeared, leaving a letter saying "I'm going to the next world". He was then taken in by his aunt, who was his mother's younger sister and worked at a record company.
Pet the Dog: The first time he met and played with Hisako, he complimented her guitar skills by saying she was "cool as hell". Hisako described that statement as the best compliment she'd gotten at the time.
Posthumous Character: He died as part of Hisako's backstory. He committed suicide by shooting himself in the head on national television.
Pretty Boy: Was described by Hisako as having glass-like looks and a womanly body. He was very popular with females because of this.
Self-Harm: Had a history of this before he met Hisako. It was so bad that someone had to be looking out for him at all times.
Small Role, Big Impact: His part in Hisako's previous life is the reason why she stopped playing music and why she is stuck in the afterlife. Even one of Girls Dead Monster's previous names was Beautiful The Blood, which was probably taken from Kirisaki and Hisako's previous band; Dirty Blood.
What Beautiful Eyes!: Implied, Hisako described his eyes as sharp and knive-like.

Yamakura (Unmarked Spoilers)

Yamakura

A character that only appears in the visual novel. He is a fan of Girls Dead Monster and is part of their baseball team for the tournament.

Canon Foreigner: He only shows up in the visual novel in Iwasawa's route as a member of the Girls Dead Monster baseball team for the tournament.
Human All Along: He was a human not affliated with the SSS in any way, which is why he was mistaken for a NPC.
Love Confession: He makes one to Iwasawa after the team wins their game. Subverted in that he isn't in love with Iwasawa, which is why he is not so bummed out when he gets rejected. The real reason he did it was because he was in love with his baseball team manager in his past life and planned to become a regular and would confess to her once he won a game, but he died before that could happen. By doing this with Iwasawa, he fulfills his regret from his past life and moves on.
Temporary Substitute: He takes Hinata's role as the best baseball player on the (Girls Dead Monster) team and the one who mentors Otonashi in the game.

Shadows (Unmarked Spoilers)

Shadows

Shadows that multiply from NPCs.

Fate Worse than Death: They turn people into Non-Player Characters. The SSS speculates that this means they will be stuck living out their normal school lives for all of eternity, unable to move on. But they have shown themselves to be Unreliable Expositors.
Lotus-Eater Machine: When she's briefly absorbed by Shadows, Yuri finds herself in a Mental World that looks like a peaceful classroom.
Non-Malicious Monster: Their purpose is to help the dead students find peace, in the event that they grow too attached to the school or each other to pass on.
Your Soul Is Mine!: They can consume the souls of humans, effectively making them NPCs for all eternity. Or so Yuri speculates.

Non-Player Characters

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Angel_Beats_-_01_-_Large_39_8696.jpg

The remaining student body who do not resist God's influence.

Cannon Fodder: Any student is fair game for a Shadow.
Color-Coded Characters: Their uniforms contrast strongly with those worn by members of the SSS. They also almost never have hair colours different from a very dark brown or black (but not hazel or grey).
The Soulless: The SSS believe that they're this.
The Stoic:
- Takamatsu. Other NPCs do display emotion, especially during a Girls Dead Monster performance.
- The NPC controlling the computers behind the Shadows in episode 12 plays this straight, even admitting that he's incapable of emotions.
Weirdness Censor: From Yuri's experience briefly becoming an NPC, they're students who live out their normal school lives while blissfully unaware that they're dead.

Characters / Angel Beats!
aka: Angel Beats Heavens Door

Main Characters

Yuzuru Otonashi

Yuri "Yurippe" Nakamura

Kanade "Angel" Tachibana

Hideki Hinata

Ayato Naoi

Girls Dead Monster

Masami Iwasawa

Yui

Hisako

Shiori Sekine

Miyuki Irie

Other SSS Members

Shiina (Codename: C7)

TK (Totally Krazy)

Godan Matsushita

Noda

Fujimaki

Takamatsu

Takeyama

Ooyama

Yusa

Char

Saitou

Other Characters

Hatsune Otonashi

Igarashi

Yuri's Three Little Siblings

Hinako

Kirisaki

Yamakura

Shadows

Non-Player Characters

Alternative Title(s): Angel Beats Heavens Door

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Characters / Angel Beats! aka: Angel Beats Heavens Door

Edit Locked

Main Characters

Yuzuru Otonashi

Yuri "Yurippe" Nakamura

Kanade "Angel" Tachibana

Hideki Hinata

Ayato Naoi

Girls Dead Monster

Masami Iwasawa

Yui

Hisako

Shiori Sekine

Miyuki Irie

Other SSS Members

Shiina (Codename: C7)

TK (Totally Krazy)

Godan Matsushita

Noda

Fujimaki

Takamatsu

Takeyama

Ooyama

Yusa

Char

Saitou

Other Characters

Hatsune Otonashi

Igarashi

Yuri's Three Little Siblings

Hinako

Kirisaki

Yamakura

Shadows

Non-Player Characters

Alternative Title(s): Angel Beats Heavens Door

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Angel Beats!
aka: Angel Beats Heavens Door