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After watching the final episode of Angel Beats, I saw that, after the
credits,

> both Otonashi and Angel found each other again after being "reincarnated".

But is that all that happened when everyone passed on? Did they just lose
their memory and get reincarnated as a human with a similar look?


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question
angel-beats
What exactly happened when a person passed on?


There's no information about the next life of these present on the afterlife,
but, if you think on the series there's some moments they talk about
reincarnation.

As you can read on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto#Afterlife):

> In old Japanese legends, it is often claimed that the dead go to a place
> called yomi (黄泉), a gloomy underground realm with a river separating the
> living from the dead mentioned in the legend of Izanami and Izanagi. This
> yomi is very close to the Greek Hades; however, later myths include notions
> of resurrection and even Elysium-like descriptions such as in the legend of
> Okuninushi and Susanoo.

Because of this, there's a generally accepted theory about reincarnation. They
think on this, but, not on reincarnation on a person, because they can
reincarnate as any other thing (Remember these chapter talking about
reincarnating in a barnacle? (I don't remember now).

At the end, you can think who Otonashi and Tenshii (Yuzuru) have a lot of luck
and got reincarnated on persons, in the same time and place, and they meet
again. There's only a ideal situation, not the default form of this.


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answer


## In the _Angel Beats!_ universe

The anime didn't tell us much about what happened to the people who passed on,
except for the ambiguous scene at the end. There is a chance that the [visual
novel](https://angelbeats.fandom.com/wiki/Angel_Beats!_\(visual_novel\)) will
explore this topic a bit, if they ever release anything past the first volume.
For now, we can only refer to side materials, such as the third [drama
CD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Beats!#Broadcast_and_distribution)
released with the sixth limited edition BD/DVD volume. In the drama CD,
everyone reincarnated as a human being with a similar look (except one guy),
but not with a similar personality (except a few). They all met in the
Afterlife World for the second time after dying again, and they were able to
recognize each other and remember their previous lives.

## In the Keyverse

**SPOILERS ahead for the following
series:[charlotte](/questions/tagged/charlotte "show questions tagged
'charlotte'"), [clannad](/questions/tagged/clannad "show questions tagged
'clannad'"), [little-busters](/questions/tagged/little-busters "show questions
tagged 'little-busters'") and [one](/questions/tagged/one "show questions
tagged 'one'").**

There are recurring themes and concepts that connect together the worlds of
_Angel Beats!_ , _Charlotte_ , _Clannad_ , _Little Busters!_ and
_[One](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One:_Kagayaku_Kisetsu_e)_. Note that
_One_ is generally considered to be part of the Keyverse because

> Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of
> the visual novel brand Key.

In _Clannad_ , there is the [Illusionary
World](https://clannad.fandom.com/wiki/Illusionary_World):

> This world is later revealed to have been created by Ushio, who died
> regretting having left her father alone. She, therefore, became the girl in
> this world with the hopes of meeting her father again and collecting enough
> light orbs to make a miracle possible. . . .
>
> In theory, the Illusionary World is the after-life; when a person dies they
> are still connected to the real world, yet they are free to create their own
> world.

In _Little Busters!_ , there is the [Artificial
World](https://littlebusters.fandom.com/wiki/Little_Busters!#Story):

> The story's main part takes place in what seems to be a normal high school,
> but in fact all took place in the school term previous to Little Busters!,
> and Riki and Rin are reliving it in an artificial world created by Kyousuke.
> They, and the other main characters, were involved in a bus accident during
> a school excursion, and only the two of them will survive. Kyousuke created
> the artificial world to make them strong enough to deal with what will
> happen when they awaken in the real world. The world loops, but though they
> forget what happens, Riki and Rin do grow stronger, and Kyousuke hopes that
> they will eventually be strong enough to leave the world. They do manage to
> survive and get away from the crash site before Riki collapses due to his
> chronic illness, narcolepsy. Riki vows to fight against his narcoleptic
> condition, which was the reason why he was only able to save Rin and merely
> get away from the explosion before collapsing.

In _One_ , there is the [Eternal
World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One:_Kagayaku_Kisetsu_e#Story):

> The Eternal World is a place similar to the afterlife where a person's
> "other self" awaits. Anyone can access it, though it is only accessible once
> one has lost his or her grounding in the real world. It may be necessary to
> form a pledge with someone in the real world as a guide to the Eternal
> World, but one's memories surrounding the pledge become vague. A grace
> period can be granted between when the pledge is made and when someone goes
> to the Eternal World. Once the process has started, nothing can prevent
> someone from going to the Eternal World, and returning to the real world is
> difficult. Someone about to leave to the Eternal World starts to be
> forgotten approximately one week before going, and the amount of time before
> someone forgets differs based on how much someone thinks about the person
> leaving. However, he or she is remembered the moment that person returns. If
> a strong emotional bond is established in the real world before leaving, a
> person in the Eternal World can be returned after approximately one year.

In _Charlotte_ , there is [The World that is No Longer
Here](https://charlotte.fandom.com/wiki/The_World_that_is_No_Longer_Here),
which is a world where people with superhuman abilities exist, and regrets
ensue. Otosaka forms a pledge with Tomori to loot the abilities of everyone in
the world in exchange for her love, but eventually loses memories of the world
with ability users.

Then recall that the main setting of _Angel Beats!_ is the [Afterlife
World](https://angelbeats.fandom.com/wiki/Afterlife):

> Despite the numerous enigmas that surround the world, it serves as a sort of
> second life for teenagers whose lives were filled with despair and pain.
> They are brought there after they have died and, alongside others, try to
> live there with fulfilled existences to make up for their pain. After, they
> disappear as their happiness has been granted. . . .
>
> Or, it could be simply said that time does not exist in the Afterlife and
> teenagers who died with regrets can go there, regardless what time of death
> or time period said person is.

In summary, all these worlds are for people who have regrets and lost memories
surrounding the regrets.

So what happens in the Keyverse when a person "passed on" from one of these
worlds? They return to the real world, and in the case of Tomoya in _Clannad_
, [he returned to a past point in time after collecting enough light orbs to
grant his wish](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/258/8486).

Based on the recurring themes and concepts in the Keyverse, this is the
sequence of events that unfold after Kanade and Otonashi passed on from the
Afterlife World:

  1. They had established a strong emotional bond before leaving to the Afterlife World, which ensured their eventual return to the real world. [ _One_ ]
  2. They had been helping people achieve happiness by fulfilling their goals, so the [light orbs](https://clannad.fandom.com/wiki/Light_orbs) that appear in the [OP](https://i.stack.imgur.com/j5fet.jpg) and in [episode 13](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KL9BL.jpg) granted their wishes and brought them back to a time before the point of no return so they could meet each other and be together. [ _Clannad_ ]
  3. Since coming to the Afterlife World, Otonashi and Kanade had grown stronger and opened up their heart more, so they would be in better shape when they return to the real world to overcome their tragedies (abdominal injury and heart failure) and change the outcome of the adversities favorably for them. [ _Little Busters!_ ]
  4. They were able to recognize each other thanks to a song of a certain musician, which they somehow retain the memories of. [ _Charlotte_ ]

Interestingly, Otonashi Yuzuru (音無 結弦) means "no sound" and "fastened
strings", respectively, while Hatsune (初音), the name of Otonashi's little
sister, means "first sound", like the first sound of a heartbeat of a person
long thought to be dead, and Kanade (かなで/奏) means "to play an instrument".
Playing the [Meaningful
Name](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MeaningfulName) trope,
Kanade plays out the tunes of her romantic encounter with an Otonashi whose
love strings had been fastened.


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answer