My Song (episode)

"My Song" is the third episode of the Angel Beats! anime series. It was first broadcast on April 17, 2010, with screenplay by Toshihisa Kaiya and storyboard by Ei Aoki, with Takefumi Anzai directing the episode.

Otonashi is finally starting to "get the hang" of the afterlife, however he is still without memories of his past life. He quickly becomes acquainted with the members of the Afterlife War Front, and constantly objects to their doings and ideas. He continues to wonder why he is in the afterlife, and where Iwasawa has gone too.

Synopsis
Yuri decides to have Girls Dead Monster distract Angel long enough to sneak into her room and crack the password on her computer, but Yuri does not think the new ballad called "My Song" the band's vocalist and guitarist Iwasawa wrote would be useful for the operation due to it not being distracting, as Girls Dead Monster's songs are meant to distract the NPCs so they can carry out their plans. As such, she decides to have Iwasawa sit out and lays out the battle plan, which is to use hacker Takeyama (who likes to be referred to by his username "Christ"), break into Angel's room, and hack her computer. Noda is quick to disapprove and threatens Takeyama, but Takeyama randomly starts reciting all the digits of pi, which to the "morons" around causes everyone to lose their cool and accept. Outside, Iwasawa leaves, appearing downtrodden.

While taking a break from shooting practice, Otonashi goes for a soda labeled "Key" and notices a girl named Yui putting up posters for Girls Dead Monsters, who appears to recognize him thanks to Noda. She explains to him that for the first time the concert will be held in the gym which might make the teachers pissed, then proceeds to rant about the group. Fed up after a while, Otonashi manages to leave and hears Girls Dead Monster playing. He talks with Iwasawa while the band is taking a break. Iwasawa tells Otonashi how her parents used to always fight because her father was an alcoholic, to the point where she couldn't even sleep. She eventually escaped into the world of music after discovering that the vocalist of a band called Sad Machine had a similar background to her. From there Iwasawa found an old acoustic guitar and began performing on the street, planning to eventually go big in Tokyo after graduating despite her good grades. After she graduated high school and became a part-time waitress, however, an old head injury caused when her father hit her with a wine bottle lead to her death due to a stroke. Iwasawa eventually goes back in as Otonashi realizes that all of the SSS members had bad lives. Angel sees Yui's posters and proceeds to tear one off. The NPCs complain, but she suddenly disappears. She is then seen walking the halls questioning why everyone thinks she is the bad guy.

When Yuri's operation begins, Girls Dead Monster start playing in the auditorium while the others, with the aide of Takeyama, break into Angel's room and hack her computer. Otonashi soon objects after realizing that Angel's "domain" is just an ordinary dorm room, meaning they are doing an unwarranted search and seizure; he tries to turn on the lights, but is quickly restrained. As Girls Dead Monster continues, a displeased Iwasawa goes against the schedule and begins playing a trump song called "Alchemy". They are soon found by several teachers, along with Angel, with one of the band members notifying Yuri about it. Takeyama manages to continue the hack and discovers a list of all the students. Dissatisfied, the group decides to fall back.

At the same time, the teachers restrain Girls Dead Monster and proceed to confiscate their weapons. However, when one of the teachers threatens to throw away her acoustic guitar, Iwasawa breaks free in fury and knocks the teacher out. The rest of the band escapes in the commotion, and Iwasawa takes the guitar, proceeding to play "My Song". One band member then plays it over the loudspeakers so that the entire school can hear it (including Angel, who walks into the building again), allowing Yuri to continue with the hack. Through the hack the SSS learn that Angel is not getting her powers from God but is making them herself, thereby implying that there may be no God that they are opposing. Iwasawa, meanwhile, continues to perform, and upon finishing, realizes that her purpose was to sing songs and change people with them, just like with Sad Machine's vocalist, and she has done so in the afterlife even if she didn't do it in life. Then she suddenly disappears into Heaven, indicating that one does not necessarily have to obey what Angel says in order to disappear, but just has to find their own purpose.



New Characters

 * Takeyama
 * Yui