[Anime React] Death Parade Episode 01x01

Death Parade • デス・パレード 

Season 1, Episode 1
Death Seven Darts | デス・セブンダーツ

"As I told you before, in this game your lives are at stake."

Original Air Date: 9 January 2015
Running Time: 23 minutes, 04 seconds
Language: Japanese; English

Newlyweds Takashi and Machiko find themselves at the Quindecim bar, where the bartender, Decim, has them stake their lives in a game of darts, where each dart landed causes their partner great pain.

Before, I had only seen a few stills and read a brief premise of this series. But perhaps somewhat shallowly I thought Decim's character design was super cool, and finally picked it up. And so far I'm glad I did.

"This may be a strange question, but I must ask it - do you remember anything?"

I had no real idea how this anime was going to go. Was it going to throw me into a larger story, or prove purely episodic? Since I'm still only on episode 1, I've still yet to really see much of anything, but this episode is a prime example on how you start an anime.

This really throws you into this strange world where souls are judged pretty quickly, which here is pretty effective, as you're kinda going along with the two players in this episode (Machiko and Takashi). It really only (sort of) explains the basic premise (with hints of more at the end), which combined with how good everything in this episode was handled is enough to keep me invested in this series. So far this is a pretty mysterious psychological series, and even the expectations I gained as the episode went along were defied at the end, watching a couple's psychological spiral downwards. The pair's particular story, though it kept subverting my expectation, was more surprising not in avoiding cliches (because it's a pretty overdone marriage plot, really), but rather in making me think in one direction then another, and how these problems are handled by them. And when they fully rise to the surface is how the judgement is made.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Decim, your bartender."

Visually, I'm really impressed by this anime. I did a little background searching and apparently it was based off an animated short called Death Billiards (part of a special project of young animators), which I may or may not be checking out later. Madhouse doesn't disappoint with their attention to detail (I saw this beam of light in the background that even had reflected dust dude... That's some artistic commitment). Blues, violets, and high contrast between white and predominating blacks give an otherworldly flavor to everything, which is perfect for the setting. The character designs are attractive too (I mean attractive as in well-done, though I am really loving Decim's haircut). That's part of what drew me to this series, which may be a bit of a shallow strategy, but especially with anime's increasing "moe-ness", it hasn't failed me yet.

The opening is pretty fun too (and also visually cool), though for the dark things that did happen in this episode, I'm still wondering if it fits the tone. The ending is a bit more in the same sensibility as everything else has been, at least.

You're talking to someone who looks like he came out of a goth rock band. It's not gonna work buddy.

One thing I like to do a lot of the time with a new series is to watch the first episode or two both dubbed and subbed to see which one I'd rather listen to. The English and Japanese versions both seem really good so far. But save for the last minute Decim is the only recurring character to appear so I focused mostly on his voice. Still the couple was well done in both versions even if Funimation uses the same handful of VA's every time. I think I'm leaning towards the English version though. Decim's voice is pretty neutral and aloof (but respectful) in both versions, which is probably what it's supposed to be. Alex Organ makes Decim's voice feel a little more matter-of-fact, nothing-persona-just-business, kinda thing while the Japanese feels more ominous in an unintentional way (well unintentional for Decim, maybe not for the Tomoaki Maeno). Part of me likes the voice quality of Alex Organ, but I guess it's mainly I just can't separate Tomoaki Maeno from Camus, sliding across the floor with staff and Peter Pan sparkles in Utapri...

Yeah, this is not that kind of anime - or at least, not yet

The one real qualm I have with it so far is how they refer to heaven and hell rather than reincarnation and void (which is what is actually going on). It's probably to make a bit more sense to western viewers, since it's a completely different concept than what one would find in a Judeo-Christian influenced culture, but it doesn't affect the more important point of judgement right now, so I'll let it be.

What is with me and these asymmetrical haircuts recently!?

Either way, this anime has started really strong and I've attached myself to it pretty quick. I'm thoroughly interested to see what direction this will take, because really the routes from this point are numerous. The first episode's left my mind abuzz, and I'm intrigued by what stories will be told and what overreaching plot will appear.

"Hey, bartender... We're already dead, aren't we..?"