Death Parade

After death, either Heaven or Hell awaits most humans. But for a select few, death brings them to Quindecim—a bar where only pairs of people who die at the same time can enter. Attending the bar is an enigmatic figure known as Decim, who also acts as the arbiter. He passes judgment on those who wind up at Quindecim by challenging them to a life-threatening game. These games determine if the patron's soul will reincarnate into a new life, or be sent into the void, never to be seen again.

From darts and bowling to fighting games, the true nature of each patron slowly comes to light as they wager their souls. Though his methods remain unchanged, the sudden appearance of a black-haired amnesiac causes Decim to reevaluate his own rulings.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Decim Main

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Kurokami no Onna Main

Seto, Asami Japanese

Nona Main

Ookubo, Rumi Japanese

Clavis Supporting

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Ginti Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Arita, Mayu Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Quin Supporting

Shiraishi, Ryouko Japanese

Tatsumi Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Castra Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Oculus Supporting

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Nakatani, Toshio Producer

Taguchi, Ayuri Producer

Nara, Shunsuke Producer

Reviews

Nov 24, 2024

RCHPX

Recommended

Unique concept, a simple creative premise that fails when it attempts to suddently make itself complex and larger than life (no pun intended).

Is the true human nature revealed in the depths of the hardest moral challenges?

Death Parade would say so. I was entertained throughout and even moved in certain episodes as they reflect true human qualms.

To be honest the importance or arbitrers was not sufficiently explained for me, but the fact that non human judges human was most utterly interesting.

A lot of episodes have to do with justification and moral decision-making which is made for people interested in psychology and philosophy.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 16, 2024

Gsarthotegga

Mixed Feelings

In a certain sense, Death Parade is like a possibly better-written BokuraNO!, or at least somewhat more engaging in its attempt at a visceral—if not soap-operatic—appeal, made all the better since DP has a non-expendable core cast and an expendable secondary cast. Only there's a different manipulative psychological twist: "Let's play a game." This is almost the Saw franchise of seinentard realism, just without Rube Goldbergisms, fully loaded squibs, and gutter-Hollywood schlock. The first episode, though maybe not as complex as later entries, is among the better ones because we're thrown head-first into the game without any explanation.

You probably know what's going to happen from ... reading the synopsis, but there is a mildly sinister feel to the casual bar atmosphere, and we've yet to be acquainted with how the judgment process works. Now, take all of these dramatic twists and turns, and we'll repeat a back-and-forth morality play for nearly each episode with a new set of Bokuranos (meaning disposable characters who are around for only one or a couple episodes), exploring themes, situations, and moral conundrums more than characters. While some of the scenarios are more compelling than others, it's easy to get a sense of claustrophobia from being tucked inside of the bar for so many deliberations. The Bokuranos are either directly connected, have overlapping moral issues or situations, are complementary, or opposites.

Although an aesthetic nitpick, I wish this could have had a more Japanese aesthetic for the judgment process rather than these cheap bar games. Talk about degrading. "We're not sure what fate you should have, so maybe you'd like to play Street Fighter II, and we'll be unfair fucks and see how you react." Sometimes the games are a bit fairer, but they'll do things like pair a single mother and a shut-in and have them play video games; obviously, the latter is going to be better at this, which is going to cause frustration for the former because there is the presumption that they have to win the game or something terrible will happen. In this instance, the single mother has responsibilities like kids and didn't commit suicide, while the gamer shut-in offed himself, so here is an example where many characters have a lot to lose and others have no real concern (somewhat ameliorated by the selective memories at least). It also doesn't look at societal problems with any real depth, since our Bokuranos barely get 20 minutes to strut their stuff, though sometimes they might get two whole episodes. On top of that, the characters are disoriented and thrust into a world they don't understand. There is reason to be suspicious and afraid. Their memories are selectively inserted or removed. The setup will not be a good match for certain personality types and temperaments. Everything is stacked against all participants in such a way that you should expect them to not be on their best behavior; hence, it comes across as overly cruel and manipulative. Although anyone watching this probably already felt manipulated by the maudlin piano and downpour of tears and snot that occur nearly every episode. The bar needs to keep around a box of Kleenex, as it's disgusting to behold!

The system of judgments determining the fate of the characters is silly and based on minimal information for those handling the deliberations. The story does critique the arbitrary nature of the process and has a "We've got to change the system, man" subplot, which never goes anywhere because the series didn't get a second season thus far. This critique still doesn't make the concept any more palatable for a series, and the whole thing seems so overly asinine as to have been a practical joke to have ever been implemented as a system at all. Or D-g is just doing it for the lulz because it gets boring to play games of pool for eternity with lolibaba. As with most moralistic series, judgments are usually made in a preachy way. They take what is an abstract concept of how death is handled with the void or reincarnation and concretize it with bureaucratic autism. Something is lost in the process, rendering the series hollow in execution and wholly inorganic.

Now that I have more distance from the series. I have to imagine re-watching this, and seeing them play through the games again in each of these scenarios is a terrible chore. And that is a necessary evaluation of any media you consume. Would I be willing to rewatch it and does the formula it presents only work for one watch and would forevermore be monotonous and less appealing after the prior exposure? Sure, if I were a fan of a 1,000 episode series, I would probably only watch it once because that is a huge time sink, but that's not the same as it being worth watching again. Even at a measly and very bingeable 12 episodes, I feel Death Parade has minimal replay value. Everything about the way they work through the games is so artificial and boring. There are tonal clashes all over the place, whether it's the cancerous OP's undiluted barf fuel, the trashy game of Twister, the red-headed tsundere punk, the cheesy old man with the Hawaiian shirt and ratty top-knot, the sassy character design, the stinky comedy bits, or the "deep" exploration of the inner workings and subtleties of the death game system, which I couldn't care less about. Also, speaking of out of place, a fight scene between Ginti and Decim? What is the point? There aren't any other fight scenes and it felt like the series randomly decided to turn into a battle shonen, featuring flashy attacks that are completely useless for any other purpose.

The main and supporting cast aren't much better than the disposable Bokuranos. Decim is particularly wooden and creepy, just like his BJD collection. Most of them are one-dimensional or solely for forwarding the plot. The various arcs involving different characters are a mixed bag, with some being better than others, yet Onna's development and the emotions on display are often handled decently enough and probably the only thing that had a lasting impact, for she is pretty much a bewildered stand-in for the viewer, sharing the same repulsion to the system but being trapped inside of this hopeless box of a world and judged all the same. The world-building for the one and only area (along with a couple other big rooms) we inhabit is lackluster and has no real presence. Not much is explained, and what is explained doesn't really matter. There's no indication that there will be another season to complete the series, and the presentation of the story is rushed and unsatisfying in the same way as many of the sadly flawed OVAs of the 1980s and 1990s' era of anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 10, 2023

ramimanify

Not Recommended

Funny

If you want an anime that bores you to death that is death parade

from lackluster characters to dull plots and tedious story-telling it's not a good show

heads up guys
I was drawn in by the fancy style and the white-haired bartender looking suave
but sadly that is all this show got going for itself, a veneer

Also the ending didn't conclude the anime in a logical manner, I painstakingly endured till the end to see what the fuss was all about , but it is lukewarm and dissatisfying

At first the premise is promising giving us a hint about what the story is about, death ... and the intricacies of souls entering into this realm, but it could have been much more, there simply is no mystery at the core of the story, which doesn't make sense to me

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Death Parade Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Jan 30, 2015	677 replies	by RCHPX »» Nov 16, 12:46 PM
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