Death Parade: Season 1/ Episode 1 “Death Seven Darts” [Series Premiere] – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview

In a bar, people play games which decide their fate. Which could be heaven, hell, the void, or reincarnation.

Review (with Spoilers) – Below

Characters & Story

As of the pilot episode, only Decim, the bartender and arbiter, is introduced. As well as the stage of each death game which is his bar “Quindecim.” A place where two come down in an elevator, a game is played, and judgment is dealt.

For the first episode, it is a troubled married couple, one recently married. The husband thinks his wife is unfaithful, and the wife claims otherwise. Leading to distrust which makes it so their dart game is more than it initially appears. This is due to every part of the board being connected to the nerves or an organ, or spot on the body. Making every confession, and revenge, threatening to tear this couple apart.

Praise

I can’t speak much for Decim, or the part he may play, since he is very stoic and lets the husband, Takashi, and wife, Machiko, do all of the talking. But based on the husband and wife’s interaction and their story, I do feel that the show within 23 minutes presented a good amount of twists and turns. Leading you to jump from one person’s side to another as more and more information was revealed.

Criticism

The only issue I had with this show was the game. If only because I wasn’t sure how much of it was probably rigged. For sometimes when a dart was thrown, it really seemed like it shouldn’t have even hit the board. Like when Machiko threw the dart one time, I would think it wouldn’t even have the velocity needed to touch the board. Mostly because it seemingly slipped out her fingers vs. her taking the effort to throw it. And while recognize doing such things probably pushes confessions out of the people being judged, it does seem a bit cheap to me.

Outside of that, I think the only issue that may present itself in the future is either games which, again, seemed rigged, or the participants not having an interesting enough relationship to make the episode interesting.

Overall: Watch It

Death Parade presents itself almost like an OVA in quality. And while I do have some issues with the game seeming rigged, at the same time the ends to the means is seemingly a more compelling plot. So now the question becomes: can it keep it up?

Things To Note

There is a scene after the credits revealing Machiko and Takashi’s fate, as well as introducing, but not by name, two more characters.