And so it's finally over. After 17 long weeks, my edgy seasonal show has finally come to a close. Angels of Death decided to go with a really strange way of releasing its episodes, airing a full cour on TV, before releasing the final 4 episodes as specials with the Blu-ray. I'm not sure why this was seen as more streamlined or even easier than simply just releasing a 16 episode season, but who am I to judge their release methods? Maybe there was a method to their madness. Anyhow, I'm still in the process of making up my mind about how I truly feel about Angels of Death in the end. I think writing this review will really help put my thoughts in line, because there were so many issues that had nothing to do with the substance of the show, but more on the direction side of the show, but more on that was we move along.

I'm just going to go ahead and say that the greatest strength of Angels of Death, visually speaking, is the character design. And yes, I may just be referring to Rachel alone. Seriously though, all of the characters are wonderfully designed, each with their own interesting color palette and unique feel to them, making them seem like they could only exist withing Angels of Death's world. In my opinion, Rachel is easily the best designed character in the show, but that's almost entirely due to her absolutely gorgeous eye design, I mean look at her:

But anyway, that's enough about her for now. On to the musical side of things, I thought they did a great job with the soundtrack. I haven't played the game yet, so I don't know what we're missing with them being unable to use the game's soundtrack, but I thought they did very well. The most memorable piece outside of the ending is easily Gray's theme, with its heavy organ usage. I sort of came to associate it simply as the Angels of Death theme for the anime, which definitely isn't a bad thing. It has a sort of creepiness and intrigue to it that really represents the anime very well. I really didn't love the opening, so I skipped it most of the time. I just thought it didn't really fit the mood of the show very well. Obviously, the ending is my favorite song in the entire show. I has a sort of creepiness and desperation to it that sort of matches Rachel and Zack's desire to escape from the building. For reference:

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Favorite Character: Isaac "Zack" Foster

As much as I want to put Rachel down here, I have to go with my actual favorite character and that's Zack. Even though he's kinda annoying at first, Zack really cements himself as the best character in the show pretty early on, when it turns out that he's actually the most sane person there. Which is a hilarious irony, given how we're introduced to him and his portrayal throughout. As the show continues, you realize that's he's the only one with any common sense in the entire building, which is quite the achievement. Basically, I'm saying that all the other characters are off their rocker, and yes, I'm including Rachel in there, as sad as I am to admit it.

I've heard a lot of people complain how annoying Rachel is because of how emotionless she is early on and how much she harps on the fact that Zack promised to kill her (Yes, we get it Ray). I totally understand that stance, even if I don't really agree with it. I thought she was pretty bearable for the most part, especially since she was really intriguing. The questions about her just piled up: Why was she so aloof? Why does she have a gun (lol)? Why is she so obsessed with dying? Some of these questions are answered more satisfyingly than others, but that's the way it goes, especially when the answers are all fairly obvious. It would have been absolutely spectacular if they had managed to surprise us with those answers to be honest. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the show isn't as deep as people want it to be. It certainly pretends it is and there are certainly moments that actually make you think, but it's truly not a difficult show to wrap your head around. I guess that's disappointing for those who are looking to analyze every episode for some meaning. I certainly don't mind anime with deep philosophizing, but for me, being without it was just fine.

The main problem that Angels of Death faces is its directing. I mean, who decided on that 16 episodes was really necessary when the pacing was already too slow in many areas? The start was extremely slow and the ending was equally so. It took about 3 or so episodes for Angels of Death to display its intrigue, which is the greatest strength of the show. From there, I absolutely loved the tension and puzzles that played out until the specials, where it decided that a snail's pace was once again the right decision. As a result, the ending lost a lot of the meaning and impact that it could have had. I just like to imagine what the show could have been with a reasonably consistent pace, where they don't slow down at certain moments and cause them to drag on an unnecessarily long time. There's also the problem of simple word vomit from pretty much every character at some point, but that's a little more forgivable, especially knowing that it came from a game, where text is far easier to digest than spoken words.

Like I said in my first paragraph, the issues with the show have more to do with direction than substance of the show. I've heard many a time that the game is really good, so I have no doubt that the story and characters are even better therein. I also have no doubt that those things are presented in a far better manner in the game than in the anime. As it stands, I still appreciate Angels of Death for its ability to generate suspense and intrigue, but I really can't overlooked how poorly paced the anime was. I usually try to stay away from buzzwords like pacing, but in this case, it fits the bill. Angels of Death suffered from extremely poor pacing. That's probably the only time you'll hear me say such a popular buzzword, but I can't deny that it fits too well here.