Angels of Death Episode 2 Review: Your grave is not here.

This episode had an unexpected lighthearted turn to it and I have to say that I absolutely loved it. Rachel, the deadpan loli, and Zack, the murderous wacko, made jokes and puns and it was actually amazing.

Plot

Rachel insists on letting Zack kill her, but he realizes that he can’t escape out of the building by himself so they make an agreement with each other: Zack must kill Rachel as soon as they escape. Rachel manages to make the elevator work and they are both taken to floor B4 where they find a graveyard that has a gravestone with Rachel’s name on it. In their attempt to make the next elevator work, they split up. Rachel finds out a library with information about the previous victims of all the floors including hers and Zack’s, whose real name is Isaac Foster, along with notes from the inhabitant of the floor who writes to her that he knows her true wish. Zack starts destroying the gravestones because they were ‘getting on his nerves’ and he manages to activate a switch that unlocks a door in the area where Rachel is located, helping her to move forward. As she proceeds further, Zack is attacked by a masked man who doesn’t look very pleased that he destroyed all the gravestones.

Episode Highlights

Zack is the best: I already love Zack’s character from the game but in the anime, it’s even better. His humor and his reactions to everything are just so comical and out of place with the seriousness of the plot that makes it absolutely gold material to watch. I can’t believe that they made him throw up rainbows in the anime and be all goofy when he tried to hit the gravestone saying: ‘Damn, it’s hard’. The scene of him going on frenzy mode and destroying all the gravestones was so video-game-like that by now everyone must be aware of the RPG horror game-based mechanics in the plot.

Rachel and her change of character: It is rather obvious that her character changed after Dr. Danny mentioned her past and her parents, which makes it even clearer that something is not right with her. In the elevator scene, she even ignores Zack’s questions about her.

Themes & Trivia

In the opening: You might have missed it but in the beginning of the opening, you can actually see Zack’s original game design character on the poster.

Facts about Zack: Despite the fact that he hates lies, as he clearly indicated in this episode, Zack also speaks in a very foul language which I guess will be shown later on. Another fact for Zack which you probably already noticed from his character design is that he has anisocoria, a condition in which the eyes are unequally dilated.

Comments

The visuals in the opening are really pretty but I didn’t like the song choice. I feel like it doesn’t really match the overall atmosphere of the anime. Also, even though this might sound a bit weird, Angels of Death is not a 100% horror story. The game for me was more of an interactive puzzle game with some horror elements to it.

The anime, on the other hand, is following an even more light-hearted vibe that many might think that it kills the horror in it, but honestly, I think it succeeds to have its dark and fun moments just like in the game. I also think that the people that maκe this anime seem to have a lot of fun with it. The scene of Zack going on frenzy mode with the ridiculous out of the blue guitar solo and evil laugh was just great (even though this happens countless of times in the game).

So far, I really enjoy the way the anime is paced and the overall quality and production of the series. Yes, this episode didn’t have that much horror in it, only some occasional creepy laughs every now and there, but still it was fun to watch and great to see the whole Rachel-Zack relationship growing.

You really are creepy.

I really enjoy how Zack says everything that comes to his mind. He is honestly such a fun and entertaining character. It’s very interesting to see people that haven’t played the game reacting to the anime and already speculating what is the story behind the whole mystery. Looking forward to reading all the theories and the reactions.

Don’t forget that each week MT is bringing you a preview of the next episode’s summary and a few screenshots! Here are a few stills from Episode 2: