According to tradition, angels are heavenly beings who serve deities and guard the forces of goodness, with some even watching over humans. They are often pictured as beautiful people with white wings, although this isn't always the case, especially in the world of anime.
In anime, angels sometimes take on elements from heavenly creatures in other mythologies. They are also occasionally portrayed as spirits of the dead, somewhat conflating them with saints, but other times they are a primordial race that predates humans. Some anime make them robots, aliens, or even magical girls who just identify as angels. Angels aren't always nice, either. After all, demons are commonly believed to be angels who turned to the dark side.
10 Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan: Dokuro Tries To Save Sakura From Himself
Dokuro is a time-traveling angel sent to the past to kill a boy named Sakura who is destined to create a disturbing future. However, she ends up falling in love with him, complicating her mission. She intends to help him avoid his fate. However, she does find herself beating him into a bloody pulp anyway thanks to her impulsive nature.
Fortunately, she can use her powers to reverse the damage. According to the light novels and manga, she never actually "kills" him, instead magically keeping him alive as he's being fatally injured.
9 Risky Safety: Safety Shares A Body With A Shinigami
Safety is a little angel apprentice who puts a slight twist on the "shoulder angel" trope: she actually shares a body with a shinigami, a spirit of death, in a witch's costume named Risky, who also functions as a soul-collector "shoulder devil." The emotions of the people around them determine which one appears at a time.
While Risky plots to steal souls, Safety uses her powers to spread joy and blessings, She also notably has the power to make people fall in love with magical arrows, just like Cupid.
8 A Centaur's Life: Angels Are A Species Of Humans In This Series
The angels seem to be a race of humans – like other beings in A Centaur's Life, including centaurs and mermaids – in a world without traditional humans. There's nothing supernatural about them, as their halos are actually formed from their hair and, while they do have wings, they don't appear to be able to fly, which is the case for other winged beings in the series.
Manami Mitama is the main angel character who appears in the series. A strict and hardworking classmate of the main characters, she also proves to be protective of her younger sisters, a characteristic that plays into her past.
7 Steel Angel Kurumi: Kurumi & Her Sisters Are Battle Androids
Nakahito Kagura accidentally kisses a lifelike "doll" who soon comes to life. She turns out to be a battle android called a "Steel Angel." Kurumi begins to view Nakahito as her master and begins to protect him from bullies and the Imperial Japanese Army.
Kurumi also begins to develop new allies and enemies as she discovers her origin, including two new "sisters," the Steel Angels Saki and Karinka.
6 Angel Tales: These Angels Are Dead Pets Helping Their Former Owner
Gorō Mutsumi is a typical unlucky anime hero until his cell phone starts summoning guardian angels to help him. They each initially resemble beautiful young women, but Gorō doesn't realize that they should be a little more familiar to him.
In a twist, they turn out to be incarnations of his dead pets who want to reward the kindness he showed to them when they were alive, and soon he has twelve of them. And that's just the start of things: it turns out that there are other supernatural figures who are determined to keep Gorō from turning his luck around.
5 Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: They're The Real Charlie's Angels
The Anarchy sisters, Panty and Stocking, were kicked out of Heaven and tasked with fighting evil ghosts that plague the Earth, in the hopes of earning enough "Heaven Coins" to earn their way back into Heaven. Of course, they keep getting sidetracked by Earthly pleasures, whether it's cake or men.
Naturally, they're rivals with a pair of demon sisters named Scanty and Kneesocks. Of course, the whole concept of demons being former angels might come into play in the series' infamous twist ending.
4 D.N.Angel: Daisuke Shares A Body With The Phantom Thief Dark
Daisuke Niwa suffers from an unusual genetic condition: he transforms into the black-winged angel, Dark, who is tasked with stealing cursed art and cleansing them. This transformation is triggered by feelings of love – but true love, with someone loving Daisuke as himself, will break the curse.
That said, while the whole ordeal of sharing a body is inconvenient for Daisuke, Dark is actually quite a gentleman. In this series, it's wise not to judge angels by appearances. Dark's rival Krad, the blonde angel in white, is the bad guy.
3 Wedding Peach: The Love Angels Are A Magical Girl Team Of Angels
Momoko and her friends have the ability to transform into the Love Angels, magical girls who use the power of love to fight the love-hating devils, who appear to be a separate species entirely and can be exorcised of their evil.
It turns out to be more than just a name: Momoko is the daughter of an angel mother and a human father, with her friends being the reincarnation of angels whose bodies were destroyed in battle. Interestingly, Momoko's mother is also the sister of the love goddess Aphrodite, who appears to be the ruler of the Angel World.
2 Sailor Moon: Usagi's Ultimate Form Is A Winged Angel
Usagi often invokes an angelic motif when she transforms, and this reaches its peak during the fifth story arc. Her Eternal Sailor Moon costume actually comes with wings, but they prove to be more of a hindrance than not since they can be pinned down during a fight. One Korean dub even called her final transformation, "Moon Angel Power, Light Up!"
It's eventually revealed that she can sprout a real pair of wings. In fact, during her final battle with Galaxia, she is eventually stripped down to nothing but her wings, contrasting the demonic Chaos. Even Princess Kakyuu comments that Sailor Moon is "indeed an angel on Earth."
1 Dragon Ball: Whis Is An Angel With Time & Martial Arts On His Side
Whis is an angelic attendant for Beerus, the God of Destruction. In addition to this, he also functions as a martial arts teacher. Normally calm and polite, he's somewhat eccentric, notably having unusual priorities or being obsessed with food, and tends to act carefree.
Whis saved the Earth from Frieza by reversing time. This isn't a power he can use lightly, as he cannot do it twice in a row. That said, he claims he did this more to protect the food of Earth rather than to save lives.