Death Parade Final Episode (12): Emotion doesn’t work like that

And so ends this love story of sorts? A lot of parts in this week’s episode were very predictable, but I don’t fault that because I consider those parts “correct”. For example, the button that brought Chiyuki back to life at the cost of someone else’s life definitely had to be a test…it’s just too good to be true. The main problem I had with the episode is the part where Decim gains emotions. The show treated it as though it were inevitable given what he had witnessed/experienced, but it didn’t follow at all for me. So he just sees this big emotional scene with Chiyuki and it’s enough?

Oh well, all in all, I’d say I enjoyed most of this show even if the ending was somewhat disappointing. I had fun analyzing the episodes even though the analysis for this final episode is pretty tame. The ending makes it so that I’ll probably never watch the series again, but I don’t mind recommending it to others (especially given my shortage of other options from this season).

Death Parade Episode 11: Meaning of life?

So this week’s episode finally reveals Chiyuki’s past and how she died. In the end, it sounded like she ends up coming to a fairly selfish definition of her existence. I assume it’s something along the lines of this: as a mind that has no real connection to the workings of any other mind, the only true existence is oneself. I’m taking this line of thought over the alternative, which is “skating is my life and without it, I’m nothing”, which has always been a foreign thought to me (someone who has never had that level of passion).

Next week, the show finally comes to an end. It looks like the final episode might end up being pretty dramatic with Oculus trying to throw a wrench into Nona’s plans. The only thing I can really glean from the preview is that the elevator to the void seems to be very relevant next week. I’m really quite curious about how this one will end up turning out.

Death Parade Episode 10: Life and Death

Well, this week’s episode finally starts to get into the background of our heroine, whose name is revealed to be Chiyuki. The judgment for this week, though, could hardly be called a judgment. It was such a relaxed game. Other than that, Decim has decided to question his existence. I don’t particularly disagree with that…it’s fine to question why you’re doing your job and what effect it’s having. But the question of the purpose of life is always a rather dull one for me because it feels like an almost pointless question (not to take Oculus’s side or anything). Does life really need a purpose?

I suppose the final two episodes will have to go more into Chiyuki’s past. I assume it’s somehow related to this judgment system. From the preview and the final scene in the episode, it looks like Oculus might not be the only person who stands against Decim and his new way of thinking. It looks like Ginti will also be joining in this conversation. Should be interesting to see how a show like this ends…it’s been fairly enjoyable so far.

Death Parade Episode 9: That was fun, right?

Huh…so the two were linked after all. This pair brings up an interesting question. I would think that many people would be sympathetic towards the boy, caught up in his emotions and acting extremely as a result. There’s this sense of “we can’t control ourselves, so we can’t fully be blamed”. However, on the other side, a psychopath legitimately can’t feel the same empathy that most humans do. In that sense, I don’t necessarily disagree with arbiters’ stance of judging by actions. We don’t condemn someone with psychopathy that controls it and conforms to society.

But back to the show. I’m curious why it seemed like Decim felt physical pain throughout that final conversation. This isn’t going to be the standard cheesy development where he’s learning to have feelings and they’re causing him pain that he’s not used to feeling, right? Is there even going to be a judgment next week? The preview seems to indicate that a lot of soul-searching will be happening.

Death Parade Episode 8: The fun begins?

So the big deal with this week’s pair is that one of them is a killer? Based on the events of the episode, it looks like both of them might be the killers. I’m actually really curious why that complicates things. Normally, it would be hard to remain objective when judging a murderer, but shouldn’t the arbiters have a much easier time with that than a human would? But I guess an arbiter might not consider things like temporary insanity like modern court systems.

Next week continues this pair’s story. It really feels like the two stories must be linked based on how they were presented, but I’m hesitant to assume that because it seems too easy. Plus, it’s been established that there doesn’t need to be proximity connection between the two deaths. My current working theory is that the detective finds the boy ready to kill the stalker who assaulted his sister and tries to stop him, but that connection just seems so weak. I guess we’ll find out next week.

Death Parade Episode 7: Some background time?

This show really does have an interesting take on the afterlife. In our society, it’s easy to think of the afterlife as this perfectly ordered place where everyone is judged fairly by some ultimate being. But what if the afterlife is finite like our world? What if there are limitations? Judgments can be bottle-necked by this information bureau and arbiters are judging humans based on having no experience being human. If your afterlife was something like this, would you still want to believe in it?

Anyway, it looks like the point of this show is putting the unnamed human with Decim in order to create a more “human” arbiter, presumably just as part of Nona’s personal experiment. I wonder what’s going on with the people for next week’s episode…what would they need to have to require a specialist?

Death Parade Episode 6: Quite possibly the worst ways to die ever

Well, that was a pretty goofy episode. Can I just say? If you’re going to kill someone, please don’t blow up a hotel room unless you’re sure the blast won’t affect the rooms around you. Innocent bystanders shouldn’t die in your revenge attempt. There are plenty of alternatives. But that griping aside, this week’s episode introduces the techniques of a different arbiter.

While the extreme elements thing might have seemed a bit much, he doesn’t really seem all that different from Decim. Perhaps he took a bit more of a sick joy out of it and likes to toy with his marks a bit more. But that feels like something that would happen to every arbiter after doing their job for too long…assuming they were formerly human and can still get bored.

Presumably next week’s episode switches back to Decim. However, I still question the point of the show. Is the show actually supposed to be episodic? They’re not bad, but I need to approach things differently if there really is no overarching story. It’s entertaining so far, but who knows how long that will last?

Random side point: it’s actually funny that the first episode introduces the show as possibly looking at the corruption in human behavior, but it actually looks like pretty much every other story has tried to be heartwarming. Maybe the point is actually to display how much is left behind at death?

Death Parade Episode 5: New characters and new questions

So they finally decided to give us some of the rules of the game. It looks like the pairing of people that arrive at the bar is done by some mysterious bureau (presumably controlled by God), so I can probably stop trying to force logic on the rules of how they arrive. I think the more interesting comment of this week’s episode was made by the older arbiter playing pool again Nona (the one about his being closest to God). Is that the final goal for all arbiters? They have to be doing this all for a reason, right?

The woman (has she been named yet?) that hangs around Decim also poses an interesting case. We finally find out that she’s a human who appeared in the bar without forgetting her death, which apparently invalidates the game. But that raises its own questions…for example, what happened to the person that appeared with her? Theoretically, if she had remembered her death, she would have mentioned that and the other person would realize the same thing.

So what happened to the other person? Also, they mentioned erasing her memories again…why didn’t they just throw her back into the system after that was done? Maybe to be judged by a different arbiter or something. Is the focus switching to Ginti next week? It looks like we’ll see how the different arbiters have their own styles or something. I’ve been curious about that too. I also wonder if certain pairs are given to certain arbiters for their specific personalities.

Death Parade Episode 4: I’m asking a lot of the same questions here

In my opinion, this week’s episode got pretty weird. It feels like they’re pushing the parameters of their system. The couple playing the game this week just seemed like two random people who died at around the same time. I should probably stop trying to analyze the “why” for this show…there are too many inconsistencies. I just find it hard to believe that two people caught in the same accident could possibly die at exactly the same time, but that is what I assume is the connection for this week.

There are still quite a few characters shown in the opening and it looks like next week will finally start to introduce them. Honestly, this show’s still on thin ice for me. I’m not completely convinced…and the “final punch” scene from this week was definitely worrisome in my eyes. That was way too cheesy. If I had to place this week’s episode on anything, I would guess that it has something to do with accepting death. I still don’t know if I’m completely sure what the otaku’s deal was…I assume was upset at his own weakness or something. Another question: are they purposely keeping the judgments hidden or are we supposed to infer based on the elevators somehow? It really seems like it shouldn’t matter…

Death Parade Episode 3: Changing it up

Not bad. I definitely take back anything I said about comparing this to Hell Girl. There’s a lot more variation already in this show. Rather than focusing on corruption of humanity like the first episode, this week’s episode was much warmer. At the very least, it won’t be the same “trust no one” approach, right? Also, Decim’s interactions with the assistant woman (has she been named yet?) are actually pretty entertaining.

I still have a lot of questions about the setting, though. I’m sure those two weren’t the only ones on the bus that died…what happened to the others? Does there have to be some sort of seed of love between the couples that enter? Also, who determines what memories are lost? Is there someone behind the scenes that watches too much anime deciding how to puppet these couples by conveniently taking away and returning memories? Also, what happens if someone can’t play the game that is brought up on the roulette?

So now we reach an interesting crossroads in the show. My guess was that the couple in the preview is an older married couple (we’ve had newer couples up to now). The show could fall back into the corruption motif (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) or it could take a third direction with this pair. The show certainly has my attention now. Also, I still question the ultimate purpose of the show. In Hell Girl (last time I use this comparison, I swear), the point was to free the girl from her duties, but I somehow doubt this is the case with Decim. Showing the beauty of humanity to Decim also seems too cheesy…maybe some conflict will appear? I guess they could throw in an antagonist…

As a final note, I’d like to say that these songs are really starting to grow on me…the opening song didn’t leavie a huge impression with me the first time, but I’m starting to come around to what everyone else is hyping about it.