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 ongoing visual novelvisual 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 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.
[m]uchMuch of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel brand Key.
In Clannad, there is the Illusionary WorldIllusionary 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 WorldArtificial World:
WhenThe story's main part takes place in what seems to be a normal high school, but in fact all took place in the artificial world was createdschool term previous to Little Busters!, her wandering soul which still had a lot of regrets and unfulfilled wishes entered theRiki and Rin are reliving it in an artificial world. [.. created by Kyousuke.] [Riki] got involved with Saya so much that her existence caused him to stray away from They, and the other Little Busters members. At some pointmain characters, Kyousuke realized that he has to make Saya leave as soon as possiblewere involved in order to come back to the original purpose fora bus accident during a school excursion, and only the creationtwo of them will survive. Kyousuke created the world[:artificial world to make them strong enough to deal with what will happen when they awaken in the real world]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 Charlotte, there is The World that is No Longer HereThe 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 WorldAfterlife World:
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.
- They had established a strong emotional bond before leaving to the Afterlife World, which ensured their eventual return to the real world. [One]
- They had been helping people achieve happiness by fulfilling their goals, so the light orbslight orbs that appear in the OP and in episode 13 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]
- 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!]
- 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 heart beata heartbeat of a person long thought to be dead, and Kanade (かなで/奏) means "to play an instrument". Playing the Meaningful NameMeaningful Name trope, Kanade "plays"plays out the tunes of her romantic encounter with an Otonashi whose love string isstrings had been fastened.