So Onna name is finally revealed and newly christened Chiyuki plays a game of old maid with a storyteller. Death parade, you are doing it again. You are drifting from what should be the focus of the series and really pushing this ongoing plot thread. So we learn a number of things. One, that Chiyuki’s time in quindecim is limited and soon she will return to being a dummy. As for what happens to her soul…well it’s not specified. That Decim is starting to want to abandon his role as arbiter as he respects humans lifes too much to judge them. That Nono is getting Quin to retrieve Chiyuki’s memories and Oculus has learned of the whole scheme after doing….something to the elevator operator. Well if you are going to push this on me then fair enough, I will give this my full attention.
If I was to describe my feelings for these developments I was say I was apathetic. This could be attributed to the fact that I care more for the games than this ongoing plot. However I believe there is another reason why I do not care for this. Simply put, I do not know the stakes. So Oculas finds out that Nona put human emotions in a arbiter. So what? Is he going to kill her? Fire her? Congratulate her? And if this is so risky then why is Nona trying to do this? I understand that it’s not good to spoonfeed everything to the audience and that keeping a person’s intentions secret is used to promote intrigue and thought. But we do not have the slightest idea of even how this world functions. We only have a vague understanding of how the arbiter process works. I said before that it’s good to keep things in the dark but if you are going to go this route then at least show a basic understanding of what’s at stake. For I cannot fear for these characters lives if I am not certain whether they can die. So how does them getting in trouble a threat when essentially they cannot be punished? Well besides being separated but I don’t have the attachment to the characters to really feel for them. I like Decim and Chiyuki is alright but I don’t really know enough about them to form a big attachment. That I believe is the real reason that I do not care for these developments. I am just too much in the dark to see how these things affect these characters.
While things may speak to the contrary, I don’t hate this plotline. I can find myself getting drawn in if it was more clarified. However this is at odds with the death games as a majority of those are now mostly filler. They may have affected the characters slightly but the main goal of making Decim question the system was really the only matter that needed to be driven home. So with regards to the main plotline the death games are…time fillers. I do not like this. The game in this episode is a prime example of that. The game of old maid didn’t bring any new revelations to the characters besides Chiyuki learning her name. I don’t see the reasoning as to why Nona would bring this guest as she didn’t provide anything the audience didn’t know and her life didn’t serve to do much besides affirm Decims beliefs. Which is counterproductive when Nona is telling Decim to continue to judge as an arbiter. So how is this old woman supposed to change his mind on the methods of judging? This is exactly why I keep saying the focus on the games. Because unless you can answer these questions satisfactorily this plotline will end weakly.
