Tachibana had developed a skill to clone herself, but had failed to put any limit on the clones. She activated it in battle, and the clone of her was made with the will to fight. Then the clone made more clones.
Yuri hacks Tachibana's computer to change the skill to reabsorb.
He was my injured internally in the crash, and though he organized all the survivors and bandaged their wounds, he did not survive until the rescuers arrived.
The last thing he did was fill out his organ donor card. He couldn't become a Doctor, but he at least saved one life.
(I elided Yuri's horror story, which was told earlier.
Invading robber/murderers killed her younger siblings in front of her to incentivise her to reveal her parents' valuables. She didn't know where they were. The authorities arrived only after her siblings were all dead.)
But really, what Yui wants is to feel like she's not a burden. Like someone wants to be with her, instead of being stuck with her. Someone to love her and marry her.
Hinata steps in, weaving a tale of how they could have met and fallen in love while alive.
Yuri has basically never been fooled. She calls out Otonashi to explain his theory to the rest of Battlefront, then lets everyone make their own decision.
Meanwhile, she investigates. Whoever is controlling the shadow monsters has reprogrammed the NPCs.
As shadows flow around her even in the fantasy world, Otonashi reaches out for her. The last fighters have followed her underground, and they're pulling her back.
Falling in love should be an auto-exit, but he was trapped here. He created the shadows so he could become and NPC.
It is Yuri's love for her friends that has triggered the failsafe. But she is here in the core now, and can take control and become God if she wants to.
Yuri declares an operation: everyone should pretend to be in high spirits all day. When they don't vanish, this should confuse Angel so much that she calls God over the irregularity.
Now, this isn't a comedy, but in a way it's a comedy of errors, in that most of the conflict is driven by the misunderstanding that people are on different sides when they're really not.
The Yuri/Angel conflict is mostly confusion as to what their goals actually are.
And that fight is, ultimately, unresolvable. Yuri can forgive herself for not doing the impossible, but she can't forgive God for making the world cruel. And she doesn't have to. The metaphysics here are such that it's her own heavy heart that keeps her here.
It's probably better than having an actual showdown with God. _The Devil Lady_ could pull that off, but it's super risky. It's very easy to have a broken moral or metaphysical story, and I think _Angel Beats_ is better for choosing not to go there.
Tachibana is a tiny little thing, but it's amazing how threatening someone can be when you give them the _Terminator_ treatment of being slow but unhinderable.
An excellent choice, especially given that she gets rehabilitated (in the audience's eyes) later.
Many of the characters have back stories that would make them at home in the Monogatari series, or even worse. These kids are carrying a lot of trauma, and some of it can't ever really be solved. Only accepted.
I mentioned the Bodhisattva vow earlier, and I think that's a big hidden driver. Tachibana is basically already complete at the start, but she stays to help others.
This show has a much larger cast than most 13 episode shows. It doesn't feel excessively crowded though. I wonder if it's just that they give relatively minor characters billing in the opener or what.
I enjoyed the running gag of Otonashi and Hinata asking each other if they were gay* whenever they did something caring for each other. It seemed very high school.
Given that Otonashi is Tachibana's donor, but Tachibana arrived first, I think we can assume the Jeremy Bearimy timeline rule from _The Good Place_ is in effect.
I was hoping that the OVAs would be character focused episodes. We got a couple of those throughout the series and I think they were a high point. I think the pacing might have been better served if the show was slightly longer. 15-18 episodes, say. Sadly, the OVAs don't do that.
This is one of the few media that address the question: If God exists, why is there suffering, without deciding on either Theodicy (God has a reason and it's X/Y/unknowable) or Maltheism (God is evil and must be defeated.)
I mentioned the Bodhisattva vow earlier, and I think that's a big hidden driver. Tachibana is basically already complete at the start, but she stays to help others.
Not very effectively, but hey.