Angel Sanctuary

Angel Sanctuary
File:Angel sanctuary.jpg Angel Sanctuary manga, volume 1 (Japanese version)
Genre	Fantasy, Romance, Shoujo
Manga
Written by	Kaori Yuki
Published by	Hakusensha
Anime
Angel Sanctuary
Directed by	Kaori Yuki
Studio	Bandai Visual

Angel Sanctuary (?????; Tenshi Kinryoku) is a highly controversial anime based on the manga by Kaori Yuki. This 20-volumed manga serialized on Hakusensha's Hana to Yume. Both the manga and anime feature mature content.

The manga is available in English, published by Viz Communications.

Story

Setsuna Mudou is a problematic delinquent high school student, who is in love with his sister. To add to his problems, he is also a reincarnation of a fallen angel, which gets him caught in a messy war between heaven and hell.

Angel Sanctuary is one of Kaori Yuki's most celebrated works. Among other things, it discusses the morality of incestuous relationships, the nature of God, and other deep and philosophical topics.

Template:Spoiler The background story is that of Organic Angel Alexiel, who is one of the third highest beings in existence. Being just under God himself and the primordial man known as Adam Kadmon. She is, in rank, equal to her twin brother the Inorganic Angel Rosiel. Before the beginning of the series God has fallen asleep to "gather his powers" which indicates that he is, in this series, very powerful but not omnipotent.

In this series Earth (called Assiah ) and the upper levels of Hell (called Gehenna) are mirror images of each other. As mankind polluted and destroyed the Earth the lands of Hell also began to weaken. Taking advantage of their creator's slumbering absence and the weakening of their enemies the angels of heaven wage war on the demon race, wiping most of them out.

In doing this the angels fighting the war are portrayed as corrupt, committing vile crimes and murders under the name of God and righteousness. This deeply goes against Alexiel's morals. She feels that demons are more pure in their actions since they do not put up a charade of purity to cover their crimes. She joins the demon side of the war and declares an official battle against God.

The war comes to a climax and end when Alexiel fights against her brother Rosiel. Rather than killing him, something she was unwilling to do, she attempts and succeeds in sealing him away within the earth under a barrier of forbidden magic. However in doing this she used every ounce of her magic and shatters Nanatsusaya. The result is that Rosiel is now sealed inside Assiah and Alexiel is captured and tried by the Angel of Judgment Uriel.

For her crimes Alexiel is sentenced to the most severe punishment given to the fallen. Her body and Soul are separated. The body is frozen into an angel crystal, it is then locked away in the deepest depths of angel security. Her soul is sentenced to be incarnated into a human mortal. That mortal's life is sentenced to end in a violent and painful way. After which Alexiel is re-incarnated again and begins the cycle anew. But in every incarnation Alexiel's personality is still present under specific, e.g. dangerous, circumstances, what causes her incarnation to have strange spiritual patterns and powers at times; it is as if the incarnation has a multiple personality disorder. In the storyline she is incarnated into a boy named Setsuna Mudou.

Characters

Humans

Angel Alexiel's current human form is Setsuna Mudou. She still has very high astral powers as a human, and is almost impervious to injury. Alexiel was cursed by the High Angel of Earth, Uriel, to repeatedly be reborn, love tragically and die a slow and very painful death, but in her reincarnation as Setsuna, his younger sister, Sara Mudou, gives up her life for him.

When the real Sakuya Kira was about six years old he died in a car accident with his mother, but the spirit of Alexiel's seven-bladed Astral Sword Nanatsusaya saves him, but they compromise that Sakuya's father must hate him so he won't be sad when Sakuya dies. The Sword has followed and protected Alexiel in every one of her lives. It is actually the soul of Lucifer, and loves Alexiel.

While controlled by Alexiel, Setsuna is tricked by Rociel into killing Yue Katou. When Sara dies he goes to Hades to rescue her soul and meets up with him again. They bicker a fair bit at first but eventually form a close bond. Katou dies several times to aid Setsuna. He's also Kira's best friend, and guides Setsuna in Hades

Ruri Saiki: Sara's classamate and has a crush on Setsuna. Helps awaken Rociel and is possessed by him through the video game called Angel Sanctuary . But in the end, she saves Sara and departs.

Angels

The Organic Angel Alexiel is the older of the two, and very self-contradictory. She once claims "If only there was a man who loved me", while knowing that Uriel and Lucifer (Nanatsusaya) were in love with her, as well as that her younger twin brother Rosiel thought he was. She herself claims love for God, and in truth loves her brother. Was one of the two highest angels in Heaven and had 3 wings. She was born from Adam Kadamon and was supposed to love God and rebelled against him because he loved her twin Rosiel more. But in reality it was her brother she had loved and not God. But as a prisoner of God, she was forced to hide her feelings to her brother because God threatened to kill him the moment she did. Therefore even at her trial after she was imprisoned she was forced to lie and tell the High Council that it was God she loved and not Rosiel. Thus as punishment the Earth Angel Uriel sentences her. Her body is imprisoned in the angel crystal while her soul is endlessly reincarnated into a human time without end, each of her lives supposed to be miserable and end in a painful death. Before she had rebelled she had promised to kill her brother the moment he went insane. At the Holy War, her feelings stop her from doing this and she instead seals him on Assiah (Earth) and is then captured by God's Angles.

The Inorganic Angel, Rosiel, is the younger of the two. Originally, he was wise, kind and just, but knew he would eventually lose his sanity. He asked Alexiel to kill him before this happened, but her feelings prevented her from doing so and she sealed him within the earth instead. Rosiel's most loyal follower Katan secretly uses forbidden black magic to break the seal and brings Rosiel back. By the time this happens Rosiel has already lost his mind. Even with his determination to have Alexiel he acknowledges on a subconscious level that he loves Katan and occasionally shows this. When he goes mad and accidentally kills Katan, then recovers from his insanity to realize what he's done, he has an awakening similar to the awakening of Alexiel within Setsuna, but on a larger scale. The Angel of Destruction comes to life, and Alexiel is forced to kill Rosiel to stop it. He accepts this gratefully, caring only about being with Katan again.

Katan is one of the Cherubim. He was originally a gurigol, but was given a body by Rosiel when he was still sane. In a sense he is Rociel's son, and loves him deeply. He resurrected Rosiel in the hopes that he would take control of Heaven again and end the corrupt dictatorship. Unfortunately for Katan, this plan backfires as Rociel only cares about having Alexiel. Despite various cruelties and delibrate attempts to make him leave for his own protection, Katan stays, and in the height of his insanity Rociel kills him.

Kyrie is a candidate for the angel's Think Tank, and one of Rosiel's pawns. She loves him and think he loves her, thus viewing Katan as an interference and competition for Rosiel's affections. She is meant only as a sacrifice for Alexiel's awakening, and is ordered to kill Sara Mudou. Katan realizes this, and when he attempts to save her nearly dies hiself. After her death her soul is sent to Hades where Uriel takes pity on her and gives her a body, a robot which he created. She has no memories of her past life and is devoted to her master.

Heaven's Prime Minister Sevothtarte rules while Rociel is sealed. He claims to do this in the name of God, but in actuality it is for his own goals of purifying Heaven. He is guardian for the Great Seraphim Metatron, the only person he cares about. Other then that he is a cold and frightening dictator, hiding everything behind his mask. Sevothtarte is really Laila, an angel who was raped, and as this made her 'impure', was branded a fallen angel. Until she had been raped, Laila believed wholly in the purity of Heaven, and as Sevothtarte sets out to make it this way.

The Great Seraphim Metatron is a young child who adores Sevothtarte/Laila, whom he calls Sevy. To him she is his mother figure, and he has vague memories of when she sung him to sleep (as Laila).

Zaphkiel is a high-ranked angel, and leader of a rebellion group called Anima Mundi, which plans to overthrow Sevothtarte. He was blinded by Adam Kardom's aura when the Seraphim appeared to save him.His assistant is Raziel. Initially, Zaphkiel had no idea that Raziel was his long-lost son. But just before his death, Adam Kardom restores his sight

Anael was Zaphkiel's lover, and he was deceived into killing her by Laila, because Anael knew too much, and most likely as revenge on her for being a such a lousy friend as to not know what happened to her when she became fallen.

The Holy Hermit Adam Kadamon is the only successful one in God's experiment to create a Serafuita. The Six Winged being who first gave birth to Alexiel and Rosiel, thus dividing his power between them, (that's why Alexiel and Rociel have 3 wings each.)

Uriel: The Element of earth and a former member of the Seven Great Angels. The angel of death, his wings are dark brown. He used to love Alexiel and was the one who sentenced her to her gruesome punishment.

Michael: The Element of fire who also holds the title of being one of the Great Powers. He has a fiery temper and his most distinguishing feature is a tattoo of the dragon going all the way up from his chest to the middle of his face.

Raphael: The Element of wind. The greatest healer living and the only one with the power to bring back the dead. He's also a lecher and agrees with Sara to bring Setsuna back to life if she'll sleep with him. He later falls in love with Sara but lets go because she truly loves her brother. But in the end, he comes to realize that the only person he truly loves is his second in command/mother/sister figure, Barbiel. He used up his powers to save her during the Battle of Etenemanki and in return has to go into "hibernation" or "cold sleep" for a long time. It is unknown when he will reawaken.

Jibrille: Once a great Cherub, she went into a coma and was imprisoned in the Water Garden. Her soul was reincarnated into that of a human being because Sevothtarte saw her as an obstacle in his path to Metatron. The reincarnation is Sara. But Sara can't accept the fact and will be blind until she accepts that she is truly Jibrille.

Dobiel: Replaces Jibrille as the Great Cherub - Sevothtarte`s pawn but gets turned into one of Rociel's mindless puppets.

Sariel: Great Principalities - in charge of the mid air corridor. Killed by Zaphkiel when the midair passage was destroyed.

Barbiel: The second in command to Rapheal. She was in the early time a mother, then a sister and finally a lover to Raphael. She gets almost killed trying to save Raphael and he in turn gives up all his powers almost to the point of them consuming him to save Barbiel.

Kirie: Was a candidate for the Archangel's Think Tank and loves Rosiel as she thinks he's the only one who deserves her love. Comes down on Earth to help Rosiel kill Sara. She is killed when Setsuna destroys the world after Sara is killed.

Raziel: A candidate for angel who's is working under Zaphkiel. He has no idea that he is Zaphkiel's son.

Moonlily: A former gurigol that was turned into a Sister by Sevothtarte to take care of Sara after awakening in Jibrille's body. (Sisters have their minds suppressed so that they will not disobey any orders of their masters). She did not have a name at first, and only called as "Sister," but Sara names her after a flower Moonlily, a flower which only blooms during the night, but in one of the plants that Moonlily brought, one flower bloomed out of its pack. She gives herself the nickname of "Lily-chan."

Teiaiel/Tiara: An angel who can read minds. She ate a fellow angel's flesh so that she wouldn't die of starvation upon the angel's urging, and thus was condemned as fallen. She was taken to Katan for being eaten but instead befriends him after she tells him that she also has eaten angel flesh. She gets killed during an assassination attempt on Rosiel.

Demons

Kurai is the princess of Gehenna, and believes herself to be the last of her line. She is master of the Shinryuu, three dragon oracles who protect Gehenna, and pick their master. That's how the heir is chosen, and why Kurai received the throne instead of her older brothers. She has who she believes is an older cousin named Arakune, who is really her older brother. Kurai worships Alexiel for saving her, and helping her kingdom in the war against Heaven. She also loves Setsuna.

Arakune (real name unknown) is Kurai's older brother, and before Gehenna was attacked and destroyed, was told he was the heir to the throne. When he discovers he is actually a decoy so that the true heir, Kurai, can be protected, he hates her and begins plotting to kill her. This backfires when, after playing her cousin for so long, he comes to care for her, and instead sacrifices himself to save her.

Prince Abaddon: "Possesses a huge sickle-like wing and green scales cover his enormous body with a tail like a dragon." All that looks at him dies instantaneously. He was once of noble blood, but because he has killed many, he is chained in the deepest dungeon of Hell and under the care of Astaroth. In order to save Kurai, he crashes her wedding to Lucifer and dies protecting her.

Mad Hatter: One of the Seven Satans, "Pride". Formerly Belial, a member of the Virtues and the deputy of Raphael. A messenger from the lowest hell to Anagura. Searches for and chooses Lucifer's brides. Is in love with Lucifer and longs for him to love her for then she will start to hate him. Started the transformation from sexless to woman but stopped in the middle. Has a tattoo of a monarch butterfly on her thigh.

Astaroth: One of the Seven Satans, "Sloth". Formerly a member of Thrones. He has his sister's soul inside of him, driving him insane slowly and making him cruel.

Asmodeus: One of the Seven Satans, Prince of Judgement, "Lust". Formerly a member of the Cherubim. Tries to convince Mad Hatter to overthrow Lucifer with him. The three heads that he possesses are those of a human, a bull, and a lamb. A womanizer. Helps Setsuna (in the body of Alexiel) to get into the wedding to annoy Mad Hatter.

Mammon: One of the Seven Satans, Golden Count, "Avarice". Formerly a member of the Angels. One of God's failed attempts to create another Seraphita like Adam Kadamon. Possesses two heads of a bird and claws.

Beelzebub: One of the Seven Satans, Lord of Flies, "Gluttony". Formerly a member of the Seraphim.

Lucifer: The Demon Lord of Hell. He was once the angel Lucifel. When he and his comrades fell, he rooted his body to Hell's ground as there was no life in Hell. Thus when Hell's Earth breaks, it is his blood that gushes out. Is in love with Alexiel. His soul currently resides in Kira Sakuya.

Barbelo: Seven Satans. "Wrath." She proclaimed herself Lucifer's wife. She was an angel in Heaven named 'Bal.' She watched over Lucifer(Lucifel) and Michael when Lucifer was still considered an angel. During the First Great War she forced Michael to take her to the battlefield so she could see the fight for herself, to see that it was really Lucifer heading the army. When Michael went to attack Lucifer she got in the way and was cut down by Michael's sword. After the fight Lucifer saved her life and made her the Satan of Wrath.

Other

Nydhogg was a scientist alongside Laila & Anael. He fell in love with Laila, and never wavered in this, even when she accused him of being one of her rapists. He is sentenced to death, and Uriel takes pity on him, keeping him alive in the form of a dragon to ferry him around Hades. He asks Setsuna to find Laila and give her one of his scales, as well as the message that he never hated her. After quite the journey, the basis of what Nydhogg wanted happened, and Laila ended up committing suicide in regret for what she'd done.

Sandalphon is Metatron's younger twin brothter, and usually inhabits his toy rabbit. (Laila sees to it that Metatron takes medicine preventing Sandolphon from inhabiting him). When Metatron is removed from her care, Sandolphon takes advantage of the opportunity and possesses him, revealing he intends for Laila to be his Mother, and sees to this (without her permission).

God: A being from another universe who created Adam Kadamon in order to influence the events of the world he created.

External links

• Angel Sanctuary review at MangaReviewer.com