Reevothemusefan
Vampire Ninja
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2015-02-22DPcover.jpg">
<b>Review of Death Parade - Episodes 1-6 by Reevothemusefan</b>
The 2013 Anime Mirai project contain four anime shorts that were done by young animators and funded by the government but only two were really talked about: <em>Little Witch Academia</em> by Studio Trigger and <em>Death Billiards</em> by Studio Madhouse. Two years later, <em>Little Witch Academia</em> is getting a sequel OVA episode and <em>Death Billiards </em>has now got a TV series in the form of <em>Death Parade; </em>in this review I will talk about the first half of the series and discuss whether it's worth watching.<br>
Most of <em>Death Parade</em> is set in a bar called Quindecim, a place where pairs of deceased humans arrive to be judged and learn whether they are to be reincarnated (Heaven) or sent to the void (Hell) - yet when they arrive in Quindecim, they have no memory of dying. The owner of the bar is the mysterious arbiter Decim. He asks every pair to play a game and they can't leave until one of them wins; these games include Darts, Bowling, Arcade games, even Twister, and as they continue to play, they find out their fate.<br>
We are also introduced to Kurokami, who becomes the assistant of Decim and, while we don't know her backstory yet, she provides her thoughts to Decim on the pairs that play these games. Nona, who, despite her youthful appearance, has been the arbiter manager for 83 years, is the overall boss of these characters.<br>
At first I thought <em>Death Parade</em> was going to be a one-trick pony and would just focus on pairs playing different games. Episode 1 was fantastic but the same episode formula repeated over a whole series would soon make it stale. Thankfully it's much more than that; in the ensuing Episodes 2 to 5, the show explores how the arbiters judge humans and brings some interesting ideas to the table.<br>
As for the games themselves, it was nice to see some light-hearted episodes coming out of the series, Episode 3 has a nice story where the pair are much more friendly to each other, while Episode 6 is more on the humorous side; these make a very nice change of pace compared to the more tense Episodes 1 and 4.<br>
In a way, I feel that <em>Death Parade </em>is a breath of fresh air compared to recent season offerings, it has a style that I love and it's well animated to boot, so credit to Studio Madhouse for giving this a full series. If it continues like this I could see it being a contender for best anime of the Winter season.<br>
Finally, it would be silly not to mention <em>Death Parade's </em>opening theme, "Flyers" by BRADIO; it's super catchy and the animation it accompanies is a ton of fun to watch.<br>
<strong>In Conclusion:</strong><br>
The first half of <em>Death Parade</em> is both engaging and entertaining and definitely worth your time.<br>
<br>
<em>Death Parade is currently being streamed on Viewster: http://www.viewster.com/serie/1242-19213-000/death-parade/</em><br>
<b>Final score: 8 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-02-22DP1.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-02-22DP2.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-02-22DP3.jpg">
<b>Review of Death Parade - Episodes 1-6 by Reevothemusefan</b>
The 2013 Anime Mirai project contain four anime shorts that were done by young animators and funded by the government but only two were really talked about: <em>Little Witch Academia</em> by Studio Trigger and <em>Death Billiards</em> by Studio Madhouse. Two years later, <em>Little Witch Academia</em> is getting a sequel OVA episode and <em>Death Billiards </em>has now got a TV series in the form of <em>Death Parade; </em>in this review I will talk about the first half of the series and discuss whether it's worth watching.<br>
Most of <em>Death Parade</em> is set in a bar called Quindecim, a place where pairs of deceased humans arrive to be judged and learn whether they are to be reincarnated (Heaven) or sent to the void (Hell) - yet when they arrive in Quindecim, they have no memory of dying. The owner of the bar is the mysterious arbiter Decim. He asks every pair to play a game and they can't leave until one of them wins; these games include Darts, Bowling, Arcade games, even Twister, and as they continue to play, they find out their fate.<br>
We are also introduced to Kurokami, who becomes the assistant of Decim and, while we don't know her backstory yet, she provides her thoughts to Decim on the pairs that play these games. Nona, who, despite her youthful appearance, has been the arbiter manager for 83 years, is the overall boss of these characters.<br>
At first I thought <em>Death Parade</em> was going to be a one-trick pony and would just focus on pairs playing different games. Episode 1 was fantastic but the same episode formula repeated over a whole series would soon make it stale. Thankfully it's much more than that; in the ensuing Episodes 2 to 5, the show explores how the arbiters judge humans and brings some interesting ideas to the table.<br>
As for the games themselves, it was nice to see some light-hearted episodes coming out of the series, Episode 3 has a nice story where the pair are much more friendly to each other, while Episode 6 is more on the humorous side; these make a very nice change of pace compared to the more tense Episodes 1 and 4.<br>
In a way, I feel that <em>Death Parade </em>is a breath of fresh air compared to recent season offerings, it has a style that I love and it's well animated to boot, so credit to Studio Madhouse for giving this a full series. If it continues like this I could see it being a contender for best anime of the Winter season.<br>
Finally, it would be silly not to mention <em>Death Parade's </em>opening theme, "Flyers" by BRADIO; it's super catchy and the animation it accompanies is a ton of fun to watch.<br>
<strong>In Conclusion:</strong><br>
The first half of <em>Death Parade</em> is both engaging and entertaining and definitely worth your time.<br>
<br>
<em>Death Parade is currently being streamed on Viewster: http://www.viewster.com/serie/1242-19213-000/death-parade/</em><br>
<b>Final score: 8 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-02-22DP1.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-02-22DP2.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-02-22DP3.jpg">