News

Death Billiards' Death Parade Show Previewed in 2nd Video

The official website for the Death Parade television anime based on the Anime Mirai short Death Billiards began streaming a second promotional video for the series on Friday.

Text: After humans die, they get sent to either Heaven or Hell. However, there is a bar where those who lose their lives at the same time are abducted to. And so... Those abducted are two people who don't know anything about their death.
Dekim: Welcome to Queen Dekim.
Dekim: First: I cannot answer to any questions asking where this place is.
Text: The bartender with the unknown identity
Dekim: Second: Now, I will have you two participate in a game.
Takashi: Huh? A game?
Dekim: Third: We will decide the rules of the game using a roulette.
Text on panel: Darts
Dekim: Fourth: I will have you participate in the game with your life on the line.
Text: A death game with a life on the line
Decim: Fifth: Until the game is over, you cannot leave the bar.
Takashi: You can't fool me! What did you do to us!?
Takashi: Crap!
Dekim: I believe I told you at the beginning that you would put your life on the line.
Michiko: Is everything... Just pointless...?
Takashi: That's impossible...!
Dekim: Now, then... Let's begin the game.
Text: Your core will be opened.

The website lists new guest cast members for episode one:

The website also introduces new regular cast:

The previously-announced cast includes:

Tomoaki Maeno (Akatsuki no Yona, Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live) as Decim (just "the Bartender" in the original short), the bartender and arbiter at the bar Queen Dekim (floor 15). He shows no emotion and always talks quietly. He takes pride in his job and never forgets to show visitors respect.

Asami Seto (Tari Tari, Valvrave the Liberator) as Black-Haired Woman, a clerk who works at Queen Dekim. Along with Dekim, she keeps an eye on the guests. She's strong of spirit and says what she thinks.

The following cast members are new to the anime version:

Rumi Ookubo (Yuyushiki, Barakamon) as Nona, Dekim and Ginty's boss. From her own place on the 90th floor, she manages all the other floors. In spite of her young appearance, she's wise and experienced.

Yoshimasa Hosoya (Haikyu!!, Kids on the Slope) as Ginty, an arbiter, like Dekim, from floor 15. He has a very violent nature and only thinks of himself.

The original cast also included Yuichi Nakamura (Clannad, World Trigger) as a man and Jun Hazumi (The Flying House, Kemonozume) as the elderly man.

The website gives an introduction to the story:

"Welcome to Queen Dekim" What greets two unsuspecting guests is a strange bar, Queen Dekim, and the white-haired bartender, Dekim. "From here you two shall begin a battle where your lives hang in the balance," he says to introduce the Death Game. Before long the guests' true natures become apparent. As a matter of course, at the game's end Dekim is revealed to be the "arbiter." Dekim's judgement on the two guests is...

Yuzuru Tachikawa will return to direct the series at Madhouse, and as with the short, he will also provided the scripts, original concept, and storyboards. Shinichi Kurita will also return as character designer and animation director.

Other staff members include:

Art Director : Satoru Hirayanagi
Director of Photography: Hiroki Kawashita
Color Design : Yoshinori Horikawa
CG Director : Shigenori Hirozumi
Editing : Naoki Kawanishi
Music : Yuuki Hayashi
Sound Director : Satoshi Motoyama
Production : Madhouse

The anime will premiere on January 9 after an advance cinema screening on December 28 in Japan and premiere in January.

The original Death Billiards short premiered in February 2013. It revolves around a man and an elderly man who are thrown into a game of billiards that has their life on the line.

Under the Anime Mirai program with which the original short was created, the Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) receives money from the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs, and it distributes most of those funds to studios who will train young animators on-the-job.