Nonetheless, it would make me happy if you still decide to give it a try after reading this ^^
Having said that, on to the actual review:
Death Parade is a fascinating take on the nature of humans. Even if it`s not something necessarily original, the search for a meaning to live and to exist has always been something that everyone have asked themselves at least once in their lives.
Death Parade`s central theme is exactly that - the good old question about the meaning of life.
As if inspired by philosophers like Hobbes and Rousseau (and ultimately leaning on some of the latter`s teachings), it tried to give their own answer. To portray what it means to live. To be human. To feel sad. The value of life. The joy of living. Memento Mori and Carpe Diem.
And simultaneously brought to light another crucial theme - the judgment of human life.
Death Parade`s judgement system is wrong and wicked.
It condemns people based on their actions in life and right after being sent to the afterlife. It manipulates them and forces them to act pressured by their natural will to live and their unwillingness to accept that they are already dead. The judgment ignores their deepest regrets and feelings, it`s always devoid of emotion, it`s made by non-humans who have never lived before. It`s too rational, too ignorant and unreasonable.
The thing is, to live is to have regrets, to make mistakes. No human life is immaculate. It`s build on choices you make and choices you regret making. It`s build with the help of others. You`re not free to live alone, to walk a path that is only yours. Such notion is a fallacy in itself. You aren`t even born out of your own free will. So judging someone the way the puppet-like arbiters do is obviously wrong and unsuitable.
And that´s the main message the creator, Tachikawa Yuzuru, wanted to transmit to us, viewers. He wanted us to search for our own answers, to make us think, to force us to get out of our comfort zone and re-evaluate things, to consider again what we think about life and death, and what it means to exist and interrogate that very own existence. And since one thing logically leads to the other, to question our own nature.
Are humans evil?
What does it take for one to become a monster, a murderer, for one to lose his humanity? Then again, does getting rid of your own humanity makes you any less of a human? Even if you turn evil and lose your sanity, aren`t you still human nonetheless? What does it mean to be human anyways? And in all honesty, who am i to say you`re not human anymore? Who are you to say that you`re not human anymore? Who is society to say that you`re not human anymore?
Does that even matter?
Is it valid to condemn someone based on common sense? Based on what other people dictate you? Based on your own flawed, deficient, weak, inadequate, purposeless, ignorant view or opinion? Is it right to even judge someone else or even your own self in the first place?
Naturally, you can came across many different answers to this question and it`s hard to say if there`s even a right answer.
The apparent nihilism one has to go through to reach an aswer is what makes it beautiful and all the more valuable.
Said answer you may have already found it, but let me tell you - you`re just delluding yourself into thinking it`s the correct one. Your answer is shit. Just like my own answer. Just like everyone else`s answer.
But isn`t it at least important that you at least have come across one? It doesn`t matter if it`s a meaningful one. It doesn`t matter if your answer is completely devoid of meaning. In the end, after all is said and done, we will still have our own opinion, our view and values, a construction made out of smaller deconstructions, an image that depends on many things and is something ultimately personal and subjective, and equally shitty as anyone else`s, and obviously as valuable and noble as everyone else`s.
Nevertheless, at the very end we`re fundamentally alone, unable to understand others and to make others able to understand us. And there`s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Let your individuality shine, live your own life, share your joy and sorrow with others, value every moment of your life as if you were about to die tomorrow. Make mistakes. Live and find your own answer.
