Manga: Angels of Death 4

Angels of Death Vol 4 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

So, I can't find a decent synopsis anywhere other than "read the fourth volume of the hotly anticipated series Angels of Death" so I'll attempt to sum up this volume myself! As Zack and Rachel are attempting to fight their way out of the mysterious building, they're still stuck on floor B3, home of Cathy the Prison Guard. Sacrifices are going to have to be made if they want to progress to the next floor, but will they both make it out of floor B3 alive? 

This volume we get to see more of Zack's backstory which serves to give a lot of insight into his mental state and how he thinks, he actually makes quite a lot of sense now. As much as a serial killer can. One particularly interesting aspect of the volume was Rachel trying to understand his feelings, as he's quite on edge after he has his little flashbacks and Cathy uses certain words to bait him on purpose. 

I really liked the way what was going on inside Zack's head was drawn after he injected the drug. He definitely starts to crack up a bit...more than he did before. You can see how he was psychologically damaged by what happened to him as a kid, if you're a Criminal Minds viewer like myself you probably went "aaaaaah I see". It has to be said...Cathy is trying very hard to break their team up. 

In case it wasn't obvious already, there's a lot of focus on Zack this volume as well as his relationship with Rachel. He goes on quite the psychological journey and we really get inside his head. I'm lowkey beginning to think a romance could blossom between Rachel and ZAck, he definitely seems to view her as something but I'm not entirely sure what. But it's more than just the girl he's gonna kill. He had a lot of emphasis on the fact he hoped Rachel needed him for him, which was an interesting bit of information. 

Up until now we've mostly seen Zack looking out for Rachel, but this volume see's that switch as Rachel is kind of looking out for him in her own way. The relationship between the two of them has definitely grown a lot stronger and they seem to have really bonded, or at least gained an understanding of each other. Zack really looks out for her and it's so not for the reasons he usually states. Just saying. 

Their emotions are brilliantly depicted and Zack's emotional development is quite obvious at this point. My boy is more than just slashing people with a scythe. The ending for this volume though...wow. Talk about a cliffhanger. All I'm saying is if my little serial killer cinnamon roll is dead....I'm out. 

I've also started to develop a theory about Rachel and who she is. But I'm gonna wait and see a bit longer before I say anything! 

This volume see's the danger level rise, and you can see a lot of development for Zack as well as really getting in to his head and coming to understand him. Things get incredibly tense this volume, and we're left with the mother of all cliffhangers. Although there is a nice little Q&A at the back to fill in some more information about the characters and the story. 

Manga: Angels of Death 3

Angels of Death Vol 3

Rating: 5/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Ray and Zack have arrived at Floor B3, home to the mad prison guard Cathy and her brand of "punishment". Driven into a corner by her many sadistic traps, will Ray and Zack be able to keep their promise to each other...!? 

The colour palette for the cover and the colour pages perfectly matches the tone of the series, I just had to put that out there because this is the third cover in a row that I've loved for this series! Not to mention the character designs! They're still so cute, although we do get to see Zack's scary murderer face...and a new character who's totally creepy too! 

Rachel and Zack hit floor B3 in this volume to face off with Cathy, the cray cray prison guard who's all about punishing criminals. Honestly Rachel and Zack's banter gets funnier every time. They seem to be getting a lot closer, and they really work well as a team! I just can't stop myself from shipping it though! Especially as Zack reveals more and more that maybe, deep down, he does have an actual heart, and feelings. 

Bless him, Zack really doesn't have a great time this volume either, my poor little serial killer cinnamon roll. It seems like he's reaaaaaally hard to kill. Zack is still pretty mysterious to us, but at the end of the volume, we get a glimpse of his past and I'm hoping we'll be seeing more of that next time!

Interestingly things with Cathy aren't over this volume, and we'll be seeing her again in volume four. Up until now, we've had a killer a volume thing going on, and each killer's arc seems to be wrapped up in one, but this time it seems we're going over to two. I'm thinking this is the start of the arcs getting more in depth, and being fleshed out even more. 

As for Cathy...she's totally sadistic, but she does seem to be the more open and honest of them all so far. I mean, she probably thinks she's doing a good thing. Maybe. And her own enjoyment is an added bonus. 

Volume 3 brings us the start of deepening story arcs both for each floors serial killers, but also for our main characters as we start to learn about Zack and his past. It also see's Rachel and Zack becoming more of a team, and we're left with a nice cliffhanger to make us anxious for the next volume! 

Manga: Angels of Death 2

Angels of Death Vol 2
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

As amnesiac Ray and cutthroat killer Zack try to break out of the basement, they finally arrive at the graveyard that is Floor B4. There, a boy who's become quite taken with Ray has been lying in wait... 

So, I completely and utterly fell in love with this series from volume 1, and I'm trying to work out how to play the game on my Macbook, so I've been eagerly waiting the next volume and I pretty much devoured it straight away! 

I really want to like Zack and I low-key ship he and Ray, I'm not going to lie. This volume gives us some background on Zack and his past which I've ben curious about since the previous volume and I wasn't entirely expecting to get such a chunk of backstory so soon. He's almost heroic at one point in this volume....in his own, creepy, serial killer kinda way. Bless him. 

Ray and her lack of emotions is genuinely fascinating to me, and I have so many questions about her and her past and why she is the way she is, and who she is and so on. I was hoping for some clues or tidbits this volume but nope! Zack is taking his pact with her pretty seriously, much to my surprise, and it seems she is too. To be honest, if this goes the romance route it's gonna be one weird romance but I'm so ready for it! 

The murderer of the volume is Edward Mason, the creator of the grave stones and he seems to know Zack, presumably from them living in this complex together. It was actually pretty funny. Eddie is one of those creepy kid characters that make you dislike kids a little bit. He's also been taking fashion advice from Jack Skellington. I mean...it's a sack but it looks kinda like a pumpkin. I actually empathised with him at the start, before he went full crazy. Because I could see where he was coming from. 

That's the thing about these characters, you kinda like them or empathise with them before they flip their switch and reveal the killers they are. In Rachel's case you feel for her and you're curious about her but there's also something off about her and that feeling grows in this volume. Much as I ship she and Zack, they're kind of unsettling both separately and together. In Zack's case...it's mentioned again that while he's a serial killer, and you find out his past and two of his victims, (I mean fair play, you can't say they didn't have it coming) you hear again how he's failed to kill anyone in the building and I genuinely think/hope that there's more to him, that he might not be who we think he is. I'm hoping he'll surprise us! 

I love the detail given to the characters at the end of each volume, and in the volume itself. So with Eddie for example, he's really fleshed out, considering you only get him for one volume, and you really get to understand him as a character. It's really well done, it makes them more than just throwaway characters for one volume. 

This volume focuses on the one floor, B4, and it's a speedy journey through it, Zack and Ray come to more of an understanding, and then we get a glimpse of our next killer who looks like yet another vastly different one to the others we've seen so far! 

Once again, the art is oddly cute, considering the murderers and serial killers, like Eddie is hella creepy moving in the dark and appearing and disappearing, and his whole grave thing...but his mask is just so damn cute! It's odd to feel tension reading certain scenes in this and it being because of a cute pumpkin/sack headed kid. I don't think I'll ever get bored of this series, there's so many interesting aspects to it, and the characters and their development are really well done! 

Manga: Angels of Death

Angels of Death
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Most girls that wake up in the home of a serial killer would panic, but not Ray. In fact, her meeting with the killer Zack is actually quite convenient because her only wish is to find a good way to die. 

I've had my eye on this since at least midway through the year, I included it on the new manga blog post I did a while back and I was so intrigued by it...but still not entirely sure what to expect. I ended up being pleasantly surprised, because it was even better than I was envisioning and I'm really excited for the coming volumes! 

I love the colours used in the colour pages at the beginning, it's bright and pretty and the art on the colour pages is gorgeous and so cute...the art throughout the entire volume is so cute actually! Considering the subject matter of this series..you know, serial killers and murder and blood...it was an interesting contrast. Cute characters who are psychotic killers. 

The opening is nice and creepy and it doesn't get any less creepy from there. I was really pulled in to the volume, and the pace was nice and fast. I was on the edge of my seat reading multiple times, I could feel the tension and I was mentally shouting at the main character multiple times. Like you know there's killers everywhere, and they're all creepy and you're waiting for the other shoe to drop...especially with Danny. 

There's a really fun game like feel to it, with each floor having certain rules and the clues and hints and the things needed to get to the next floor. Rachel seems all innocent and Snow White-ish at the beginning but she has a creepy moment of her own pretty quickly that had me side eyeing her for the rest of the volume. 

Zach looks set to be our other main character and he's your average, bandage covered, crazy serial killer. He's a "decent guy" according to himself and oddly enough he made me chuckle more than once. He's kind of oddly loveable and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him and getting to know him. 

"Doctor Danny" provides us with the awkward moment when Zach is less creepy than he is. Danny was legitimately so creepy it made me shudder and our MC was kind of oblivious and I was mentally screaming at her. The eye thing is definitely what made him creepy, and it kind of made my eye twitch. He did have a nice amount of back story to him though, considering this is volume one! 

Our MC, Rachel, remains quite mysterious. Who is she? Why is she there? We know she went in for counselling but not why and there's a lot of her character to unravel still, as there is for Zach too. As the two team up I'm hoping we'll get some background on the two of them and it seems likely from what I've seen of the series so far! Each character has a lot going on under the surface and more to them than first appears. 

The plot has a nice mystery element going on. Who's in charge? Who made this place? What exactly is going on? And so on, and I'm intrigued to unravel all of it and put the pieces together. I love the combination of cute, gorgeous art with blood, gore and intense creepiness, it's quite a stunning contrast. 

Angels of Death is fast paced and has left me wanting more, as well as being excited to get on to the other floors and meet more of the killers that inhabit them. Not to mention get to know more about Rachel and Zack, and their pasts and so on! I have a feeling both are going to be very interesting characters! Their banter is hilarious if not a bit murdery. All in all this is an excellent first volume, serving to introduce the story and characters and get you interested in what's to come! 
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