Alive

"Alive" is the seventh episode of the Angel Beats! anime series, broadcast on May 15, 2010. The episode has storyboards by Takehiko Matsumoto and Yuko Iwaoka, with the storyboard and the directing done by Takefumi Anzai.

Naoi comes to be part of the battlefront. Naoi uses hypnosis to make Otonashi remember as much of his past as he can. After the partial regain of his memories, he goes fishing with the battlefront, and invites Angel to come along with the group.

Synopsis
After the events of the SSS massacre at the hands of Naoi, everything seems to have come back to normal. Having nothing else to do, everyone proceeds to do their own things: Matsushita tries to imitate TK's dancing moves, Fujimaki sleeps, Takamatsu cleans his array of eyeglasses, Ooyama admires Shiina's mechanized stuffed toys and Noda cleans his halberd. Meanwhile, Yui insists nonstop that Hinata let her try her new wrestling move on him, but due to his indifference, she desists.

Hinata complains that the SSS had more the looks of a Day-Care other than a Battlefront. Surprisingly, it is the recently recruited Naoi who answers his complaint, wondering if Hinata was disrespecting him as the "God" he is. After Hinata reminds Naoi of his moment on Otonashi's arms while crying, Naoi retaliates by hypnotizing him and making him believe that he is no more important than a clothes clip. To this, Hinata goes frenetic and begins to cry.

Otonashi appears from behind and scolds Naoi for using hypnosis to let off steam. Yuri later emerges from the door, calling Naoi and Otonashi for a personal discussion.

On one of the empty rooms in the third floor of the school building, Yuri asks Naoi to help Otonashi regain his memories. Firstly, Naoi responds negatively to Yuri's attitude as some sort of leader, but after considering the possibility of employing his hypnotic powers in such a way, he agrees. Otonashi, however, refuses the seemingly hasty decision. Deep inside, Otonashi feels that he wants his memories back, but still, he doesn't know if it would affect his being with the other SSS members. Still, he reluctantly agrees to Yuri's request. With the assuring remarks of Naoi and Yuri, the hypnotism session begins.

It's Summer.

Otonashi goes to visit his younger sister Hatsune at the hospital. She asks him what it's like to be in school. Otonashi feels that smarter people may have fun there, but since he is not smart, he doesn't attend there much, and considers studying as boring, he wouldn't. Hatsune wonders about his friends and how it would be to play with them. Otonashi thinks hanging out with them and laughing at their dull jokes to be stressing. Hatsune, on the other hand, wishes to be able to study, make friends and couldn't wait to start school. Before leaving, he hands Hatsune a new manga. A smiling Hatsune says, "Thank you so much, Bro."

Otonashi worked part-time as a construction worker, trying to gain enough money to live and eat. Still he found his life as having no purpose at all: he didn't interact nor care about others, except for Hatsune, whom she used to buy a new manga every time he visited her, despite his limited income. His only purpose seemed making his bedridden sister happy. With that and her remark of gratitude, he felt somewhat relieved, though he wished that he could trade places with his sister, who unlike him, had a purpose for living. Yet, for two full years she had been unable to leave the hospital.

Winter eventually arrived. Otonashi's work continued in harsher conditions than in summer, and so did his thoughts about his life and his lack of purpose. With Christmas coming closer, he wonders if he'd be able to take Hatsune for a walk on Christmas Night under the consent of the doctor. Upon visiting her, he asked her where she'd like to go. Hatsune heard from the doctor that the main street would glimmer from the lights of the Christmas trees, and so she'd like to go there. Otonashi promised her that, even if her doctor refused, he would take her there. For that, he chose to take multiple part-time jobs with the aim of saving enough money for that day.

Unfortunately, several sleepless nights, Hatsune's condition worsened. She was not given permission to go outside. However, Otonashi ignored the advice of the doctors and snuck Hatsune out of the hospital, carrying her on his back.

That night, Hatsune watched as Otonashi carried her down the main street, whose trees were wrapped with many bright lights. Otonashi was grateful that he had been able to afford such an occasion, and that with all his savings, he'd be able to give Hatsune whatever she wished. Hatsune, in a quiet tone, thanked his brother one last time. After that, Otonashi kept on walking and speaking with a smile on his face, without realizing he was now alone.

Otonashi decided it was time to move on and live on his own. His grandmother assured him that he could return whenever he wished. With that, he departed. On his way, he realizes that his life did have a purpose, after all, only that he hadn't noticed it. He could have been able to live only on Hatsune's thanks, but he didn't notice and cursed himself for not knowing before. Hatsune was happy just by having her brother around, after all. To this, Otonashi considered that his life no longer mattered, now that Hatsune was gone.

However, he found a way to put a use to his life. After seeing a little girl thanking a nurse, he discovered that if he dedicated his life to other people, he could find a new purpose to his existence. For this, he worked and studied hard. With his hard effort, he graduates from high school, and applies for an entry test at a college. Yet, on his way there, the train he was on suffered an accident, and Otonashi presumably passed away.

Yuri asks Otonashi if he remembers now. Upon ending the hypnosis session, Otonashi recovers his memories. Still, he asks Naoi and Yuri to leave him alone for a moment. After they leave, Otonahsi reflects on his past life. He cannot believe he took so long to find his purpose in life and that he still was unable to carry on. With a tear flowing down his cheek, he regrets having been unable to do something of his life, along with the passing of Hatsune.

Otonashi meets up with Yuri on the rooftop. Otonashi remarks that he is weak compared to Yuri, and that he has no intention of dying without doing anything of use to everyone; for this, he chooses to remain in the SSS, much to Yuri's joy.

The following day, the SSS members are debriefed on the null amounts of meal tickets in their reserves. Yuri decides that, instead of initiating Operation Tornado, like usual, it is time to carry on Operation Monster Stream. Upon the reaction of the SSS members, Otonashi can imagine but the worst. Yet, he finds out that instead of engaging a strange monster, they would simply go fishing to the riverbank.

On their way to the river, they walk past the botanical garden, where Otonashi sees Kanade weeding. He invites the previous Student Council President to join the SSS for their fishing. Despite her doubts about doing a rulebreaking activity, Otonashi grabs her hand and takes her with him. The SSS's first reaction to Kanade's appearance is that of shock, as she once was a potential enemy of theirs. Otonashi claims that she is no longer the Student Council President, which meant she would be harmless to them. Much to the surprise of the other members, Yuri agrees to take Kanade with them.

Upon their arrival on the fishing spot, they meet up with "Fishing" Saitou, a member of the Guild who is proficient at guns, but much more at fishing, so much that he is in charge of filling a wagon with fishing tools and taking it to the riverbank at the start of the operation. With his assistance, everyone gets enough fishing gear to start. As everyone tries their abilities in fishing, Otonashi notices that Kanade isn't doing anything, so he decides to offer her his fishing rod. Kanade proves that she needs some training on how to fish correctly as she manages to bait Hinata while trying to cast, and launches Takeyama to the sky by tangling his nose to the hook. Kanade claims that the Overdrive acts in a constant passive state, thus her strength (Overdrive grants her an enormous strength boost) Despite her ignorance, Saitou sees great potencial in her capacity to fish.

All of a sudden, Kanade catches something which puts the fishing rod in an intense strain. Saitou immediately notices it is nothing more than the Monster Stream, the master of the river, and advises him to evacuate. Otonashi, however, doesn't listen to him and instead, helps Kanade reel in the catch. The rest of the SSS and Saitou decide to help with the tugging, with Yui's trashtalk in the background and Yuri watching closely. Kanade then uses her superhuman strength to launch herself and the entire SSS in the air. This causes the true form of the Stream Monster to come to the surface, which in turn threatens to devour all SSS members falling to its mouth. Kanade realizes she must save everyone and for that, she uses Harmonics, her new ability, in order to create a clone which rapidly cuts through the giant fish, slicing it to pieces and saving everyone.

As everyone stands in front of a large pile of fish meat, they discuss on how to distribute, conserve, or even eat all that meat. As no one is willing to consume so much, Otonashi suggests sharing it with the NPC Students in some sort of charity work. Everybody agrees, and by the afternoon, everyone gathers by the sports field for some fish stew made by the SSS. While cooking, Otonashi wonders if he could call Kanade by her name, as they had now become friends; in return, he tells her his name is Yuzuru. After agreeing, he asks her to promise him that she would not fight anymore, and she would remain with them so that she wouldn't be alone anymore, which she promises.

That night, Noda notices that Yuri was absent during all the charity work. Fujimaki claims that, as she isn't the type for doing that, she must be observing them from somewhere else. Soon, they see her limping towards them, covered with bloody cuts and bruises. Otonashi manages to get to her first, followed by Noda and the others, and Noda asked who did this to her. She tells them that Angel was the one who attacked her. Otonashi was shocked as he knows that she has been with Kanade the entire time. However, all of a sudden, a figure emerges from above: a girl who looks exactly like Kanade, but with blood-red eyes.

Interview Excerpts
Jun Maeda: Episode 7 was personally a really scary episode for myself. Because Otonashi had lost his memory all this time and when people see this episode they might go “Wha? That’s all?” or “All he needed to get his memory back was via Naoi’s hypnotism?” and think that the scriptwriting was too lazy or cheap. If this was a game, when the player continues on he’d find out that there’s one deeper level to his memory that has not been revealed yet, but in an anime, it stops for a week after the episode ends.

So people will probably say stuff like “Maeda is bringing the sick sister out of the hospital and letting her die again, that’s no different from before. There’s no more to Maeda.” and that I’m just repeating the same stories again. (from blog)

New Characters

 * Hatsune Otonashi - Otonashi (Yuzuru)'s younger sister. She is bedridden due to an unknown sickness, and she represents Yuzuru's purpose—and later, inspiration—in life.
 * Saitou - a member of Guild, known as "Fishing" Saitou for his expertise in fishing. He assists the SSS in their operation in getting their food for the next few days.

Unanswered Questions

 * What is "Monster Stream" and why was it in the Afterlife?
 * Why did Kanade's Harmonic's Clone attacked Yuri for? Was there some sort of bug in the Angel Player program that Kanade wasn't aware of?