In Angels of Death, Isaac Foster, commonly known as "Zack," is one of the franchise's main characters. He wears a hoodie, red pants and has his face and most of his body covered with white bandages. It's his signature criminal look straight out of a hit horror movie. His appearance is the same in the game and the anime, but what about his personality and the choices he makes?
In the anime, Zack is portrayed as either manically homicidal or traumatized by his past. We see his mood swings in real-time. He's only vulnerable when he's reflecting on his horrible childhood, or being a softie toward Rachel.
10 Zack Has A Sense Of Humor
In the anime, Zack's either angry or somber. But in the game, Zack is hilarious. He constantly throws out witty one-liners and has a crass, quippy response to everything. It's like the guy thinks he's the star of his own wacky comedy movie.
In the game, Zack is using humor as a coping mechanism. When Rachel and Zack are shot at in Episode 2 of the game, Zack says, "Planning to turn us into Swiss cheese, eh?" And when Zack is at the graveyard with Rachel, he retorts, "Sorry to p*** in your Cheerios, but I don't like to chat." He's also sarcastic, saying things like "Congrats for actin' like a normal human being."
Perhaps the strangest example from the game comes after he gets out of the electric chair. After being electrocuted within an inch of his life, he snaps to Rachel, "What the hell took you so long? A little longer, and a drop of my p***Â could've powered the world for 1,000 years!"
9 Zack Swears Constantly
Let's be honest: Angels of Death isn't an anime to watch with your kids. But the game is even wilder. When Zack isn't cracking jokes, he's swearing. Granted, sometimes he's doing both, but wow, does this guy have a potty mouth. Zack uses every swear word in the book and then some. He isn't afraid to talk back to the villains he encounters with Rachel throughout the game.
In the Japanese-language version of the anime, Zack swears a bit but it's barely noticeable and feels more organic to his character. He swears more in the English dub. But in the game, Zack's swearing is very extra and has shock value.
8 Zack's Never Had His Photo Taken Before
In Episode 4 of the anime, Rachel and Zack take each other's mugshots. Zack's reluctant to get his photo taken, but he doesn't say why and then agrees. In Episode 2 of the game, Zack complains a bit more before agreeing to have his photo taken. In the game, he admits that he's never had his photo taken, ever. Perhaps he's quiet about it in the anime because he's nervous around Rachel and doesn't want her to judge him.
7 Zack Can Run Really Fast
In the anime, when Zack chases people, there's more emphasis on his psychotic laughter and his dialogue than on his actual movement toward his victims. But in the game, we get to see Zack from a more zoomed-out perspective. From this, we learn that Zack can run REALLY fast, like a vampire from the Castlevania anime or one of those fast zombie types.
When he first meets Rachel and tries to kill her in the game, it's very hard for the player to escape Zack because he runs so fast. It's almost comical, like Zack is secretly the Flash from an alternate timeline. This super speed is something we don't see in the show at all, as most scenes are talking scenes between Zack and Rachel.
6 Zack Thinks He Is Respectable
Zack doesn't give us a lot of insight into what he thinks about himself in the anime version of Angels of Death. When Zack saves Rachel from Doctor Danny, Zack looks at Rachel on the operating table and says, "I'm a grown man. I don't like cutting up dolls."
But in the game, he offers more interiority. He says, "I'm a respectable male adult, so I'm not into shredding emotionless dolls." It's a bit ironic that Zack thinks he's respectable, but in context, it means that Zack is trying to tell us that even he has morals. We know this because he won't kill just anyone. For Zack, it has to be the right person, in the right way at the right time.
5 Zack Is In His 20s
It's hard to guess anime characters' ages or how tall they really are. In the Angels of Death anime, Zack is significantly taller than Rachel and seems to be at least in his late teens. He refers to himself as a "grown adult," but we never learn his exact age in the show.
In the game, Zack seems much more immature. But the game also reveals the truth about Zack's age. When Rachel examines the graveyard and its surrounding rooms, she comes across a pile of "resumes" that offer details about Zack's background. The papers state that Zack's "estimated age" is in his 20s. This comes as a bit of a shock considering Rachel is supposed to be 13.
4 Zack Was "Possibly Trafficked" As A Child
Zack hates his parents, and not without good reason. The anime shows us flashbacks to his traumatic childhood, where he was physically abused and lit on fire. He was taken to an orphanage, where he was forced into child labor and severely mistreated.
In the game, we learn more details about what happened to Zack at this orphanage. Apparently, he was "possibly trafficked," which implies that more things may have happened to Zack than fans of the anime realize. It's also revealed that he had to "forage for scraps" in order to get food. Wow, that sounds a lot worse than your typical orphanage!
3 Zack Is Illiterate
In the anime, Rachel is the brains and Zack is the brawn. Rachel makes a point of solving the riddles while Zack runs around smashing everything with his scythe. Zack's strength is his strength. But Rachel is a powerful female anime character whose strength is her mind. So when Zack orders Rachel to read things in the anime, it just seems like Zack is trying to be bossy.
If viewers watch the Japanese-language version, it could seem like Zack knows Japanese but not English because all the dialogue is Japanese, but all of the in-scene writing is English. But there's actually a bigger reason why Zack never reads anything out loud in the show.
Considering Zack was abused during childhood, it's not a surprise that he lacks a formal education. In the game, Zack admits he can't read the gravestones. He also projects his own insecurities about being illiterate onto Rachel, accusing her of being illiterate (which obviously isn't true). Given his showy antics, it's clear that if Zack could read, he would. Our characters have to read things throughout the story, but Zack never reads a thing. Because he's uncomfortable digging up his past, he's reluctant to admit he's illiterate.
2 Zack Has OCD Symptoms
For Zack, smashing things with his scythe is an activity that makes him feel more in control of his messed-up life. In the anime, it seems like Zack just has anger issues. But in the game, Zack explains he had to destroy Rachel's gravestone because he'd destroyed all the other ones and is "OCD like that." While he's making light of a grim situation (and a mental illness), there's some truth behind what he's saying.
In the anime, Zack doesn't give Rachel a reason for destroying her gravestone—viewers are left to assume it's because he doesn't want Rachel to die just yet. But in the game, it's clear that Zack thinks he has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms. His undiagnosed OCD is likely part of his set of coping mechanisms for managing the memories of his traumatic past.
The Mayo Clinic defines OCD as "a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors (compulsions)...to try to ease stress." This does sound like what drives Zack to destroy all the gravestones, including Rachel's. For Zack, gravestones trigger thoughts of his past trauma, and his behavior seems out of his control.
1 Zack Has A Deeper Connection To Rachel
Throughout the anime, Zack puts on a poker face toward Rachel. He tries to hide any feelings he has for her until the very end, and even then it seems like he's trying to be strong and not show his emotions. In the game, he thinks Rachel acts "like a robot" at first. But by the end, Rachel and Zack are literally finishing each other's sentences. Rachel even calls Zack out for being so "devoted" to her. Their relationship is dysfunctional, but Zack shows Rachel how much he cares, begging her to not die on him in the game.