Author’s Note: This review of the Angels of Death manga covers Volumes 1-3 and as such includes mild spoilers from Volume 1 that are needed to contextualize the following volumes.

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After waking up in an unfamiliar basement with nothing but a sewing kit and a handkerchief in her bag, Rachel Gardner is asked to enter data into a computer: her name, her age, the reason she went to the hospital, and what she wants to do next. When she says she wants to leave, she’s released into basement level 6, where she comes face to face with a slasher serial killer named Zack. Rachel manages to escape — but Zack is only on level B6, and there’s a new serial killer on each floor between her and the safety of the exit.

Angels of Death (Satsuriku no Tenshi) began serialization in Japan in 2016, with the first volume arriving in the U.S. in 2017. The series follows Rachel, who wakes up in the basement of a serial killer playground, and the first serial killer she meets, Zack, who breaks the rules of the playground to pursue her higher into the building. Three volumes of the manga were available in the U.S. when the anime premiered at the start of July 2018, with Volume 4 forthcoming in August.

The story is adapted from Makoto Sanada’s freeware game, in which the player (as Rachel) tries to escape the dungeon. Volume 1 covers the first 2 levels of the basement (B6 and B5), while Volume 2 takes Rachel and Zack through B4 and Volume 3 takes them through the start of B3. The end of Volume 3 makes it clear that the next volume will contain more of B3.

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Part of the appeal of Angels of Death is the mystery involved. Rachel has lost at least some of her memories, so there’s no way for her to know whether she entered the maze voluntarily or not. The killer on B5 reveals that her parents are dead, sending her into shock and despair the way one might expect any thirteen-year-old girl to enter upon learning her parents are both dead. At that point, she asks Zack to kill her, which utterly disgusts him, but since he wants to escape (and he isn’t smart enough to do it on his own), he promises to do so once the pair makes it through to safety.

But an even bigger mystery is only hinted at, and only in the first volume. First, Rachel–and the reader–read an inscription on the wall:

[blocktext align=”center”]You must figure it out for yourself.
Who–and what–are you?
Are you who you’ve always been, or are you who you wish to be?
Are you an angel, or are you a sacrifice?
Know yourself and the gate will open.[/blocktext]

Another hint comes later, after Rachel has escaped Zack. In his attempt to kill her, he first kills a baby bird, and before Rachel can bury the body, her reaction is a compulsion to “fix” the mutilated corpse.

So what, then, did the inscription mean? Answers aren’t forthcoming in the first three volumes, making the story fairly compelling to continue. But readers get the first hints of solutions in Volume 2, when Rachel meets the killer on B4–a boy close to her own age.

Another compelling aspect of the series is the way it delves into each serial killer’s motives, which makes the series a fairly good story for readers interested in things like why serial killers feel compelled to kill. As of Volume 3, Rachel meets 4 different serial killers, though the reader learns the least about her companion, Zack.

Volume 2 gives he killer from B4, Eddie, more background and motivation than other killers have received so far, going fairly in-depth with the flashback scene. The quote from the start of the volume offers hair-raising foreshadowing about this pint-sized murderer:

[blocktext align=”center”]Hurry and choose, will you? Do you want to be killed by him–or do you want to be killed by me?[/blocktext]

While one of Volume 1’s greatest appeals involves Makoto Sanada’s commentary regarding the Angels of Death game development, as well as addressing adapting the game to manga format, Volumes 2 and 3 have fewer instances of commentary, with Volume 2 offering more character profile bonuses and a more extended Q&A at the end of the volume.

On the other hand, Volume 3 offers less bonus material, though its 4-page color opening is the best of the three volumes. Each volume boasts a 2-page color illustration spread for the table of contents; Volume 1 has 2 pages of color comic pages, which are the first two pages of the story, while Volume 2 has an illustration and a black page containing the quote above. Volume 3 contains a 2 pages of color comics, and the table of contents spread is part of the anime opening.

Volume 3 introduces the first confirmed female serial killer in the series, pictured on the cover of the volume, whose antagonism will continue into Volume 4. Readers may want to be warned that Volume 3 also contains depiction of high-voltage shock torture.

While I tend to be selective about the horror and thriller stuff I read, Angels of Death is surprisingly free from gore for a series about a thirteen-year-old girl running from serial killers, though that’s inherently at least a little problematic. Still, this is a series I’d recommend, mainly because I predict some interesting things coming regarding protagonist Rachel.

Are you watching the Angels of Death anime this season? Let us know what you think!

Anime Opening

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