Angels of Death (video game)

 is a Japanese horror adventure game by Hoshikuzu KRNKRN (Makoto Sanada) for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. It was created using RPG Maker and was originally released as freeware via the Den Fami Nico Game Magazine website on August 14, 2015. It launched on Steam in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English on December 19, 2016. A prequel titled is released as part of bonuses included in limited edition Blu-ray and DVD Box Set of the anime's first volume.
Two manga adaptations, one based on the game and one on the prequel, written by Makoto Sanada and with art by Kudan Nazuka, began serialization in Media Factory's "shōjo" manga magazine "Monthly Comic Gene" in 2015 and Kadokawa Pixiv in 2016, respectively. The first manga has been collected in seven "tankōbon" volumes and has over 1 million volumes in print while the prequel has been collected in two volumes. Following the adaptations, a 4-koma manga series titled "Satsuten!" and the three-volume novel series are published with art by negiyan and written by Kina Chiren.
The series is licensed in North America by Yen Press, who published the first volume on November 14, 2017. A 16-episode anime television series adaptation by J.C.Staff began airing from July 6, 2018.
Plot.
13-year-old Rachel "Ray" Gardner is taken to a hospital for counseling after murdering her parents, but the catch is she forgot about it. However, she wakes up to find herself on the basement Floor B7 instead with no memories apart from her name and the reason she came to the hospital. A series of mysterious broadcasts and scribbled messages on the wall set the scene as a game where each participant is designated a floor of their own, and anyone who trespasses on another participant's floor has the chance to be killed.
Ray, ignorant of the details, is almost killed by serial killer Isaac "Zack" Foster, the owner of Floor B6, and captured by Daniel "Danny" Dickens, the owner of Floor B5 and the doctor who examined her. Danny, who has a maniacal obsession with eyes, desires Rachel's blue, once-blank eyes. During this time, Ray recovers her memory during the night when the murder occurred, just as Zack kills Danny for her, but spares Ray after losing interest in her lack of emotions. As Zack has killed someone that was not on his floor, the broadcast designates him as a "sacrifice" along with Ray, where they can freely be killed by any floor master. The two, now in the same situation, form an alliance where Zack can use her intelligence to escape, and upon doing so will fulfill Ray's desire to be killed by him. 
Ray and Zack continue to go to the upper floors to find a way out, defeating the two other floor masters, Edward "Eddie" Mason at B4, a young boy with an unhealthy obsession with graves, and Catherine "Cathy" Ward at B3, a sadomasochistic former jail guard, in the process. When Zack gets injured during the fight against Cathy, Ray encounters a reverend, Abraham Gray, at B2 who reveals himself to be the one who designed the game in order to figure out the definition of "religious faith" in people's hearts, appointing the various floor masters as "angels" that are not afraid to kill without hesitation. Although Gray lets Ray return to B5 to get medicine, she must pass through a trial to determine her identity before she can proceed to the next floor. Meanwhile, back on B2, Zack discovers that Danny is still alive, the latter having faked his death. Ray is forced to confront her selfishness in the trial but survives through it to save Zack, convincing herself that he is her God.
When the duo arrives at B1 though, they come to a house filled with fake flowers and the stitched corpses of a couple, driving Ray hysterical and desperate for Zack to kill her immediately. Danny then tricks Zack into leaving Ray alone in the room and locking it up, forcing Zack to search the floor in order to discover the truth about Ray. With help from Gray, Zack discovers that Ray suffered in the midst of her parents' terrible relationship, and subsequently both were killed, with her father killing her mother, and Ray shooting her father. After this, she stitched their corpses together to form her new "perfect family". Counseling her at the hospital, Danny then took an interest in her blank blue eyes and used his authority as an "angel" to bring her to B1, making her the final floor master. As Zack finds out the truth, Ray, coming to the realization that Zack won't become the God she desires, shoots Danny and attempts to kill Zack by leading him around the traps of her floor, but he helps her to come to terms with her actions and both renew their oath.
Just as they reach the exit, Danny activates the self-destruct sequence of the building and critically shoots Ray. Before Danny can kill both Ray and Zack, Gray, having completed his experiment, appears and kills Danny, allowing Zack and Ray to escape just as the building burns down. The police promptly arrive and Zack lets himself be arrested to save Ray's life.
Zack is sentenced to death for his killing spree years ago as well as the murder of Ray's parents along with Ray's kidnapping. Zack denies killing Ray's parents or kidnapping her but he does admit to the other murders. Ray is taken to a rehabilitation center due to her apparent delirium and attachment to him. Never losing faith, she pretends to get better while clinging to the hope of the oath they made. A few months after, Zack escapes from prison and breaks into Ray's room to fulfill his end of the oath. The two escape together, with Ray once again asking him to kill her. By the time the police arrive, the room is already empty with the window broken, a trail of blood, and Zack's old knife that Ray left behind.
Media.
Manga.
A manga adaptation by Kudan Nazuka and Makoto Sanada began its serialization on the "Monthly Comic Gene" magazine on January 27, 2016 and ended its serialization on September 15, 2020. The prequel of the game, "Episode.0", also by Kudan Nazuka and Makoto Sanada began its serialization on the "MFC Gene Pixiv" series on March 3, 2017. The first volume of a 4-koma manga series titled "Satsuten!" by Makoto Sanada and negiyan was released on February 27, 2017 and was serialized in the "Monthly Comic Gene" magazine; the series ended on March 15, 2021.
Novel.
A novelization of the game written by Kina Chiren and Makoto Sanada and illustrated by negiyan is published by Kadokawa label, Enterbrain. The novel series consisted of three volumes.
Anime.
A 16-episode anime television series by J.C.Staff premiered on July 6, 2018. The anime is directed by Kentarō Suzuki with scripts overseen by Yoshinobu Fujioka, music composed by Noisycroak at Lantis and character designs handled by Miki Matsumoto who is also serving as chief animation director. Masaaki Endoh performed the opening theme titled "Vital," while Haruka Chisuga performed the ending theme titled "Pray" under her character name Rachel. The series is also streamed on Crunchyroll with English subtitles, while Funimation produced an English dub for the series and streamed it on their website.
Reception.
Game.
In November 2017, it was announced that the game had achieved 1M downloads in Japan.
In a review of the game's PC version, Hardcore Gamer rated it a 4 out of 5, while noting the ’wonderfully odd chemistry’ between Rachel and Zack. The game's creativity, storyline and gameplay were praised while its brevity, belated character development and low resolution graphics were criticized.
Manga.
Roundups of the first volume from ANN note that it is short on tension, suspense and horror and somewhat confused in its delivery; its characters seem unnatural and are perhaps more appropriate to a game than to this format; and while the environment art often works well, overall the illustrations do not serve the story.
Anime.
First impressions from ANN are mixed. Some criticised the pacing to be weak and writing repetitive that lacks scares in horror genre, but praise its episodic structure that strongly pushes the creepiness factor that deliver an intriguing plot. Steve Jones from the same site, on the other hand, gives the anime more positive review. While he found the early episodes to be a campy romp and criticised the slow pacing, he praised the main characters' growth and interaction and the performance of the voice actors. In Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2019, the anime ranked 72.