Anime: Death Parade

An Anime About Dealing with Death

Death parade is a fun anime that also deals with the serious issues of human emotions and accepting death.

Initial Impressions

The couple is horror at the game which they must partake.

The first episode is a bit twisted giving you a feel for the rest of the anime. A couple goes into a room and is asked to play a game of darts. However, each piece on the dartboard has a body part that will be stimulated with pain to your opponent. For example, if you hit a 9 which has a picture of an arm, then my arm will hurt. The players are told that their lives depend on the outcome of the game which is pitted against each other. Twisted indeed!

Useful Vocabulary Words

This couple is awaiting their fate.

If you watch Death Parade, listen for these words as you will hear them often.

• 感情 (kanjou) - emotions/feelings
• 人形 (ninjgyou) - dolls/puppets
• 命 (inochi) - lifeforce
• 申し訳ない (moushiwakenai) - (formal) I've very sorry
• 痛み (itami) - pain
• 裁定 (saite) - decision/judgement (pronounced same as 最低 which means despicable/disgusting)
• 裁定者 - arbiter (this word is only used in this anime so it's not in the dictionary)
• 人間 (ningen) - human/mankind
• 手伝い (tetsudai) - assistant
• 転生 (tenshou) - reincarnation (suru verb)

Hunter X Hunter Anyone?

This character's transformation looks strikingly similar to Hisoka

One thing that stood out was how this anime style felt a lot like Hunter X Hunter, which is one of my all time favorite animes. There is a darkness about both animes, but the protagonist is able to redeem this by holding on to a lot of puristic values. The storylines are nothing alike, but the animation and messages felt similar.

Overall, I think this was an interesting anime and fun to watch, but nothing that blew me out of the water.

What's Really Going On

Arbiters standing on piles of bodies. The body isn't important though, only the soul.

This is a bit of a spoiler for the first episode so if you don't want to read, move on.

The two players in the game have already died in real life and now they are in some sort of medium between life and reincarnation. The host of the game is an arbiter of whether or not their souls get reincarnated or if their soul will just cease to exist. The arbiter is void of any emotions and is supposed to be void of empathy towards humans. Of course, this will slightly change as to give more life to the show and cause intrigue.

Overall, I think this was an interesting anime and fun to watch, but nothing that blew me out of the water.