Satsuriku no Tenshi – Episode 16 [Final Impressions]

A majority of the first part of the episode focuses around Gray and Danny, as the building burns around them. They speak a bit about what each of them wanted out of this and what they got. In the end, I believe Gray is honestly the character in the series I find the hardest to comprehend. I understand his desire to search for Angels and God among humans, I understand his desire to play God even. Logically, I believe I understand him, it’s on a emotional level that I can’t relate to what his desire was in this in any way/shape or form.
Also, when he says that both him and Danny are human. I have to stop, blink and think to myself “Bullshit.” I believe Zack was human, I believe that Rachel was too, even Cathy and Eddy are believably human characters with some monstrous aspects. It may just be their character designs, but these two I have a hard time believing it.
They are both crushed by the building collapsing from the fire and that’s the end of them.

Meanwhile, as Zack takes Rachel from the building. The cops, fire department and ambulance arrive. Zack is arrested for the building explosion and various other crimes. Naturally, he tells the truth about all of them, denying kidnapping Rachel and blowing up the building and yet confessing to his murders. Because he hates lies.
The entire second half of the episode is fairly interesting and artistic because so much of it is done in silence. It’s almost chilling in a way, the way it plays out. In particular I think the scenes with Rachel in therapy, because the silence does wonderful to convey the complete disconnect in her mind. I feel like it also does a good job in expressing the passage of time, that null silence as the seasons change and Rachel can’t settle down.
How she feels restless and disconnected.

I don’t know if I should feel as happy to see a girl reconnected with her future killer as I was when the glass to Rachel’s room shattered and Zack was there. In particular after she’d just been told that he’d been sentenced to death.
As she cried to know he was there and that he intended to fulfill his promise to kill her. As she took his hand and leaped out into his arms, and he told her if she wanted to die to stop crying and smile. I shouldn’t of felt such joy at this, but I did. I was happy, I was happy because for Rachel existing in that place. Living those boring, silent days had to be something akin to hell. In that moment, Zack truly was her Angel of Death. Come to save her from that hell that she was stuck in.
Honestly, it’s a little vague on if he killed her there or not or if the two of them vanished together, waiting for a time when she could smile properly for him and he could end her life. Either way, in the end, neither of them was living for themselves anymore and that in and of itself was kind of beautiful.
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Midnight’s Final Impressions

Honestly? I really liked this series, mostly because I really liked Zack. Anyone who really knows me knows that I love twisted characters, so honestly, I fell in love with Zack almost upon first meeting and continued to love him as the series went on. No lie, his smile from when he’s in the elevator with Rachel back in episode 6 has been my desktop background since that episode aired.

Rachel was different, she took some time to grow on me. In the first episode in particular she grated on my nerves something awful. Then it shifted in the later episodes and I came to like her a lot too.
The largest drawback to this show for me was knowing that it was adapted from a pixel game in the fashion of something like Ib, or Corpse Party. I found myself sitting there far too often questioning how certain things played out in the game. How did the gameplay mechanics work? Were certain items people gave to each other important to getting the ‘good’ ending of the game?

Well, with the anime now completed. I can go on steam and answer those questions for myself. I can’t say for sure what I was expecting when I came into this series, a lot of game animes tend to fall pretty flat and maybe when I play the game the anime will seem that way, but for someone who hadn’t played the game. It explained things well enough that it didn’t feel too awkward in translation, from what I could tell from peoples comments, not too much of the content seemed to be changed.
So it seems to have avoided a lot of the common pitfalls that animes like this tend to fall too.

I’m curious if there are other endings, bad ones. This anime isn’t perfect and it isn’t for everyone, I can understand where a lot of people would struggle to connect to the characters and perhaps others might find that the story is more fun to play then watch.
Me though? I liked it. I look forward to playing the game and reading the manga and maybe looking for a translation of the light novel. The anime may be done, but Rachel and Zack and their promise will always stick with me.

 

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Nikolita’s Final Impression

I am so glad this series is over. I came into this series excited for what it could entail, but found that the anime lagged around the halfway point and I struggled to regain my interest after that.

The final scene between Gray and his son Danny is one of the best in the series, in my personal opinion. We learn that Gray thought Zack was an angel and Rachel was a witch, which is why he was so surprised to watch Zack be given his humanity back through his interactions with Rachel. Furthermore we learn that everyone in the building, including Gray, Danny, and all of the Angels of Death, were all human. I have my doubts about Gray (and Zack too after how many times he should have died), but ok.

After Zack escaped the burning building with Rachel he’s taken into police custody and Rachel is taken to a hospital. I thought she was going to die but I guess I was wrong on that count.

As for the back half of the episode, I also agree that the show’s use of silence was unique. For me it suggested that perhaps without Zack, Rachel feels lost in her head, lost in her own little world. There’s definitely some disconnect with her counsellor, at least for the first many months.

I don’t know how I feel about the ending, what with Rachel and Zack having a forbidden reunion. How did Zack get his hands on another scythe? Does he end up killing Rachel or not? She’s still crying about wanting to die as the credits start to roll, so I’m assuming he does. I’m a little frustrated that after the two of them spent the entire damn series talking about that freaking promise we don’t even get some finality to it.

I agree with MidnightDevont in that Gray is the hardest character for me to understand. I can understand his motivations for doing what he did, but why? What did he get from his search for angels and Gods? Why did he lock up his son Danny in his experiment?

Danny as a character I have a love-hate relationship with. His feelings and behaviours towards Rachel creep me right out, but as an Angel of Death isn’t that his driving characteristic? Isn’t he *supposed* to be a freak? If that’s the goal of Danny as a character then I say Mission Accomplished, but holy hell is he twisted.

Zack and Rachel are I think what disappointed me the most about Satsuriku no Tenshi. I watched the trailer and was excited to see what kind of a bond would develop between them. And while we did eventually see said bond grow to bind them both, it took a 

freaking long time to get there. Rachel was a dead doll for a LONG time, and she became boring to watch after several episodes. Honestly only once we got to her floor in the building did I really start to become interested in Satsuriku no Tenshi and our main stars again.

Side note: Unless you want to give yourself alcohol poisoning, don’t play a drinking game wherein you take a shot every time Zack says “Rachel!” or “Ray!”, and Rachel says “Zack!”  Some episodes felt like much of the dialogue was just them saying each other’s names and not much else.

So I guess my main complaint is that Satsuriku no Tenshi suffered from both pacing and character development issues in my book. Otherwise, the animation was decent and I really enjoyed the closing theme (“Pray” by Haruka Chisaga). The premise of Satsuriku no Tenshi was definitely unique, I just think it could have been executed a little better… but then again it’s based on a video game, so too much deviation from the source material could’ve risked making some fans familiar with the anime series unhappy too, no?

I don’t think I’ll be reading or playing anything related to this title after all, but I’m glad I took a chance and gave this anime a try. It was different, bloody, and kinda creepy – things a good horror title should be. It just ended up not being a show I could really connect with.

 

Final Score: 8/10