The attack of the shadows. No need to fight, boys. There is enough of Otonashi for everyone. With lies like that, how could Yuri not figure out Otonashi and Kanade's partnership? Summary: Otonashi is on his way to meet with Kanade, but he is unexpectedly joined by Hinata and Naoi. While Hinata and Naoi are arguing who should help Otonashi with his plan, Naoi is attacked from behind by a shadowy creature. Otonashi and Hinata fight off the monster, and the battle is reported back to Yuri by Yusa. Yuri immediately calls a meeting with the three guys and Kanade. Yuri suspects the shadows have something to do with Kanade's programming and questions Kanade, and Naoi has to make up a bunch of lies to cover Kanade's answers so as not to expose Otonashi's plans. At the same time, Yuri sends Takeyama to Kanade's room, but Takeyama fails to find a program bug or any new special techniques. The meeting is suddenly interrupted when gunfire erupts from the field outside, and Yuri and company discover that Shiina, TK, and Noda under attack from a group of shadows. Yuri, Kanade and the three guys join the fray to defeat the shadows, and during the battle Yuri notices one of the nearby NPCs turning into a shadow.  Pretty impressive for a pair of "decorative" wings.Would have been funny though if Kanade went splat a la Looney Tunes. Call Kanade if you ever need to clear some pesky bushes... or shadows. Takamatsu: Yeah, I finally realized that the SSS was kind of lame. Just as the battle is finished, Fujimaki arrive to report that Takamatsu has been consumed by a shadow. Oyama had witnessed the incident but was unable to help, and all that's left is Takamatsu's broken glasses. Sometime later, the SSS members located Takamatsu again, but to their horror Takamatsu has turned into a NPC without a soul. Concerned about the recent developments, at night Yuri calls a meeting in the gym for all SSS members. During the meeting, Yuri calls out Otonashi to explain his plan to make people pass on, and Otonashi has no choice but to step into the spotlight. Opinions on Otonashi's plan is divided and Yuri asks all the members to go and think what to do. After the meeting, Yuri, Otonashi, Hinata, and Naoi meet up with Kanade and Yuri orders Otonashi to recruit Kanade for fighting the shadows. It is also confirmed during the meeting that Kanade is not an angel; she is a person like the those in the SSS who for some reason chose to stay in the world.  Miss Yurippe has called Otonashi to the front of the class to explain himself. Pet-ability index is 100%.  Yuri then goes off on her own to do investigate the shadows. Guessing that someone has hacked into the world to turn NPCs into shadows, Yuri arrives at the school computer lab but only finds a priest/technician setting up some machines. After the technician explains that computers were stolen recently, Yuri decides to check out the room and discovers there is a secret hatch revealing a ladder to the underground. Time to head down the ladder once again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So much for Otonashi's little plan of secretly making everyone else pass on. Angel Beats! is predictable in its unpredictability. Every time I think the show might settle into some formula, it changes on the next episode. It helps keep the show from stagnating, but it does give off the feeling that the show is going all over the place. Since Kanade is no longer the enemy, the show needed something else to keep it going so it went with the shadow monsters. Hopefully with this angle Angel Beats will build up to a satisfactory ending, but we'll probably have to go through another dungeon crawl next week to get there. I wonder if the person behind the shadows is someone from the Guild who is sick of the lack of progress from the SSS. With Yuri's own admission that Kanade is not the enemy and not an angel, the SSS (at least in its original form) has failed completely. They don't know what they are fighting for anymore (perhaps they never did), and even Yuri has conceded that passing on might be a viable option. Of course, Angel Beats! can suddenly spin it so Kanade was the bad guy all along. I don't see that happening, but you don't really know with this show. I was kind of expecting/hoping that Yuri would try to kick Otonashi's ass after finding out his little plan, but the arrival of the shadow monsters skewed the situation in Otonashi's favor somewhat. Passing on is a better option than being stuck in the world as an NPC at least from the current perspective. The story can go in any number of directions from this point. Let's hope there will be something to be excited about in third underground adventure next week. It would be cool if the show lets out some definite clues about how this afterlife world works.
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