After the confirmation of Key’s next project: Angel Beats we now get huge updates and information about this long awaited novel. On December 27th Dengeki G released an article with the newest updates for the upcoming title as well as some sneak peaks into the in-game art. The official website for Angel Beats was also finally published and a lot of teasers and information was revealed for everyone’s enjoyment.
The novel will come out as a partial release titled Angel Beats – 1st Beat and it covers episodes 1 to 9 of the Anime, in terms of storyline, and will feature Iwasawa Masami’s, Matsushita’s and Yui’s routes, with Otonashi Yuzuru as the protagonist. The remaining routes which were not disclosed so far will be released in the next volumes and will cover the rest of the story. There will be 19 routes in total, including main heroines and side characters and the whole story will be told across a total of 7 volumes. No dates for the future volumes was released. There is also no information so far about a full release covering every route so we can only hold on to hope for that.
The setting is the same as the Anime version which you might or might not be familiar with. An afterlife universe where people who could not pass away peacefully end up in so they can experience what was lacking in their life and be able to be put to rest without any regrets. Otonashi Yuzuru ends up in said universe and he will join the Afterlife Battlefront, a group of highschool students who rebel against God and what they call Angel. He will then meet with all the characters in the game. You will have several choices everyday and depending on the choices you make, each day will change, leading to a variety of scenarios within the common route itself and determining which character route you end up in. The story progresses like the Anime did meaning the first volume covers the first arcs of the Anime and the next volumes will cover the remaining arcs in a chronological order so there’s several branching points along what you can consider the common route, it’s not all crammed up into one single branching point at the end. The number of routes there will be per volume was not revealed. Will there be one true ending? That is all speculation for now.
The novel will feature scenarios where Otonashi gets romantically involved with one of the main heroines as well as feature other extra routes with different characters and their stories, not focusing solely on the romance aspect. You can deepen your bonds with each character and know every single bit about the afterlife highschool universe that was not fully told in the Anime adaptation.
One of the biggest shocks for a lot of people in these updates was perhaps a CG that was shown in the official website featuring one of the Girls Dead Monster band members Iwasawa in what seems to be a prelude to an erotic scene. However the rating on the website for the product still remains All Ages. Is there a possibility we will have a 18+ version of the game as well? The official annoucement was that it’s still undecided . Perhaps we will have two versions of the game for different demographics or maybe they will decide to stick with All Ages for a full vanilla love story. Only time will tell. This certainly shocked a lot of fans who didn’t think any type or erotic content would exist in the title. However for others this is seen as a massive bonus.
These CGs that were revealed show that the illustration will be up to Key standards and that is only fitting for a game of this caliber. It certainily will look more refreshing and appealing than the Anime version did and I’m sure the emotions and feelings will be more present than ever.
You can expect a much deeper storyline in this version of Angel Beats for each character which was not as present in the Anime as well as a more detailed plot as this title will take a whole 7 volumes to be completed. A lot of high expectations from Key fans and Angel Beats fans is being put torwards the title and I can’t see any reason why it shouldn’t. This Certainily is a massive after Christmas annoucement that Key decided to make. Perhaps a gift to all their fans. We can only patiently sit and check for more news as we anxiously await the release of this long awaited Visual Novel.
Holy crap I just wrote a really long comment and it was deleted just because I didn’t fill out my email.
Too pissed to rewrite it but I’ll still say that I’m really excited about the novel, TK route FTW, and they shouldn’t treat us to any appetizers (with that Iwasawa CG) if they’re not going to serve the full meal. Either go all-out or go all-ages.
Question- does the volumes thingy mean that the later volumes will follow the common route? And will each route get a proper ending, or does it get ignored in the later volumes?
Also, you should probably rewrite the part about the setting for those who haven’t watched the anime, the purpose of that world wasn’t explained until later in the storyline.
Am i the only one who think the art sucks this time? I mean, come on, compare those CG (expect Iwasawa’s) to LB and RW. =_=
Yeah, they’re pretty bad if you ask me. I wonder why. Na-Ga did better. :/
And it’s 6 volumes, not 7. Check the website.
Wohooo, although you are not alone, but you are the minority, very minority XDDDD
@Kagomeko: Not only Na-Ga draw these.
Regarding the number of volumes. I had put 6 volumes at first but then i saw other sources with 7 and it was pretty confusing but 7 made more sense in my head. If the first volume has 3 routes and you assume the next ones all have 3 routes as well that means the first 6 have 18 routes and the last will be the “true” one, making it 19 routes which is what i read the novel would have. I can’t read kanji so i can’t confirm if this info is in the website itself and had to trust other sources. If this becomes pertinent I’ll change it back to 6.
I actually like them a lot on the same level as rewrite at least for me but hey everyone has their own preferences
all’s fine , cant wait to play it ! .
I think the art is good having the right feeeling for the intended environment :3
The reason why the art looks this way compared to past KEY titles is because the art is based of Angel Beats the anime since this is a game adaptation and it closely depicts the character designs blame P.A Works if you want~
Na-ga did the original character designs for the anime, though.
Finally people are realizing how bad Na-Ga is at everything but faces!
too bad it will take a while to be translated
The CG’s have their flaws but the previous games also had them, there are only a few CG’s in LB! that are truly good.
In my opinion the fact that they broke free from the style they had for 14 years (with a few exceptions) feels refreshing, and i find these CG’s better than the most of the previous games’s ones
Masami-san’s shirt is rather short. And apparently she wears no bra!
well dude, it could be “you know what” scene…hehe. that would be bonus
Mannn this sounds amazing! i just hope somebody translates it into English!
I think Iwasawa’s shirt just got caught on a snag, causing her to fall and hit her head.
wish this was eng and 18+ rated :/
You can expect alot of great things when it come to Key . With 19 routes and a total of 7 volumes fill with emotion and greatness . Why cant time move abit faster . Need the vn now ~ haha
Yeah, the art is pretty bad. In my opinion Na-Ga has ALWAYS been worse than Itaru at anatomy, particularly proportions. Pretty much any Little Busters! CG featuring Mio and a book shows this pretty strongly. His faces are just more traditionally composed and he tends to be more adventurous with his bad anatomy skills (as opposed to Itaru who sometimes poses her characters like robots), so people think he’s better just from that. Granted, I’m still not a huge Itaru face fan, but that’s what I’m seeing.
But I’m not talking just the drawings – even the coloring work is bad! It seems really half-assed. I don’t know if they were going for a game/anime hybrid feel or what, but whoever’s directing the graphics work is not doing a good job. All of those CGs are really weakly shaded and almost flat, and it’s boring, frankly!
6 volumes and 19 routes…. What is with Key making their VN progressively longer. At least this time they have the courtesy to release them in volumes where as with Rewrite in particular, i must have put in at least 60 hours.
With 3 routes i can only imagine that the Volumes will be about as long as some of the side VN made by key like tomoyo after. Still 6-7 tomoyo ever afters is a huge commitment. While after viewing the anime, i figured because of the huge cast there should have been a whole lot more to it then what they did (i know about the budget stuff), 19 routes is just crazy.