Jun 1, 2016
This to me is an anime that has fallen short of what it could have been, but did not oversell or undersell itself too much.
Yes the opening is good. Yes they drink a lot. Now that this is out of the way:
It is somewhat annoying that the characters are such a mixed bag. (a 2! How could I? I loved many of the characters here) -- However, the problem that arose when I watched this is that our central characters have few motivators. Going in you accept the obvious: the arbiter will pass judgement, and the people who are there will be judged. The stories
...
are very good, not at all predictable, but sometimes create some cognitive dissonance if you don't agree with the arbiter (This is, thankfully, lampshaded so I let it fly)
Spoilers from here on below:
We have an assortment of characters who all seem to have their own agenda (and no, none of them are our central characters). I can certainly tell that Nona is the (hero?) of another story, and the elderly man is the (Villain?) of another story? We're cleverly reminded that whatever has happened within Death Parade isn't really important because the world is really big (obviously!), but also that there are thousands of arbiters, so whatever is going on in the two(ish) stories we see isn't really reflective of the Death parade universe at large.
Looking back at the story, I did not really care or remember what was happening half the time. There is a lot of attempts in this to create the feeling of an overall struggle in the entire world (and that contributes well to the atmosphere), but it ends up feeling a bit hallow when we're just teased with it. that isn't a bad thing, but in an anime that is provoking thought, I felt like we weren't given enough information to work with.
Art: Good animation. Backgrounds work well. Not very heavy on action scenes or using crazy effects, but the few times they happen they are pulled off well. I think the animation budget was utilized perfectly here.
Sound: Yes the opening is good, but so is the music in the episodes. it builds the tension well.
Enjoyment: This is a show that doesn't tell me how I feel. I'm free to disagree with the characters and not feel like a rutty jerk doing it. Indeed, the characters often seem to disagree with themselves, so even when I do find I agree with them i can still question why. This is fun!
All in all, looking back the anime feels a bit hallow (but they are dummies, no?) and like it didn't live up to what it could be
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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