During a break at school, three or four students gathered around, discussing:
"Did you guys watch Angel Beats the night before last?"
"Yeah, I did! It was hilarious."
"Angel Beats? Isn't that the one by the supervising director of Puella Magi Madoka Magica?"
"The director of Madoka Magica? The new animation shouldn't be depressing, because it was really funny."
"Huh? Really? I didn't dare watch it—I only saw A Certain Scientific Railgun on Friday."
"Railgun was great too, but that's an adaptation. Angel Beats is an original animation, so it's different."
"I think it's being replayed on Wednesday. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out then—it's really interesting."
"Hilarious!" This was the unanimous verdict from viewers after the first episode of Angel Beats aired.
Yet, despite the comedic tone of the animation itself, the series was never intended to be a comedy.
Before its premiere, Lin Zhiyan's new animation, coupled with the overwhelming hype from GG, drew a massive audience. After the broadcast, most of these viewers remained, keeping the series as the most popular among the October anime season.
Online discussions buzzed with activity. While there was no widespread fawning over the animation, the overall sentiment leaned heavily towards praise and satisfaction:
"I never expected it to be a genuine comedy."
"Lin Zhiyan had never made a comedy before. I thought he might struggle with the genre or that the hype was just deceptive... but it seems he can master any style."
"To be honest, Great Demon King Lin's previous animation, Gurren Lagann, had a bit of humor in the early stages, but overall it was quite serious. And the humor in Gurren Lagann is different from the humor in Angel Beats—I prefer this one's style."
"Takagi Makoto's script is also excellent. If the script itself wasn't funny, the Supervising Director couldn't have made it funny no matter how hard they tried."
"The Male Lead just wanted to prove himself and immediately got stabbed. That really made me laugh."
"I hope they maintain this style until the end."
"If this is truly a lighthearted anime and not just a bait-and-switch, I'm going to hype this show to the moon."
In truth, the first episode primarily serves to establish the setting and showcase the overall production quality. It's rarely possible to gauge the plot's depth from a single episode, and few anime feature high-stakes plot twists in their debut.
An intriguing premise and above-average production values are enough to draw viewers in for the long haul. Moreover, the fact that this is a Lin Zhiyan production already warrants positive reception.
Of course, this is the perspective of the average viewer.
On review sites, ratings for the animation remain relatively conservative. No one readily gave high scores simply because it's a Lin Zhiyan work or because the first episode left a good impression.
Major animation media outlets naturally mentioned Lin Zhiyan's latest work, Angel Beats, in their latest issues, given his status as a superstar in the TV animation world. However, none rushed to offer definitive evaluations.
Despite this, the animation's immense popularity is undeniable. Even A Certain Scientific Railgun couldn't match it, let alone other anime.
By the time most of the October anime season had aired their first episodes, an animation media outlet conducted a survey of their popularity. The results confirmed that Angel Beats had indeed secured the top spot, followed by A Certain Scientific Railgun in second place.
As some netizens had predicted before the season began, April's anime season had been a financial windfall for L.S. Production, and October's season proved to be no different. In fact, with no other particularly strong contenders, L.S. Production essentially dominated the October season.
As the Supervising Director and Planning Producer of Angel Beats, Lin Zhiyan naturally kept a close eye on its popularity and critical reception.
Once he confirmed that both were positive, his thoughts began to turn toward other possibilities.
Thus, before the second episode of the anime aired, a post appeared online:
"I'm actually a fan of Old Thief Lin's tearjerker anime. Death Note, Code Geass, Gurren Lagann, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Anohana—they're heartbreaking, but also genuinely good.
Now, watching his new anime, Angel Beats..."
The Angel Beats anime, while decent, lacked any of the soul-crushing despair I'd come to expect. Considering he was also the producer and assistant director for April's K-On!, it's reasonable to suspect he's gone straight, abandoning his dark, depressing works.
Sigh, if this new animation isn't a tearjerker, then I guess my youth is officially over.
Of course, this post was from Lin Zhiyan himself, but he posted it using a burner account he'd specially set up, not his main one.
After posting, he even had his company's PR department use their own burner accounts to boost the thread.
Within minutes, his post was flooded with comments from his own people:
"I actually agree, Angel Beats probably isn't a tearjerker. Lord Hayashi has made so many dark anime; even if I never get tired of them, he must be sick of making them by now."
"Exactly. While watching these depressing anime is torturous, the animators themselves must endure immense psychological pressure. The fact that he's managed to make so many in a row is already impressive. It's impossible for every single one to be a tearjerker. To stubbornly stick to just making depressing anime would require an extraordinary level of mental fortitude!"
"There are no 'what ifs.' Angel Beats is definitely not a depressing anime. As some people have pointed out, if it were, it would be way too obvious, especially coming after Anohana."
"Lord Hayashi's other anime are indeed very depressing, but Anohana was alright. In fact, I'd say it leans more towards the healing genre. It left me with feelings of comfort and warmth. So, if Angel Beats follows the same path as Anohana, it's probably going for a similar healing and heartwarming tone."
"After watching K-On! in April, I felt like Old Thief Lin might be turning over a new leaf. Now that Angel Beats is airing, there's no doubt about it—he's really going straight."
"In K-On!, Old Thief Lin didn't take on the Supervising Director role himself, instead letting Naoko Yamada handle it. Many speculated it was because he's not interested in non-depressing anime. But I think he might have been worried about shocking everyone with a sudden shift to a healing genre. So, he might have first had Yamada as Assistant Director to ease people in, and then he'll take the reins himself in the October anime season to avoid being too abrupt."
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