Death Parade is about two people being sent to a bar to play a game designating whether their souls will be reincarnated or cast into a void. You see, the two people died at the same moment and Quindecim, the bar they’ve come to, is part of a large purgatory-esque complex in which the bartender, an arbiter, tests the two souls to find out whether they’re bad or good. This is done through a randomly selected game—anything from air hockey to old maid. The people don’t realize they’re dead and are also forced to believe the game they are playing is to the death. This brings out the worst in them, especially when their bartender slowly returns their lost memories. It all culminates in a final judgment by the bartender.
It’s a great concept, one that is fleshed out well and is rather unique. The problem is that the story’s pacing is a tad whacky. The first episode is excellent; one of the most intense introductions I’ve ever sat through. After that we’re given an episode that explains what happened and introduces us to the lead female, a nameless woman who knew she was dead when she entered Quindecim so could not be judged. She’s now the assistant of the bartender, Decim, while they wait to judge her.
As it goes on there is internal drama among the various arbiters and we do see quite a few games, but I felt that none of them were as riveting as that first episode. It had multilayered emotions, it was complex and intriguing in the way the characters reacted to the various revelations they were having. But further episodes are less involving. As a viewer, you’re expected to join in on the judgment of these people and while the first episode presented many conflicting emotions and theories, the later ones are simplistic.
One of my biggest problems with the pacing, though, is how much time is given the different denizens of “purgatory”, but how very little we get out of them. One of the moral dilemmas of the show comes from the way the arbiters conduct their judgments, most of the complaints coming from the human girl. This is very interesting and could have led to something, but is put on the backburner. There’s an older gentleman who seems to run the show and looks like a bad guy for much of the later episodes but nothing with him and Nona, the manager of the bars, is resolved.
The final episodes, though, do wrap up a lot of the story and are very emotional. It presents ideas and arguments that, while not fully developed, are still intelligent and fresh.
I have to wonder a lot about Ginti, the bartender of another gin joint. He’s given a whole episode but because of the brevity of the anime, his conflicts with Decim’s style aren’t fully exploited and even the fact that he doesn’t judge a certain girl until near the end of the show isn’t given any explanation. I can assume he couldn’t judge her due to her actions, but it’s never explicitly stated.
Also, when you die, prepare to be judged by a bunch of drunkards. Good lord.
Characters
The only two characters worth giving a long mention are Decim and the black-haired woman. Nona and her compatriots are all slightly compelling due to their jobs, but they aren’t given enough time to develop. Each human that comes out of the elevator and into one of the bars is interesting (some more than others) though I can’t remember being entirely impressed aside from the first episode and Ginti’s episode when a raving fan girl meets her celebrity obsession.
Decim is, for the most part, boring, but he does develop slowly and provides some of the funniest moments of the series. As he is an arbiter working with a human and had strange ideas to begin with, he’s kind of a loose cannon, at least, that’s the impression I got. As we head toward the finale, I caught a hint of love pass between him and the female character as he becomes more human-like, a taboo for arbiters.
The mysterious black haired woman is a nice counter to the non-human, no emotion Decim. She brings feeling to the judgment proceedings and turns out, by the end, to be an extremely likeable character, just as memorable as Decim if not more.
Animation
The animation is gorgeous, generating a feeling that is both dismal and mysterious. The low lighting of Decim’s bar adds an otherworldliness that is further exemplified by the insanity of the rather quaint games that are played. I also liked the fact that Decim’s bar was a western style joint while Ginti’s was Japanese inspired.
Character design is also very good and unique. It all culminates in a visually pleasing (though I wouldn’t say stunning) show.
Sound
I love the opening just because I’m a sucker for a dark show that opens with a happy-go-lucky song. It’s an upbeat dance number that has animation of all the cast doing crazy dancing and silly things. It’s a memorable opening sequence. During the show, the lounge music adds authenticity to the setting. The ending is also pretty damn good, a lot heavier than any of the other pieces on the soundtrack.
Entertainment
For the most part, I found Death Parade to be a very fast, enjoyable ride. Where it slows down is toward the end, when a lot of things happen with little explanation, a lot of character threads are left unfinished, and the idea of the judgment game is tossed out the window for a pretty good study of our female lead and Decim. It’s an anime I loved watching this time, but don’t see myself watching again.
Overall
As the first anime I’ve watched of 2015, Death Parade leaves me hopeful for future reviews (it’s definitely better than eighty percent of what I watched last year). The problem is that it feels like it crammed too much into too small a package. With twenty-four episodes I can see adding all the additional arbiters and denizens, but with twelve a lot of the subplots are underdeveloped and don’t even have a conclusion. Instead, the focus should have been on the games and character studies of the humans who played them, finishing with the judgment of Decim’s partner. That’s not to say Death Parade shouldn’t be watched because I’d definitely suggest it. Just realize that what you’ll leave with is a product so interesting you can’t help but love it, but so incomplete you’ll wonder where the writers were going with some of the subplots.
