Angels of Death

Episode 9

After too long, Zack and Ray are finally reunited and back to bickering like an old couple—if that old couple were trying to escape a creepy murder building so that one could kill the other in peace. In spite of my delight at seeing them in the same room again, I can feel Angels of Death's momentum begin to fade in this episode. Our protagonists are more or less in the same dire straits they were in a couple episodes ago, we're no closer to figuring out Gray's methods or motives, and all of Ray's backtracking only produced a single knife and some bandages that Zack refuses to use. That's not to say nothing happens in these 20 minutes, and there's some poignant dialogue between our protagonists, but structurally this arc could have used some condensation.

We open on last week's cliffhanger as our presumed-dead friend Doctor Danny looks down on Zack. Danny's precautionary bulletproof vest protected him from Zack's scythe through his torso way back in episode one, which is absurd, but no more absurd than Zack still being alive. Both of them are in very bad shape, so Danny proposes a trade that will be mutually beneficial: his medicine for Rachel's eyes. Of course Zack refuses, but he's also too weak to pursue Danny, so ultimately nothing comes out of this scene. That said, I still love seeing these creepy weirdos interact with each other, and this is still a show that can drop a line like “I thought I'd decapitate you in your sleep” without missing a beat. This scene also brings back some of that good otome game flavor as both Danny and Zack extol the virtues of Rachel's eyes. “For better or worse, she'd be boring without her eyes” is a line that feels sweet in context (it's one of the nicest things Zack has said about Ray), but out of context it's a pretty wack thing to say about anybody. That's what I love about Angels of Death.

Meanwhile, Gray is still on his sanctimonious crusade to prove that Rachel is evil. But since we've already had ample evidence that Ray is anything but a normal little girl, I'm less perturbed by her behavior and more impressed at how she just gets shit done. In the game, this probably doesn't have quite the same impact, since the player is doing everything, but in the anime, Rachel holds her ground against a series of traps designed to confuse or kill her, without the help of a large scythe-swinging friend. Gray's ultimate appraisal remains that Ray's relationships with everyone have been entirely self-serving and that everything bad that's happened is her fault. Blaming Danny's madness on Rachel having nice eyes is comically absurd, but maybe Gray knows something we don't. There's certain to be a big twist coming, and the schlockier the better.

The claim that Rachel doesn't care about anyone except herself is easily refutable. Much of this episode deals with the fact that Rachel and Zack's bond has grown deeper than their initial bond of murderer and eventual victim. If her genuine concern at the state of Zack's room isn't empathy, I don't know what is. (On that subject, Zack, buddy, why did you leave out what looks like a bowl of store-brand Froot Loops swimming in blood? They've surely gotten soggy by now!) Rachel realizes that she doesn't know much of anything about Zack, and that she's not okay with that. The audience knows quite a bit about Zack at this point though, and I wonder if it would have been better to disseminate that information to both parties at the same time for better impact. I can imagine a scene where Rachel asks about Zack's past, and Zack, too tired and wounded to care, reveals the flashbacks we've already seen. This would have condensed the last few episodes and also made Zack's story hold more emotional weight. Regardless, the two share some familiar banter upon their reunion, and both continue to look out for each other in their own ways. Zack absolutely will not have Rachel dying on him before he gets a chance to kill her himself, and that's beautiful.

Zack has lost a few gallons of blood too many for me to be too concerned about his well-being, and I hope someone takes care of this stomach wound so we can move past him napping everywhere. Ray's off to a presumably final confrontation with Gray, but who knows what further tricks he has up his sleeve. He's already thrown both a hallucinated giant white snake and a real giant white snake at Ray, so as far as I'm concerned, anything is possible. His trials haven't been as funny as the previous floors, but they've certainly been weirder and more introspective. We're getting close to finding out the secrets behind Rachel and this building, but I'm more interested in seeing how her friendship with Zack will resolve. In between the banter, they have some pretty serious conversations about themselves and God. If there truly is no God in this place, and if they truly are both monsters, at least they still have each other's harsh grunts and creepy smiles. That can be enough.

Rating: B

Angels of Death is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Steve is a longtime anime fan who can be found making bad posts about anime on his Twitter.