Well, that’s just not happening.
The show can’t end this early.
This is going to be one of those shows where I seem to be at odds with a lot of people
I know.
Alright, here We Go.
Yeah I'm not wearing my jacket today, because if you didn't notice it's a freaking scorcher house outside.
and I'm surrounded by hot lights, yeah it's just really warm. In here. So, coat's on a rack.
It'll come back eventually.
Welcome to Angels of Death, the anime based
off of the RPG Maker video game released by Hoshikuzu KRNKRN and it’s exactly what I
feared it wouldn’t be.
At least at first glance.
The story starts out with a young girl named Rachel, who’s brought to a hospital for
counselling, but wakes up in a seemingly abandoned building.
Not much is known about how or why she got there, especially because she seems to be
suffering from amnesia.
#PlotConvience.
Not only does she not remember how she got into this predicament, but even when she seems
to remember things at the end of the first episode….she doesn’t appear to care.
This leads to the scene I showed at the top of the video.
I mostly have a problem with this because while I rather like a variety of versions
of this emotionless doll architype that she is, I’m not sure that I’m really sold
on one whose sole desire is death.
What’s worse is that I question this desire heavily.
But we’ll get back to that.
So she meets up with this guy with a scythe named Zack because she infringed on his supposed
territory, one particular floor in this weird Zero Escape-esque building.
He fails to kill her initially when she’s still without her memory, but he eventually
catches up to her while she’s being molested by another one of the building’s patrons.
In a very psychopathic-like fashion though, he loses his desire to actually murder her
when that apparently is exactly what she wants.
So he makes her a deal.
They work together and attempt to escape the building that they are trapped in.
Once they make it out, THEN he will kill her, and she agrees to these terms.
But this is where I question her commitment, because if death is really what she wants,
there are a myriad of ways for her to get that, quite quickly.
Also, if any part of the narrative becomes exceedingly dangerous for her, well who’s
to say she can’t just back out of the deal?
This lends credence to a theory that Rachel doesn’t actually want to die but is just
manipulating Zack to help her escape.
Or maybe it’s not that she wants to die or not, she might not honestly care, but hey
if she can get out then bonus!
The story seems to be relying heavily on this aura of mystery surrounding the two protagonists
and their situation.
We don’t know Rachel’s motivations or true desires and while most of Zack is like
an open book, there still remains the question of who he is and how he got here.
This is what seems to keep most people invested, plus of course the biggest question of all,
where is “here”?
The building seems like this sectioned off place in reality, a location that doesn’t
actually exist except to fulfil someone’s twisted idea of the world’s largest and
deadliest escape room.
Now again, this is based off a game and, as a game, it probably has some far more interesting
mechanics to have it all make sense. That just didn't translate into the anime all that well.
Hell, just telling the player that it’s in their best interest to stick it out so that they can see the ending makes
more sense than the narrative reasoning of Rachel’s not breaking her arrangement with
Zack because she’s a good person who keeps promises despite them being completely opposite
of her stated desires.
Really there is a lot here that’s just not making me all that interested.
After several episodes, I keep asking the question of, “WHY?”
quite a bit…mostly, “Why should I care?”
Like I have no doubt that fans of the game, who know the context of the situation already,
will enjoy this.
Unless they think it's a poor adaptation, but that's entirely a different thing.
Those people will tell me that I’m bailing far too early, and they might be right!
But a psycho with a scythe and a girl who wants to die but maybe not really?
Yeah, this just isn’t my thing.
For this season, after a few episodes, I give Angels of Death a pass.
Though I fully understand that I’m in the minority!
In fact I don’t think I’ve talked to someone yet who has watched the show who doesn’t
seem to get far more enjoyment out of it than myself.
So even if it’s not my thing that’s not to say that you might not find enjoyment here,
but I just don’t have a desire to watch too much more.
Maybe I’ll change my mind down the road, but for now, I’m moving on.
Sorry fans.
Currently, it’s available for legal streaming over on Crunchyroll and the original game
can be purchased over on Steam, which might be the better way to experience the story.
I’ll put the necessary links and coupon codes into the description for your convenience.
Thank for joining me on this First Reaction.
Let me know down in the comments what you have been following this season.
And thank you to my patrons, who make these videos possible.
Until next time, WATCH MORE ANIME!
And stay frosty everyone.
Later.