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Aug 1, 2016
Let me get it out there that I did not donate any money to the creation and or development of this independently animated OVA. That being said, I still followed the progress of the OVA's creation since the time of its announcing.
When taking the financial situation of the studio responsible for this OVA into account, it is somewhat understandable that, with their budget, the creators would not be able to do nearly as much as they would've wanted to with their allotted resources. This being the case, when it came to the OVA's selling point, being the animation and action choreography, many viewers will
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be happy to know that the fluidity and caliber of animation presented was nothing short of top notch... at least for the action scenes. As previously stated, what with the budget the studio had to work with, the creators invested the majority of their funds into the action sequences of the OVA, thus leaving the rest of the episode's animation rather bland, choppy, and unappealing. To some this is a mute point however it is important to note the extremely abrupt shifts in animation quality as it could be somewhat jarring.
In terms of the pacing of the OVA, objectively I can only say that the failed attempt at a story line was nothing short of a disaster. It is as if the developers didn't know exactly what to prioritize when creating the OVA and thus, decided to shoehorn absolutely everything in instead. Being a one episode OVA the assumption is that the basis of a simple story should be presented in hopes of being elaborated upon in potential future installments. This was unfortunately not the case. With a myriad of nameless and pointless characters, confusing and unexplained plot progressions, and a premise that, unless you read up on via the "Under the Dog" website, is largely unexplained, the final concoction is one that I'm sure will leave many eager viewers disappointed after two years of waiting.
In terms of sound production I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of the firearms presented in the OVA seemed to hold substantial weight to them and sounded, at least to a civilian ear, authentic. The original musical score by Kevin Penkin in the OVA facilitated the action/thriller dynamic well but did little more than that. There was no single track that particularly caught my ear whilst watching the episode though that might be the cause of subjective bias.
In conclusion, you lose nothing by watching Under the Dog, but in my opinion you also gain nothing. It is a short watch if you have the time to spare and would like to see some well animated fight choreography but other than that, it is best to be avoided.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 20, 2015
One Punch Man should be an anime which is viewed at face value for what it is: pure entertainment. The whole concept of the anime revolves around the notion of over-the-top fights, ridiculously muscular men, and a caped baldy who somehow manages to defeat them all. In one punch. The nature of the title itself is a testament to this statement. The writer of the manga/anime is fully aware that the concept of a hero who can defeat virtually anything in one punch is not a particularly wise character trait for the development of any sort of plot line. Thus the only answer that remains
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is to forgo the notion of character development in order to allow for the emphasis on the thing that seems to actually matter: the fights. However, beyond this OPM strives to be so much more than the average clusterfest of a visually eye-gasmic time.
Story 7/10 -
Here's something that a lot of people really complain about. The story of OPM is, by no degree, a unique story. In terms of depth, there is none. In terms of complexity, it's a single-celled organism. In terms of substantial character development, we're at a loss. There's no getting around the fact that OPM is a simple story; it doesn't need to be much more. Some people from both ends of the spectrum will argue that the story should be more or, is in fact, more than what I claim. However it must be acknowledged that the story of OPM is just not designed to evoke thought. There is no real deep underlying message the anime is trying to convey. As a result, trying to argue for a more substantial plot when there doesn't have to be one is simply a waste of time. The plot elements that are present, however, are designed to further the premise of what OPM is trying to portray and does so rather nicely. It's not perfect, but it's the most any one viewer could hope for in a series such as this.
Art 10/10 -
Nothing really needs to be said about the art and animation of this anime that hasn't already been stated. The budget of the anime given into the fluidity of the action scenes are monumental and translate the already beautiful manga well. The attention of detail pays homage to the original source material and is most likely one of the most well animated series we have seen in recent years. This being said, it should also be pointed out that the character design of the main character contrasts with the somewhat elaborate designs of every other. This does well to add to the characterization of the MC and also furthers OPM's inherent premise as an anime.
Sound 8/10 -
Again, like other facets of the anime, the budget for OPM's sound department are top tier. The voice actors in particular could not have captured their respective characters more accurately and the ambient noises provided during the fight scenes are also excellent. An area of note should be a focus on the character Genos, who is a cyborg with a variety of moving parts. The sound department captures this with due excellence. Beyond all this I felt that the soundtrack for OPM was rather lacking. There was, in my opinion, no one track that truly stood out or would warrant a position on one of my playlists. This is a personal preference however, and could be overlooked.
Character 8/10 -
A great deal of the appeal of OPM comes from the characters. Though many of them fall under some overused archetypes, this does not necessarily hamper with the series as a whole. Many of these archetypes are meant to fill a niche within the shounen genre and, as a result, have become common. That being said there isn't much to say about the characters in terms of function. They function as their respective archetypes dictates. The individual personalities of the characters however may lead many to join the bandwagon of mutual love for the series with their playful banter and quirky eccentricities.
Enjoyment 10/10 -
I enjoyed it. Give it a shot.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 28, 2015
Many anime seem to amass a certain level of praise despite their actual overall quality being little more than lackluster or mediocre at best. Anime such as this can attribute such successes upon several nuisances that could overshadow inherent issues in an anime's plot. Death Parade suffers from this in that the story line is well conceived and initially well presented, though eventually begins to crumble as the plot drags on. Plot holes form and the anime goes so far as to even become hypocritical to itself in many ways. It goes without saying that issues pertaining to the plot of an anime should not
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account for the overwhelming majority of the anime's critical ratings on any given forum, though by the end of the day, it definitely holds a substantial niche within the grading.
Art :
The artwork and animation presented by Madhouse in Death Parade, is little more than stunning. Though the majority of the anime involves panning stills of character dialogue and interaction, when the anime wishes to display its apparent graphical fluidity and high animation quality, it does so with great finesse uncommon in such dialogue driven shows. The character designs themselves are not particularly unique though their application in this relatively realistic and gritty anime proves to be extremely effective. The anime also does well to illustrate the minor shifts in facial expression needed to portray the complex emotions shown by the characters within the anime, of which there are many. It should also be noted that the color pallet for the anime's artwork displays a wide array of grays, blacks and blues, effectively grounding the writers' intended moods in any given scene. Madhouse's choice of camera angles emphasize their experience as a a long running animation studio within the industry and not a single scene of the anime could be said to be unnecessary as the anime as a whole displays exceptional visual quality.
Sound :
It is to be believed that the creators of this anime were going for an atmospheric and mellow anime revolving around the psychosis of the human mind, and the complexity of human interaction. With this it could be stated that Death Parade has thoroughly succeeded in this aspect of its production. Save for the opening theme, which I believe provided a necessary contrast to the moods displayed in the anime, the rest of the anime's musical score does well to portray the contemplative and serious tone of the anime. Though no single piece particularly stands out, save for the opening, all tracks work in tandem with the anime's animation and scene selection in order to sell the atmosphere that Death Parade desperately needs for it's story to be effective in any way. With this it could be said that Death Parade is a musically oriented anime without being inherently musically oriented.
Though, beyond the music, the anime also possesses a great cast of voice actors and actresses who are able to portray their roles masterfully. The small inflections of the voice, the intensity and the sincerity of the acting is extremely commendable. To reiterate, Death Parade is a psychological anime in which the psychosis of the human mind and the interactions between human begins is explored. In this respect, all of the emotions necessary to drive the drama and the realism of the anime are present and are fields in which Death Parade excels.
Characters/Story :
Before further scrutiny is placed upon the following aspects of Death Parade, it should first be stated that the premise for this anime was utterly unique and well conceived. It is one that takes the audience into an environment where they are able to contemplate the scenarios within the anime for themselves which is essential for a show such as this. It was supposed to explore the eccentricities of life and severity of death, all while veiling itself in a cloak of mystery until the very end. It was an anime designed to provoke thought and elicit conversation about the meaning of life and the potential goodness of man. Given this information it is in this aspect of the anime in which Death Parade begins to fall short of the greatness that it could have potentially achieved. Death Parade is an episodic anime with an overarching story line. As a result it could be expected that not much would be given in terms of character development, of which there isn't. Most of the characters fall into two categories in this anime: the arbiters, the ones who judge the dead, and the dead, the ones who are being judged. And though the whole premise of Death Parade is seemingly well conceived at the beginning of the anime, it was executed poorly and in a convoluted fashion by the end of it.
One example of this are the arbiters themselves. The whole judging system portrayed in Death Parade is inherently flawed to which the anime even admits later on in the series. This in and of itself is not an issue. The issue lies when it was stated that the arbiters were to be shells, empty vessels devoid of the emotions of life in order to produce the most accurate judgement upon the dead. Though, save for one arbiter, nearly all of the other arbiters show emotion on a regular basis. The flaws of the judgment system could also be seen when Decim, the focused upon arbiter of the anime, seems to make decisions based simply upon angry remarks made by individuals in the spur of the moment. The system is shallow and superficial. Later on in the anime the judgment system is portrayed to push the dead to extreme conditions in order to provide an good representation of the dead's life. Though only an episode later the method used for judgement is a card game! With all of this in mind it forces the question, "Would you want to be judged by these people?" It is in the inconsistencies that Death Parade displays that effectively tarnish the exceptional premise that brought it up.
Death Parade also had troubles in grounding itself in what it wanted to be. By definition Death Parade was to be a psychological anime, but at times the anime strays off into the comedic and pseudo romantic routes going so far as to having one episode essentially existing to be comedic filler. This is not to say that these filler episodes were inherently bad, far from it. In fact they were most likely added in order to portray the vast spectrum of scenarios in which death occurs. However the issue lies in that between the two ends of the spectrum that Death Parade portrays, a different anime could have been made for both. In other words, there could have been a version of Death Parade that was more comically oriented and one that was more seriously oriented. And though the two spectrum can in fact be placed together, the fashion in which it was done on Death Parade was disjointed and misplaced.
The characters of the anime are nothing special as well. Most characters come and go as a result of being dead and the ones that stay are not built upon. The two who are, the main female protagonist and Decim, are not explored in depth and the reason as to why the female protagonist was such a special case in the anime is not definitively explained. The other arbiters, all of whom are not explored either, could be seen lounging and overall not doing what they were supposedly created to do.
Conclusion :
As a whole, Death Parade is an anime with bounds of potential for amazing storytelling and philosophical contemplation though it struggles trying to define what it really wants to be. It is an anime that is serious, but does not want to be too serious. It is in this indecisiveness that Death Parade ultimately falls short. Despite all of this, Death Parade is an amazing technical anime with great sound and animation and though great scrutiny was placed upon its obvious shortcomings in terms of storytelling, it is not to say that Death Parade is not an anime worth watching.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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