deathparade

There were six shows from the winter 2015 season that I was going to review. Among them there were three that were voted on by my readers. This is not one of those. In all honesty for this show, like some shows throughout the anime season, I drop some half way through but this was one of the few that I picked up halfway. This is an original piece, with the fact it had a short film last year known as Death Billiards, this is the follow-up to that. I will note that I did not see the previously mentioned short. But within the last year for original pieces that dare not have any source material very few and very few come start of strong and end stronger than they originally began, is this one of those series?

The Plot:

People die, and when two people die at similar times they are sent to a mysterious place unknown to them, a bar, run by multiple different people. The bartenders are arbiters who unknown to these people are judging them if their soul deserves to be reborn or sent into a void never to regain life again. In order for the Arbiters to decide what is to happen. They make the two people play a game in order to reveal the deep dark secrets that they kept in their lives.

The Characters:

Decim: He is the bartender of the Quindeim Bar. He is the Arbiter who judges the people who wonder on into the area. Like all Arbiter’s he can not show any human emotion. He is also known for after the people disappear is to make mannequins that resemble some of the guests.

Chiyuki: She is a human, with no memory of her life or real name. (Sorry for using her name although it is a minor spoiler and a lot easier to put then Black Haired woman) She only has knowledge that she has died and is paired with Decim to judge people while she tries to regain her memory.

Everything Else:

This was one of those rare shows in the season that I joined in half way. Normally when this happens I watch all the episodes and catch up. It is rare for when that happens when I want to watch more and am rather disappointed in myself for not watching a series sooner. That aside, everything that the series does, it has an episodic feel to it. In all honesty you could watch the first two episodes and then watch I believe the last three and get a full story. At the same time it does not mean the other episodes where filler, each one had its own mean to prove something. Each one time and time again showed the value of our lives, sometimes we can take what we have for granted, sometimes we wish we did things differently, and sometimes we do things for unknown reasons. Looking at this from a sort of psychological aspect this series says a lot about human nature and how we act. It also gives us a lot to think about and question the things that we have done.

 

Bonus and Minus Points:

+ That Opening, nuff’ said (Normally do not take music or animation style into account, that is unless it is really good or really bad)

+ How most episodes are played out dealing with a different kind of character each time

? The anime equivalent to Twilight Zone sort of in some way

+ Great all the way to the end and stuck with the flow not slowing down or speeding up too fast

+ The value of life and death always plays a role and is a good way to show the importance of it in real life

+ How much human emotion as well as philosophy of life and death is played off will

? There is not much bad things to say about it, at the same time a lot of the things that made this series great, have been covered here already the more I think about what could be bad about this series, is very difficult. The flow of how everything is done, to the characters and their development, even if those characters where only there for a single episode. It is also extremely rare for me to be this satisfied with an anime, and an original one at that.

Final Score:

99/100 (The only thing wrong with this series is that I cannot think of anything so -1 point)

This series does have a dub, and is licensed by Funimation.

What where your thoughts on this show?

If you like what you read feel free to follow. I am always taking suggestions for my content. Although reviews are a little different. Feel free to recommend me a series on the list of reviews page or on myanimelist where you can see everything that I watched.

– Joe