angel beats - 10

This one is going to be quick, because i've had a very busy week, even though the episode was jam packed.

Summary:
We have Otonashi and Kanade planing to start letting the gang move on. Otonashi decides on Yui because she already seemed happy. After failing, and then succeeding to lure her out by stealing her guitar, Otonashi gets to talk with her one on one. Yui reveals she wishes she was able to preform a german suplex. After a lot of hard training, and a lot of pain on Otonashi's part, they manage to pull it off. Its also revealed the reason Yui is so energetic and has so many outlandish dreams is because she was bedridden after being paralyzed in a car accident. Yui's next dream is to take on 5-1 in a soccer game. After a little help from Kanade, Otonashi and Yui manage to pull it off. Her next dream was to hit a home run. After a long while, and a lot of training, she still doesn't manage to make it. She decides to call it quits, and acknowledges that training so hard was good enough, considering her want to just be able to do it. She then reveals the last thing she wanted in life, marriage. She couldn't be a housewife, or even take care of herself. There is no way she thinks anyone could marry her. Fortunately Hinata comes and agrees to marry her, With an absolute beautiful speech on how he would love her no matter what, and how they would meet and live their life if they did, is actually very touching. After that, Yui disappears. Hinata vows to help Otonashi with his plan.

Reaction:
This episode once again shows just how overambitious Angel beats got with its plot. Three episodes left, and almost the entire cast left. It will really be a miracle if they can pull off a conclusive ending with the time left.

Onto the actual episode, At first, i was also a little disappointed they went after Yui, after giving Hinata so much attention and also sending him. (the whole thing about regret holding you back is very FFXish) But by the end of the episode, it kinda became obvious why. It would be hard for Otonashi and Kanade to continue on their own. And beside maybe Naoi, i don't see anyone else helping Otonashi in his quest. That brings me to my next point, with Naoi back to VP thinking Kanade is their enemy, what role will he play?

The whole ending with Yui and Hinata was quite beautiful, if a bit rushed. Again, i blame the idiot who made this a 13 ep series. The whole thing with Yui being overambitious, and hyper energetic because she was paralyzed in life actually make a lot of sense.

A little more on the nature of being sent. It feels more and more likely that the cast isn't fully aware of their own desires. For instance, i don't see them repeating the baseball game to send Hinata, but maybe he really just wanted to be relied on, something he failed his team but can help with Yuri's. Otonashi felt cheated with his death, but maybe he just wanted to help those others abandoned, like his sister or those bus passengers. OR as he states, he can't watch Yuri suffer fighting this endless battle, and Kanade, unable to move on for being a perfect student. Yui wanted marriage, but maybe she just wanted to be accepted, no matter who she was/ what she could do. This is all my own speculation but thats my guess.

A popular theory is that they are not dead, but instead all in some sort of coma or something. While its a plausible theory, its not really that innovative, or interesting. It seems like those type of twist people use for the sake of having a twist, like OMG they aren't dead at all! Also it wouldn't really change the course of the story very much. I would actually prefer them to play it straight and have them really dead, maybe it would catch more people off guard than the twist.

Another point i wanted to make was, with the exception of Otonashi, nobody died, or had a poor life due to acts of god. They were always human mistakes. For instance, robbers in Yuri's case, a car accident in Hinata's case (or the drugs that ruined his life, the car crash is confirmed in the light novel), or car crash for Yui. Only otonashi was hurt by god, aka the snow storm that ruined his train, or the illness that took his sister. I don't know if this is the directors way at saying god is fair and just, and it is human kind who is wrong or cause our own unhappiness... or the much likelier option i am reading way too much into this :D