Yuzuru Otonashi

Yuzuru Otonashi is the main protagonist of the Angel Beats anime and games.

Yuzuru is one of the newest members of the SSS, and a newcomer to the Afterlife. After suffering from an accident during his lifetime, he wakes up in the Afterlife without his memories. After discovering the ongoing conflict between a group of students who call themselves the Afterlife Battlefront and a mysterious girl known under the nickname "Angel", he joins the SSS to seek refuge in the group while he tries to recover his memories. He eventually becomes one of the most key and influential figures of the Battlefront as he was not only able to bring forth changes to the ideals of its members, which ultimately allowed the SSS to survive the greatest trials to the group, but single-handedly turned the tide of the war through his intervention with "Angel".

In the AWA fics, Yuzuru is a student at the AWA Academy.

Appearance
Yuzuru is a young man in his late teens with pinkish-brown (Aira & Renzi 2018) hue hair and burgundy colored eyes. When he was younger, his hair was longer which covered the left side of his face. Upon his first arrival in the afterworld, he finds himself wearing a typical man's black school uniform. Later, when he joins the SSS, he switches to a white long-sleeved polo shirt under a sandy brown coat and black slacks. He is 175.5 cm (5'9") tall.

Personality
In his middle school days, Otonashi didn't care much for school or socializing with his classmates. He admitted to his sister that he would honestly rather be alone and play video games than study and make friends. His main focus in life was mostly working to pay for food and buying manga for his younger sister. His personality eventually changed when his sister died.

After his sister's death, he became a more responsible person. He worked and studied hard to become a doctor and to pay for medical school to help people like his sister. He became a very smart and kind person. When he got into the train accident, he helped the other survivors by taking care of their injuries and helped find enough food and water for everyone. At one point he even sacrificed his share of water. Before he died, he signed a donor card stating that he would donate all of his working organs.

During his time in the Afterlife, he had the same personality as before he died though he was very confused most of the time due to the battlefront's antics.

In the Visual Novel, Otonashi's personality can be altered based on the decision made by the player throughout the game. He could become an idiot, a jerk, homosexual, lesbian addict, or retain his anime personality. Due to this mechanism, other characters may react or behave differently to Otonashi depending on the chosen personality.

Abilities
At first unskilled in any equipment and lacking experience when he first arrives in the Afterlife, he is utilized by Yuri as backup, but he manages to pull through for the team when they are in danger. After some self-training, he manages to be experienced in handling a gun, and is able to defend himself well. He carries a Glock 17which Yuri gives him on his first day as SSS's newest member. Later in the series in episode 5, it shows he is able to use a IMI Galil sniper rifle as well.

Otonashi is also revealed to be knowledgeable in academics, commenting that one physics exam he took was "easier than expected". Later, it was revealed that this was because Otonashi had been studying to become a doctor before his death.

On later events, he is showed to have improved with his shooting abilities to the point he is able to shoot an enemy from behind without looking while talking and has added leadership skills like analytic thinking to his assets.

Trivia

 * In the AWA fics, Yuzuru is currently Kanade Tachibana's girlfriend.


 * The kanji in Otonashi's last name means "no sound". His first name, on the other hand, means "to bind strings".
 * Otonashi is the only male character from SSS to appear during the epilogue scene, where he tried to tap Kanade's shoulder after recognizing the "My Song" tune she hummed.


 * He was killed 3 times in the first 7 minutes of the first episode. The first time was when Tachibana stabs him in the chest with her Hand Sonic, the second was when Noda hits him 100 times with his halberd, and the third was when he fell for the trap that was at the principal's office. This is, considering that the 100 fatal hits Noda gave him count as one death.


 * Although a new member to the SSS, he seems to have a close relationship with Hinata and Yuri.
 * In the OVA, Stairway to Heaven, Otonashi doesn't participate in High Tension Syndrome, but reaches a Tension Level of 92 when suggesting a "Sports Festival."


 * Despite being one of the newest members of the SSS, Otonashi seems quite popular among them. Yuri and Iwasawa opened up to him about their pasts even after knowing him only for a short time, and Hinata befriended him quickly. In the second Drama CD, when Yuri announced that he was going to be participating in their activity, the others applauded.


 * Other than Yuri, Otonashi is the only other person who had seen Shiina's true character over cute things.


 * The name Angel Beats! most likely came from the fact that the heart of an Angel (Kanade Tachibana) used to Beat inside of him.
 * It can also be inferred that he is fond of canned coffee, as that is the only beverage Otonashi is seen drinking, often more than once in each episode. Yuri also seems to know this, as she usually has a can of coffee with her while waiting for Otonashi.
 * He is one of the characters with a revealed death, the others being Iwasawa and Hinata.
 * It is implied in Episode 3 that Otonashi received an indirect kiss from Iwasawa. Following a brief conversation with her, the lead vocalist gave Otonashi her bottle of water, which if he drank from would have resulted in an indirect kiss. Unfortunately, for any fans of the couple, he was not seen drinking from it.


 * Otonashi resembles Kyousuke Natsume from Little Busters! The two have different voice actors in Japanese, but share the same English voice actor.


 * Otonashi stayed there until his depression ended after Kanade disappeared