At today’s Aniplex X Key Presents The New Project conference in Tokyo, Japan, Aniplex and Visual Art’s Key revealed that a Blu-ray boxset of the Angel Beats! anime will be released on June 24 bundling a new brand OVA. The event also revealed that the Angel Beats! visual novel will be releasing on PC on May 29th.
First up is the Blu-ray boxset announcement. The boxset will contain all 13 episodes of the original anime and the OVA. In addition, the boxset will contain a brand new OVA titled Hell’s Kitchen. The boxset will cost ¥26,800 (~ $268.00 USD).
The first volume of the visual novel Angel Beats! -1st Beat- will be releasing on PC in 2015. This news comes after various delays of the first volume throughout the year. It will cover three character arcs and reportedly reaches up to the 10th episode of the anime. The three characters that will be focused on in -1st Beat- are Iwasawa’s, Matsushita’s and Yui’s routes. In the Angel Beats! VN you will play as Yuzuru Otonashi, the main character from the anime. The event also revealed that the visual novel will feature the retain of the same voice actors and voice actresses from the anime.
Here are some CG screenshots of the game:
Here are the character bio’s for the three characters:
The event also revealed the main theme of the visual novel, which will be Heartily Song sung by Lia, who performed the Opening theme of the original anime. The song will also be written and composed by Jun Maeda. It will be sold in the GilDeMo album Million Star which will release on January 30.
Additionally, it was revealed recently that a rebroadcast of the original Angel Beats! anime will start from January 8th on TV Tokyo.
Angel Beats! is a series created by Jun Maeda, which started off as a light novel series in 2009 that ran for half a year in ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki G’s Magazine. A 4-koma manga series was also created by Maeda that ran in the same magazine in the same year. In 2010, an anime adaptation was created by P.A. Works (Hanasaku Iroha, Another), which was also written by Maeda himself and directed by. The series received high praise and gained popularity, but was criticised for the lack of character development for many stories. A manga was adapted in 2010 titled Angel Beats! Heaven’s Door, which is an adaptation of the prequel light novel Angel Beats! Track Zero. Jun Maeda and Key, who are known for producing acclaimed and popular visual novels, announced that they were producing a visual novel on Angel Beats!, expanding many of the character’s backstory. Angel Beats! -1st Beat- and its subsequent releases, will be written by Jun Maeda. A mobile game based on the series was also produced.
Here is a synopsis of the series from Haruhichan:
Otonashi awakens only to learn he is dead. A rifle-toting girl named Yuri explains that they are in the afterlife, and Otonashi realizes the only thing he can remember about himself is his name. Yuri tells him that she leads the Shinda Sekai Sensen (Afterlife Battlefront) and wages war against a girl named Tenshi. Unable to believe Yuri’s claims that Tenshi is evil, Otonashi attempts to speak with her, but the encounter doesn’t go as he intended.
Otonashi decides to join the SSS and battle Tenshi, but he finds himself oddly drawn to her. While trying to regain his memories and understand Tenshi, he gradually unravels the mysteries of the afterlife.
The Angel Beats! OVA, Hell’s Kitchen, will be released in Japan on June 24 next year and will cost ¥26,800 (~ $268.00 USD). The first entry in the visual novel series, Angel Beats! -1st Beat- will finally release on the PC on May 29.
Visit the Angel Beats! website here: http://www.angelbeats.jp/
The the game’s official website here: http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/angelbeats/
And follow their Twitter: @AngelBeats_SSS
