Featuring original works created collaboratively by young Japanese animators and leading Japanese anime studios, Anime Mirai (Now known as Anime Tamago) has provided many unique short films over the years. Although each compilation have had some standout works, Anime Mirai 2013 was the most notable in my opinion. Not only did all four features that year offer something special, but two also unfolded into broader series outside the initial OVA. While it could be argued that Little Witch Academia was the most successful with a successfully crowdfunded second OVA and TV anime currently airing in Japan; it was Death Billiards from Madhouse which stood out to me the most.
The concept behind this episode was simple yet powerful. In the afterlife there is a bar known as the Quindecium, which is run by an emotionless man named Decim. Sapped of memories relating to their death, any two guests who arrive in the bar are pitted against one another in a game. While these games initially look harmless – such as a game of Billiards in the standalone episode – each are designed to evoke an emotional response and slowly unravel often darker details of their past. Coupled with other information, Decim will used these responses to determine whether they go to “Heaven” (Reincarnation) or “Hell” (Void).
When I watched Anime Mirai 2013 during Gold Coast Film Festival 2014, Death Billiards was the film which intrigued me the most, primarily due to its more somber and complex themes – putting a mature and interesting spin on the mysteries of the afterlife. At the time this was something I hoped to see more of in the future. Fast forward a few years and finally in 2017, a full TV anime titled Death Parade has been launched on DVD and Blu-ray by Funimation Entertainment (North America) and Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand).
Death Parade starts off with an episode similar to the one presented in Death Billiards, with two characters-of-the-episode (this time a newly married couple) forced to play through a grueling game of darts. When rumours of an extramarital affair and a potential baby begin testing the couple’s mental fortitude and faith in one another… the darkness within them begins to show. In 20 minutes, the viewer will learn who is worthy of rebirth, and who will be cast into the void for eternity.
This was a good way of getting people acquainted with the core concepts behind the show, while also offering something new for those who watched the original film. Although from this episode alone you may be given an initial impression that the show comprises of a compilation of these games, and to be fair there are many of them, Death Parade focuses on themore extensive system behind these games, and puts more focus on the individuals serving as arbiters of the “reincarnation” or “void judgments, and the systems behind them.
With years of experience working in Quindecium as one of this netherworld’s arbiters, Decim is not a rookie to the position. However his firm commitment to his judgments begin to waiver when he is assigned an assistant, who herself has no memories from the time before she arrived. While she manages to quickly settle into her role despite the occasionally macabre Death Games, the way she approaches judging guests is very different – more emotional and based on human reasoning than those by Decim. Although this puts them at odds with one another at times, they begin to both grow through their interactions.
Death Parade offers a good mix of concepts, some of which are handled well while others fall short from delivering an entirely satisfying experience. In terms of handling the two main characters, both Decim and his mysterious assistant are well developed and serve their purpose in the show well. Their personalities and mannerisms are distinct, which ultimately results in both reacting off-script during several of the Death Games they share with one another. Both also have interesting back stories. The assistant in particular serves as the more prominent character in the show, and particularly thrives in the latter-half when more about the events leading to her taking on the role are revealed.
Although it is fortunate that not every episode tackles a standard Death Game event, these trials are another highlight of Death Parade. From standard challenges such as air hockey or bowling to something more distinct such as an arcade fighting game, each Death Game is linked to the participating characters in some small way, and is handled with their own unique quirks which intensifies as each challenge draws to a close. That said, some challenges are handled better than others when evoking an emotional response or memory, as some feel like they are evoked by simply playing the game, while others randomly occur after winning/losing a round.
Each Death Game round features new characters specific to that episode, meaning we don’t get to see too much development of each character outside of a particularly meaty event chosen by the writers. While this is logical due to evident time constraints, it means viewers don’t have much chance to form an attachment to each character before they are judged and sent on their way forever. Yet it also leaves the question of whether individuals can realistically be judged with little information based solely on one event or period of time in their life, which is all that is usually displayed during a game.
There is a lot of focus on Decim and his assistant in Death Parade, and these two are handled well. However, it is the events taking place outside the Quindecium which stand out even more – although ultimately feels incomplete and underwhelming in some aspects. While there isn’t much that can be written without going into spoiler territory, this facet of the storyline focuses on Nona, who could be considered the manager of all arbiters, and whom isn’t completely satisfied with the current system of judgments. While her overarching storyline is concluded to some degree. it did ultimately feel rushed, and in my opinion the show would have benefited from more episodes to ensure this promising arc received the attention it deserved.
Although the storyline isn’t without its flaws, Death Parade covered a series of events which adapted the concepts of its original OVA well. While I don’t see them returning to this universe in the future, I would have no objections to this creative team returning to Quindecium once more.
It shouldn’t come as much surprise considering the circumstances each was built under, but the animation and art design of Death Parade doesn’t meet the incredibly high standards presented in Death Billiards. But that comment only holds up in my opinion if you compare the two back-to-back. Featuring animation by Madhouse, Death Parade is a very well designed and animated show, which takes the concepts first presented by the original OVA, and constructs a visually pleasing world out of them. While the deceased are often fairly standard in design, each newly introduced secondary character is uniquely designed, and fit the “afterlife” theme well.
As with most shows published by Funimation Entertainment in North America, Death Parade includes a newly commissioned English dub along with the original Japanese dub. In my opinion, the company have managed to bring together a good assortment of VAs for each character role, whether they are for human or someone involved in judgments. With a lot of prior experience under their belts, both Jamie Marchi and Alex Organ nail the personalities of the lead characters. The secondary cast also have some solid VAs in their mix, with some personal highlights including Jad Saxton as Nona and Zach Bolton as another arbiter named Ginti. Many Funimation regulars also take on the roles of different guest characters.
Funimation Entertainment regularly impress me with the amount of extra content they include in their anime releases, and Death Parade is no exception. The most notable addition can be found on Disc 2, and is the original Death Billiards OVA. Unfortunately this feature hasn’t been dubbed in Japanese, but was nevertheless a great addition that I am glad to see they obtained the rights for. Another distinct offering is a live-action segment known as “Playing with House Money”, featuring some of the English VAs. These two notable offerings are complemented by another great audio commentary, clean OP/ED sequences and an assortment of trailers which will differ depending on whether you purchased the DVD (Madman Trailers) or Blu-ray (Funimation Trailers) copy.
Death Billiards was a fantastic short film which offered an interesting concept, and Death Parade took the strong foundations laid down and ran with them. While not everything is flawless and I would have liked an extra few episodes dedicated to the “behind-the-scenes” workings of the arbiter system, this was nevertheless a mature and fairly sophisticated show which offers something different from other recently released series.
Considering what films like Little Witch Academia and Death Parade have accomplished, it would be great to see even more original Anime Mirai / Anime Tamago works adapted to TV series in the future.
