Common Name: Satsuriku no Tenshi
Alternative Names: Angels of Death
Score: 3/10, 1/5
Length: 16 Episodes
Genre: Action, Drama, Horror, Romance, Mystery, Psychological
Summary: When a young girl awakens in an unfamiliar place with only the memory that her name is Rachel Gardner, finds that she has become the next victim of a sick and twisted game. In order to escape this strange place, she must ascend several floors that are each managed by an "Angel," a psychopathic murderer for whom their greatest desire to break and kill any unfortunate soul that makes it to their floor. Oddly enough, however, Rachel's odd, emotionless behavior has put off one of these "Angels," a scythe-wielding maniac named Isaac Foster. Having lost the motivation to kill someone who won't even react to the threat of death, Isaac has decided to let Rachel go, turning him into yet another candidate to escape this sick game. Now both the emotionless girl and the killer boy must survive the traps and killers of every other floor in order to escape. Yet, just as soon as the two form their alliance, Rachel makes one demand of Isaac. Once all this is over and they've escaped, she wants him to kill her.
Review: Adapt or die. That is the general and often unspoken rule that anime adaptations have in common with most death game concepts. Normally, I try not to be so harsh on adaptations since the process isn't easy and it's not like there's a handy how-to guide available to the teams that take on these projects. Yet, when a show can't even both to try to change or recontextualize the contrivances and conveniences afforded to a cheap RPGMaker game, all rules and standards of reviewer decorum are thrown out the window. So, to put things bluntly, I utterly despise the Angels of Death anime. I have some confidence that the original game is fine, thanks to the level of quality I've seen in many similar RPGMaker games and a few glowing reviews I saw pop up during some people's defense of this show, this show utterly fails to turn that property into something worth watching. It is an honest to god mess of a show that fails at making its main characters likable or engaging. It fails at making it feel like there's any threat or logic to their situation. It even fails to make the make the primary antagonists threatening or dangerous expect when the plot absolutely demands it of them, making their villainous actions feel forced and unearned. Now, perhaps the first and last of these complaints are just the show trying to express that these characters are erratic and illogical psychopaths, unbound by any reason or logic. Considering how this is supposed to be a character horror title, meaning it is a horror title meant to function purely off the back of its horrifically twisted characters, I'm more inclined to think that the show's terrible characters are just a sign of the show's equally terrible writing.
You know a show is bad when the main character is begging to be killed and your only response is,
"Yes! Do it. Spare me the agony of watching this crap and just end it now!"
Now, to be completely fair, it should go without saying that Angels of Death is not your standard slice of life, "moe-moe-kyun" anime and it shouldn't be criticized as such. For all intents and purposes, it is a grim, edgy horror title about two characters teaming up to escape from a death game run by multiple people. Following the conventions of the horror genre, the show's main characters should each be able to function and succeed with their own strengths but create a perfectly matched team that pool their efforts and unique talents to improve their chances for survival. Now, for the most part, that's exactly what Angels of Death does. Rachel Gardner, our female lead, functions mostly as the brains of the pair. Thanks to her characteristic lack of emotions, she's able to methodically work her way through any puzzle the guardians of each floor have prepared for her without getting caught up in the emotional manipulation and mind games these psychopaths rely on to trip up their prey. Then there is Isaac Foster, our mummified scythe-wielding edgelord protagonist, who is the brawn to Rachel's brains. Though he has the mental capacity of an eight-year-old, Isaac is a uniquely skilled as a fighter who can and will destroy anything that gets between him and his target. So, together, Rachel is able to essentially guide Isaac to a correct answer while he drags her along behind him on his quest to escape.
Too bad neither of them have any personality or social chemistry
that'd make them anything more than "brains" and "brawn."
Unable to be content with a premise as simple as that, though, Angels of Death starts the show off immediately twisting the basic characterization these two were founded on until you get the ugly, deformed mess that we actually land with. For example, like so many anime protagonists before her, Rachel starts the show off with amnesia. This choice functionally makes Rachel into a blank canvas on which the writer can paint any backstory they wish for her along the way without needing to worry about contradicting some previous characterization. What this actually does, however, is make Rachel into even less of a character. Already emotionally stunted to the point that a lamp would have made for a better protagonist, all Rachel's amnesia does, at best, is make it harder for us to care about her, particularly when its made abundantly clear that she doesn't actually care about whether or not she survives this ordeal. At worst, it's turned into a contrivance that makes her characterization as "the brains" make even less sense than it already does. Since Rachel never emotes or talks through her process to solve the show's various deadly puzzles, her uncanny ability to problem solve just feels like a contrivance to push the plot forward as Rachel magically stumbles upon the key to getting them out of a dangerous situation. When this contrivance is at its worst, though, is when the show eventually starts painting on her blank canvas backstory, dotting little hints of characterization and motivation here and there that she makes known specifically when the show needs to hint that Rachel might not be as innocent as she seems.
For some odd reason, though, it seems the show needed to foreshadow that Rachel is even more
unhinged than the rest of the cast in the least subtle way possible in the very first episode.
So, from the very beginning, we are introduced to a main character who is characterized as an emotionally stunted amnesiac that occasionally does and says things that hint at a dark past and a considerable amount psychological instability. Surely Rachel's character can't get any more contrived and ridiculous than that, right? Unfortunately, there's one last, little issue with her character that steadily turns into one of my biggest sticking points with this show and that is her bizarre obsession with "God." Over the course of the show, there are multiple instances where Rachel's actions hinge wholly on her belief in God and how the God perceives her. From her forming a pact with Isaac simply because he off-handedly swears to God that he will kill her to the truth of why Rachel has become this death game's next victim, her obsession with God is one of this show's main through lines. Yet this weird obsession of Rachel's makes no sense whatsoever and is used in the most ill-conceived manner possible. At random moments she puts an incredible amount of weight on the concept of sin and divine punishment, turning even the slightest mention of God into a trigger word that just renders her helpless and useless. What's more, in desperation to see herself as spiritually clear and faultless, she starts labeling physical people as her God. For example, she starts declaring that Zack (Isaac's nickname) is her God and that by being of use to him, she is absolving herself of sins that she doesn't even know she committed yet. As if to justify this bizarre bit of character development, though, one of the floor guardians seems personally built to capitalize on her obsession with god as claims she is damned because she is a self-serving, manipulative witch. Considering how many token terms like "angel," "God," "demon," and "witch" this show just throws out there without any logic or reason, I'm pretty sure that this show's writer doesn't actually know a thing about Christianity beyond its terminology and iconography. Of course, that lack of understanding is made all the more apparent once the origin of all this God-fearing nonsense is made known and proves to be even more ridiculous than I imagined.
Yep, this is one of those shows.
What I find weirdly jarring about this show, though, is the simple fact that Zack, the show's scythe-wielding, edgelord, serial killer protagonist, is generally more likable and relatable than Rachel. In the face of all her drama regarding God and wanting to be absolved of her sins, Zack's unrepentant love of killing people is, oddly enough, a breath of fresh air. That's kind of the point to Zack's entire existence though. For all intents and purposes, he is Rachel's opposite. Where she is quiet and emotionless, he is boisterous and emotional. Where she is inclined to solve problems through logic and reason, he uses brute strength to pummel his problems until they go away. Where she eventually becomes this repentant sinner, he is ever an always an unapologetic killer. Though, like Rachel, he suffered an absolutely terrible past that forced him to become a killer, he never apologizes or feels guilty about the things he's done. For Zack, killing people is just his way of venting the frustration at his shitty lot in life and taking total control of his fate. Rather than putting his fate in the hands of some God that's never done him any favors, Zack remains entirely grounded in reality where his actions are born purely from his own wants and desires. While this attitude is ultimately what landed him his job as an "Angel" or floor guardian, it is also what sets him apart from his fellow "Angels." Where they all kill to serve some grand ideal like capturing bodily perfection, love, judgement, and faith, Isaac just kills for his own pleasure and amusement. Once he stops his unrepentant killing, though, swayed because Rachel's lack of reaction killed his murder-boner, he stops being an "Angel of Death." Yet, in spite of his sudden shift, he still serves his own ideals, promising to kill Ray (his nickname for Rachel) once they escape and she is given some glimmer of hope or she gives him a reaction that'll make him want to kill her like the rest.
Granted, his promise to Rachel won't really stop him from killing everyone else he meets though.
Unfortunately, even Zack's simplicity starts to turn into a point of contention for me when it comes to this show as, slowly but surely, his partnership with Rachel starts to evolve into a full-blown emo romance. While it makes perfect sense that something would develop between them, given how they come to rely on and trust one another over the course of their trials, their relationship remains one founded on his promise to kill her at some point. Now, maybe it's just me, but that's not exactly a healthy way to start any kind of romantic entanglement. Regardless of how much Zack works to open her eyes to the fact that all of her God-fearing nonsense is bullshit and how much she works just to keep him alive, their entire budding relationship is founded on her wanting to die and him being the one willing to do it once she meets his expectations. Just like that, they become dedicated to each other and this idea that they'll both get what they want once they're free of this death game even though none of it wakes a wit of sense. At no point does Rachel really care about Zack beyond him being the means to her end. Similarly, Zack's promise is in no way respectful of Rachel's status as a person. He doesn't want to do it out of some respect for her wish--he outright calls it stupid from the very beginning--and it's not like he's doing it to end her suffering. They're both just obsessed with him being the one to kill her because, for some reason, Zack refuses to made into a liar.
And this is going exactly where you think it is.
One of the most obnoxious points of this show is its obsession with blending the romance and horror aspects into something that only comes across as contrived and pathetic. Whether it's to give Zack some competition for Rachel's heart or simply an attempt to make the show's non-character seem appealing, the end result remains that, on top of just trying to survive, Zack and Rachel are also forced to stave off any of Rachel's would-be admirers/murderers. From the childishly infatuated Eddie to the borderline-rapey Dr. Danny, Rachel has several characters that attempt to win her emotionless heart for their own reasons and would happily grant her wish in place of Zack. Yet, because Zack swore to God that he'd be the one to do it, she adamantly refuses to let anyone else kill her. As for Zack's feelings in all this, he's basically laid claim to her and refuses to let anyone else take his hard-earned kill. That's it. There's nothing else to their relationship. Just his obsessive, possessive ownership of a kill and her obsession with God. Yet, despite that, the show continues to play all this off as some kind of romance. It repeatedly goes through movements of characters trying to steal Rachel away from Zack and sway her heart in her direction only to have him take her back because, in his eyes, she belongs to him. As this "romantic" through line continues to play out, their feelings do eventually become muddled since it looks like he's working hard to keep her alive and she's dedicating herself to him. Yet, at the end of the day, their relationship still revolves around this incredible obsession with death and their bizarre codependency.
Granted, Zack's practically Rachel's Prince Charming in comparison to Dr. Danny.
From its themes and concepts to its characters and their relationships, Angels of Death is nothing short of an explosive train wreck full of clowns decked out in fetish gear. Nothing about it makes any sense. The overall premise, while simplistic, get so mangled in its attempts to be novel and edgy that it becomes indistinguishable from its original death game narrative. Worse yet, the characters that are meant to drive this plot forward and make it feel tense and engaging make such a mockery of it with all their drama and death-obsessed angst that the game itself becomes little more than a laughable B or C plot. Even when they're focused on the game and surviving it, there's never any reason or logic behind anything Zack or Rachel do. The only reason the game ever feels threatening or tense is because neither Rachel nor Zack have a brain cell between them. They simply stumble around in the dark until Rachel magically solves the puzzle or Zack just breaks it. Yet, even when they do solve the puzzle, Rachel continues to act confused and lost when she runs into the exact same puzzle over and over again. Despite how much more attention the character drama gets over the overall mystery and action, though, it isn't any better. At no point do Zack and Rachel feel like a functional duo. At best, their bizarre quirks and character flaws that match up rather than their stronger points. Now, perhaps that dynamic is appealing to some people and I understand why that might be the case but the way it is used here makes absolutely no sense as it gets twisted into this forced romantic narrative between what might as well be an emotionless, bloodstained rock and a rabid, abused puppy. So, put plainly, I'm going to universally claim that this show should be avoided at all cost. While I've seen some people claim it is "so bad it's good" I'm not entirely convinced that this mismanaged trash fire could be ironically enjoyable. Still, if you want to give Angels of Death a shot in spite of my warnings, let me know if you find it laughably bad or just plain bad.