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Old 01-17-2015, 02:54 PM   #1
Talon87
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Death Parade


"Somewhere is a mysterious bar known as the Quindecim, where a lone bartender named Decim works. Whenever two people emerge from the bar's elevators, those two must participate in a Death Game with their lives on the line, the results of which will reveal what secrets led them there and what their fate will be afterwards." - Wikipedia

Death Parade is the Winter 2015 television sequel to 2013's stand-alone project Death Billiards. If you haven't seen Death Billiards yet, then I highly suggest you do. One of four Young Animator Training Project entries for Anime Mirai 2013, it's a 26-minute short story that stands all on its own and is quite good. So good, in fact, that scores of fans demanded more. And that's why we now have Death Parade.

Death Billiards - Wikipedia (spoilers!)
Death Parade - Official Site (日本語)
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Old 01-17-2015, 02:55 PM   #2
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Old 01-17-2015, 02:56 PM   #3
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Previous Posts

Below are links to earlier posts we wrote in the Suggestion Box pertaining to Death Billiards and the first episode of Death Parade.

Death Billiards: Talon87, Doppleganger, Mcsweeney, lilbluecorsola, Talon87, Doppleganger, lilbluecorsola

Death Parade Episode 01: Talon87, Doppleganger
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Old 02-21-2015, 09:29 PM   #4
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Just my thoughts so far up to Episode 7:

Spoiler: show
It does most everything right in terms of atmosphere, and so far characterization has been done well enough to be satisfying with pretty much everyone, though I feel it could be bit better for some of the more minor arbiters, primarily Clavis since I want to know why he's so peppy dammit! The only thing I'd minus the show for is the fact that we're past the halfway mark already and are just now getting into the meat of things plot-wise. I mean, I'm admittedly just nitpicking to nitpick here since thus far Death Parade has been consistently good and a really fun ride. I'd enjoy it getting a slightly larger number of episodes, instead of only 12, just so it can have the time to contain more episodic judgement episodes while also having enough time to make a full storyline with a couple subplots, but hopefully they'll manage to wrap everything up nicely. So far I don't think it's anything super amazing, but it's definitely a good watch.
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Old 02-21-2015, 10:50 PM   #5
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I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen much discussion about this lately, given the pre-airing hype we established. I have my own reasons for being a bit lackadaisical, but I was wondering if it went in a sour direction. I know BPK has been bemoaning the Maury Povich qualifying level of adultery going on with every male/female pair who end up in LimBar.
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Old 02-21-2015, 11:56 PM   #6
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To memory there's only one episode that tackles the possibility of adultery. The others do involve relationship issues, some of which are similar, but if I remember correctly, actual adultery is only involved in one episode.

Also another thought about Episode 7:

Spoiler: show
Right now I'm guessing that the dummies sent back from the void that are taken to be "destroyed" are actually what are used to create new arbiters. Rule 3, or whatever you call it, of being an arbiter says they have no emotion because they are dummies, so unless it's a translation issue, that's a pretty obvious clue. It could be something where souls sent to the void are simply stripped of everything but life before reoccupying the dummies to become "emotionless" arbiters.
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Old 02-22-2015, 07:38 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
As is, I've been too busy to even make headway on OreGairu; Death Parade I'm now behind on despite it being my No.1 favorite of the season; in fact, I'm only caught up on Pokémon, JoJo, and Sailor Moon Crystal.

But I think it's KanColle I'll try to prioritize next. Fallen way too far behind on it, and I want to see what's happened / been going on since I last saw any.
Easily a 9 out of 10 series for me thus far. (Thru Episode 06.) Posts are delayed because real life sucks and everyone wants a piece of my time. But I have been really, really enjoying this series and it is easily my pick for Best of Season thus far.
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Old 02-22-2015, 09:34 AM   #8
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That's encouraging to hear. I had only watched the pilot + episode 1, and put off watching more because I thought every episode was just going to follow the same format of: Person is revealed to be a scumbag adulterer, person throws a tantrum when they find out the truth about the game and are being dragged off to the elevator. I thought that the lack of feedback had confirmed that the show wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but I'll see more now!
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Old 03-02-2015, 11:22 PM   #9
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Theory

Hey everyone, long time no post!

I was talking to Talon87 the other night about the two newest episodes of Death Parade. During that time we talked about what may or may not in the final 3 episodes, and it was around that time that I pitched a theory. Talon thought it was a great theory and encouraged me to post here on UPN to get everyone's opinion on this. So, here is the theory:

What if the Arbiters are THEMSELVES being judged? What if their job is a massive test for everyone... will they go up the elevator if they pass? Down to hell if they fail? What if their judgement and outcomes are done in a different way than the folks that they judge?

Just a thought!

Please share your thoughts!
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Old 03-23-2015, 11:43 AM   #10
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Through Episode 11. This series is such a work of art. The 9 out of 10 might have faltered a tiny bit but the latest episode reaffirms my decision to give it a 9 up through now. It all comes down to the final episode to determine what my final feelings are on the series as a whole, but it is unshakeably a work of art at this point. Anime of the season, by far. For me, anyway, and judging only based off of which shows I've seen.
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Old 03-28-2015, 12:30 AM   #11
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I can agree that this is definitely a 9/10 series, and I'd recommend it for anyone that enjoys things with high tensions (In a more psychological sense than an action sense), or just wants to take a look into how morality is perceived and judgement is passed. It was completely flawless, but it was pretty damn close. Great animation, good pacing for the most part, very strong finish, interesting characters only of which felt like (s)he weren't fleshed out enough, though one or two others kinda scraped the bare minimum. They more than make up for that by fleshing out the main characters and one shot characters, though. Overall just a really fantastic anime that, despite me being kinda unsure of it towards the early middle, knows what it wants to accomplish, and fully and completely accomplishes what it sets out to do.

Little bit about Episode 12 I want to mention:

Spoiler: show
I've seen some comments from random people that they're kinda mad at a lot of things about the arbiters themselves and specifically Nona and Oculus not being explained/concluded, but really, in my opinion, they didn't need to. No backstory is fine for me because it's really somewhat irrelevant. Knowing where the arbiters as a whole came from and who gave them their mission wouldn't add anything to the emotional climax of the series. Honestly, not knowing exactly where they come from is a good thing since it gives them a sort of connection to the humans their judging. For no definite conclusion to Nona and Oculus's conflict, I actually think there was a conclusion. Oculus established a new rule under his own personal set due to the events that unfolded, and Nona, though it is a tad unclear, makes her own conclusion from it. That's really all that needed to happen since they were just observers, not the main focus. The series gives us the emotions and morality climax that it wanted to, and does it wonderfully. That's all it needs to do, and besides that, it still managed to tie loose ends that were relevant together rather nicely.
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Old 03-28-2015, 07:03 PM   #12
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Just finished Episode 12.

Spoiler: show
No physical tears, but many tears on the inside. It was a good episode.

Really regret that I didn't discuss this series more as it aired. Now I'll have to beg people to watch it with nothing here to point them towards! ^^;

Final score: 9/10. Ties greats like Kaiji and Level E. One of the best animes I've seen in years. It's a shame that such high praise inescapably biases and risks endangering your own viewing, newcomer, but I hope and pray that you find the series as wonderful as I did.
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Old 04-01-2015, 04:06 AM   #13
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I've heard quite a bit about this series recently. I've been busy with life and other anime that friends have recommended to me in the past... but seeing how I'm nearly done with my list of 'watch or gtfo' anime, I feel like I should add this to my next binge. It's been a while since I've seen a good thriller. Zankyou no Terror was my most recent one a couple months ago, but it just seemed so rushed towards the end; it made me sad since it started off so well.

I'll keep in mind to check Death Billiards out first. Is Death Parade finished or ongoing?
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Old 04-01-2015, 04:53 AM   #14
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It's finished. I would also not compare it with Zankyou no Terror. This show isn't that kind of thriller, though it is thrilling to watch at times.
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Old 08-27-2015, 06:16 PM   #15
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Finished this show. Minor spoilers within:

Spoiler: show
I'm really surprised that Talon put it on the same level as Kaiji, I don't even think it's in the same league. While Kaiji frequently had hard hitting commentary on human nature and the structure of society, Death Parade basically just had a person being dragged off to the elevator while screaming, "IT'S NOT FAAAAAIR! YOU DON'T KNOW MEEEEE!" it didn't have the heart stopping suspense of Kaiji either; how could it when the outcome of the games didn't actually matter? Even the cool noir atmosphere of the pilot episode faded after we started getting a behind the scenes look at how things operate at Quindecim, and I just didn't find the backstage drama to be that interesting.

I thought the best episode outside of the pilot was the one with the boy band guy and the fangirl.


Overall rating: 5.5/10
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