Angels of Death ep 6 – BANG!

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

I don’t know if my standards are dropping or I just feel protective of this show now that everybody has dropped it, but I liked this episode as well. Angels of Death is on an upswing if you ask me. Am I just trolling all you guys now that you’ve decided to drop it?

Angels of Death is continuing to develop Isaac’s character which is a great move in my opinion. They are just dropping more convoluted backstory without revealing much at all but it makes us feel closer to the character. It also downplays the occasionally awkward interactions between Ray and Zack.

This said, the chemistry between the two has gotten noticeably better. I want to pretend it’s on purpose, you know mirroring their growing relationship but guys it was so bad I can’t even delude myself. The voice actors are probably recording the episodes in order and they are simply getting into the rhythm. Good thing too. An entire season of the utter lack of chemistry would have been unbearable.

So we start off with an extended flashback of Zack’s childhood. The same scenes as last week are replayed with added detail and then continued to show us what I assume is his first murder. I’m not sure what this says about me, but I thought that was a quite good murder scene. It was so quiet and oddly still. Such high contrast with Zack’s usual energy. That made it particularly chilling and effective.

Once we rejoin our…heroes…in the present, we learn that Zack took cuckoo poison and now is going on a crazy rampage and is begging Rachel to run. Which she does! But not for her own sake, she is a death seeker after all, but for his. Rachel’s find the will to survive for someone else, awwww! He’s a mass murdering psycho who may or may not be imaginary,…oh….

A brief chase scene ends up landing Ray and Zack face to face with Cathy for the final confrontation of the floor. Cathy is simply not a strong character. She’s not developed enough to be interesting and not quirky enough to be fun. As you would expect, this scene is therefore not as great as it could be. However, it did manage to considerably exceed my expectations.

Rachel’s character growth during those moments was really nice to see. It wasn’t overdone. The narrative was careful to not suddenly transform the character into something unrecognizable, but it did show us just a peek of a different Rachel and it was great to see. Great enough that I titled my post for it.

I should say that this scene was also surprisingly violent. I mean the show is rather bloody in general but I feel that the gore went up a notch this episode. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing mind you. It felt like the show was going back to that horror tag.

In the final moments, we saw Rachel and Isaac getting a clue about needing to give their true name (names man..) to God, and that God has no use for sinners. Again the repeated themes of God and Sin.

I enjoyed the wrap up – even if it was a bit heavy handed. The last puzzle lead them around the floor and back to the first room where they took their mug shots. They were both holding up name plates in those pictures and now the wall has opened to reveal a frame large enough for one of those name plates. Without explaining it to Zack, Rachel chooses his name plate which opens the elevator and throws out her own, mentioning it was not needed.

Clearly Rachel is judging herself. I mean with Cathy gone she has to… I’m sticking to my purgatory theory. Rachel obviously remembers something that racking her with guilt. Not just guilt though. You can have done wrong without considering yourself a sinner. Whatever she did, she considers it irredeemable. But where death was all she was seeking before, now it’s specifically death at Zack’s hands and I’m curious as to why.

And then there was that last second cliffhanger. A great one as far as they go. Between Steins;Gate 0 and Angels of Death this week, I certainly have had my share of bloody cliffhangers…

One little random thing I’ve been noticing for weeks, is that in the OP there’s a flash of the two characters in silhouette with the “no” between them. It looks like this: の. Wait I can just take a screen cap… Genius blogger me!

Anywho, this could simply be a fun little design trick, mirroring the tittle of the show: 殺戮の天使. But it would also mean Isaac no Rachel or Zack’s Ray. Of course this doesn’t mean that Zack and Rachel are the same person, it could be a cutesy (gasp) romance foreshadowing, but it still works with my existential theory.

You know what, I’m going to watch next week’s episode not just for you guys or because I have to review it, but I actually want to know what happens. Good job show, you did not completely lose me. I might still play you as a game.

I ended up with a lot of screencaps. I’m surprised by how much I liked the visuals this week.

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