A lot needs to be said about Episode 11 (“Change the World”).
The episode begins with Otonashi butting in on a
confrontation between Hinata and Naoi that proves to be pointless because they
both want to do the same thing – help Otonashi succeed in his plans to help
everyone pass on. It’s never told how Naoi figured out Otonashi’s plan. Was he
secretly watching the exchange between Hinata and Yui at the end of “Goodbye
Days”? Did he ask Kanade? I dunno, and I really shouldn’t care. Why should I?
The writers clearly don’t.
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| "Let's fight and fool the audience into believing we still matter!" |
But the point is, Naoi has agreed to help out
Otonashi, but before any of that can happen, the trio is attacked by what
appears to be a horrifically deformed shadow constructed out of dark matters
and Matrix code (seriously, when it explodes, it’s in a raining hail of zeroes
and ones). They shoot it a bunch of times, and I actually really, really liked
that shadow. It’s an effective bit of animation – vague enough to be
mysterious, in design and in motivation, but specific enough to be dangerous.
Yes, it comes out of nowhere, but I’m willing to overlook that.
(Thank The Lord for
that shadow. I basically wouldn’t have had anything nice to say about this episode had it
not been for that shadow.)
One of Yuri’s espionage agents tells her about the events
that just unfolded, and Yuri decides that these shadows are serious business
and need to be considered “as a separate threat from Angel” (right, because
Kanade had been a real pain in your ass the last couple of episodes, what with
her saving you and all – ungrateful bastards). Yuri requests Kanade’s presence
in the principal’s office, and it’s confirmed that Kanade has nothing to do
with the shadows – she, in fact, has no idea where they came from. Naoi,
luckily, covers for Otonashi when Kanade is about to spill the beans about her
and Otonashi’s relationship. There’s an all-out fight scene between the
Battlefront (Kanade included) and the Shadows, which are starting to multiply,
and while it sure sounded nice on paper, this particular action setpiece is
very underwhelming. The fighting is difficult to follow, and there’s no sense
of scale, no sense of weight or power in any of the characters’ or shadows’
movements.
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| I'm as bored as you are, sweetheart. |
They quickly figure out, however, that becoming assimilated
by one of the shadows will turn you into an NPC, which sucks away your soul and
traps you in purgatory forever. That’s fucking scary, and the last episode was
a happy, hope-filled narrative about helping a young girl forget about her pain
and achieve her dreams. Angel Beats has no sense of emotional scale. Ignoring
that, the whole “being eaten by a shadow transforms you into a soulless NPC” idea
is pretty creative.
Later that night, Yuri holds a mass Battlefront meeting in
the school gymnasium, and announces that she has apparently figured out
Otonashi’s plan to help everyone pass on from the afterlife. It’s never told
how she figured this out, why she’s considering it all of a sudden, what
instigated her sudden change of heart, but it’s not like treating the
characters like plot devices hasn’t been done before in this trainwreck of a
show. Otonashi is called to the stage to explain himself, and by the end,
everyone is a little divided on how they should feel. Yuri tells them to figure
it out and decide while they still have the luxury of time. We’re more than
halfway through the episode, and apparently all of the Battlefront members make
up their mind by the end of it. Because, you know, going along with a plan that
completely and totally challenges your ideals and survivalist instincts is
easy!
Yuri formally apologizes to Kanade and says she has to
attend to something, something that may involve her confronting the shadows
once more. Yuri’s epic, life-threatening journey leads her to… the school’s
computer lab, where she meets a kindly custodian who’s been installing some new
computers. This custodian explains that someone’s been breaking in and stealing
a lot of these computers – Yuri suspects that the AngelPlayer software had
something to do with the Shadows, and she believes that she can reprogram them,
much like how Kanade programs her own skills like Harmonics and Hand Sonic.
Okay. Yuri – the girl who couldn’t handle hacking into a computer in Episode 8 –
has apparently gained incredible knowledge of the AngelPlayer system, how it
works, how it functions and operates, within that short time frame, even though
there were no signs of her ever figuring out how AngelPlayer works. What the
fuck? That makes no sense. Why not just bring “Christ” – an intellectual,
confirmed computer hacker – along with
you? But no, they had to have Yuri go alone because it would be a “heroic
sacrifice”, regardless of how illogical or stupid it was for her to go alone. I
officially fucking hate Yuri.
She finds a secret passageway in the room leading into the
Guild, because, augh, I don’t care. “Change the World” is rushed, rushed,
rushed. It’s a writing trainwreck, forcing the characters to do incredibly
inconsistent actions for the sake of “character development”, and far too eager
to open up brand new plot holes on top of the already pre-established holes;
couple in the fact that too many important things happen in too little time,
and the whole episode is a narratively confusing and chaotic mess, probably
because being busy and action-packed was more fun than being cogent or even
remotely satisfying. There are small moments throughout the episode that are
genuinely beautiful: the creepy design of the shadows, and a superficially beautiful
sequence showcasing all of the characters’ unspoken feelings after Otonashi
explains his plan (it would be truly beautiful if the show had developed any of
these characters at all). But these are only brief moments of creativity and
ambition, and after the almost uninterrupted joylessness of “Change the World”,
I’m not excited to see what Angel Beats’ conclusion is going to be like.
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