Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5513888-20130903031231/@comment-72.10.223.93-20140219161822

There are two problems with Otonashi being the creator of Angel Player. The first is, who would have changed him back into a human? In episode 13, Yuri says that it was designed so that strong enough feelings can bring you back. Who would have cared enough about Otonashi to do so? They didn't know him well before the first episode; it's unlikely that they even knew his name, especially since Yuri asked. The second problem is, Otonashi did't live long enough ago to be the creator. He lived in the modern world. The AI that Yuri talks to says that the Programmer is from long ago. While time in the afterlife may not run as it does in life, you can still be from a long time ago in life - Shiina is one such example of this. It's likely that time is relatively the same in both worlds, however. Angel Beats! doesn't confirm this, but as the Programmer is likely intelligent (he did create Angel Player, which couldn't have been easy), he would have probably tried to see how time flows - at least, that's what I would have done, if I was in his position, just to see how long he would have to wait. Even if he didn't, though, the AI says that he would have to wait a long time, and that he did; long enough to drive him crazy. Chances are, it was a few decades, if not longer. Which means that while he was alive, there wouldn't have been cell phones. When he regains his memories, Otonashi clearly has a cell phone - indicating that he's from the modern world.