Noda

Noda (野田, Noda) is a self-reliant young man who executes the strategies formed by the SSS and fights with a halberd. He does not listen to anyone other than Yuri, whom he has adoration for, resulting in him not being afraid of threatening or killing anyone who questions Yurippe's leadership. He quickly developed a one-sided rivalry towards Otonashi for no other reason than that he refused to enlist to the SSS, and disgracing Yurippe by doing so. This silly rivarly only faded as the shadows started appearing and Noda had no choice but to cooperate if he was gonna be able to assist Yurippe. Noda eventually passed on like all the other members, leaving his halberd resting against a wall inside the headquarters.

Appearance
Noda is a tall and fit young man with purple hair and eyes and tanned skin. In the anime, he is almost always seen in his SSS uniform, except for the scene in Episode 4 where he was shown shirtless. In the manga he wore the normal NPC school uniform. He carries around a huge halberd which seems to always be in his hand.

Background
Not much is known about Noda's past or regrets. In the drama CDs, Noda's past was referenced when he recollected on being "a person who burdens his mother as a hikkikomori". This would explain him believing the afterlife to be a game when Yurippe and the others first met him.

It stills remains a mystery on how Noda died and when he ended up in the Afterlife or what his regret was.

Plot
He is discovered by Yuri, Hinata, Ooyama and Chaa upon their descent in an underground network of passageways in the mountains (which would become Guild's headquarters). According to him, he is the main protagonist of a video game with the mission to defeat the "underground boss" who'm he refers as "That dude." The boss is located further down the underground cave (who turns out to be Shiina). Yuri tells him that he is not the main protagonist, which caused him to flee in disbelief with tears flowing from his eyes. He did (after running away a few times and getting beaten by Chaa) eventually become a member of the battlefront though, making him the fifth member to join.

Abilities

 * Though his halberd remains his favored weapon, Noda falls back on a Stechkin APS pistol for ranged combat. Despite the fact that he prefers not to use it due to the fact that it tends to jam a lot.
 * Noda isn't as quick or agile as the other close combat fighters in the group, as he relies more on brute strength. He has however proven himself to be very skilled when it comes to using his Halberd, swinging it and killing his foes with one (or many) quick swipes. Yurippe notes in how low his combat abilities are where she calls Noda a "paper tiger" as he is simply just imitating a game character.

Trivia

 * He was pumelled twice by a pendulum hammer trap in the Anti-Angel Headquarters (which was designed and built by himself) and in the Guild.
 * During the initial trips to the guild, Noda was constantly the first to die.
 * He mentions during the first battle with Kanade that he hates guns.
 * In the 3rd Angel Beats! Drama CD instead of a giant halberd, he uses a knife, a fork, and a spoon as weapons.
 * He carries a picture of Yuri in a side view thinking pose, which was shown at the ending of the 11th episode.
 * Takeyama was able to subdue him by repeating pi to a large number of decimal places, proving how dumb Noda truly is.
 * Hinata was able to use him to enlist in his baseball team simply by telling him that strength alone wouldn't impress Yurippe.
 * Noda's halberd might be from a video game he played whilst he was still alive, which would explain his love towards it.

Gallery
Noda Noda