Angel Beats! 1st Beat is a Japanese visual novel based on the 2010 anime television series Angel Beats! , developed by Key and the first in a planned series of six volumes. It takes place in the afterlife and focuses on Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. He is enrolled in the afterlife school and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Afterlife Battlefront, an organization she leads that fights against God. The Battlefront fights against the student council president Angel, a girl with supernatural powers.

The stage is set in the afterlife, where young boys and girls stand up against their own destiny. The story follows Otonashi, a young man who met his end due to certain circumstances and awakens in a high school within this mysterious world. There, he encounters a girl named Yuri, the leader of the "Afterlife Battlefront"—an organization rebelling against God for the unfair lives they were forced to endure. They wage fierce battles day and night against a single, lovely girl known as "Angel," a servant of God. Having lost all memories of his previous life, Otonashi is left completely bewildered, unable to grasp what is happening in this post-mortem world. Ultimately, he chooses to join the cause and fight alongside Yuri and her companions to uncover the truth of their existence.