Death Parade – 06
No context is sometimes the best context
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Just like how anime Twister is sometimes the best Twister. |
Oh wow, a more comic relief oriented episode. This was kind of unexpected, but still great at the same time. It’s also great that when Death Parade throws in other moods for episodes (like that romance one), the results turn out pretty well. At the beginning, I was expecting this anime to be all about terrible people doing terrible things and each episode be dramatic and depressing, but this is nice too. And in retrospect, this seems like it’s better for exploring different parts of humanity. Humans aren’t just black and white when it comes to how much darkness they have. This episode also went to show that not everyone is going to attempt murder when given the chance a life or death situation either. Instead of bringing out darkness, it seemed to bring out a lot of good in people in this episode. …Er, maybe Mayu’s priorities weren’t the best here, but Harada’s attempt to save her, even though he was going to kill her moments before, was genuine.
There wasn’t any real conclusion to this game. Though I would maybe assume that both get reincarnation, since Harada seemed to be a better person at the end and Mayu… well, it doesn’t look like she had darkness in her soul at all. Or maybe they left it ambiguous at the end because they’re going to keep her around? Mayu is the only non-arbiter (Onna is her own special existence in the plot, so I’m counting her in with the arbiters for the sake of this argument) who has extensive cameos in the OP, so maybe she has a larger role. It would be nice, since her personality is just too good to only have her around for a single episode. Her death was laughable, and obviously she was meant to be quirky to the extreme, but that worked well with the episode. It also worked well in playing off Ginti’s personality, it would be interesting to see what else they could do with the duo. Especially since their chemistry and the way they could do things would be interesting in contrast to Onna and Decim.
Though if Mayu does end up being exclusive to this episode, it was fun while it lasted
That being said, the “good end” episodes seem to have the slight advantage that the contestants know each other, or something to that extent. Maybe it’s just circumstantial to the specific trials that they’ve shown, but Mayu had a thing for Harada, just like how Shigeru and Mai kind of knew each other (and obviously had some kind of attraction to each other). I guess it just goes to show that people are just more likely to kill off strangers. Then again, that married couple in the first episode weren’t strangers, and look how that turned out. That might be why the anime showed them. Plus Yousuke had a vague idea about who Misaki was, though he probably didn’t care. Maybe the pairings are a little unfair in that way (would Harada have attempted to kill off a non-fan in the same way given the same circumstances?), but they also proved in the first episode that the system isn’t totally perfect.
They introduced Ginti in the last episode, so it’s nice that they didn’t just throw him to the background and went through the effort into exploring him further. The cast to Death Parade is pretty big and they’ve introduced a few arbiter-type characters that look interesting, but aren’t mentioned a lot, so focus on Ginti is great. His way of doing his job was an interesting contrast to Decim’s too. He was just as secretive as Decim is about the true nature of the character’s circumstances, but where Decim is totally professional, Ginti just didn’t seem to care as much. This could have been just the way this set of characters acted, but the threat of death only came later too. Decim’s scare tactic works well, but they mentioned before that his collection is his hobby. If the contestants are more difficult to convince to play, what does Ginti do? The life or death circumstances during the game were more extreme too. Decim seems to use subtle hints (that involve organs often for some reason) that the characters are playing for something serious, instead of putting the contestants over a spike filled hole or anything. This kind of says something about the arbiter’s personalities though, with Decim being subtle and Ginti being the guy who rips his shirt off in the opening.
As a totally unrelated note, I do hope they go into explaining that cat.
It was interesting how they changed up the aesthetic of the bar too. Ginti’s place definitely had a “bar” feel to it, but it wasn’t quite as classy (or western, I guess?) as Decim’s. The room they played the game in was more Asian too, and it might have just been the game, but the effects with it appearing certainly weren’t as flashy. Which is different, considering how Decim is more subdued as a character compared to Ginti. This probably doesn’t mean anything profound, but it’s nice to see the people behind this putting effort into deciding different background aesthetics. They could have just had every bar look like Decim’s, but it’s nice seeing variation between settings.
I keep trying to piece together this show by how each episode adds to an overall plot (assuming that there is one). This was some interesting world building -just think of all of the bars!-, and if they keep Mayu for whatever reason, then that’s great too. Hopefully though, this episode means something for the bigger picture. They hinted in the last episode that god is gone, so maybe everyone starts keeping humans around and the system the arbiters use is revolutionized? I don’t know. …I’m just trying to justify in my head why they would have Mayu’s character around in a desperate hope that they do keep her.
At least there’s always Nona~
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Another unexpected mood shift of an episode. Like you said, it was comic relief this time around. I didn’t see it coming but a part of me glad the series isn’t all that dreary. Clearly, a lot can be interesting as long as the execution is good.
Using Twister as a means to judge people is out there. Quite out there. Whichever creator came up with that idea thinks out of the box. As I thought,
Kojou/WaveGinti (Yoshimasa Hosoya) is brutal as he is hotheaded. The added twist to the game was purely sadistic. Looking at the patterns on the colors save the question marks, I could easily see what they represented. Boy, did I feel pity for both Maya and Harada in the conditions that had to be endured. It’s difficult to say which is worse: boiling alive or feeling your own blood freeze while you’re conscious.My apologies but the deaths were hilariously ridiculous. Mayu dying by slipping on a bar of soap. That so could’ve been avoided. A lesson to have all of us pay mind to our surroundings in the shower. Harada’s was more theatrical. Death by heart shaped bomb. Oh, boy. Notice how that happened to be there just in time for Valentine’s Day. Nice coordination. Going by the OP’s visuals, I’d say Mayu will be sticking around, possibly getting the same privileges as Onna.
Side note: I don’t know if you saw the comment I made on the Assassination Classroom First Impression but I recommended a manga named “Seraph of the End (Owari no Serafu)” Give the first five chapters a trial run. I’m sure by then, maybe even before that, you’ll like the story.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yes! I wholeheartedly agree!! Death Parade’s execution is great for everything they’ve tried so far~
At least they’re keeping the games interesting! Billiards and darts seem like standard bar games, but I like how they’ve also gone out there and did things like arcade gaming or Twister. It’s unexpected, but also great to watch.
…Yes, that they were ridiculous, weren’t they xD. Though it was very fitting, given Mayu’s character. Harada’s death was pretty out there too. I really hope that she does stay! I would love to see more of her and Ginti (or more like, her doing weird things and annoying/surprising Ginti)/
Ah, I did see that! I’ve been putting off reading it, but I do want to at least start it before the spring anime starts! It’s one of the few shows on the list that seems interesting to me, so I’ll definitely look into it more!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah, when you consider anything can be turned into a death match, you’d best be prepared for anything.
Like I said about the OP, looks like Mayu is here to stay and she’ll most likely be sticking to Ginti. I wish him the best of luck. 😀
Oh, so you were aware of the anime adaptation? I’ve known about that since the first announcement backtracking to the end of Summer 2014. I deliberately brought it up to you, Overcooled, Kyokai and Irenesharda this close in time to give you all a taste of it. All the while holding back the info that it was getting anime the next season as a surprise. I’m a scamp, aren’t I? 😀
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’ll take a stab and say Ginti prefers the company of a cat to that of people. Probably finds the latter too noisy. He looks the type who likes peace and quiet.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I’m thinking that too… plus the cat looks like it’s been injured.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Ginti probably had quite an unpleasant life before becoming an arbiter.
The cat must have died as well and somehow got paired with Ginti. They haven’t explained yet how people are determined to be arbiters and Nona’s been a manager for 82 years.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
You probably heard Death Parade and other Funimation simulcast animes this season are getting English dubs while they’re still airing.
Here’s the cast list for Death Parade so far:
Decim – Alex Organ
Woman (Onna) – Jamie Marchi
Nona – Jad Saxton
Quin – Anastasia Munoz
Clavis – Z. Charles Bolton
Takashi – Eric Vale
Machiko – Trina Nishimura
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Oh, nope. I don’t really pay attention to licensing or dubs these days. But that’s interesting to know!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Most of Funimation’s simulcast shows this season are getting it.
Absolute Duo, Assassination Classroom, Death Parade, Maria the Virgin Witch (Junketsu no Maria), Seiken Tsukai no World Break, The Rolling Girls, Tokyo Ghoul √A (Along with confirmation of the first season), Yuri Kuma Arashi.
Even Akatsuki no Yona is getting dubbed by them.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I loved this one most of all. It was by far the most awkward of games played, and the interactions, though exaggerated, still felt the most human. Plus the contrast between how both of them died was just insane. Did either one “deserve” what happened.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Mayu’s death didn’t need to happen, which makes it tragic. Harada’s reward is scorn of all kinds for dumping his girlfriend but blowing him up is excessive. So in my opinion, no, they didn’t deserve it.