>tfw finally play Angel Beats! 1st Beat after years of copium
>expecting anime recap with bonus content
>get raw, unfiltered MaedaCHAD instead
>man really said “here’s some goofy high school purgatory bullshit” and then uppercuts your soul mid-scene
>first route I pick is Iwasawa
>10 minutes in: she's jamming in the clubroom
>30 minutes in: she's recounting her tragic backstory and fading from existence
>me: bro I just wanted some character development not a funeral
>comedy is actually funny
>TK somehow makes more sense than half the cast
>“Dance in the dark!”
>yes sir
>the anime made them look quirky
>the VN reveals they’re all mentally destroyed teenagers coping through nonsense
>so basically like me fr
>MaedaCHAD’s writing is like:
>“Haha food joke”
>“Haha gun club war”
>“Anyway here’s a metaphor about accepting death and letting go of regret”
>and it hits every time
>Yuri’s route has enough depth to bury me
>every choice feels like walking on emotional landmines
>ending left me hollow in the best way

realize this was just 1st Beat
we were supposed to get 5 more way earlier, now we got 2 of them.
Key said “nah” and moved on until recently
my soul still stuck in that unfinished purgatory

No joke, this is some of MaedaCHAD’s tightest work.
1st Beat isn’t just underrated, it’s a tragedy that it wasn’t totally finished.
But what we got?
Absolute kino.