Star Crossed Anime

Why do you do this to me death parade? You dodge your true potential and instead focus on background exposition or, of all things, comedy. Then just as I was about to lose interest and give up, you present the best episode of the series so far. Now this, this is what I was talking about.  A death game between a detective and a young man with one of them being a murderer. I was hooked from the very first minutes. This episode really worked because it focused on the core characters. Namely Decim, Onna and the players. No distractions. No off tonal moods. Most importantly, no boy band fangirls. The detective was clever in gauging the situation and the young man’s dilemma of speaking to a cop when he had a severed hand in his bag made the conversations tense. What I truly loved was they changed over the course of the game. In the beginning neither of the two looked like killer material and both seemed to be good people. But then they’re memories started coming back. More and more reasons why these two could kill came up and their personalities did a turn as they remembered. The light-hearted detective turned cold and determined and the young man desperate and anxious. Truly it is a scary thought that one memory changes someone so much.

A few bad notes however. While this was minor, it’s the first part of a two part episode. While that’s fine it was disappointing when the episode ended just as things were heating up. Another thing is that game they played wasn’t very interesting and felt like an afterthought. The added “pain factor” was really just a rehash of the first games(and death billiards) gimmick. Finally the greatest offender was the after credits scene. I was having a lot of fun speculating as to who of the two guests was the killer. But then Onna goes and says the answer. Why did Onna have to spoil the surprise? This twist have been more effective if it was unveiled in the next episode. I don’t get the reasoning of revealing it here. While I am still interested in how this will play out, one of the things that made this episode so engaging has been removed. But negative points aside, colour me surprised. This episode is a great set-up for the next episode and hopefully a turning point in the series.  You have my attention again Death Parade. So please don’t mess this up.

Why is the girl from the last episode still around? This episode brought up three rules about arbiters. The third rule, about arbiters not having emotions, Is odd to me. For the arbiters we have been introduced to are very emotional. They state that Decim was given human emotions yet he is the least emotional of the arbiters. So are the others faking emotion? Is is a guideline and not a reinforced rule? Are the feelings they have not really emotions? Is this a logic plot hole or a philosophical inquiry? Well in either case I don’t like it because I am not watching to debate what is truly real. I am here for the death games.

There was one in this episode briefly though it was more an afterthought as the episode focused more on the arbiters. Admittedly seeing how Decim became an arbiter is interesting and insight as to why he has the hobby of building dolls. Though this brings up the question of if the guests bodies are dolls then how is it that they can drink, spit, bleed, etc. I suppose you can just say that it’s the afterlife and that’s just how these things work. But that’s why I oppose explaining it’s process or applying a sense of logic to it. Because if you apply logic to this part of it you must also have to apply logic to the whole process. That my friends, is where plot holes and inconsistencies raise their ugly heads.

Alright I think that’s enough complaining. This was a better episode than last week’s train wreck.  There are intriguing elements to the direction this show is taking with this subplot of sorts. Its clear that Nona has violated the rules and is trying to keep the leader from noticing that Decim has an assistant that he clearly shouldn’t. The new character, who I mistook for a boy from the opening, is a nice foil to the straight laced, business only Nona The end of the episode even teases a death game between a trousome pair normally given to more experienced arbiters. I welcome a return to what should be the focus of the series.

Death Parade in a risky move has taken things in a new direction. A daring adventurous move that no one expected. And it is…absolutely terrible. Death Parade, what happened? Did no one read over the script and do a shaft head tilt in wonder? Was there not an Animator who said “Excuse me sir. But I was under the impression that this was a psychological thriller. Not a slapstick comedy.” This is just one of those creative decisions that just has me baffled. To think that a team went over this and thought it was a good idea is something I have difficulty comprehending. But well here it is. This weeks Death Parade attempted to be comedic with a game of twister between a boy band member and one of his rabid fans.

One good thing to come out of this was seeing Ginti’s style of judgement. It definitely seems less professional and more sadistic than Decims methods. The boy band fellow also had potential in his past. I like the idea behind his guilt but find his death to be ridiculous.  A girl getting revenge on him by first sleeping with him and blowing him up with a heart shaped bomb. I think poison would have been more cost effective and wouldn’t require you putting your incriminating DNA all over him. But then there was the main problem of this episode. The girl who is apparently so important that she’s in the opening for a few seconds. A girl who sports the dumbest death in the series so far(slipped on and bar of soap in the bathroom and cracked her head) and the most pointless backstory. A girl with a personality so aggravating that she deserves to be sent to hell just so she can be removed from existence entirely. At any point when the episode looked to be improving this girl just needs to say a line to drag it back down.

There was tonal whiplash everywhere. For example, at one point the girl was going to sacrifice herself and the boy was distraught over it do to his past of driving a fan to suicide. It could have been a moving scene but the only reason the girl is giving up is because she’s too ashamed of pissing herself in front of him. It jumped from comedy to serious business.  Not certain whether it wanted to make us laugh or get emotionally invested. The final insult is that this episode was pointless. It could be removed and nothing would be lost. True the series is only half over but besides an introduction to two characters I wish to never see again we learnt nothing new. With the series half over I can only see Death Parade as yet another premise with wasted potential.  Unless the last six episodes are consistently great this is likely to be a testament of misguided direction.

If asked about how I think of death parade so far, my answer would have to be divided. On one hand the premise is rife with potential and it does have moments where it rises above the bar. But it also seems confused as to what it wants to be. We have death games between random people which shift between heartwarming to tragic. Yet we have exposition episodes about the state of afterlife. By appearances it’s episodic yet this episode looks to be setting up an ongoing plot thread. These paths each have interesting merits yet I think the show is trying to pull them all off. In truth I am reminded of a genius violinist who has a set path to greatness. Yet he insists that his true destiny lies in rock in roll and aims to play better guitar. Rather than choosing a path he wavers between the two, never doing either satisfactory.

So Onna is human. Though I had assumed so from the beginning. Actually I was given no indication that arbitrators were inhuman. As I was under the impression that Onna was being trained to be one. The interesting idea of game where one of the players played before is shot down before it could bloom. Instead bringing in a exposition episode that provides more questions than answers. There are details I like about the after world’s design such as the control center with wine glasses and raining blood. But this would need to be leading up to something. The battle segment was ridiculously out of place. I am glad the boss put a stop to it. I prefer my shounen battles in shounen anime thank you.

The storybook segment looks to be a symbol of Decim’s and Onna’s relationship. I question how someone dreams in storybook though. While I like Decims implied fondness for Onna, this story thread does not intrigue me. The conclusion of this looks obvious and potentially fatal. I am glad Maria Okada isn’t the writer of this series or this particular element would get dragged to the forefront and beaten for every forced emotional dollar. The new character is sadly just as figured. Hot headed and constantly pissed off. While his status as the former bartender of quindecim is a good point, his personality is just too stereotypical. And next week looks to be a flashback episode to when Ginti was the bartender. While it is a good way to flesh out his character I think this is just diverging into another unnecessary tangent. My interest is waning Death Parade. Please, prove me wrong.

Now this is more like it. An arcade game between two strangers with dark pasts. Excellent. But both did have a similar problem. That being they are both people who couldn’t see past themselves. It’s nice to see people react differently to the game. Here we have the two of them mistaking it for a reality tv show. But slowly realizing that something is off. The emotional breakdowns when things get dire were perfect. Misaki’s desperate bargaining and Yousukes deep regret over realizing what he gave up. Personally the most striking moment was the image of a despaired Misaki rhythmical tapping the attack button on the game after beating Yousuke unconscious. The fighting game itself was odd, like a joke game. I suppose it would be interesting to see their fighting game characters as how the general public viewed them. In Yousukes case, a typical shut in otaku. In Misaki’s a cheery vain tv actor.  This marks the first game that Decim interfered with to bring out the darkness of the players. It was a curious position for him being unusually cold. But looking carefully you could tell that he truly hated it. That look he gave the device he used to rig the game at the end of the episode showed how conflicted he was about it. I really like that about his character. He’s forced to play the role of the villain and yet is still compassionate. That last hug he gave the players betraying that façade truly moved me.

But here’s the question. Did Misaki truly deserve to go to hell? Herein Lies the problem with judging with a good or bad scale. There are always people who fit into neither category. Misaki wasn’t a nice person, that much is for certain but was she evil? Not quite. In truth she is more ignorant to the feelings of those around her. She was so caught up in her problems and misery that she failed to take into account how her actions affected others. The very thing that lead to her death. Misaki had a hard life that shaped her to be who she is. If she made a better choice for a lover she might have become a completely different person. With that said, in my opinion I agree with Decims judgement. Nothing was as telling as Misaki slamming Yousuke’s face into the arcade machine. She did regret it, yes. But only after she had done the deed. There were plenty of telling things in her flashbacks and her actions. I for example found it interesting that her special attack in the game where the children came to help and the only useful one was the baby. The only one too young to recognise his mothers faults. It wasn’t her fault but her experiences had corrupted her. She was past the point of no return. If given a second chance at life I fear she would only repeat her mistakes. Yousuke however recognised his mistakes and saw what it was he threw away. Therefore he was more deserving of redemption. Still Misaki’s end was a cruel one and one deserving of pity. Next episode we get to met the red haired fellow from the opening so I wonder what he will bring to the table.