Death Parade

Episode 3

This was a very interesting episode. After two stories (if you count the OVA) about how human beings can be heartless bastards, it was nice to see something more positive and innocent. Both the guy and the girl were really likeable characters and their interactions were really sweet and cute. And well, you can basically never go wrong with tragic love stories. I actually felt really sad knowing they were dead and couldn't be together. Wish they would have kissed at the end though. I'm also totally digging the endings that seem to be unique to each episode.
And Decim making a joke was certainly... Well, at least he tried.
 
Episode 3:

As if I didn't already love this show enough this episode impresses me even more. I should have realized from the fun OP that this show never intended to always be so heavy and grim. Instead it looks like we are going to get stories that have a range of different moods and that is going to make it a much stronger series in the long run.

Watching this episode I started feeling rather cynical as I kept waiting for the sweet atmosphere to be ruined when some dark truth was revealed, but the episode never did let that other shoe drop. Instead the episode has a very sweet rom-com feeling to it. Of course there is the tragedy that these two could only find each other for a brief moment between life and death, but that doesn't dominate the episode because they are so intent on enjoying their time together instead.

There's nothing particularly deep or meaningful about this episode. It's not dripping with symbolism or looking to be morally ambiguous so there's not much to speculate about like we did with the first episode. Instead we get a positive episode with a simple story that makes its point without being pretentious. Now I'm feeling this show is less like Hell Girl and more like Mushishi. A series that uses its episodic structure to tell a variety of stories and take a frank look at all sides of humanity. I love the dark stuff that takes a look at the shittier side of humanity, but that can get tiresome sometimes and I feel like I would have disliked this episode if there had been some kind of dark twist in the end.

This episode also does a nice job of giving characterization to Decim and his new assistant as well. Just watching them interact on the sidelines tells a lot about their personalities. Decim obviously has a lot of trouble understanding emotions, but he's not some kind of automaton. He has dry sense of humor and is quite awkward when it comes to dealing with emotions. His joke at the end of the episode was just so perfectly lame that it made me laugh pretty damn hard.I really love the approach they are taking to his character, because he has more dimensions to him rather than just mysterious cool. I like that he takes a different approach to his various visitors. He gets to see their memories ahead of time and uses this to tailor his responses to get them to play the game. In this case he's very gentle with the characters rather than the harsh treatment given to the could from the first episode. It shows that he does have a softer side even after all the shitty behavior he's probably seen.

His assistant is interesting too because while she's inexperience and gets flustered easily she is good at reading people and their emotions. She's also very bold as she interacts with Decim very naturally and the two have a good rapport even when they are butting heads. It's an interesting dynamic.

So yeah, this was an awesome episode and is definitely my favorite anime this season.
 
Why must you eat up my time at work?

Ep3
So not everyone is out for themselves. A true loving couple.
I tire of titles that have it that all people have no redeeming qualities. Fuck that noise, Sometimes people deserve a reinstatement of life.

Not that this title has issues with that.
No instead we are even greeted to a new ending with their lives.

Also,
This is a cute smile.
yes.png

Maybe my new avatar?
Yes?
 
Episode 2 & 3

Well, after watching 3 episodes I think I can safely say I'm interested enough to see how this will play out.

I'm definitely starting to like Decim and the Assistant, looks like she doesn't have a name on AP? I didn't notice one during the episode either.

Still, this show seems like it'll be mostly episode-to-episode based. Unless the assistants identity is part of the plot or something. Like she's dead, and her game is to be an assistant. Dun dun dun
 
ep3

I'm not a big fan of episodic anime so I may not appreciate this as much as most.....

I liked it, but when I saw the direction I did feel a level of disappointment.

For one thing I'm glad this couple's story didn't play out like the last, I was just waiting for one to turn on the other.....

Ps then the assistant was calling out numbers as decim gave the rules, I found that cute as hell.
 
Episode 3 was pretty good.

Episode 3 was different to the previous episodes. I was waiting for them to turn against each other and then when they didn't I was really surprised. There story was kind of sad too.

Decim was funny this episode when he asked if 5 minutes was enough for them to have a date! :D
 
When
the guys started whispering I started to think that she was going to turn out to be transgendered then they mentioned surgery and I was sure of it, but then it turned out to just be plastic surgery. I think that could have been an interesting way to take the episode. I loved it as it was though, just mentioning something I was thinking while watching.
 
^ Really?
When they were whispering I totally thought "Ooh, she's gonna be a prostitute or something!" xD
 
Episode 3

I thought this episode was kind of "meh."

I thought this tonal shift was kind of distracting and confusing. The OVA and the first two episodes were very dark and grim, with contrasted the fun OP which was already kind of strange. I understand why people like this episode and I suppose it's okay that this show won't just consist of an edgy grim tale, but despite this attempt to bring in a different mood, the conclusion of the episode and how the intrigue was handled was kind of disappointing. The way the two interacted was kind of strange and not in line with the philosophy of how the games are being handled. It's like "you will play this game with your life on the line" was completely pushed aside in favor for this tone. One of the things I liked about the previous games was this feeling of breakdown and danger. The pivotal moment where all is revealed, but this episode handled it differently, and I didn't really like it.

I guess it wasn't a bad episode on its own though. I can't really figure out if it was done well or not because the tone shifted almost completely, so I feel like I can't really say "what a poorly done episode," because it probably wasn't.

I wonder if there is a story going to be told behind all of this. Episode 2 made it seem like there would be but maybe that was just exposition.

EDIT: So I think it's pretty obvious but do you think they were reincarnated or sent to the void? Also, I wonder what the next game is going to be..
There are tons of different arcade games, maybe it's a fighting game :o I like those
 
I think the way Decim handles the presentation of the games depends pretty heavily on what he sees in the memories that are transferred to him.
These were two innocent teenagers and both are presented as inexperienced and fragile. If he'd gone directly at them with hints of danger he would have made them too scared to play the game or come to any kind of peace with their death. Not everyone is going to respond to the same type of psychological tactics.

One of the things to notice is no matter how riled up people get during the game, they are always pretty resigned when they go to take that final ride in the elevator. The game doesn't just settle the fate of participants but it also gives them a little closure about their lives. These kids would have never gotten that kind of closure through a more harsh experience and neither one of them had done anything to deserve harsh treatment anyway.
 
ZetsubouKaiji said:
When
the guys started whispering I started to think that she was going to turn out to be transgendered then they mentioned surgery and I was sure of it, but then it turned out to just be plastic surgery. I think that could have been an interesting way to take the episode. I loved it as it was though, just mentioning something I was thinking while watching.
Click to expand...

Thought exactly the same thing, I kind of wish they did go that route, but I'm not unhappy with the episode at all.
 
CaptainPancakes said:
Episode 3

So I think it's pretty obvious but do you think they were reincarnated or sent to the void?
Click to expand...

Reincarnated, the mask above the door is the symbol for their judgment. The void's mask is demonic wit large horns.

The mask above both their doors were the same as the one above the door of the man that was reincarnated in ep 1. The Woman who was sent to the void got the horns.
 
tootalls said:
Reincarnated, the mask above the door is the symbol for their judgment. The void's mask is demonic wit large horns.

The mask above both their doors were the same as the one above the door of the man that was reincarnated in ep 1. The Woman who was sent to the void got the horns.
Click to expand...

I'm not so hot on that idea TBH, but I guess the show isn't going for any kind of ambiguity anymore. I mean Ep. 3 didn't really leave anything to be speculated and we literally got one full episode of explanation for Ep. 1.
 
ZetsubouKaiji said:
I think the way Decim handles the presentation of the games depends pretty heavily on what he sees in the memories that are transferred to him.
These were two innocent teenagers and both are presented as inexperienced and fragile. If he'd gone directly at them with hints of danger he would have made them too scared to play the game or come to any kind of peace with their death. Not everyone is going to respond to the same type of psychological tactics.

One of the things to notice is no matter how riled up people get during the game, they are always pretty resigned when they go to take that final ride in the elevator. The game doesn't just settle the fate of participants but it also gives them a little closure about their lives. These kids would have never gotten that kind of closure through a more harsh experience and neither one of them had done anything to deserve harsh treatment anyway.
Click to expand...

Do we actually know if Decim is controlling the games? I wasn't clear if every bowling game is like that and every game of darts is like the one from the first episode.

In any case Episode 3 was interesting. I thought it failed on a pretty basic point though.
The biggest issue is that these games are driven by the idea that your lives are on the line. That was driven home further in episode one, when the dart board injured them, it made it clear that this was real.

In this episode neither player seem to care, or even acknowledge that this is more than a normal bowling game. They're momentarily freaked out by the hearts, but they get over it in a seconds time. The guy even wagers a date on the win, like he's completely disregarding the fact that either of them could die.

Don't get me wrong, I liked that it ended nice, and the story of their past was interesting. I just wish that they'd had to overcome some of the same grim challenges that the other contestants had. Things turned out nice for them, but put in the same position I'm sure that other contestants would have similar success.
 
It's not that Decim is controlling the game but he is the one that's presenting the game.
It's possible that he's getting orders from somewhere else on how he's supposed to present the game, but I don't think so because the mannequins are his personal hobby and it's presented as if he added them in as part of his stage craft. I pretty much take the show's word for it that the games are decided by roulette and as such are either chosen by another force or are truly random, but as for how the games are presented and the general mood of the games, that seems to be up to the arbiters.

The second episode has already pointed out that the games themselves don't really matter, it's what they are meant to draw out that's important. The game from the first episode is presented as harsh and dangerous because both the characters were hiding things and it was the only way the truth was ever going to come to light. If the stakes hadn't been set so high then their charade as a happily married couple would have went on. The whole point of giving them the sense of danger was to poke at the hidden resentment between them. There would have been no value gained by giving them a more pleasant experience. These kids weren't hiding some burning secrets. She'd had some plastic surgery, she probably would have told him in the real world if they hadn't happened to die at that moment. It would have been sadistic to treat these two the same way because there was nothing to be gained by it.

I think the second episode may have created a bit of a misunderstanding. When it was describing the tactics used it was being more specific to the couple rather than a general statement of we terrify the shit out of everyone to get them to reveal their true selves. Some pairs are going to need that extra jolt of fear, but others are going to require a softer touch. Different people respond to different kinds of manipulation. Both in the case of the OVA and the couple in the first episode the harsher touch was needed to get the job done and the outcome would have simply been failure if a softer approach had been taken.
 
Gave this another chance, and happy so far that I did.
ep2 -
This really should have been a double-length premiere with ep1. Telling the story from another viewpoint and explaining everything missed is good ... but the ep1 version made me want to drop the series due to its soap-opera flailing about. In contrast, ep2 was subtle, perceptive, and tightly written. Also, that OP is wonderful - especially everyone's special dance moves. This all leaves me wondering if the shorter girl/lady is really the ultimate arbiter of everyone's fate, since she seems to be supervising Decim and hiring his assistant.
Kinda hard on the soul of the good woman sent to the void while Decim perfects his trade, though ...

ep3 - Interesting, certainly a lighter tone than ep1-2. Leaves a lot to think about ...
Is it a given that of every 2 souls. one will re-incarnate and the other go to the void? Seems harsh since both halves of this couple seemed worth "saving". Or is "the void" to be interpreted as "nirvana" - no further spirtual evolution is needed?
Definitely worth watching a bit more.
 
ZetsubouKaiji said:
It's not that Decim is controlling the game but he is the one that's presenting the game.
It's possible that he's getting orders from somewhere else on how he's supposed to present the game, but I don't think so because the mannequins are his personal hobby and it's presented as if he added them in as part of his stage craft. I pretty much take the show's word for it that the games are decided by roulette and as such are either chosen by another force or are truly random, but as for how the games are presented and the general mood of the games, that seems to be up to the arbiters.

The second episode has already pointed out that the games themselves don't really matter, it's what they are meant to draw out that's important. The game from the first episode is presented as harsh and dangerous because both the characters were hiding things and it was the only way the truth was ever going to come to light. If the stakes hadn't been set so high then their charade as a happily married couple would have went on. The whole point of giving them the sense of danger was to poke at the hidden resentment between them. There would have been no value gained by giving them a more pleasant experience. These kids weren't hiding some burning secrets. She'd had some plastic surgery, she probably would have told him in the real world if they hadn't happened to die at that moment. It would have been sadistic to treat these two the same way because there was nothing to be gained by it.

I think the second episode may have created a bit of a misunderstanding. When it was describing the tactics used it was being more specific to the couple rather than a general statement of we terrify the shit out of everyone to get them to reveal their true selves. Some pairs are going to need that extra jolt of fear, but others are going to require a softer touch. Different people respond to different kinds of manipulation. Both in the case of the OVA and the couple in the first episode the harsher touch was needed to get the job done and the outcome would have simply been failure if a softer approach had been taken.
Click to expand...

I think it's clear that Decim doesn't control the games with Nona and that Quin spirit around. I still don't think college kids wouldn't respond to an apparent game of death though :pokerface:
 
Ep 3

Not so exciting but its a nice change
A little romance story instead of hate/anger.

PS
I thought it was said somewhere the games are based on the players past, or was that in the OVA?
 
death parade is a decent anime like a dark version of NGNL, second ep was kinda boring but third was good, excited to see the other types of games on the board!!!
 
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