After many demands from fans, it was announced last year by KEY that they would produce a visual novel adaptation based on the Angel Beats! anime series – a title that involved many individuals from the Japanese visual novel developer.
They have recently released the first set of CG artwork for the game, Angel Beats! -1st Beat-, which highlights not only a couple of events that may or may not be familiar to those who have watched the original 13-episode series, but also a few fanservicey scenes that indicates that this may be an R18+ release (An example being above artwork showing off one of the heroines Masami Iwasawa lying on the floor displaying both underboob and a pantyshot). Most KEY visual novels have had both all-ages and 18+ editions released for them, meaning irrespective of the direction they take it should hopefully not impact the overall experience. Additional screenshots / CG artwork is available below.
Angel Beats! -1st Beat- is set for release in Japan sometime in 2014. Given past history with KEY visual novels, I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up for an international release, EVEN if this would be probably the best title to break into the worldwide audience with.
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I believe Key’s only official English translation was Planetarian, and then only on iOS. It’s a shame though, since they’re such a popular company.