Otaku Digest: Walking In The Death Parade
Welcome anime fans one and all! It’s hard to believe we are at the end of the spring season already. We all know what that means; we get to play catch-up on all the series that impressed us this season and that is a shocking amount! It has been a very good season for anime. So where usually I tend to kick out some top 5 lists before hitting the reviews, this time round I am going to be diving into what had to be my favourite anime of last season, Death Parade. For anyone who has not seen the series yet, this review is spoiler free.
Death Parade was an anime that truly wowed me from the very first episode and continued to keep me hooked throughout the series. The anime was created from the short film Death Billiards, which was produced for the Young Animator Training Project’s Anime Mirai 2013 by Madhouse. Now a series, it originally aired on the 9th of January as part of the winter anime season and ran for 12 episodes. It was kept short and sweet but it made you want more and more.
Ever wondered what really happens when you die? How heaven or hell is selected for you? Will you go to the void? Or be reincarnated? When two people die at the same time, the selection process changes; they are whisked away to one of the many bars that are tended by arbiter bartenders. The Quindecim on the 15th floor is tended by a white haired man known as Decim. Here, he will lay down the game the entrants must play to determine their faith; they must literally put their lives on the line in the game, but there is a catch as well. When the lost souls enter the bar, they have no memories of what has happened and no idea that they have even died. These games are the ultimate test of a human’s nature and most show their true nature as the game goes on. In the end, it is Decim as an arbitrator who makes the final decision of who wins and loses.
This series has one of the most gripping narratives of an anime I have seen in a while. There is so much going on beyond the bare bones of the story outlined above. They have taken simple casino games and turned them into demented ways to torture someone’s very mind, body and soul, but without being too violent about it. It is done to absolute perfection, taking these classic games and psychologically turning them into methods of extracting every ounce of inner darkness from the person, because nothing reveals our innermost demons than when our life is on the line. Each episode has a gripping pairing of could-be ‘strangers’ or a pairing with a past friend, each with different mysterious death circumstances. Just when you think you know who has the true inner darkness, the anime throws you a curve ball. There have been some mumblings from fans that they found the game sequences long and overdrawn at times, which is a complete matter of opinion but they not only added to the suspense, you were also experiencing the drawn-out terror the player felt as their lives were threatened.
The fact that each episode’s human encounters were so different and wide spread only added to the series because it felt new each time, while there was still the inner workings of the Quindecim playing out as well. Which leads me to what the pinnacle of this series was, in my opinion: the characters. I thank the anime gods for these characters, an anime can have the best story, art and audio, but if the characters are lack lustre or uninteresting then the series is dead in the water. Thankfully, this series knew what it needed and gave some of the best and most interesting characters in anime in a long time.
There are so many great, smaller lever characters in this series, from other arbitrators and bartenders to temporary side characters, but we’re just going to look at the main three that are there. Decim, the main arbitrator we meet, is a very quiet solemn man with white hair and, from that first episode on, you can tell he has more going on deep inside. His relationship with Chiyuki is interesting as we do not understand why he has her there for the first few episodes, but as their relationship is explained and he opens up to her, especially about his dummy hobby, the reason becomes truly heart-warming. 
Each of the three characters are connected within the narrative so after Decim comes, Chiyuki, or simply known as the woman with black hair, has no memory. Her past, present and future are mysterious and unclear, but as her story plays out, you grow to love her and fear for her.
Then we come to the manager of the bar, Nona, who comes off as unimportant at first and as though she’s just there to meddle and explains the ins and outs of things, but in reality she is so much more than that. She is one of the managers of the Quindecim and she comes off as cute and little but in reality is pulling every string in the place. Nothing gets by her and yet she enjoys watching things play out. She is also the creator of Decim and the one who placed him as an arbitrator on such a high floor. She plays galactic pool with Oculus who is basically the closest thing to god you can get. She is devious, manipulative and yet you can tell she cares but will never let you know. For me, the series could have done with more of her.
Death Parade was a standout anime in the winter season. Every minute was enjoyable and held your attention, the animation was flawless, the characters relatable and interesting with a narrative that was fantastically played out with some curve balls in there for good measure. If you have not seen Death Parade yet, it comes with the Otaku Digest seal of approval.
Top notch storytelling and characters 9/10
If any of you anime fans out there are headed to Arcade Con on the 3rd – 5th of July, you can catch Otaku Digest’s Anime All-Stars in the screening room on Sunday from 10am – 1pm! We hope to see you there!
Have you watched Death Parade? Let us know what you thought in the comments!
