Angels of Death ep 4 – Hairbrained

• Genre : Josei, Horror, Mystery, Psychological Thriller
• Studio: J.C.Staff

I hear a lot of you grumbling about this show. I’m guessing expectations may have been very high at the beginning of this season because people feel let down? Nevertheless, a lot of you seem to be stubbornly holding on. Maybe you see a glimmer of hope. Maybe you have a masochistic side. I’m not sure whether this week helped or hurt from your perspective but for me – it stayed exactly the same…

OK, that’s not entirely true. I do believe Zack and Ray are starting to play off each other a little better. It’s still not quite the synergy I’m hoping for but it’s not as painful to listen to as it was. Still, having another actor to moderate remains extremely helpful. I quite liked Zack unceremoniously carrying Ray around like a prop.

I’m just going to throw at you the jumble of random things I noticed this week. For one, it seems that everyone knows each other. So far every new floor “boss” (or judge…) has called Zack by name and seems to be very familiar with him and his personality. This week we had crazy Cathy, and they were chatting like old friends. Cathy didn’t seem as close to Ray as sackboy was but she didn’t consider her a complete stranger either.

Likewise, Zack hasn’t been particularly surprised by any of the new players they’ve encountered and hasn’t ever questioned how they know him. The starting assumption was that people simply didn’t travel between floors and each was completely isolated. Zack having committed quite a taboo in the first episode by leaving his basement. However, that doesn’t seen to be quite the case after all. At least, it’s definitely not the full story.

Also why aren’t there anymore sentient typewriters? Rachel should have taken it with her. Sure it’s a hassle to carry around but I bet it would have had some nice insights.

Cathy looked like a B model compared to other characters so far. She seemed less detailed and her animation was rougher. Is it just me? On the flip side, light and shadow play remains interesting.

Here’s a mildly amusing to neutral fact. It seems that Rachel and I are pretty much the same size. I smell an easy cosplay in my future!

I warned you it was going to be a jumble….So here’s my crazy theory trying to link all this stuff together. I’m not completely sold on it myself but I think it works. Basically this is Rachel’s own personal purgatory or hell. She is the only real character in the show.

There’s a little scene in the OP that shows a person hanging. We only see the legs but from the build and size, it looks a lot like Rachel. Rachel also seems somewhat preoccupied with God and having broken God’s rules. I think Rachel may have killed herself. This entire hellscape is a product of her guilt ridden psyche.

This is why she’s harsh on herself. She judges herself quite clearly and worries about sinning but seems indifferent to the wickedness and misdeeds of those around her. She also doesn’t appear particularly affected by their deaths.

She’s the only one that doesn’t have her own floor so far, because the entire building is her domain. The rules don’t seem to apply to her in the same way. And although everyone knows her, she doesn’t recall any of them. My theory is that she is completely unemotional because the other characters represent different aspects of her fracture mind that she’s divorced herself from.

Zack is her savior but as she can’t truly accept that she deserves salvation. As such, her savior is a flawed, stupid, violent murderer who promises to kill her when she outlives her usefulness. Similarly the various villains are extreme representations of her ego and id corrupted by her self loathing and regret.

Danny is her rational self pushed into delusion and obsession. Eddie is her pride and preservation subverted into a yandere extreme. Cathy may be her righteousness gone way out of bounds and doling out punishments with impunity for any and all perceived failings.

This is why Zack can’t leave without her. None of them can. They don’t in fact exist without her or outside of this place. This is also why there are unsettlingly mundane elements all over. The inhabitants are clearly not quite human yet for all their striking appearance, they all remain very possible looking. At most like cosplayers, not like actual monsters.

All the objects and rooms we have seen may act in unusual ways but they remain common things we can all easily recognize and name. There aren’t any odd magical devices or strange contraptions we’ve never seen before. They are all things a young lady like Rachel would easily know about and know how to use. Finally there was that closing quote “A sinner has no right to choice”. Sure there’s a bit of intuitive leaping required but it all fits.

No one is punishing Rachel, no one is keeping her trapped against her will. This is a prison of her own making and she is the one with all the power. She is the only one keeping everyone else here.

Like I said, it’s only a theory and a rather subjective one at that. One of my favorite short stories is Etgar Keret‘s Kneller’s Happy Campers (it was made into a comic book called Pizzeria Kamikaze and a movie called Wristcutters. I own all 3 and love them all, the movie has a great soundtrack). As such, I have an odd fondness for post suicide redemption stories. It’s a peculiar niche…

I am loving the slideshow…do you guys like it?

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