Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Death Parade
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KitKat1721
 Posts: 953 |
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I actually thought early on that it would be revealed Chiyuki drowned in a frozen lake, but I guess that's too on the nose with the book and everything. In retrospect, the first time her body began to break off a couple episodes ago was at her wrist.
Ginti doesn't understand or even value human emotion, and because he has no real grasp on the concept of living and dying, he might have a limited understanding of what the void is. I do think Ginti really believes without a doubt that the void to be a bad place to end up, and feels that decision was justified with Mayu's choice to condemn another soul for Harada. But in the end, at least for those two, it seemed a lot more peaceful than we've been told with their souls uniting, rather than being alone forever. Also, that stranger totally looked like Light from Death Note, and even though its probably just a fun cameo from Madhouse, it would explain the increase in deaths occurring recently, according to the woman from the information bureau. |
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endallchaos
 Posts: 213 Location: Sin City |
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I thought it was an 'A' episode. Tokyo Ghoul always seems to get a higher score than this, even though DP is superior in every-way.
 EDIT: Just realised that It's not the same person reviewing both.
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#831702
Posts: 2 |
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Oh yeah, I thought the same. My first thought was, "Oh a secret test of character! Don't fall for it, girl! Don't throw some poor soul... wait, it's Light. Toss him in." |
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
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yeah, was totally gonna say that it was not a stranger but light yagami. |
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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I personally think this was the strongest episode yet. The emotion in the first half was beautiful in its delivery (the soft music, the detail put into Chiyuki's figure skating, her memories), and it brought me to tears. It doesn't matter if it was predictable. What matters is the way it was told and the emotional connection.
Perhaps it's because last year I struggled quite a bit with depression, but Chiyuki's words about feeling hollow to the point of hating yourself struck me. I've been in a better state of mind and mood for a while, but I did feel like that. I have felt that sort of apathy and hopelessness. That self-imposed isolation. I don't hold it against Chiyuki for suddenly switching her opinion - I actually think it ties in really well with what she cried out to Decim in episode 9 as she punched him in the chest. She's emotionally compromised at that point after regaining all of her memories. In regards to Mayu and Harada, I don't really see Ginti doing them an intentional kindness. I think it's more likely that he didn't know two souls could do that. Or, if he did, he doesn't really see the benefit of uniting two people within the Void. I would like to be wrong, but I just see him more as a foil for Decim. Both are provided with irregular cases of souls that stayed around longer than normal, and we see how an arbiter with human empathy/emotions resolves the issue versus an arbiter without. What I found most interesting is that Harada, who supposedly was already sent to the Void (assuming Ginti isn't lying and Harada's soul was dormant within his body), was able to return to his body for the few seconds before both him and Mayu merged. It makes me wonder if it's possible to return souls from the Void. Looking forward to seeing how things wrap up. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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I completely agree. This series has always been outstanding but this episode really took it up to the masterpiece level for me. I mean, differing opinions and all that but I'm really rather astounded that Zac didn't even mention how simply beautiful the skating/memory sequence was both in terms of composition and in terms of the emotional resonance it delivered. Yeah, the actual facts of the story were fairly conventional but something more unconventional was unnecessary. Hell, it may have even worked against the scene by making it less immediately emotionally relatable.
Yes, I think that's the key. I mean, it's a little bit unclear what the show means when it says Decim is capable of "emotion" unlike Ginti. Obviously Ginti is capable of emotion in the superficial sense (he's angry most of the time). I think what they mean though is that Decim is capable of empathy. Ginti can exhibit emotion but he can't possibly understand or relate to the emotions of others. That's why I don't think Ginti really meant to do them any sort of kindness. Ginti can't even really grasp the notion of being kind to others. |
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_Cyphon_
 Posts: 996 |
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That was some nice ice skating. Gotta hand it to Madhouse for creating such a beautiful piece of art. Chiyuki's background wasn't very special, but the execution was amazing. Ginti's judgement was interesting, and it raised a question for me. So from what I read in the review, Ginti needed a reason to send Mayu and Harada to void, right? That's why he made her press the button and sacrifice someone else. Does this mean that even arbiters cannot just make decisions based on their personal "emotions"? They need certain evidence or proof to show that someone deserves to go to the void or to reincarnation.
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chito895
 Posts: 512 Location: Lima, Peru |
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To date, that OP is my favourite. The BRADIO guys are simply amazing. I want the answers to the questions Zac mentioned, but I don't think a second season would be good for the series, at least to me, because I'd just miss Chiyuki and the opening sequence a lot.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11348 |
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Bradio also did a version with them mirroring the OP animation. It's very well done, although I'm not sure why Nona is a clown.
Yeah, not much wrapped up in the finale, but all the most important stuff got a satisfying conclusion. I'm not sure what to make of the change back to arbiter eyes in Decim at the end though. Nice smile! 
I was also intrigued by the statement that the Arbiters were made of all the souls sent to the Void, but I have no idea what that means or implies for either the system or the people themselves. Did he just mean they were animated by those souls, like Kikyou, or does that alter what we were previously told about how those souls perceive the Void? Ah, so many questions, so little probability of answers. 
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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^
I was wondering about that line. My first thought was that Void souls were being recycled and repurposed into Arbiters, potentially by mixing various souls together. (It might also relate to their limited empathy; a lot of those Void souls are likely to have lived pretty terrible lives.) But maybe it was meant in a more figurative sense, that they exist to judge souls and are built upon sending certain souls to the Void. Oddly, this series isn't being released in multiple volumes; Amazon is listing BD and DVD box sets. Does that imply that the studio was worried about sales? All I can think of is M3. |
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Dop.L
Posts: 714 Location: London |
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Absolutely fantastic finale. Sure there are things left open, but that leaves scope for a sequel, right?
We definitely need to have more anime of this calibre. |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5527 |
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I must be losing my emotions (maybe I'm becoming an arbiter lol) because I didn't find this ending to be very emotional.
"We don't really find out what ultimately happens to Nona after Oculus discovers her plan, or what's going to happen to the arbiters after Decim's existence threatens the entire structure of the afterlife. " Did you not watch past the ending credits? spoiler[ Or were you referring to how literally nothing seems to have changed at all, except for the fact that Decim is smiling now] " As it turns out, empathy is the center of life – it's what makes us alive, what makes us complete" You're basically saying I'm inhuman because I have aspergers and lack empathy and I find that bit insulting. I'm alive just as much as you are despite my lack of empathy. Yes, I'm seriously offended by this statement because you called me "incomplete". I don't even agree that's what the message of the show was. I'll agree that they were saying it's important aspect of humanity in general but I don't think they were saying it was the center of life by any measure. If anything, I think the show was saying that no matter how you live or what you do with your life, you should treasure life itself (yours and others) since it's the one thing that's truly limited. Overall I was a bit let down with the final few episodes with Chi but still an 8/10 anime |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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The latter. There are a few lines of dialogue but like I said - it's status quo. We don't really find out what happened.
I didn't call you "incomplete" at all. And you having aspergers indicates that empathy may not come naturally to you and it may be something you struggle with, but there is no scientific study out there that suggests those with your particular condition are incapable of even considering the feelings of others even when those feelings are made explicit and you are asked to change your position in light of them. |
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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Kougerou, you don't even have your facts straight about what Asperger's is, speaking as someone else who has it. "Aspies don't have empathy" is listed on just about every "misconceptions about Asperger's syndrome" article in existence.
"Empathy" in this sense is the ability to feel emotions like happiness or sadness about things that happen to others even if they don't affect you. People with Asperger's feel this as much anybody else (in fact, some studies suggest we feel too much of it). Where we have difficulty is in expressing it appropriately, like say, crying at a funeral. Not feeling empathy is psychopathy/sociopathy, which is pretty much the opposite of Asperger's syndrome in that regard (they're often very good at faking it to others). Asperger's is basically just a learning disability regarding social skills. It does not mean that people who have it are emotionless Vulcan robots. |
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tasogarenootome
 Posts: 593 |
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Loved this show and the finale definitely came to a fitting emotional conclusion. I took a film writing class a few years ago where the teacher said she felt a lot of Japanese media (like anime) were good with emotional conclusions while being content to leave plotholes as opposed to Western media, where logic and tying up lose ends were preferred. I think it fits here. We didn't get many of our questions answered, but I still feel satisiied and content to conclude on my own what may or may not have happened. Like, spoiler[I do not think Nona will be directly punished, because Oculus seemed pleased to let her see that she was wrong. If, ultimately, Decim's budding emotions (and anyone else he may affect) become a problem, having to see and deal with a problem she started may be his punishment.]
But those thoughts are neither here nor there because the show ended where it did and I'm content with what Madhouse showed us. Hopefully they'll go for more projects like that. |
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