Manga: Angels of Death Episode 0

Angels of Death: Episode 0 Volume 1
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

As a prison counselor, Daniel Dickens is no stranger to odd encounters with inmates. But when a particularly aggressive prisoner enters his office claiming that his session with a priest left him "fulfilled," Danny, who has led an unsatisfying life, has to know more. During their meeting, Danny finds there's little he can hide from this mysterious clergyman, and when an offer comes his way, he'll have to make a decision that will change his life forever...

As much as I dislike creepy Doctor Danny in the main series, I am actually intrigued to see more of him and his motivations and how he came to be in the basement. As this is a prequel, we briefly get to see Rachel's first meeting with Danny through his eyes before skipping back by a few years, and that's as close as we get to the main series. 

It's quite a chilling, creepy and kind of disgusting opening to be honest, as we get inside Danny's brain. Not a place I'd like to lurk, shall we say. Obviously this is about Danny and we all know he has an eye....thing. So there's a focus on eyes in his inner narrative, nicely keeping within his character. *shudder* 

I was curious about how this was going to go, as you can see our other serial killers are on the cover so I had started to wonder if we'd be seeing them which I hadn't initially been expecting. When we saw Danny chatting to a patient in the prison who said he was scared and mentioned judgement...I knew Cathy was about. Her buddy Lucy isn't far behind either. I have to say, they make for an interesting pairing. 

The volume swiftly shows us a typical day for Danny, chatting with his patients, before having him meet and team up with Cathy so they can carry on their nasty little practices. It was interesting to see how they became acquainted, and I had a rough idea forming of how Zack would fit in, but I'm not entirely sure it's the way it's going to go. 

Keeping with the fast pace, it's not long before the Priest makes his appearance, and there seems to be a cult before. I should have known, it's about the only thing we're missing from all the creepy things in this series! Shout out to the cult member who gave us some insight in to Danny and his creepy ways, not that Danny appreciated it very much. It's also, by no means, the first time we get some insight in to he and his psyche. 

Honestly, what's trippy about this is that at times Cathy and Danny seem relatively normal, like when they're investigating the creepy cult, and then you suddenly get thrown in to Danny's brain and his thought process, or he says something or Cathy says something and it's just....Y I K E S. But dare I say...I actually felt sorry for him briefly!? I know. I'm shocked too. 

Father Gray, our Priest, finally reveals to us why he set up the basement. I can't recall if we've reached that far in the main series, but in the anime....I finished it and still didn't get what the point was, so I was pretty psyched to find out what the deal was. For those wondering...he wants to examine what people call "faith", he wants to learn about it and experiment. Honestly it seems pretty extra to me but whatever floats his boat right? 

I did like some clever parallels and connections to the main story, like with the whole "Killing your God" thing. We get to know Father Gray as well as Danny a bit more and I'm anticipating getting to know more about the other killers in coming volumes as well as what lead them to the basement. 

A nicely paced volume, it gives us the interesting duo of Cathy and Danny as they work together. It's all a bit crime show episode, with the cult investigation, but we get some solid insight in to the architect of the basement and what it was for, as well as Danny himself  letting us in to his head. He oscillates from seeming normal and then being completely psychotic and sending a chill up the spine. There's a reason I call him Creepy Doctor Danny all the time. That's all I'm saying. 

While we briefly see Cathy and get a quick glance at a familiar grave digger this volume is mostly focused on Danny, and how he joined the basement and we see all of that occur in one well paced volume. I'm looking forward to seeing how the others are found and brought in too!