Satsuriku no Tenshi

This anime strives to make one sympathize with a serial killer and a young girl who desecrates corpses and succeeds. It is certainly not for the faint of heart as it does veer into the territory of questioning if a person should be able to choose to be killed by someone. The characters are mentally unstable and seemingly irrational, but they are human. They are not characters one should look up to and neither is the relationship between Zack and Rachel. They each choose their fate and lives and decide their relationship. Neither is forcing the other to do something against their will. It is ... such an interesting dynamic as it reveals a deeply abnormal and problematic relationship that still involves both people seeing each other as equals and bettering themselves through their relationship.

The anime slowly reveals bits and pieces of the back story for Rachael and Zack, while developing their relationship. It reveals pieces of the plot and some parts of the backstory to the other characters, but I wish it did a bit more since some of the characters were left undeveloped with little reason given for their behavior though that can be inferred. The fact that Rachel and Zack developed as characters didn't lead to making them sane by most standards is something that sets this show apart from many others. There was never a point in the show where one character did something that seemed like something they wouldn't do.

The anime doesn't stoop to leaning on shock value or jump scares and instead relies on deeper psychological dread over having all of your assumptions on morality and what is a happy ending or a good relationship questioned. It is inaccurate to simply categorize this anime as horror as it doesn't set out to scare the viewer.

Many other animes would end the show with a cheap reveal that this was all just a dream or a delusion being faced by Rachel in an effort to work through trauma, but this show doesn't. The world it is set in is very much real as are the characters. Rachel doesn't ever become sane and reaches the happy ending she chose for herself, regardless of how horrible such an ending may seem. This anime was brilliantly written and wraps up the story wonderfully in the end without feeling rushed at all.

I appreciate the anime's story, message, and plot. However, it's not executed well. The initial episodes grabbed my attention, where Rachel Gardner was stuck in a deadly building. I enjoyed the mystery/thriller theme. However, the rest of the show was just her wishing she were dead after witnessing a gruesome murder. She doesn't want to keep living, and she makes that known when she meets Zack and asks him to kill her. Her negative attitude draws Zack's attention to her, and he becomes interested. The anime sometimes seems like it might become predictable or pointless, but the characters' attitudes never change from start to finish. ... Rachel always wants to die, and Zack always wants to kill. Zack needs Rachel's intelligence to escape the dungeon. Even though Rachel may want to die, she is responsible for Zack's escape.

The show's main theme is to change the perspective of someone who has lost the desire to live and help them find purpose. This differs from most anime, making it a unique and darker concept. It had a deep meaning behind the story. However, The show lacked uniqueness regarding the backstories, conversations, interactions, character development, and action scenes. The story felt repetitive as it followed the pattern of one psychopath after another being defeated by Rachel and Zack. The conversations can also get boring at times. However, the show's deeper meaning got me thinking after I finished watching it. The ending was interesting. It was a big surprise, and I really appreciated the added suspense.

I thought the opening and ending songs were good. The animation quality was also good. I did some research and found out that the anime is based on a game, and to fully understand the story, you need to play it. But since I didn't play the game, these are just my thoughts. If you're interested in a plot that's average and has a deep meaning, then give it a try. Overall, it was okay.

Horror is a sparsely populated genre of anime, which is a shame. A good horror series can offer creative concepts, a gripping story, compelling drama and moments of high emotion. Unfortunately, Angels of Death offers none of these things. Instead, this anime presents a mind-numbing barely-plot featuring a cast of characters the audience never properly gets to know and that not even the series itself seems to care about, thinly varnished with superficial allusions to Christianity. This is a series that wants be perceived as cool and meaningful and perhaps even deep, but which puts in none of the required effort to actually be so.

Angels ... of Death is a series based on an RPG Maker game and it shows. The bulk of the anime consists of the lead characters, Rachel and Zack, ponderously navigating a nondescript murder house while being assailed by a procession of one-note psychopathic killers. While this premise naturally raises questions about the building's purpose or how the characters are connected, Angels of Death is content to brush those inquiries to one side for the majority of it's runtime, only begrudgingly sparing a sentence or two in its last act to deliver an unsatisfying barely-answer. Instead, the audience is subjected to episode after episode of two boring characters wandering around in a stark and utilitarian environment, interacting with the requisite puzzle elements found on each floor. This makes the show feel like a glorified walkthrough rather than anything worth watching.

Speaking of the characters, Angels of Death has a very weak cast, with each member coming across as a human-shaped vessel for a collection of disconnected traits that fail to amount a coherent personality. From the first episode onward, Rachel is unemotive and vaguely defined as religious, while Zack is simple, temperamental and prone to violence. Neither are particularly inquisitive, most of their dialogue consisting of observations on and reactions to whatever situation they've been placed in, leaving very little time for character development outside of the few scattered intervals in which some tepid backstory is delivered via flashback, brining the story's events to an abrupt halt. Needless to say, this utter lack of character makes it extremely difficult to get invested in the lead characters, even ignoring the fact that Rachel's main goal in leaving the building is to be killed, meaning there's little point in rooting for her to survive. The show's antagonists are no less flat, each having one gimmick a piece. Danny is obsessed with eyes, Eddie is a possessive stalker that digs graves, Cathy is a sadistic prison warden and Reverend Gray is a judgemental priest that tests people.

While Angels of Death is listed as a horror anime, a label that the gloomy art style and decently atmospheric soundtrack make a token effort to earn, in truth, the series' horror themes are only skin deep. With its motley character design, superficial religious imagery and semi-frequent indulgences in action, it's not hard to tell that the anime is trying harder to be cool than it is to be scary. One can always tell when the leads are or aren't in danger, undermining any potential for tension, and the series' attempts at dark imagery are few, brief and unimpressive. What little ambition Angels of Death has manifests in attempts to build ambiguity (it would be too generous to call it mystery) about the history and mental state of the protagonist, Rachel. Alas, even if the show gave this plot point the focus it deserved, it would still culminate in a series of unimpressive and sometimes laughably predictable twists that only undermine the viewer's investment further while saying nothing meaningful. In general, the show has very little to say, existing seemingly for its own sake while using its imagery as set dressing that contributes nothing to the story.

To conclude, Angels of Death is an anime that fails at just about everything it tries. Its on-screen action is dull and tedious, its attempts at horror are non-existent, its story is a pointless slog, its characters are cardboard cut-outs and its imagery is piss-puddle shallow. At the time of writing, I genuinely cannot think of another anime that has bored me this much and I can think of no reason for a person to subject themselves to this series. If you're looking for a horror anime with actual tension, watch Another instead.