Initially this sets up a thriller with each episode as it becomes a guessing game as to which participant is lying, who is telling the truth, what their life stories are and who will be going to the void or being reincarnated. However, after a couple of episodes the show begins branching off into a few directions. The first being focused on Ginti and Mayu, the second focused on Nona and the third focused on Decim and Kurokami. The overarching theme of the series then becomes the idea that the current judgement process is wrong. Here is where the series dips in quality a little.
During the episodes where the games are the focus, the show is at its best. The games are intense, the stories are told well and the consequences carry weight. However, after Death Parade tries to build its plot to be more than games of judgement, the show loses its direction. The actions of Ginti, Mayu and Nona all become completely inconsequential. The story of Ginti and Mayu exists to emphasize the idea that judgements can be incredibly harsh based on the current system, but to most people watching the show this is already obvious. Nona's story shows her trying to fix the system, but her actions don't develop into anything.
However, Kurokami and Decim's arc is fairly exceptional. Decim struggles to figure out how he should judge Kurokami while Kurokami struggles to deal with her regrets she still has from her previous life. This leads to both characters being pushed to their emotional limits which makes for fantastic viewing. Through this plotline, the show manages to say a lot about the importance of life and the struggles that death leaves behind. If Death Parade chose to only follow this arc during the second half of the show, it would have been much better than diluting the series with the other inconsequential storylines. Nevertheless, it feels somewhat unsatisfying to see that Nona's actions don't lead to any kind of extra conflict.
The cinematography and lighting in Death Parade are impressive. The different camera angles and mostly dark colour tones emphasize the creepiness of QuinDecim and also keeps the audience in tune with the emotions of the characters as they react to the events around them. The music used in the show accompanies these emotions well; calm at the beginning of episodes and building up as the episodes climax. Of course, the entertaining OP is worth a mention due to how catchy the song is.
One thing I also want to mention is that the show (at least for the subtitles I watched) kept stating that the arbiters can't have human emotions. The arbiters clearly show human emotions, especially Ginti who is always grumpy. This makes me think that perhaps they meant to say that arbiters weren't allowed to empathise with humans since Ginti does not empathise with Mayu at all while Decim does empathise with his visitors.
Death Parade is definitely worth a watch. The characters are entertaining, the games are intense and full of suspense and the message the show portrays through Decim and Kurokami's arcs is beautiful and touching. However, don't expect the side characters to provide a major influence on the story.
