This week I break down why my favorite anime short and why I like it so much. (and pray youtube's content ID match doesn't force me to remake this video) Credit Song: Moonlit Night - Death Parade
Hey! Sorry if this is too late, lol. I absolutely L O V E D death parade and death billiards. I’m really surprised more people aren’t talking about it. I love everything about both the short and the series, I just wish they were able to continue the series, as to me the last episode of death parade was a pretty obvious cliffhanger, and now we’ll never get to see how it resolves. Sigh. Not to mention the cinematography and art style. The psychological impact it can have on a viewer. The unique perspectives and points it makes. I could go on and on about this. So yeah, overall I really loved the short& series :) btw, just saw this video in my recommended, glad I checked it out! Great stuff, man
Although I agree the show ended on a cliffhanger, I believe ot to be a small one. The main premises of the franchise was three themes: 1.) Grow an attachment to a pair of characters within one episode time. 2.) No one has the right to judge and if we do judge it shouldn't be on one act that caused drastic change. And 3.) In order to live a fulfilled life, we cannot fear or avoid death. We must accept it in order to accomplish whatever it was we were sent to do. Death Parade's short lifespan only reinforced these themes. As we were giving little about the "guest's" lives in one (or two) episodes, so too was the fact we were given little about the Tower and the other Judges. Our ignorance is what makes this story so sweet and brilliant. Plus it ended fairly well and appreciate it as a limited series with a Pilot/OVA. ... ALTHOUGH, I would not have mind if they made a dub... Just sayin'
I completely disagree that it ended in a cliffhanger. By the end of the series every single plot point had been resolved, and if they were to make a season two they'd have to pull out completely new stuff
@@yamuska although it is unkown if it is actually happening still, the studio behind death parade, madhouse, did say they were going to make a second season, after many fans asking for one.. and there has been no news of it being canceled since then 6 years ago and of course since there is no manga or light novel to base it off I expect it to take quite some time as creating something from scratch isn't the easiest especially when the studio is doing other anime. but only time will tell, I would like them to send out an update of some sort even if its just a sorry to the fans saying they will not be doing a second season
Just watched this after death parade. I'm obsessed with this anime/ova! Ugh love it. I cried like a baby almost every episode. Thank you for another incite on this!
Much as I adore Death Parade, I gotta say I wish that each episode had a conflict that seems as resonant as the one laid out in Death Billiards (haven't seen it, just going off what you said). I guess that's an advantage of being just a single OVA rather than a full series. Either way, it's pretty clear the idea underpinning the OVA and the series is fantastic.
I have to agree with McReFund here. Yes Billiards was more theatrical and dramatic but the actual series elaborated that drama and enhanced it over a steady but enjoyable pace. Like with the Older Brother and Detective.
If Death Billiards was canon, which episode number would it be? I think it would be after the time the jelly fish tank broke for the "first" time (Just because of The Black Hair woman's reaction) but before 10 with the Old Man's wife. Maybe before the episode with the Idol and fan?
I don't get it, why everyone keep saying that oldman was a bad guy? He's just some olg guy, who lived a good life and he's ok with it. My guess, old guy asked Decim to send him into Oblivion and young guy to Reincarnation on purpose, cause he already outlived his life and has nothing left to regret for at all, and youn guy still got his life ahead. And old guys "creepy smile", he just had a last smile thinking "Well I had a great time. No I'll go to sleep." and NOT cause he "fooled" others. He even thanked young guy for the great game of billiards.
That's the other side of the argument, that's what I thought at first actually, and that's why the black-haired girl (I forgot her name from death parade) didn't know which went where, since it's not really clear which is which.
Actually dude the writers had it to open interpretation, its up to the viewers on how they perceive it. You forgot the scenes where he fakes his death and also he didnt care when the young man begged him to convince the arbirter to let them get out
This statement is kinda wrong, because they didn't know that they were going either to be reincarnated or be sent to the void, decim only told them that its either heaven or hell. Sorry for the grammar
I think the reasonable ending of this is that the old man just asked decim if its finally over and can he just move on. Decim was shocked to hear that the old man wanted to not at least be judged, as the old man knew his life was fulfilled, throughout the entire game, the old man was calm and collected, his life had already been fulfilled. Also as for his “creepy smile” he lost his dentures and glasses, his grin or smile could be of relief. He was part of the the barefoot generation of Japan affer ww2 defeat. He wasn’t perfect but struggled with his mother. Given his circumstances growing up he was a bully or school thug for some time because of his living conditions and means of surviving. I believe that when he took up kendo and billiards (more so) he found something that he was really good at and can replace his bullying habits and overall make him a better person. He also married the illustrator and the two seemed to have a good life with each other. The old man realized that his life was fulfilled and wouldn’t want to replace such an experience having developed character throughout. As for the young man, he was raised well off and care free he essentially needed not to resort to violence or discipline and had both os his parents, unlike the old man the young man had no struggles in his early life which is why his memories are reversed and not normally progressed through as the old man’s were. Given his grief of not wanting to die and asking for a second chance, this result of him getting reincarnated over the old man makes sense, as his soul is tormented by his human error of emotion that his life was not lived to his fullest nor was hw content despite the better circumstances he grew up in comparison to the old man. It only makes sense that decim came to his judgement as such for this game. Keep in mind the judgments given throughout the series are all unique cases (whether they were really judgments and not simple tests of character) but treat each case differently than the other. The old man wasnt weird and the young man was just full of spoiled regret (who was shown in the elevator looking down not knowing if its the right thing to do or is it even worth it, while the old man feels relief from his earthly presence.)
I loved Death Billards, frankly, I prefer the short as the rest of the anime because of the mystery. I like Death parade a lot but they show us too much what behind the curtain and they aren't as much "talk".
Old man whispered, “back young guy to the life”. Young man got back to life and old man is the director of all these games like “squid games” the same character even the same smile at the end and was grateful of playing with such a guy. All the same
there's no hell it's called void and void is filled with nothingness. You live your life with regrets and old man lived his life with no regrets so he's good.
Personally, I found this OVA and the anime extremely boring and also predictable in many ways. This idea that purgatory turns out to be something mundane like in this case a casino is very stale and worn out. This OVA did nothing to make that idea more fresh, and had little else going for it. The bartenders/game masters were not very interesting, save for the design. The idea that you can't judge someone's entire life by a single action or mistake they've made isn't a very profound one, and the idea that "having your life be judged by a bunch of angels is bullshit" isn't either. Yes, the animation is very good, it has great atmosphere and sound design, and it's a good thing it doesn't give you all the answers, but keeps things ambiguous is good, but it's not enough. These are just my thoughts of course. I could be wrong. Also I thought that the two elevators at the end weren't "heaven or hell" but "rebirth or annihilation of the soul" if I remember correctly.
All your criticisms of the show ( at least according to that comment however ) seem to be based off the fact that the concept isn't fresh or original. But almost everything these days is derivative simply due to the fact that digital fictional media, anime or otherwise has existed for awhile .-. so i'm not sure why that's the only thing you consider when analysing the show. You even say that it had " little else going for it " but then in the next paragraph says " the animation it very good " and " it has great atmosphere and sound design ". So yeah, a bit confused.
Yes, perhaps I should have been more clear. I thin my main problem with this OVA is that the story is meant to make you think about the underlying philosophical ideas of the story, when (in my opinion) these ideas aren't that thought provoking or breaking any new ground. All of which would be fine if the characters are great, or of the dialogue was excellent, or if it had great moments - in other words, if underlying philosophical concepts weren't the main focus, but they were, as far as I could tell.
english is not my first language You mentioned in your comments that this anime had great atmosphere; sht you must be a fuckin sadist to say that... this anime is psychological and twisted ... (i dont usually watch psychological anime because it leaves me confused) but this anime become my fave anime... no one is really innocent , even if ur kind you will turn into a complete monster im sure u watched the episode one... i watch it a friend (subbed version) ; i ask what he thinks about episode one and he said that ..." yea that bitch deserves to go to the void" while me, on the other hand, i think she was lying to spare him. And i think the man deserves to be sent to void ; not the female... two of us have different interpretation of episode one of who will be sent to void/female and we watch episode 2..thats how we knew the truth !
To each his own, I think what was so ground breaking with Death Parade is the fact we get some much time to interact with a certain pair of characters, get attach to them through the most basic dialogue, and then feel sad or happy when they go back into the elevator.
