12 Anime Angel Characters in TV Series

Series: "Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro Chan"

Where to stream: Not currently streaming. Check your local library!

Dokuru is the eponymous character from this anime series about a teenager named Sakura who creates a technology to prevent all human females from aging past 12 years.

Dokuru is an angel sent back in time to prevent this distortion of nature, and develops a relationship with Sakura. Whimsical and alluring, she is also careless with her lethal weapon, a spiked club called Excalibolg.

Series: "The Devil Is a Part Timer!"

Where to stream: Hulu, Crunchyroll, Apple TV, Amazon Video

Emi Yusa is an angel-human hybrid, only partly possessing supernatural powers. In the show's story, she pursues the Demon Lord Satan to Earth, where he has assumed the alter ego of Sadao Maou, a young man working part time in the fast food industry.

Emi also gets a dull and frustrating job in modern day Japan, working at a call center, but she eventually begins to regain her abilities.

Series: "High School DxD"

Where to stream: Apple TV

High School DxD is full of angels, devils and other supernatural characters. Michael is notable for his Western-influenced appearance (even his name is consistent with Christian mythology) and his classic angelic features: wings, robes, immense power (he is technically an archangel, more powerful than the other angels or seraphim), wisdom and intelligence.

Series: "Haibane Renmei"

Where to stream: Apple TV, Amazon Video

Rakka is the protagonist of Haibane Renmei, one of the more moody and philosophical anime series. Rakka is the name given to a young girl who awakens in an unfamiliar realm. She must learn how to live her new life as an angel-like creature (she grows wings and is given a halo), and the show follows her story as she interacts with other main characters in the supernatural world.

Series: "D.N. Angel"

Where to stream: Currently not available to stream. Check your local library!

The show's protagonist, a young boy named Daisuke Niwa, has a secret: He can transform into the powerful and mysterious Phantom Dark, a kind of archangel.

Phantom Dark (also known as Dark Mousy), with his supernatural powers and black wings, is everything Daisuke isn't: assertive, powerful and with a mission that spans across time. He tries to steal and preserve paintings to protect them from the forces of evil.

Series: "Heaven's Lost Property"

Where to stream: Apple TV, Crunchyroll

Ikaros enters the story of "Heaven's Lost Property" as a female angel/fembot who seems programmed to serve the series' protagonist, a young boy named Tomoki.

While initially showing no affect and seemingly without any inner life, her character gradually becomes more developed as the series progresses, including revealing that she has great potential for supernatural combat.

Series: "Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne"

Where to stream: Crunchyroll

The anime series, which is often known simply as "Mnemosyne," follows an immortal protagonist named Rin. She's a private detective being hunted by supernatural beings, including a dark angel named Apos, the series' principal antagonist.

Apos is intelligent, powerful and deeply sadistic, making them one of the most frightening and morally twisted anime angels.

Series: "Sailor Moon"

Where to stream: Hulu, Apple TV, Adult Swim, PlutoTV, Freevee

"Sailor Moon" is an anime series that tells the story of Usagi Tsukino, a schoolgirl who gains the ability to transform into the eponymous hero, Sailor Moon.

There are different versions of this superhuman character, each with different powers and abilities, and Eternal Sailor Moon, with her angelic qualities, is one of the most powerful and memorable.

Series: "Dragon Ball Super"

Where to stream: Hulu, Crunchyroll

Dragon Ball is a juggernaut of anime, with its various series and characters influencing popular culture across the globe.

In the series "Dragon Ball Super," Whis appears as a memorable angel, a combination of otherworldly detachment and angelic grace. Immortality, wisdom, politeness and a taste for terrestrial food are some of his defining traits.

Series: "Chainsaw Man"

Where to stream: Apple TV, Crunchyroll, Hulu

In "Chainsaw Man," Angel Devil is something of a mystery. He works as a public safety agent but possesses a potentially terrible power: He can harvest the lifespan of anyone who touches him. For this reason, he mostly keeps his distance from the other characters, although he can't help being drawn deeper into the plot.

Series: "Gabriel Dropout"

Where to stream: Crunchyroll

The protagonist of the "Gabriel Dropout" series, Gabriel has graduated from angel school and is supposed to help guide humanity, but instead becomes a gaming-addicted slacker with a bad attitude. Like other angels in the anime world, she's far from perfect, but her brusque exterior softens as the series progresses.

Series: "Angel Beats!"

Where to stream: Crunchyroll

"Angel Beats!" follows the story of Otonashi, a boy who dies and becomes enrolled in a boarding school in the afterlife. Existing in a kind of spiritual limbo, he initially encounters Kanade Tachibana — a.k.a. Angel — as an antagonist. She has supernatural powers, and appears almost unbeatable, but as the story unfolds, her character takes on additional dimensions.

In Western culture, angels tend to be heavenly creatures, somewhere between humans and God in the celestial hierarchy. While this doesn't always hold true, their elevated moral character is fairly consistent in both theology and popular fiction (as well as folklore, mythology and fairy tales).

Anime angels are a more complicated bunch. Like many examples of anime, they usually appeared first in manga, the illustrated books, like graphic novels, that have spread beyond Japanese culture and gained an international fan base. While some of them are angels in the conventional sense, coming from heaven and sporting halos and wings, many are ambiguous or downright evil.