Forum - View topicDeath Parade (TV).
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Jacquipuff
 Posts: 274 Location: Silver Spring, MD |
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Yeah, it clearly isn't the outcome of the game itself that actually matters, but rather how the participants act during it. And of course most people are going to end up acting selfishly when told their life is on the line, but I am positive that we'll see at least one episode where one of the participants tries to sacrifice themselves for the other, and I'm interested in seeing how that kind of scenario will play out.
I find myself rather curious about the black-haired woman. She seems to be the only one of the people at Quindecim without the crosses in her eyes. Since most of the cast has only appeared in the (awesome) OP so far, which doesn't have a lot of facial close-ups, it's a bit hard to tell, but as far as I can see, she's the only one. That's obviously going to mean something, I just can't figure out what yet. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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I thought the first episode was somewhat enjoyable, but I do have a concern about this show amounting to SAW-type pornography of death. Whether there is some greater meaning or message behind this is yet to be seen.
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Episode 2:
Another solid episode. spoiler[Not only did we get events explained from the previous one but also some nice additions of the other cast joining in at Quindecim. So that's what's like behind the scenes....interesting. Nonaginta is also an awesome character imo and I hope we get more of her later on. ] Both the OP and ED songs for this show are among my favorites this season. |
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ookamigirl
 Posts: 2274 Location: Croatia |
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Wait, there is more than spoiler[one arbiter]?!
spoiler[Guess that makes sense since there are a lot of dead people circling. Decim] seems to be our main man. Looks like he got a spoiler[new assistant]. spoiler[This was happening at the same time as that couple was playing their game. So this episode was more like an explanation of how things work.] |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15464 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 2
So the idea is that she spoiler[did cheat, but she felt bad, and she used that to make him not feel as bad about her and the baby dyeing]? And our bartender spoiler[made a mistake in where he sent them because he did not understand]. The boss told the spoiler[bartender off for messing up and said new girl may be good, but then she said that she has a way to go, said something was not an accident, and focused on what the guy overheard the women say]. I feel that it is still not exactly clear. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2849 |
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A bit late to the party, but after hearing this was announced I was interested to see how the first of the Anime Mirai projects to get a full season would turn out.
The first episode more or less re-runs the original animation which inspired it, but the second one is interesting since we really do get a "reverse" of perspectives and outlooks. As to whether the judgement was correct or not, spoiler[The woman definitely cheated from the second episode memory flashback, but the black-haired girl was probably right in saying it was a one-off and didn't have any consequences. The man of course wouldn't have killed them both had he not made a misunderstanding when listening in on the wife's friends; however Nona also pointed out that a personality that is suspicious and lacks trust in partners wouldn't have brought either of them happiness in the long term. ] spoiler[ Nona did point out that the adjudicators are incapable of reading minds, only looking at memories and coming to conclusions based on what transpired. Perhaps what matters during the whole process is not the "result" of the game the couples play, but their behaviour before, during and after the gamble. ] spoiler[Due to the Manichaeistic nature of adjudication, it seems one has to reincarnate while the other falls into the void. There doesn't seem to be a rewind function, so if both individuals are just as flawed adjudicators have a difficult job deciding which of the two decision they are forced to make. ] I haven't seen many series like this one, but the closest that comes to mind is Jigoku Shoujo for its emphasis on death, punishment and possible redemption. This one is more "traditionally Japanese" in being less clear-cut and deliberately vague in its portrayal of morality. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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I enjoyed Death Billards but I found this storyline a bit weak. I don't really understand what the series was trying to say with the man and the woman's story.
And I know I shouldn't think too deeply about this because the show doesn't seem to but what is the point of these games and judgements if as this 2nd episode shows the arbiters can be wrong? I was shocked at the verdict in the first episode because I thought the same thing as the new assistant so her revelation was not surprising in the least to me. If the 2nd episode was going to clear it up I was hoping for a more complex reason for the bartender's decision, but instead the opposite came...oh I could have been wrong. Since we have only seen two story lines I won't judge the fact that it is also nonsensical that someone always has to go to the void or be reincarnated. Hoping later eps show that two characters can go to the same place. It just wouldn't make sense otherwise. Perhaps later character stories will be strong that this one. At the very least this show has a unique and interesting premise I just hope they do more with it. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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So, poor Machiko got a misinformed judgment not only because Decim doesn't understand human complexity, but also because Nona, who knows what's up and has a deep understanding of people, doesn't want to interfere? That's BS! As I wrote last week, even if Machiko did cheat, the husband was a jealous jerk who killed them both because he was suspicious (and wouldn't, y'know, just try to *talk* to her about it reasonably when he's not driving?). He even tried to attack her in the bar! Decim was really out of touch to make the decision he did, and now some baby will be stuck with that guy's jealous soul while Machiko's soul is forever lost in the void. I'm with Assistant, that is terrible.
Still, it's an intriguing concept, and hopefully Assistant will bring some human understanding to the process so they'll be less annoyingly flawed judgements in the future. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2849 |
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Well, if the black-haired intern was right then Machiko got what she wanted. If one party is satisfied with the outcome, is Decim so wrong in his decision? If I recall, the billiards ONA had a similar outcome even though it was not explicitly stated. Both individuals could just as easily have been sent to the void, but the system seems to be a "one up one down" process. The series is a lot less straightforward than Jigoku Shoujo in its assessment of morality. |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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I have watched the first episode. (I’m delayed by a week as I do not have a FUNImation subscription; I’m considering a ‘subpass’, but have deferred that decision to next month)
It didn’t absorb me the way that I had hoped it would. I cannot really explicate how, but it lacked the kind of atmosphere that I had hoped and that would have really made it successful for me. I think that I wanted it to be a little subtler, quieter and, for chronic want of a better term, ‘moodier’. The premise suits me just fine and I like the design of the bar, but it doesn’t feel right. It’s slightly too open and brash to suit me and really take hold of my interest. I didn’t like that last scene. I thought that it undermined the way that the outcome of the game was portrayed by making it explicit. Without the explanation, the portrayal wasn’t terribly oblique, but it was low-key and allowed the viewer to understand it through engagement with the show rather than because of being told. Perhaps it will prove to serve a purpose in the larger context of the series that makes it justified, but at first glance, it felt a little maladroit. I did admire the visceral shows of emotion through the animation. It was very forceful, raw and unflattering. It want a considerable ways toward making the emotional decomposition of the pair convincing and evocative. I am curious to see where this will end up as well as hopeful that it will refine and mature its approach, but for the moment am disappointed. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Babies don't have a soul until they're like one year old. Or maybe six months. I forget. Either way, you're just this little crying, pooing monster blob until you get your soul. |
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Agent355
Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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^According to which tradition? I'd guess that the world in Death Parade is influenced most by Buddhism, so the question is what does Buddhism have to say about the fate of a fetus? (That is a weird sentence to type!)
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Jacquipuff
Posts: 274 Location: Silver Spring, MD |
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Wow, while I was thinking about the reasoning for last week's verdict, it never crossed my mind that spoiler[Decim could have made a mistake.] That does make the result rather awful in hindsight, but it also makes Decim more interesting as a character than I was expecting him to be.
As for the fetus...I have no idea what Buddhism has to say about such things (maybe I'll look it up myself when I get home from work, if no one else has by then), but I imagine that within the world of this show specifically, it doesn't count as having a soul. Otherwise I think there would have been some mention somewhere of what happened to its soul. At least, I'd like to think that's the explanation, rather than "the creators of the show just forgot to mention it". EDIT: Well, I went and looked it up, and found varying information, but most of what I found either said "at conception" or "after 49 days". |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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I could recommend reading Liquid Life, but as a summary: "you get a soul at conception" is not an idea found in traditional Japanese culture (it wasn't in Western cultures either until quite recently, but let's not get into that issue right now...). Traditionally, one gradually became a "person," starting during pregnancy but not fully completed until about a year old. This isn't a strict Buddhist idea, more of a folk belief. Children could be "sent back" to the other world at any time before this. Abortion was acceptable, even infanticide if abortion wasn't a safe option. That's part of why Japan has such liberal abortion laws - making abortion easily available essentially ended infanticide as a custom overnight. "Not a person until one years old" is not how most contemporary Japanese people see it. While abortion is by-and-large uncontroversial, infanticide is seen as unequivocally wrong. Also, there is a custom of saying prayers and rites for aborted or miscarried embryos and fetuses (called "mizuko" or "water children"), to help them safely return to the world of the living in another body. So they're not exactly seen as "soulless" either. My current theory is that spoiler[the nameless black-haired women might be the unborn child] but I may be completely wrong about that. |
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Agent355
Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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^That's a cool theory.
I've heard of shrines and dolls for mizuko, but I didn't know about the "gradually becoming a person from conception to a year old" idea. |
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