Death Parade - TV Series Review

I do want to mention how well the entire universe was designed. Quindecim and the surrounding bars, Nona’s house, the elevator, and the nearby train station all feel perfectly contained; all of it could be packed into an office building somewhere in downtown Tokyo, or the entire operation could be floating in space or somewhere more exotic. The idea of the bar is fantastic, implying the belittlement of human ideas of judgment and divine purpose while returning to address them in a neat circle.

Characters

The introduction of one or two souls destined for judgment at the beginning of each episode gives the idea that the cast is a relatively big one, but the end credits serve a helpful reminder that the cast is actually quite small.

Only nine characters appear in more than one episode, and the vast majority of the action and dialogue is played through by three of them. This is generally a bit of a risky move: if the characters aren’t designed well and turn out unlikable, the audience suffers.

However, Tachikawara Yuzuru, the director and creator of the series, definitely knew what he was doing, because the characters are downright excellent. All the characters felt diverse and worthy of consideration, including the extras.

The main characters, Chiyuuki and Decim, carried the plot well, and the chemistry between them was definitely interesting. The polite, heartless Decim, ever so faithful to his work and patrons, while not being afraid to apologize after making the occasional mistake. Chiyuuki, the slightly short-tempered girl who wears her emotions on her sleeve and isn’t afraid of making her voice heard when she feels like Decim is making a mistake.

The two of them provide interesting, contrasting viewpoints to most of the extras' conflicts during the games, and Chiyuuki’s backstory provides a gut-wrenching look at some of the worst circumstances that can lead to a person’s death. Nona, Ginti, Clavis, and even Occulus, all provide interesting backstory to the bars, and the occasionally required comic relief when the situations get too emotional or difficult for the audience to handle.

These characters were definitely some of the most well-rounded, well-designed characters I’ve seen recently in anime. The nature of the anime certainly helps, since we’re given a lot of dialogue and painful scenarios to see the different sections of the character’s personalities, but that just comes with the territory for an anime like Death Parade.

I also want to add that Decim’s string power is definitely a good touch too. Certainly in a place like a bar for the newly deceased, violence is bound to occur, and giving the person in charge the ability to handle that violence and deal with the perpetrators in short order is excellent.

It was also handled excellently by the director. Never mentioned explicitly, just taken for granted as a tool necessary for the execution of the judgement by the arbiter. Having the power be in the form of strings also gives Decim the impression of being a puppet-master, while the tautness of the strings and the sharp, sliding noises accompanying the strings lend him an image of power and capability. Decim can and does protect both himself and the patrons from themselves, and that’s that.

Music and Art

This is it. This is what turned Death Parade from a very good anime to an excellent one. Both the art and the music are fantastic, and I can’t find more words to express the magnitude of my admiration for both. First of all, art and design are absolutely perfect.

The characters and settings are unique and serve their purpose flawlessly. Just take Quindecim as an example. The bar is composed of a central hall with two round wings on either side of the bar. The entranceway from the elevators where the patrons arrive is long and haunting, and typical, high-class bar décor lines the halls and bathrooms, with various plants and water features.

The amount of detail in the bar itself is stunning, with the mannequins Decim decorates around the bar creating stunning background details, and the various alcoholic drinks behind the bar constantly catching the eye. The color scheme was also excellently done.

The pale skin tones and Chiyuuki and Decim’s black and white hair, respectively, emphasize dichotomy, while the bar’s primary usage of deep purples shows a blend between the two, and richness only emphasized by the high ceilings and soft carpeting. The art, accompanied by the music, lends the entire setting a feeling of danger.

This is where death rests, where judgments are made without any consideration for human feelings, and where people move on, and this is only for this first bar! The other settings, like Nona’s house, are equally mysterious and unique, each one hinting at the existence of a larger, tantalizing universe of judgment and mystical power.

The music, however, is what truly carries through on Death Parade’s promise. The music in Death Parade, which I later found out was composed by Yuki Hayashi, the genius behind the Boku no Hero Academia soundtracks, is the crown jewel of Death Parade -the capstone on the pyramid.

The soundtrack is just the perfect mix of jazzy and melancholy, quizzical and despondent. The pianos and the occasional bass give the entire show a well-deserved feeling of refinement, of a quiet jazz bar late in the evening, with quiet patrons sitting around comfortable tables, speaking in hushed tones of older days, with the bartender quietly polishing a glass and arranging his bottles.

At other times, the music heightens the reaches of emotion generated by the characters we grew so attached to, and the details of the deaths Decim and Chiyuuki try so hard to understand. It’s truly impossible for me to explain just how powerful the effect of this music was on the show; it would definitely not be the same without it.

Conclusion

Death Parade is an excellent piece of original work and some of the best dark drama I’ve seen in recent memory. The character and set designs are on point and the subject matter of each episode is the perfect mix of intensity and individuality, making Death Parade one of the rare anime where each episode is strong enough overall to stand individually. Yet, that doesn’t lessen the importance of the other overarching plotlines.

Despite their issues, Death Parade is truly enjoyable to watch, and when I finished it, it really did motivate me to start questioning some of the bigger issues in life about judgment and the nature of darkness in the human soul.

Death Parade is a journey, and while it is in no way perfect, it is a fantastic venture into the darkness of the human soul, the sorrow one can perceive, and the hope one might find from the wholeness of human emotion.

That, and the music is absolutely insane.