1st Episode Anime Impressions: Angels of Death

Japanese Title: 殺戮の天使

Summary

13-year-old Rachel awakens in the basement of a building. She has lost her memories and has no idea as to why and how she got there. Rachel is aiming to find the way above ground, and as she is wandering around, the bloodthirsty murderer Zack, who is holding a sickle like a Grim Reaper and has his face wrapped in bandages, appears in front of her.
‘I have a wish… please kill me.’
‘Let’s work together to get out of here. I will kill you then.’
Their strange bonds deepen because of the promise they made.
But where are they now? For what kind of purpose have they been trapped?
What fate is awaiting them? Both begin their journey fully prepared to die…!

Impressions

Martina

I am not someone for horror but I really, really want to know what’s behind the whole building and what’s the deal with Rachel losing her memories. Also, Zach looks so…interesting. I was terrified during the first episode because of the good voice acting. (But also, if the doctor has his tongue hanging out, the voice actor should also try to have their tongue out, because it sounds stupid if he can talk normally in that position… Watch it and you’ll know what I mean).

This was a good introduction (not going to use ‘nice’ because it is a horror story, so it is many things but not nice). I would like to watch more of this series, but I am not sure I will be able to. This whole concept of being locked into a building and having to run away from people that hunt you down might cause me some nightmares. Still, I was able to sit through it and I think it is a good start to a series! Watch it! Don’t expect too much gore or horror, though.

Jennifer

When I first saw the visual of Zack when the Angels of Death anime was announced, and without knowing anything about the series, I instantly thought ‘hey, this guy should be voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto!’. Well, guys, I should be an anime casting director! Any of you familiar with Okamoto will probably be nodding your heads in agreement, as this guy’s specialty is screaming! His screams can be so crazy and literally uncomfortable to listen too, and he really goes all out with Zack, really showing off just how mentally deranged the character is meant to come across.

Anyway, moving on, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the first episode as I have never played the original game. However, the first episode kept my attention and I was sad when it was over! We only know as much as the main character Rachel, so that air of mystery was quite interesting. The amount of violence so far is enough to feel disturbing but not enough to put me off, and the atmosphere just seemed like my kind of thing. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story will continue and will be avoiding spoilers like the plague.

Marianne

As a horror fanatic and as someone who has played the original game, I can’t even begin to express how bloody excited I am to see this animated. Angels of Death has an amazing plot that focuses on the characters and their relationships more than anything else along with a very interesting narrative that really draws you in when you start watching it. The first episode left me extremely pleased as it was loyal to the original content, the voice actors that were cast for the characters are absolutely amazing, with Nobuhiko Okamoto and Takahiro Sakurai taking lead parts, plus I was very impressed with the overall quality of the animation and directing. The only thing that I would ask for would be to make it a little more horrific and violent than it is so far. For some reason, they kind of rushed a lot of events during the first episode and ended up losing some of their impact, like the bird scene and the hunted down scene along with the Danny going crazy scene in the operating room. But don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining because obviously a game is always better paced than a show since it has no time limitations so I am just putting it out there. This is definitely a recommendation for someone who enjoys horror with good plot twists and a fair amount of violence.

Asie

I’ve always wanted to play the horror game this anime was based on, but as I have a tendency of comparing adaptations with the original source material, I’m glad I haven’t tried the game yet. Then again, even if I did, the anime of Angels of Death is so well made that I don’t think I would’ve had any problems! Everything was just done well, the writing and pacing, the cinematography and the visuals, the voice acting, everything!! They all greatly assisted the intriguing plot and curious characters, making the whole thing more creepy. I’m especially interested with Rachel; who wouldn’t when such a cute and innocent girl suddenly begged to be killed, while exhibiting some…disturbing behaviors in between, right? Anyway, I’m certainly gonna follow this show every week! And hopefully, finally get to play the game on Steam!

Thanasis

This anime is based on a very famous horror game. Well, I might have lost the memo on that because I had no idea the game existed. Yet, the episode reminded me a lot of several similar (I am guessing here) Japanese horror games like Corpse Party. The type of mystery and horror is very much alike. We follow a girl who finds herself on the bottom floor of a weird place. She has no memory of why and how she got there (even if most of the other characters do but fail to enlighten us in order to keep the mystery). She is deemed by a voice coming from a speaker as the sacrifice and she has (I am still guessing here) to get to the top floor in one piece. On her way, she finds a lunatic with a scythe who goes enemy to partner (still guessing, but that’s a pretty good guess since it’s mentioned in the series’ summary).

I like horror anime. I really do. Higurashi is one of my favorite anime of all time (not the game, just the anime) and I enjoyed Another and Elfen Lied. Yet, the level of craziness and unnecessary dialogue in this title makes me a little reluctant from picking it on for my Summer 2018 list. After the episode, I really wasn’t that much interested in learning more about the protagonists. I will probably watch the second episode to see if it’ll get any better (always follow the 3-episode rule if you are not sure about a series), but even if it does, I think there are a few series this season that are more worthy of my alloted time for anime.