(L) Death Parade

[DragoonKain3]

My first impression was, "Hey, doesn't the wife sound like the girl from Death Billiards?" Yep, I was right, Kawasumi's feminine voice is unmistakable. Even I was a bit confused as their names were similar too, so I was thinking maybe was this really a retelling of that particular event? Then black haired girl (Seto Asami <3) comes along like a total newbie, and that answered that question.

But yeah, as someone who thought Death Billiards was heads and shoulders above the competition that year (even over that mahou shoujo anime that put Studio Trigger on the map), Death Parade being pretty much the second go around for me has lost a lot of its touch. Or maybe I just had too high of an expectation? I'm not sure, but this episode didn't have the same magic for me. :shrug:

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by Kanon

That was excellent. It lived up to all of my (high) expectations and some more.

There are many different interpretations possible, and I greatly appreciate that. Mine is thus: the winner of the game is irrelevant. The only purpose of the game is to test the players' true characters and in this particular case, their love for each other. Takashi succumbed to despair and lost himself. Machiko, on the other hand, never stopped loving him, and as a final gesture, relieved him of his guilt about killing his own unborn child by lying to him about loving another man. She did cheat on Takashi, but it was probably only a one night stand she deeply regretted afterwards. She was indeed pregnant and the child was his. Decim saw through that lie and rewarded her. She was allowed to be freed from the endless cycle of reincarnation and attain Nirvana. Reincarnation is the "punishment" for Takashi. He failed to accumulate good karma and was sentenced to try again.

Perhaps future episode will enlighten us a bit more about what happened. It's hard to judge exactly all of this works based on only one episode.

Huh? She gets into the elevator with the oni head and they said she was going to the void... sounds like hell to me.

edit: I see this has been discussed in more depth earlier in the thread. I still really don't see how getting the demon head elevator could indicate anything positive whatsoever. Seems like it was supposed to be a twist at the end that she's the one sent to the bad place. I'll admit I skimmed a little through the episode because I don't particularly like watching people be turned against each other, lol.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by jedinat

Huh? She gets into the elevator with the oni head and they said she was going to the void... sounds like hell to me.

edit: I see this has been discussed in more depth earlier in the thread. I still really don't see how getting the demon head elevator could indicate anything positive whatsoever. Seems like it was supposed to be a twist at the end that she's the one sent to the bad place. I'll admit I skimmed a little through the episode because I don't particularly like watching people be turned against each other, lol.

To be honest I wasn't sure whether she actually cheated on him or just made it up at the end either, since she snapped right after seeing his despaired face.

The guy was obviously not heaven material either so they sent him for reincarnation instead.

Th way she hid her face in the pillow looked more like she had too many drinks at her bachelorette party and realized everything the next day to me rather than loving him the guy. Might be my misinterpretation though.

Originally Posted by Miraluka

I thought that last part about the cheating was an obvious lie to fool the husband.

And that's why the barman got shocked. He noticed the lie.

EDIT
And looking at the situation from outside:

Would have worked the confession about her cheating without that flashback? I'm sure watchers would have noticed it more fast without it, and that's a good move from the studio but it also can confuse the public

Sound but sadly we will never know.
At first it sounded like an obvious lie too, but then they sent her to the void :/

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Sound but sadly we will never know.
At first it sounded like an obvious lie too, but then they sent her to the void :/

Because she herself chose that outcome.

[MasterVampire]

Im a bit confused about this series.

So it doesnt matter what kind of life a person has lived, good or bad, when they die where they end up is just a matter of chance?

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Miraluka

Because she herself chose that outcome.

A sacrifice would actually make her go to heaven in this situation though.

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

A sacrifice would actually make her go to heaven in this situation though.

That's the problem. There is no information tha tells what waits you based on your behavious but your choices.

[Goty]

Didn't find it as strong as Billiards, but it was a damn good first episode nonetheless.

There's no doubt to me that Machiko did cheat on him, but as others said, the flashback pointed out it was likely an one time night that she deeply regretted later.

Originally Posted by MasterVampire

Im a bit confused about this series.

So it doesnt matter what kind of life a person has lived, good or bad, when they die where they end up is just a matter of chance?

No. The game is just a means to expose themselves as who they truly are.
The outcome doesn't depend on who's the winner, but the contenders don't know that.

[Flower]

Ep 01

Finally watched ep 01.

Awesome. Madhouse has brought their A game here again.

Beautiful in almost every way and quite thought provoking too! I am definitely looking forward to other eps.

Easily the best new anime of this season for me.

Insta followed.

[GDiddy]

I think I just found my favorite series this season.....


As for who went to where: I do think Machiko cheated, but generally loved Takashi and when Takashi wouldn't believe her about the baby, she just figured that there wasn't anything to lose at that point and just went for the lie, which got her sent to the Void.

[Master_Yoma]

Well it fit the style of Anime Mirai but it was even more mess up then that one

[PreSage]

Aside from the oni masks, which confuses me, I would have thought that the wife went to "heaven". Reincarnation, in Buddhism, is actually a form of punishment. The goal in Buddhist teachings to is break away from the endless cycle of reincarnation by reaching nirvana.

Void is a more confusing Buddhist concept but, from my reading, Void doesn't necessarily mean a negative thing. One explanation given by the following site says that Void: "The first meaning of emptiness is called "emptiness of essence," which means that phenomena [that we experience] have no inherent nature by themselves." The second is called "emptiness in the context of Buddha Nature," which sees emptiness as endowed with qualities of awakened mind like wisdom, bliss, compassion, clarity, and courage. Ultimate reality is the union of both emptinesses."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-...b_2769189.html

Anyway, interesting first ep. Looks like that dark-haired girl is a new recruit. I wonder how one gets recruited to being an arbiter.

[Maxulous]

Originally Posted by PreSage

Anyway, interesting first ep. Looks like that dark-haired girl is a new recruit. I wonder how one gets recruited to being an arbiter.

There's a shot in the opening of them all fist pumping in the "Void" elevator. Perhaps those who reach nirvana become arbiters?

[jedinat]

Okay, so I thought about it a little and maybe the heads on the doors indicate the roll the character chooses, not their destination. The lovers are put into a situation where one must play the oni--the bad guy--for the other's sake. Since they both aren't innocent the one who is willing to take on the burden of sin, so to speak, is the one that moves on from that plane of existence.

I have seen that theme fairly often in Japanese media... becoming a "demon" for the sake of another.

[Irenesharda]

I'm not sure if this show is for me yet. It's a little darker than my usual fare. I've never seen Death Billiards but it doesn't look like you have to watch it first.

I'll stick with it for a couple more episodes, but we'll see.

[Esclair]

DAT misleading OP lol.

Anyways, I think we really need more information on what 'void' is in the future episodes to really examine what happened at the end of episode 1.

[TCman]

Wow, this is surprising! This show has become my favorite anime of this season for the time-being.

Anyway, I guess, what the man and wife hit with the darts is related to the truth. For example for the man: eye - because he saw it wrong, his wife does love him, and heart - he seems to like to cheat in the game so he can go to heaven.

While for the wife - stomach: it's not her husband's child. The wife's probably drugged and raped (by a close friend of her or her husband?), that's what I can interpret from the scenery (the wife's totally in shame and covered her face with the blanket. That's totally different from the scenery with her husband in bed, she's totally happy etc. etc.

Anyway, I guess what the darts hit is "fated" which couldn't change by free will, and most important thing is that people confessed during the game.

Well, this show feels really very similar to the Hell Girl show. Looking forward to next week!

[Hooves]

When the wife saw her husband in such a distraught mess. I honestly do believe she was lying so that he wouldn't be so conflicted with things. It wasn't like she was aiming to win, more like events occurred that swung it to her victory. Seeing the person you love make accusations even after you try your best to explain their worries. Seeing their image completely shattered after they lost, she goes about thinking she doesn't know this person anymore.

She could have just walked away and said nothing about it. In the flashback she was hiding her face out of shame for being drunk/etc and doing things with a friend, stranger, whoever. She made a grim expression before she said the things she said. Then she completely snaps as she goes about refreshing that memory. Although I really don't know honestly, the way she played out the aftermath part hints some of it is truth.

Interesting anime so far.

[Iron Maw]

Originally Posted by PreSage

Aside from the oni masks, which confuses me, I would have thought that the wife went to "heaven". Reincarnation, in Buddhism, is actually a form of punishment. The goal in Buddhist teachings to is break away from the endless cycle of reincarnation by reaching nirvana.

Void is a more confusing Buddhist concept but, from my reading, Void doesn't necessarily mean a negative thing. One explanation given by the following site says that Void: "The first meaning of emptiness is called "emptiness of essence," which means that phenomena [that we experience] have no inherent nature by themselves." The second is called "emptiness in the context of Buddha Nature," which sees emptiness as endowed with qualities of awakened mind like wisdom, bliss, compassion, clarity, and courage. Ultimate reality is the union of both emptinesses."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-...b_2769189.html

Anyway, interesting first ep. Looks like that dark-haired girl is a new recruit. I wonder how one gets recruited to being an arbiter.

I like this theory and I would be more wiling to subscribe to it, but I feel the Oni mask kinda of throws a wrench into that since still it implies that the wife wasn't going anywhere very pleasant. Honestly with how vaguely defined the rules of the afterlife still are, I'm not sure this is even an entirely Buddhist's system at work here instead of DP just mixing concepts of various religions. Heaven and Hell could still exist and Reincarnation and the Void maybe for those that still couldn't be properly placed.

[Lota]

This is so exciting! I'm going to join the people who are singing praises to this, because I just loved it!

Ok, so the setting was no news to me, as I had watched Death Billiard last year. What did catch me by surprise was that opening. Almost thought I was watching another show I loved how it was made in such a stark contrast to the series. I'm also really excited about the new characters we will see (I know the black haired woman already, and could the series please please give her a name so that I don't have to call her the black haired woman?).

The episode itself was great. I for one loved the ambiguity of it all. Had the series stated specifically what had happened, the episode still would have been good, but in my eyes the ambiguity brought it to the level of greatness. Decide for yourselves. What we do know is that things didn't end well for them, so the ending footage of their happy life and wedding was absolutely taunting.

Visually, the episode was stunning, although it did go a bit overboard for me in several places towards the end. I really like the character designs (I alredy loved them in Death Billiard though ). I've heard several comparisons to Mushishi and I have to say that at least in his character design the bartender really does look like Ginko's long lost cousin or something.

Ok, so, all in all, a great first episode. Hopefully this continues to be great, but I wouldn't want to get my hopes up. I've seen amazing series with average at best or downright dreadful first episodes, just like I've seen shows with wonderful ones that went downhill fast. Let's hope this doesn't end like that. Eagerly awaiting the second episode!