Forum - View topic

Death Parade (TV).

Did they actually definitively say which person went where?

The masks above the elevator say where the person goes. If you think that the mask is above an elevator no matter what, the other week when both reincarnated there was two of the same masks.

**usually there's a welcome section for new members to introduce themselves but i didn't see it, so I'll just start posting then

AnimeAddict2014 wrote:

**usually there's a welcome section for new members to introduce themselves but i didn't see it, so I'll just start posting then

Look for Introductions / Meet ANN / Tell us about Yourself (w/ index) at the top of the anime page. Although that is a hyperlink so kind of defeats the purpose of saying where it is. Anyway, welcome to the forums.

Also this forums is kind of cramped (too small) than usual-- The Main forums page

Was it always like this?

AnimeAddict2014 wrote:

Also this forums is kind of cramped (too small) than usual-- The Main forums page Was it always like this?

I don't quite know what you mean by "too small", this anime section tends to have some traffic about current airing shows, usually dependant on time. If you think that the last posts look like a while ago, well it seems to be bad timing as we just had probably the biggest hiccough I have seen of the site and it was knocked out for the weekend and about a weeks worth of posts got lost, about the first time that has happened.

I was pretty happy with the post I did for this series last week too, but it is not something I have really seen happen before.

Also check out the Daily Streaming Reviews at the top of the page by looking at "New Anime", Death Parade is being reviewed there also on a weekly basis (staying on tiopic), and you can split talk about series between the topics here and the ones for the ongoing reviews.

@_Cyphon_
There are several issues that I have with the afterlife judgment system in Death Parade.

First of all, from what it sounds like, this is an irreversible decision. Even if the arbiters f*** up and realize that they f***ed up, there's nothing that can be done once the decision has been made, if the 2nd episode can be taken at face value. It's horrifying to think about, the cavalier attitude of "oops, I made a mistake, oh well everyone makes one." You just sent a person to the Void. I imagine anyone who acclimates to that job has to eventually adopt such an attitude else it eats you alive, but the implications are horrifying. Perhaps the show will turn things on its head at some point and reveal that the Void may actually be the preferable option of the two. At this point, all I can interpret is that you're basically wiping someone from existence and determining them as unworthy of any mercy. And its a judgment made using an unfair, biased system with ambiguous criteria and rules.

At what point did Misaki become unworthy of reincarnation in Decim's eyes? Was it before even playing the game? He's able to view moments from her life, he should be able to judge her based off of that. If so, what's the point of playing a game where your life is at stake? He says it's to get to the person's true nature - to bring out their darkness - when put under pressure, however: (1) when you push someone past their breaking point it should be pretty damn obvious how the person is going to react based upon their history; (2) the pressure is unevenly applied. These games are biased against certain types of people.

The odds were always against Misaki in this situation. She was put into a situation that reflected a lot of the grief she suffered in her life: powerless against a man (both Yousuke and Decim, in this case). Yousuke had the edge - being more experienced at games - and they both knew it. Decim never went to the trouble of antagonizing Yousuke like he did Misaki. He states directly to her that life is full of unfairness and that she should know that quite well. He popped the ball off of the stick at just the right moment to send her over the edge. I agree with Onna that he's an instigator dragging the darkness out of them, or rather Misaki in this case. To me, it looks like he already made the judgment of where they were going to go before they even started playing and was just confirming everything. In which case, why drag it out? It's cruel and unfair.

Had he genuinely tried to drag the darkness out of Yousuke, he would have introduced things that sent Yousuke to his lowest point. Perhaps created an avatar of his father telling Yousuke that he's worthless and never wanted him. He would have induced the loneliness and despair that Yousuke felt in his darkest moments. But, apparently, suicide is not an act that would send someone to the Void, at least in Decim's eyes, despite the fact that it does cause harm to those left behind and that he also "wasted his whole life due to his misjudgment and unwillingness to change" (not that such harm can be compared to what Misaki suffered and forced others to suffer since she was an active abuser). Or maybe the fact that Yousuke felt guilt over it in the end and realized the harm he caused was enough to earn reincarnation. (But, wait, Misaki also showed regret for what she'd done and made an impassioned plea to be sent back to her kids, which cause Decim to widen his eyes and state, "you've done well." What's that mean, especially since given the outcome?) However, not bringing Yousuke to the brink and seeing if he'd still feel guilt and remorse when driven to the edge is unfair and biased in Yousuke's favor. Misaki is allowed to suffer, but not Yousuke.

Okay, so once again, we come back to physical abuse. Perhaps that's Decim's pass/fail test. Understandable, and I don't necessarily disagree. In which case, why the hell was Takashi from the first episode allowed to be reincarnated? He intentionally hurt his wife during the game, and afterwards - once driven to the brink, similar to Misaki's case - lunged at her intending to cause physical harm. The only reason he didn't was because the wires held him back. But I highly doubt, with as far gone as he was, that he would have stopped himself. I wonder how willing people would be able to forgive him if allowed the chance to see him physically abuse and strangle his wife. Yet he earned reincarnation. What about his situation was more deserving of sympathy than Misaki? A man brought to the brink because of he got "confirmation" of his doubts that his wife was cheating on him (wow, that's totally understandable, what a cheating hussy) vs. a woman, with a history of abuse by men, brought to the brink after being thrown into a situation where the men had all of the control (totally unacceptable, she should learn to control herself). The situation is even more messed up with what was revealed in episode 2.

Once again, if the judgment was already made based on Misaki's history, then why the heck put her through that? Why play these games?

Frankly, I disagree with the Void/Reincarnation system (or at least the way it's being treated at this point in time, where one serves as a "punishment" and the other a "reward" - I might be more open to it if it takes on a more Buddhist interpretation). There's no room for rehabilitation, which I feel people like Misaki would be better served. She's in a nasty cycle of abuser and abused, something that's hard to escape without a helping hand. She wasn't entirely a monster. She felt remorse after coming back from the brink and requested that an ambulance be called for Yousuke. Perhaps she wasn't a good mom, but she did care for her kids, evidenced by her regrets and remorse after realizing she was dead.

In the end, I have now seen two women get screwed over by this system. Machiko was unjustly judged as being unworthy of Heaven/Reincarnation. Yes, largely due to her own devices for convincingly acting out the part of the cheating, cruel wife. While it's understandable that he didn't completely understand the situation, it is still Decim's fault for judging her incorrectly. And in a moment of fridge horror - whelp, sent her to the Void, too late to do anything now - we see that these judgments are permanent. This isn't life in jail with the possibility of parole. This isn't even death (which isn't actually an end, just another bump in the road). This is the Void. Which, as far as we know, has no hope of return. So, too bad, so sad, but you just don't deserve to exist anymore. And now in Misaki's case, she had to suffer an unfair and biased trial, which seemed stacked against her from the beginning. And, from what it seems, she barely had a chance for Reincarnation in the first place.

So, yeah, I have several issues with the afterlife judgment system in Death Parade at this point. It's still a very interesting series, and I appreciate it for making me analyze it like this and help me define where my own mores, sympathies, and boundaries lie.