Angel Beats!: Heaven's Door

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Angel Beats! is one of the most commercially and critically acclaimed anime of the previous decade. It is considered by a lot to be the best Maeda Jun work ever created just after Clannad. The manga adaptation of Angel Beats!, titled Angel Beats!: Heaven's Door, is basically a prequel to the original anime and tells the story of the events that took place before its timeline.

I'm one of those few people who read Angel Beast!: Heaven's Door prior to watching the anime. However, despite the fact that I haven't watched a single episode of the anime, I really enjoyed this manga for a lot of ... reasons which I'll discuss below.


Story (6)

As I said earlier, Angel Beats!: Heaven's Door is a prequel to the original anime. It focuses on the events that occurred before the original timeline. The premise of the manga is very simple, and it takes a rather light-hearted approach in narrating story, especially when compared to the original light novel.

The story of Heaven's Door basically narrates the daily lives of SSS and its members. For the most part in the manga, the characters do silly, wacky, and occasionally clever things in order to figure out the mystery behind the world that they are living in. While there are some dull moments here and there, the activities of SSS are generally quite entertaining to watch. The narrative isn't entirely light-hearted, though. Fortunately, there's mostly a proper balance between the light-hearted and the rather dark themes. The backstories of some of the SSS members are simultaneously very interesting and heartbreaking, which makes the narrative more compelling.

One major issue that can't be overlooked, however, is how little information there is regarding the world that the characters live in. While this matter is probably resolved in the sequel, considering the fact the afterworld is a very component part of the story, the author should have explored it a bit more and given it more exposure.


Art (8)

The art is mostly very decent. All the characters are drawn in a decent and attractive way. The background designs are also fairly detailed and nicely drawn. The only gripe I have with the art is that some of the characters look kinda similar to each other or have similar character designs, which sometimes makes it hard to distinguish between them just by looking. Besides that, I didn't find any other major issues with the art.


Character (8)

All the characters of Heaven's Door are charming and enjoyable in their own way. They all have different personalities from each other and the interactions between them are mostly very entertaining. Most characters are given interesting backstories that make them more relatable to the readers. They are also given proper character development throughout the entire manga.

Since the manga is a prequel to the original anime, there are some additional characters in it that the anime doesn't have (such as Takamatsu's friend Mitsumura). But for this exact reason, some characters that appear in the anime don't appear in the manga (such as Yui).

As I said before, most of the characters are really likeable. But my favorite characters are the first two characters introduced in the manga, Yuri (or Yurippe) and Hinata. They are surprisingly a very entertaining duo despite their differences. Their character development throughout the entire manga is also very notable.

Kanade (or Tenshi) is a very likeable character as well but she doesn't appear much in the manga. Her backstory also remains very mysterious, which adds to her appeal. I am assuming her backstory is revealed in the anime and/or in the sequel of this manga, which would definitely give her a lot more depth.

Although I'm fond of almost all the characters, I did have a few problems with some of them as they don't receive much character development and appear kind of bland. A couple of examples would be Noda and Ooyama. Although these characters are probably flourished in the sequel, since they are one of the staple characters of the story, it definitely would've been better if the author focused more on developing them. But since it's hard to develop all the characters when there are a lot of them, it wasn't that big a flaw to me.


Enjoyment & Overall (8)

Angel Beats!: Heaven's Door is a manga that I would recommend reading to almost everyone, especially if you are a fan of the original anime. I personally enjoyed it a lot and have become inclined to watch the original anime. There are a few flaws here and there, but they didn't affect my enjoyment that much.

Overall, Angel's Beats!: Heaven's Door deserves a solid 8/10.

This is definitely a must read for fans of the anime version of Angel Beats! Angel Beats! Heaven's Door is served as a prequel to the anime, and this time, it is not focused on Otonashi, but is focused mainly on Hinata, Yurippe, and Kanade. (Otonashi barely makes an appearance, only a tiny bit, just a heads up for people who are looking forward to seeing him.)

For those who were disappointed with a lack of character backstories in the anime, rejoice, as this manga, so far, covers a couple of other characters not shown in the anime. So far it has covered Shiina, Yusa, Chaa, ... Ooyama and a bit more clear story of Hinata's death.

I have said in my review of the anime that I was disappointed that only a few characters managed to get proper backstories. The manga, however, has managed to rekindle some of my hopes in wanting to see some other characters go into detail (T.K. and Noda mainly). The characters that were mostly kept in the dark (Shiina, Yusa, Chaa) have interesting backgrounds and had a very different, much darker personality before they eventually joined the SSS. Hinata's "death" was explained much more clearly, and we also got to see what kind of personalities Ooyama and Noda had a bit more clearly. Although we're still far from getting all of the SSS members' backstory, the content of the manga so far is definitely satisfying (although they aren't uploading that much... 34 chapters in about 3 years. Still hoping for the best though...).

As for the art, it's beautiful. I expected nothing less from it. It's clean and has good character and background designs. Just like the anime, it's one of strong points of the manga.

So far, I am enjoying this a lot. I probably enjoyed this more than I enjoyed the anime itself. Some good humor, fighting, and most importantly allowing us to explore into a couple of characters have been enough to make me like this manga more than I thought I would have.

As I am waiting day by day for a new chapter, I'm also hoping that they somehow don't screw this up, and end it early just like the anime. (Which would be Very, VERY disappointing, seeing as how the manga panned out so far.) In the very least, I'm expecting to see at least a couple more characters go into detail, about 4-5 more. Unfortunately the waiting seems to be forever as it's been about 2 months since we got the latest chapter. However, as slow as it might seem, it is still worth waiting for the sake of wanting to know other characters more.

As I have said before, Angel Beats! Heaven's Door is a must read for those who liked the anime. It is also a must read for those who wanted to know more about the other characters, as well as what happened prior to the anime series. All in all, this is turning out to be a great read. Now if they could just keep this up...

Did you love Angel Beats & didn't want it to end,wanting something more??Then this is the manga for you.It is a prequel to the main series,so if you want to know the events which occurred in the formation of SSS then you should definitely give it a go.


Story:-(8/10)

I loved the main series story.A group of people spending their lives in their afterlife is definitely a interesting thing to see!The story is about Hinata & Yuri,how they formed SSS club & how other members joined it..It also explains how & when Yuri started thinking of Kanade as representative of the God.

I love the story as ... it makes things a bit more clear.It is really interesting to see the formation of SSS & the lives of its members before Otonashi's arrival.


Art:-(9/10)

The art is clean & very beautiful.It is neither rushed nor too empty.The backgrounds are explained carefully.The character are also drawn nicely & they look awesome.The blood also looks realistic(for any blood lovers,T_T)In other words,the art is lovable.


Characters:-(10/10)

Now,this was the one of the strongest point of the original series so why would I not like them in this manga?I love the characters of "Angel Beats"This time,the story is more focused on Hinata as he is the main character.How he meets Yuri(who,as usual,shows great leadership abilities) is explained nicely.Their are also POSSIBLE hints about POSSIBLE romance between Yuri & Hinata,about which I was not too happy as I am more of Hinata x Yui fan.

This series also explains how SSS members joined the group & give more details on their past,how they died etc.So, any person who thinks that the main series lacked in character development,should definitely give it a go,as it explains all the characters more deeply & give them enough time before moving on.


Enjoyment/Overall:-(9/10)

I am absolutely enjoying it.Its a really nice manga & interactions between the characters are lovable.

I will give it a 9 as it great prequel to the main series.So any Angel Beats fans are welcome to read this:D as it is a really nice prequel.You can also read this first & watch the anime afterwards just to be a little bit more sure on what is happening.