Death Parade

TV (12 eps)
4.165 out of 5 from 39,480 votes
Rank #416

When two people die at the same time, they're sent to a place that's neither heaven nor hell: a lavish bar between worlds where the stakes are high and the rules are simple: if you win you live again, if you die you're gone for good. Decim is the bartender charged with serving the souls who enter Quindecim. He may make a mean cocktail, but his true profession is to play the role of arbiter: a judge who determines whether or not a soul is worthy of reincarnation. To aid in his judgment, the bar's patrons are forced to play simple games laced with sadistic twists designed to bring their true natures to light. To Decim, judgment has always been black and white - that is until he meets a mysterious young woman whose fate seems impossible to decide. His indecision shakes the very foundation of the games and raises the biggest question of all: who is fit to judge the dead?

Source: Funimation

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Reviews

ThatAnimeSnob
4

TROLL OPENING Death Parade was hailed as the best title of winter 2015, partly because of the hype it had from the fanbase of its prequel, the single OVA Death Billiards, and partly because of DAT CATCHY OPENING SONG. It’s a nice sound alright, and the colors are pretty, because Madhouse, but come on, it’s not fitting at all. The cheery stuff it shows has nothing to do with the gloomy and depressing tone of the series. Just like the opening of Madoka Magica it is trolling the viewer into expecting a completely different show. MYSTERY BOX This expands to the whole anime, since it constantly wants to trick the viewer, by hiding pretty much everything that is going on, until it’s all revealed at once with a tsunami of emotions following it. You are supposed to be initially puzzled and eventually shocked with the revelation. So yeah, the trump cards the show uses are mystery boxes and shock effect, stuff that I consider tactless. The former means nothing once it’s revealed and the latter is just cheap jump scares. And even so, it’s not even that good at it, since the thrill dissolves if it is used in every episode. It worked in Death Billiards because it was a single ova with the viewer being unsuspected, but if you try to pull the same trick a dozen times in a row, it loses its meaning, since you feel nothing after the second time. BLAND PROTAGONISTS The problems continue with the very protagonists. Strip them down to essentials and what do you get? An emotionless dude with no background or objectives, which may look cool but is otherwise impossible to relate with in any way. And a woman with amnesia, thus again someone with no background or objective. She is even used as a lobotomized askman type of character, left blank and oblivious, so she needs everything being constantly explained. This turns her into a passive observer and alien to the setting, making it harder to be immersed in it. LAZY EXPOSITION This is done deliberately, since the show tries to puzzle the viewer by keeping everything a secret. It is supposed to reveal it one chunk at a time, through whatever she asks… and does a pitiful job even then, since the exposition is terrible. Despite having a lobotomized askman, many explanations are not replies to her questions, but rather people explaining stuff without anyone around. Meaning, most of everything is lazy infodumping monologues where people are talking to thin air. And even so, by the time the series ends, almost nothing is explored or explained concerning the setting of the afterlife, and the themes of guilt and regret. Everything remains a mystery, including all those people you see in the opening. They barely get ten minutes of total screen time each. NO PLOT So, what the hell were the characters doing for a dozen episodes if not gradually expositioning themselves and the setting? Well, they basically wasted most episodes on standalone cases. Some people will appear, they will play a game, and then the episode ends and are never seen again. The series is not completely episodic, since it does reveal a few things from time to time; but nothing really is explained or resolved by the end of it, so you might as well call it meaningless filler. Every arbiter has his own side story but it is never looked into and he/she ends up being defined only by a single personality trait. The two protagonists sort of have their issues resolved, but it’s not something that needed a dozen episodes to be taken care of. They just didn’t deal with the silly amnesia gimmick, up until the ending was close by. BULLSHIT JUDGEMENT Speaking of taking care of things, the show uses a really pretentious form of psychology, where people are not judged based on their actions but rather on how they feel about them. And apparently the best way to reveal that, is by brainwashing and driving them insane, without their knowledge or means to defend themselves. This means, motives are meaningless while emotional reactions are everything. This is further perplexed by how the arbiters who decide everything do not comprehend emotions, and yet they are supposed to reach a verdict based on those alone. And as if that wasn’t weird enough, they are not emotionless, since they clearly have emotions and express them all the time. In case you are paying attention, it won’t take long to figure out how the whole reincarnation system is fundamentally flawed and unfair, not to mention irrational. The show will try to distract you by not explaining anything, and by throwing at your face a completely irrelevant opening song, second only to Frozen’s Let It Go. And if you are still unable to grasp such an obvious flaw, ponder about this: why should good people be evaluated only when they are at their worst, along with bad people who are always at their worst? Imagine what will happen when a boy scout and an asymptomatic serial killer, like the ones you find in Psycho Pass are judged this way. The boy scout will lose its shit out of guilt for not saving a cat from a tree and will be sent to the void, while the asymptomatic killer won’t give a shit and be sent for reincarnation. And even then, the outcome is always meaningless. If you fail, your soul is lost. If you pass, you reincarnate, only until you die and be judged again, until you fail regardless of previous judgments. You won’t even remember anything that happened in the afterlife, thus you don’t learn anything. Plus, they make it seem like despite all this process of letting only “good people” to reincarnate, the world is still a shithole. TROLL ENDING Even the ending is a complete copout. The lead heroine has to be judged as well, after she conveniently regains her memories (something that was overlooked all this time by the arbiters for no real reason). Her test though is totally unfair compared to the other cases because, unlike the rest, she was given more than enough time and experience to make the right decision, a chance nobody else was given. So much for fair judgment! And it won’t matter anyways, since she won’t remember whatever happened there and can fail the next time she dies. MEANINGLESS SERIES So basically you waste your time watching a dozen episodes of people getting manipulated, driven insane, and then judged unfairly by a bogus system. You can claim that one of the themes of the series is about pointing out that the system is unfair. So what was the point of spending most of the series in those stand alone cases, full of overblown dramatization, if in the end they all get the middle finger? All these characters get no catharsis regardless of what you think or feel about them. TONAL SHIFTS And as if all that weren’t enough, the show is not even consistent with its own mood. Aside from the opening, there are whole episodes full of comedy and rule of cool, that feel completely out of place with the rest, and lessen its atmosphere. OVERRATED TRASH Down to it, this show is a total mess and yet another example of how easily anime fans are manipulated to like total nonsense because of pretty colors and nice sounds. If I was an arbiter, I would send to the void anyone who considers it anything more than average. And yes, I would still be fairer than the bogus system of this series.

ShojiroKatsuragi
10

Intro Death Parade is one of those odd ball anime.  You can’t really put it in a specific genre.  It doesn’t on the surface seem like a good anime, as I will explain, and yet, it just works.  I believe the reason for this, is the abstractness of the goal of this anime.  It seems to me to be an exploration of human emotion, how it is formed, and how it shapes us as people.  It looks at how beings with no emotions would perceive us, and how bringing these together would influence each. Story I look for a well thought out, unique and compelling story.  A story that strikes a balance between the different elements, and simply demands recognition.  I also look at how the ideas in the script are depicted and executed in the anime. Unique to each genre My heading here is ambiguous, I know.  Usually here I would look into how the genre in which the anime falls, and the conventions and ideas one has surrounding that genre are incorporated into the story, and how it is depicted in the anime.  I couldn’t do this for Death Parade.  It simply just is too unique.  If you were to place it an any one or even a dozen genres, you would still be leaving out so much about the story. Balance Balance is something that is elusive in this anime.  It doesn’t on the surface seem to focus on anything at all, and therefore has nothing it needs to balance.  Normally this would be a horrible thing, but when you look into this anime, it simply just works.  It’s all-over-the-place-yet-nowhere-at-the-same-time feel is something that is both compelling and intriguing when you watch the anime.  At first there seems to be no plot at all, yet as you delve deeper into the story, you find very emotional and touching themes. Surprise - Confusion In this anime, it’s not so much about surprise, but about confusion.  It takes your mind and tosses it around in ways that would normally make me turn the PC off and through my mouse against the wall in fury, yet for some reason, it just works (I’m saying that a lot, aren’t I). Animation Animation is what makes an anime an anime, and not a novel.  It takes the written script to a whole new level, but there are many different facets to animation, and I will be looking at the three that I believe are the most important. Colour Colour is a central theme in Death Parade.  It not only helps set the mood, which is very hard to describe and elusive in its own right, but draws you in in amazing ways.  The colour scheme is dark and fascinating.  It breathes life into the sets and is amazingly balanced.  I can’t remember seeing a single prime colour, other than in the book depicted in later episodes.  Every colour seems to be four shades too dark, and yet - again - it just works. Animation Style Animation style ties in very much with colour, as the interplay between the two is crucial.  The style is what I would call a near-realistic style.  It is far less cartoony, but instead seeks to be realistic in proportions and facial caricatures - within the bounds of anime, of course.  It’s play with facial expressions, and its almost simplistic style makes everything sink in far better than if any other style was used. Motion I found motion to be within the expected ranges of quality, nothing extraordinary, but not lacking in any sense.  It appeared as though it was done just well enough, and that is all it needs to be.  Death Parade is not about action, it’s about telling a story, and about exploring deeper philosophical themes.  But I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the ice-skating scene in the final episode.  The motion was fluid, realistic, and simply breathtaking.  It got the impression that this scene was a labour of love, and that no effort was spared or detail foregone in order to make this amazing.  This is also the only scene, besides the opening theme’s visuals, where excessive motion was depicted, and it was marvellously done. Sound Sound plays an integral role in making an anime an anime.  It creates mood, breeds feeling, and makes the anime more immersive.  The voice quality was top notch, the acting well done, and the background sounds so subtle they got lost in the mood which they helped to form. MusicThe opening and closing themes were very odd for anime, and yet they fit in perfectly with the series.  When I listened to the lyrics, I couldn’t think of any way in which to improve the songs, or any songs that would fit better.  The music themes catch the central idea behind the anime beautifully.  A perfect harmony with the script.  Truly a work of art. Characters It’s all about the people.  Quite literally.  Death Parade is the perfect example of a character driven anime.  Almost nothing happens in the anime, there are no fight scenes, no antagonists, almost no motivations, and yet I couldn’t stop watching.  The entire story is about the development of the two main characters Decim and Chiyuki (whose name is only revealed in the second last episode). Main Characters There are only two characters that I can honestly consider to be the main characters, Decim and Chiyuki.  Both seem flat and plain, Decim is even limited to only two expressions, one of which he displays for the first time in the third last episode.  The conversations between him and his frequent guests consist of almost purely seven sentences, and Chiyuki rarely speaks.  Yet again, it just works. Supporting Characters Here I’m not even going to say anything.  The characters seem more like furniture than characters, and yet it is completely intentional within the anime.  Their non-existent personalities help to set the tone and push the two main characters towards their developmental explosion in the last four episodes. Importance to Story Here again, it seems on the surface as though the characters could all just be thrown out the window and nothing would change, and yet it is this very fact that makes them so important to the anime.  Their non-existent personalities, the absence of any development in their character, are what is being commented on.  It helps show you the world that they live in, and the philosophical ideas that the anime explores through the two main characters. Conclusion It feels as though nothing in this anime is right.  The characters are flat, the story is non-existent, the conversations bland (on the surface), the settings repetitive - in fact I only counted five settings (not including flashbacks) in the entire anime, there is almost no character development for most of the series, I could go on and on.  And yet this is what drives you to watch, and is what the makes the story so impacting if you watch it through to the end. This is an example of an everything-is-wrong anime that just works. The stalemate that exists for most of the anime, made its climax all the more powerful for me.  When Decim finally reached the climax of his sudden explosion of development, I literally found myself tearing up with him. If you are a shounen fan, you will ball your eyes out after the first two episodes.  But if you are looking for a thought provoking, and tear jerking anime, then this is the one for you.

WolfAngelus
5

Unfortunately, it's all over the place and doesn't seem sure of what it's supposed to be. The starting episode is interesting and leads you to believe this will be something along the lines of a life and death game with torture elements, where one person wins and loses. This ends up being false, and these games serve a different purpose, making them seem rather irrelevant. The intensity also drops, as the future games (except 1) are rather casual in comparison. There is no guarantee 1 person lives and dies, it's possible for both to end up with the same fate. What makes things worse is that the showing of who goes up and down in the elevator is poorly displayed. There is one episode where it displayed a single door, and not even who went in it. At other times the left door is safe, the right one isn't, then in the next episode they are swapped, adding to the confusion. It creates a lot of inconsistency and if there is a whole episode dedicated to playing a game, there should at least be a clear display of how the judgement is laid out. Inconsistency is something that seems to be a theme. Upon arriving at episode 2, the Anime flips and shows a lot of episode 1 stuff, but from a different perspective. From there on it's a mix a these games being played, then an entire episode dedicated to the arbiters. As you quickly realize, there are only 12 episodes, how is anything meaningful going to happen going from 1 episode of a game to 1 episode following 1 of the arbiters? The answer is it really doesn't. There are 6 arbiters shown, the main guy is shown often hosting the games, then most of the others get 1 episode dedicated to them. In the end you get around 6 episodes of a game being played, and the rest dedicated to the arbiter system. The result is a product that seems to be playing tug of war with itself in an effort to get screen time and deciding what it wants to be exactly. There is never any connection to characters due to the low amount of screen time, combined with the fact of what arbiters really are. The games attempt to tell a story in an attempt to connect with the audience by releasing bits of their memory as they play on to tell something of a tragic story. Unfortunately, it's hard to connect with characters that you have seen for 10 minutes. The games get boring and slow paced. This is where the most focus should have been and the most excitement, but they got far less intense than the initial delivery. Once you realize the games have a different meaning than what is at a typical face value of playing, it makes them feel even less exciting. The artwork is rather cool, a colorful presentation with a graffiti style look at times. The cosmic pool table with jedi pool cues looks like something that would be super fun to play in real life. Overall, it wasn't bad, but not great either. It was just all over the place though and failed to properly show the judgements clearly all the time. For once, an Anime started on a strong episode but then went downhill and didn't follow through consistently on that initial excitement. How it is currently sitting at 4.3 stars is far beyond logical as there wasn't even a clear main character (unless you want to count the main arbiter who just watches most of what happens).

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