Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Angels of Death - The Complete Series (a Neo-Tokyo 2099 Anime on Blu-ray Disc Review) (2018)

I can see how this anime series worked effectively as a video game but does it work as an anime series? “Angels of Death” does work but it’s not an anime series I will find myself coming back to again. It’s a fascinating anime series, no doubt, but overall, it’s an average anime series.

TITLE: Angels of Death – The Complete Series

DURATION: Episodes 1-16 (400 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16×9), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Funimation

RATED: TV14

Release Date: October 22, 2019

Originally created by Sanada Makoto

Directed by Suzuki Kentaro

Series Composition: Fujioka Yoshinobu

Character Design by Matsumoto Miki

Music by Suehiro Kenichiro

Art Director: Si Man Wei

Anime Production: J.C. Staff

Featuring the following voice talent:

Okamoto Nobuhiko/Dallas Reid as Zack

Chisuga Haruka/Meg McClain as Rachel

Fujiwara Natsumi/Brittney Karbowski as Eddie

Sakurai Takahiro/Derick Snow as Danny

Ise Mariya/Jamie Marchi as Cathy

Ohtsuka Houchu/R Bruce Elliott as Gray

When Rachel wakes up in the basement of an unfamiliar building, she finds she’s lost all her memory. As she tries to get clear of the basement, she runs into Zack, a scythe-carrying serial killer wrapped from head to toe in bandages. A bizarre promise brings these two together, and they become irreplaceable partners to each other. The journey of life and death begins…

Back in 2015, a Japanese horror game created on RPG Maker titled “Satsuriku no Tenshi” was released as freeware by Den Fami Nico Game Magazine and then would be released on Steam and Nintendo Switch.

The video game would receive a manga adaptation and then a 16-episode anime adaptation from J.C. staff would be released in 2018.

And now the complete series will be released in North America with an English dub courtesy of Funimation.

“Angels of Death” begins with 13-year-old Rachel “Ray” Gardner taken to the hospital for counseling after witnessing a murder.

When she awakes, she finds herself awakening in a basement floor B7 having no memories but her name and the reason why she was taken to the hospital.

What is known is that this world has a floor in which people are designated in each floor and anyone who trespasses on another participant’s floor has a chance to be killed.

Rachel doesn’t understand what is quite going on but she discovers an injured bird but the bird is killed by a serial killer named Issac “Zack” Foster of floor B6.

Thinking that she is trying to be killed by Issac, she ends up being captured by Daniel “Danny” Dickens, the owner of Floor B5, who happens to be the doctor who has been counseling her.

It turns out that the doctor has an obsession with eyes and he desires Rachel’s blue eyes and wants to take her eyes and replace his missing eye.

Just when the doctor is about to take her eye, Issac comes out of nowhere and impales him with his ax and kills him, he now wants to kill Rachel but yet again, she shows no fear and her lack of emotion ticks him off that he can’t kill her.

And because Issac has killed someone from another floor, he and Rachel are designated as a “sacrifice” and can be freely killed by any floor master. Zach is unable to escape because he lacks the intelligence.

So, the two two form an alliance in the promise that he will help Zack escape using her intelligence, but in return he must keep a promise that he is the one to kill her.

What happens when the two end up descend to the lower levels and must come across Edward “Eddie” Mason in B4, Catherine “Cathy” Ward in B3 and Abraham Gray in B2?

And what is the true reason that Issac and Rachel have ended up in this game of survival and can they escape?

VIDEO:

“Angels of Death” is presented in 1080p High Definition (16×9 HD Native). The animation looks good with slight softness but for this dark drama, the animation works very well!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Angels of Death” features a wonderful soundtrack on Blu-ray. The series is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English) and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (Japanese). Both soundtracks are well-acted. Chisuga Haruka and Okamoto Nobuhiko do a wonderful job with the Japanese soundtrack and Meg McClain and Dallas Reid were equally wonderful in the English dub.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Angels of Death” comes with the following special features:

Episode 1 Commentary
Japanese Promotional Videos
Japanese Commercials
Textless Opening and Closing Songs

EXTRAS:

“Angels of Death ” comes the Blu-ray and a Funimation Digital Code for the series. Also, included are four exclusive art cards.

I have to be honest that “Angels of Death” was a big surprise. For one, these characters are not good characters, these are characters that have done something terrible and heinous in their life and now they are trapped in a game of survival.

The main protagonists are Rachel and Zack. Rachel, who appears to be a girl with no emotions and seems that she can’t hurt anyone. So, how was she brought to this place and why?

And as for Zach, he is a serial killer, homicidal maniac but can these alliance between the two work and what kind of challenges lay in their path as they try to escape and survive this game?

Along the way, you start to meet other crazy, heinous characters such as the doctor, Daniel Dickens who is insane and obsessed with collecting blank eyes.

A gravedigger named Edward Mason who gets a thrill from burying live things when they are alive. And Catherine Ward, a sadomasochistic woman who tortures those who need to be punished.

And who is the one responsible for creating this game and for what purpose?

For the most part, what makes this anime so fascinating is learning about each others stories and seeing how the two protagonists survive. Especially when you get to the reveal of Rachel and Zach’s story and what led them their current predicament.

While the anime does give a good sense of suspense and there are horror elements, while not exactly scary, it does an effective way of creating tension, and this unusual pairing of a serial killer and a quiet girl who lacks emotions is rather interesting.

Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Angels of Death – The Complete Series (a Neo-Tokyo 2099 Anime on Blu-ray Disc Review) (2018)

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