「メメント·モリ」 (Memento Mori)
“Memento Mori”

Chiyuki is in the spotlight this week as Decim transforms his bar into a skating rink to help her regain her memories. She finds her old outfit and skates in her closet and as she skates around, she remembers her life. Her inspiration came from the Chavvot book and as she watched real performances, Chiyuki wanted to become a professional skater. And she did. She won competitions, had a lot of friends and support from her family. Chiyuki was living the perfect life… until she suffered a knee injury which resulted in her inability to ever skate again. Ultimately, she committed suicide and ended up where she is today. The story of her life was actually more straightforward than I would’ve liked. It’s not unique to the world of Death Parade and I find it rather anticlimactic considering all the build-up for this special woman who can remember her death. Nevertheless, the story of how we got here is a sad one because Chiyuki died believing that people around her didn’t understand her. It’s ironic because she shouted the same words to Decim just a few episodes ago. I don’t necessarily believe that it was one thing that caused her suicide, but a multitude of different emotions she was feeling. Depression from being unable to fulfill her goals in life was the major contributor and the feeling of loneliness in the world can be a huge weight on your shoulders. I’ve definitely experienced the same emotions before – feeling alone with nobody around you that truly understands what you’re going through… and you become very internally focused because nothing else matters at that point. It’s a struggle and when it becomes too much, some people can’t handle it anymore. I don’t claim to know or understand Chiyuki’s POV or others out there that suffer the same fate, but unlike Chiyuki, I don’t think empathy is wrong or bad; especially in this case when you need it.

What was interesting to me this episode was seeing Decim’s take on judging others after his 180 degree turn on the perspective of human emotions. He takes a different approach by trying to bring back Chiyuki’s memories through encouragement and actually giving her a setting which she’s comfortable in. I mentioned it already but I find it ironic that Decim and Chiyuki are actually quite similar even though Chiyuki didn’t realize it. She didn’t believe that someone could truly empathize with someone else and people just don’t understand the pains of one another. On the other hand, she’s the person that helped Decim realize that human emotions are a fragile aspect of being human and life is not born for the sake of just dying. Decim is now trying to understand humans a little more before judging them and hopefully with a bit of empathy. The explanation which he gave Chiyuki was a simple one, yet straight to the point and I think it sums up their relationship well. Having met one another, Chiyuki finally has someone that wants to reach out to her and understand her pains and problems… whereas Decim knows more about what it’s like to be human with human emotions. It’s all so subtle, yet well done and although the episode isn’t filled with action and intense resolutions, I think it did a great job developing the cast.

On the other end of purgatory, we have Ginti who finally sent Mayu somewhere – and by somewhere, I mean the void. I believe the intentions of this episode are to demonstrate how different Ginti and Decim are as arbiters and how human emotions come into play. I’m not sure why Ginti couldn’t have judged Mayu previously, but he decides to make a decision based on her reactions today. He poses a question to her – whether or not she’d give up a stranger’s soul in exchange to pull Haruda’s out of the void. To which we never really know her answer, but I think Ginti takes it as a yes because he ultimately sends her into the void along with Haruda’s mannequin. This shows what a long way Decim has come in comparison to Ginti that still forces his participants to pick between two extremes. It’s clearly not the best way to judge someone and you can see the struggle on Mayu’s face when she’s forced to pick one or another. Does that mean she deserves to be sent to the void for picking Haruda over a stranger? I don’t think so… I think it just shows how devoted she is to him, but she’s not wrong for making a choice when she’s forced to make a choice. Anyway, I’m sad to see Mayu go and under such circumstances that weren’t called for. Ginti gave a quick explanation of what it’s like for a soul to be in the void and although it’s not the “hell” that I imagined, I can’t fathom how it must feel to be in a state of eternal emptiness.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: So I find Chiyuki’s past anticlimactic compared to the other guests. I don’t understand what makes her so special. Surprised to see the end of Mayu and Ginti’s relationship. Thought they were a memorable duo. #DeathParade #dp_anime

 

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55 Comments

  1. It was explicitly stated by Nona in this episode that Ona was not special. The information bureau screwed up, and that’s why she could remember that she was dead.

    What is significant is what she’s done with the time she was given in the afterlife, much like what was important was the time that she had in life.

    mozaa
    1. That’s what I got out of it. Quin brought up the fact that the info bureau is swapped with work so they make more mistakes. Chiyuki remembering her death was basically a paperwork mix up.

      Acerbus
  2. Decim in gaining Human Emotions, he will exchange his Soul so that Chiyuki can be back to Human World or been reborn

    The Price will be, Decim will lose all Human things, and be an Arbiter as the others

    WorldwideDepp
  3. https://randomc.net/image/Death%20Parade/Death%20Parade%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
    Theories abound on the MAL forum for this episode that its a Light Yagami series crossover cameo lol.

    Indicators
    1) Looks similar to Light from Death Note Anime
    2) There was a mention in Death Parade that there was a sudden increase in deaths a few episodes ago
    3) Madhouse is involved with both Death Parade and Death Node
    4) Light Yagami seiyuu is also Haruda’s seiyuu (the fangirl’s idol)

    Makes one wonder whether the shinigami(s) and arbiters are aware of each other.

    Techim
    1. I don’t think Light killed enough people that even the bureau would notice. The increase in deaths is likely simply due to the increase in the human population.

      But yeah, it was an amusing crossover.

      Sekai
    2. Great catch on Light! I thought he looked familiar but I guess it’s been so long since Death Note that it escaped me. Thanks for the tips!
      A lot of people are mentioning a high population of people dying and that’s because of Light… I don’t recall him killing THAT many people =X unless it was only in Japan… then it might be noticed by the Bureau.

  4. I thought Chiyuki’s death was kind of interesting. Back in episode 4 I saw a lot of criticism of the young man and Decim’s decision of who to send to the void. A lot of people felt that the mother shouldn’t be sent to the void over someone who gave up their own life, but now we learn that Chiyuki–a character we’ve come to known and care about–shared a similar fate.

    Anyway, I kind of like that her death was so anti-climactic. She wasn’t anyone special, and her current position was just the result of a mistake. It could’ve been anyone.

    Gyabo
  5. as i wrote elsewhere, Chiyuki knowing that she is dead, and Decim first Client, after infused with Emotions could resulted in her being his Assistant. So that his first Steps with these Emotions could be guided with Chiyuki’s help. to refine them. so that Decim has an compass, what is good and what is wrong…

    So it is the summary of both, that gave this Anime the Soul.

    WorldwideDepp
  6. About Mayu, while she seemed a little nervous or sad when beginning her fall into the void, I got the impression she’s happier falling with her crush, or even just a doll of him, than she would be reincarnating with him in the void. Her story arc seemed a bit too brief (along with Ginti’s presence in the story) to really fully flesh out the contrasts with the mains but I appreciated the notion that Mayu’s single-minded devotion pretty much pushed out all other reasons for living. She either doesn’t appreciate the rest of life enough to bother letting her live again (waste of life) or her own happiness is so closely tied to Haruda who will never reincarnate so pushing her to void herself was a mercy.

    I did feel like Ginti’s test was as unfair as we’re supposed to see it as but, just as she was willing to sacrifice herself for Haruda, she’s also willing to fall into the void for him, as well, so I don’t really see her story as a sad ending.

    I fail to see the arbiters and other non-living people as lacking in emotions; it seemed to me that they do experience them but, unlike humans, do not make decisions based on them. Which is sort of the point Decim has gotten around to: they’ve been ruling based on half-evidence, not entire pictures.

    danny
  7. I actually liked Mayu her current ending, makes me think of Orpheus with how he went to hell in order to rescue a soul. I just hope she will return from the void with her lover.
    Not to mention that the two souls seemed to meld together into one instead of getting away from each-other so that they at least have each other in the void now instead of eternal loneliness if they don’t return from the void.

    As for Chiyuki, she is harder to pinpoint thanks to her previous behavior in comparison with the recovered memories.
    On one hand, i can kinda see why she ended her life even though i don’t understand the reasoning behind it.
    On the other hand… she is rather hypocritical regarding how she behaved to Decim last episode even though that could be excused partially by the lack of her memories. The reason i pick partially is for this: even if you don’t consciously remember stuff there is still enough to work with unconsciously that is gotten over time.

    damrod
    1. If we already know Light and L when they show up in this series,
      we would already know where they would be going.
      Twisted Light to Void, kind L to reincarnation.

      It couldn’t go any other way, could it?
      Oh wait….wasn’t there something about those who used the Death Note being forever in limbo?
      My memory’s a bit rusty..

      Techim
      1. The souls of those who use the Death Note simply cannot go to “Heaven or Hell”, but as it was explained episodes ago (and even in the series itself a couple episodes ago, IIRC), it’s not actually “Heaven” or “Hell” (in a Christian sense anyway) here where the soul goes, but merely deciding whether it’ll be sent for “reincarnation” or stuffed away into “the void” which is more Buddhist or something, IIRC, so Light should still be able to go and be judged.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
    2. Unfortunately, Light died so much later than L, so they would not be placed together in the same room anyway. 🙁
      (Unless a reason can be cooked up for L’s soul to hang around until Light dies…)

      My personal wish is to see Akagi Shigeru (from the end of Ten by Fukumoto Nobuyuki) in Death Parade. Not sure how the story would go, but I strongly feel that Akagi would remember that he had died and that he would somehow use his mastery of psychology+luck to confuzzle whichever arbiter he faces.

      *despairs at own lack of fanfic-writing talent*
      *also despairs at own lack of smarts to come up with Akagi-worthy ingenuity*

      Monimonika
  8. Instersting how many bashed that nerd guy for commiting suicide, but are more accepting that Chiyu did the same for imo worse reasons. That doesn’t mean, what she did wasn’t understandable or so, I just think that nerd guy had it worse in his life.

    dean
  9. I think Maru chose the void voluntarily rather than send another. She hestitated sending another, and the whole point of Ginti’s speech was that he never met someone that didn’t value themselves over everything else. Ginti’s stubborn, and slow to change, but not stupid. Maru’s self-sacrifice could be the first step in challenging Ginti’s preconceived notions. I want to believe Maru implied “Send me to Haruda”, which is where Haruda was (maybe– Ginti could’ve lied, and the doll is where Haruda’s soul actually was, just where Hardua was headed before the elevator). RIP Eternally joined Maru x Haruda.

    Drasca
  10. I’ve seen some critique on how Chiyuki died but honestly, I think it works. It’s a very accurate depiction of what it feels like to have depression with the main difference from ep 4 and 11 is that Chiyuki’s got enough time to process what happened to her versus the suicider in ep4.

    Mayu’s fate feels like a strong reminder of both the flaws of the arbiter system and how it relies a lot on the idea of “pushing” people rather than them falling. Ginti spent a lot of time around Mayu, saw her decision during the original game, and still felt like he had to “test” her to bring out the darkness. This proves what Decim/Chiyuki bring up about the games creating darkness than exposing it since it feels unlikely she would have (if she DID make that choice rather than voluntarily go) ever done anything like that if Ginti hadn’t put her in that situation. I’ve seen some people arguing Ginti actually did her a favor by just giving her what she wanted, Harada, but I think that defeats the point of their final conversation and how even in the end Ginti doesn’t seem to comprehend things, versus what happened with Chiyuki and Decim in ep9.

    With one more episode left, I think I have an idea of how Decim/Chiyuki might be resolved at least but it’s based on spoilers from an interview with one of the producers so I’ll just hide my speculations under a cut:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Acerbus
  11. The pinnacle of human emotions is Love, no doubt. You can see it was the motivation and story for everyone that came to Quindecim so far, and more so especially on our murderous pair on Ep 10. Love also does not HAVE to exclusively be couple love, there are at least a few variations of it:

    – Maternal Love
    – Sibling Love
    – Platonic Love

    I think we have seen at least all aspects of the mentioned love throughout DP so far. Personally, Decim’s feelings border on platonic love at the moment, because of his ‘rational’ need to understand and find out more about Chiyuki before he judges her. He wants to give her a proper judgement because he feels she deserves that much (although it must be disappointing to find out she committed suicide).

    About Ginti, many have criticized him but I feel he did no wrong, he’s just doing what he’s programmed to do; albeit with a delayed process like Decim. These two arbiters are special because they are implanted with human emotions, Decim receiving the positive ones and Ginti receiving the negative ones. I’m pretty sure about this because while anger, annoyance, pride etc are negative, they are nevertheless still emotions because no other arbiter displays Ginti’s nor Decim’s reactions and responses (they all have the generic blank face).

    Chiyuki’s skating scene may be full of awe, but personally the scene where Mayu and Haruda in the elevator moments before their dummy bodies get converted into souls takes the cake for me. Mayu’s a simpleton, I think it’s too much for people to complicate theories about her. She just has adoration for Haruda, she chose it and she wanted it. Remember the emotion, love? She’s only human. Can’t expect Ginti to understand what he has never gone through (not with all that negativity anyway).

    (neither Ginti nor Mayu is in the wrong, we have little say regarding “this” universe’s laws anyway)

    Ginti, for a long time coming, has been bothered by two people, Decim and Mayu, because of their outlook on judging. I don’t believe Mayu’s final words to him just before the elevator closes will leave zero impact on him.

    And finally Oculus. *cue boss fight music*

    Nona must be seriously high in the clouds if she thought that Oculus would never find out about what she has been doing. Arbiters don’t have emotions, but what about the other people we’ve seen so far? Isn’t it a little far-fetched to say that their responses aren’t emotions?

    Azsurance
  12. I have to say that I have always had a very harsh view of suicide. I still do – I still believe that it is wrong, that it is cowardly. But I also pity them. I felt sad for them. It’s only when we have lost it all that we understand what is truly important…

    https://randomc.net/image/Death%20Parade/Death%20Parade%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2024.jpg

    I was actually surprise with Mayu and Harada – I would have thought Ginti pass them…

    https://randomc.net/image/Death%20Parade/Death%20Parade%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2032.jpg

    KF
    1. Chiyuki (and the suicider in ep 4) were suffering severe depression. This isn’t just a matter of someone being a “coward”, depression is both a mental AND physical illness that people just don’t “brave” out and it’s all better.

      As Chiyuki points out, it wasn’t that she didn’t have support and family and love, it was that she hit a point she was incapable of being able to feel or register it. She was lost the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel at all due to her mental state, which is very (sadly) true for many who suffer depression. This is part of why I think Death Parade’s explanation for how Chiyuki felt accurate/honest, because it’s relatable for those who have struggled with similar experiences.

      Acerbus
  13. I don’t think Ginti judged Mayu unfairly. She was almost willing to sacrifice herself for Harada, but chickened out after hearing what the void was all about. If she then decided to sacrifice someone else for his sake, that would be plenty void-worthy.

    BBB
  14. I think it isn’t so much as just a clerical mistake that she remembers she died, she explicitly stated that she did not remember how she died but was supposed to be dead. She didn’t necessarily have to remember slitting her wrist but she could remember a good portion of her depression.

    During the last years of her life she was depressed and committed suicide, if it was those emotions that were brought forward with her, but not her memories of committing suicide she might have felt or inferred that she was dead, and even if she wasn’t she wanted to die anyways. This would make it hard to force her to play a game that stakes her life when she doesn’t want to live.

    The clerical mistake was simply not removing enough of her memories so she doesn’t feel like she was dead. If a person working there was simply to remove the memory of the person dying, they could simply chop off the few hours of the person’s memory. That however wasn’t enough in this case because she could have had suicidal tendencies before those few hours that were cut off or been depressed enough to not feel like she was alive.

    Or maybe it really was just a stupid mistake, life has been going on for centuries I doubt this was the only case, especially how Nona and Clavis didn’t seem that surprised, and how the procedure seems to always be asking the dead if they remember how they got there. This was probably just Decim’s first time meeting one who remembered. Nona was going to just take care of the issue normally, it was Decim’s reaction that made her change her mind and probably test Decim.

    Waku
  15. If this show does the finale justice then this will be without a doubt an AOTS in my list. It’s been such a great ride.

    Regarding Ginti and Mayu though.. While it does look like Mayu pressed the button, I somewhat think otherwise. It’s implied but then it was clear as day that Ginti was gonna send her to the void if she chose to press that button. It makes me wonder why the mask was white to begin with. I think it’s a possibility that she didn’t press the button but the last minute change from reincarnation to void was Ginti doing it out of spite. He did react harshly when Mayu hit the spot.

    Can’t wait for the finale.

    megalith
    1. The turning mask was definitely something that I didn’t know how to interpret. I’m not sure if Ginti did that to trick Mayu into THINKING she did the right thing? Or maybe you’re right, Ginti did it out of spite and threw her into the void anyway. Somehow I get the feeling that Ginti was going to throw Mayu into the void regardless.

    2. That’s a fair point. With the other elevators, we don’t see a switch in the signs and only see them to reflect where they went. My impression was either Ginti hadn’t judged Mayu properly until that point or he just flat out tricked her (since presumably, Mayu’s been around long enough to pick up about the masks) but I can see him changing it out of spite. I’ve seen some defenses of Ginti but a sticking point for me is that he already judged Mayu in a game before but she didn’t give him what he wanted/expected. Rather than letting her go to reincarnation like Decim did with the pair in episode 3, he felt the need to keep her around and only judged her with a game where it pushes her to make a dark choice than reveal what was already there.

      Granted, I think it’s partially the flaw of the Arbiter system since it relies on the use of darkness of the soul when Mayu had so little to begin with but Ginti makes no secret to how much he looks down on and despises humans. As Cherrie said, I think even if it’s revealed Mayu didn’t hit the button Ginti would have Voided her anyway.

      Acerbus
  16. Sigh,i really love this show so much but it seems like it’s trying hard to make me hate it, I’m in a situation where you like someone but don’t like what they say (That applies to how I feel about both the show and Chiyuki), basically I’m starting to get the feeling the show is pro-suicide (it could just be me since I have a strong stance aganist it), the two character’s who commited suicide are viewed in a very positive light and one of them gets sent to reincarnation on the expanse of a mother who fought with every cell in her existence to live and the other is the main character of the show (which I now have a love/hate relation with XD).

    What annoyed me even more are the people claiming that anyone who finds suicide appalling simply just doesn’t understand depression, I beg your pardon but that’s just entirely not true… Both on the personal and global level there are people who go through a lot depressing events and continue fighting for their lives despite what they lost and what they go through, some even whose lives are a living hell due to personal (being born with health problems, losing everything you own or care about, losing your hobby/career.. etc) or outside reasons (i.e living in a warzone), they have none of the pampering or love that both the nerd boy and Chiyuki had and still they continue to fight with every rising of the sun inspiring countless others to face their hardships and overcome them, suicide is like spitting on all that, and what the people defending it don’t understand is how much pain it causes to those close to the one committing suicide and the feelings helplessness and despair it slaps them with, suicide is not really cowardice as much as it is the epitome of selfishness.

    I have had my share of losses, i lost a scholarship that could have changed my life and career dramatically, i came about in a house with a broken marriage (not to dissimilar to nerd boy), i did feel a lot of depression and loss of purpose many times, but whenever I felt that way I remembered the people I care about and all the good things I still have, I look at those who are in far worse conditions and yet continue to fight viciously for their lives, loved ones and to survive another day despite the crazy odds stacked aganist them and I somehow managed to get by every time.

    Now It comes to what Chiyuki did and what it means, personally I feel the Chiyuki/Ona we knew all that time is different from The Chiyuki we met this episode, which probably is due to her memory loss, this in a way means that as soon as she lost her bad memories she became a very positive and proactive person (which in turn plays on one of the famous Amnisea tropes, does losing your memories make you a new person?, and does it absolve you of any crimes/atrocities commited by your old self? And what if your memories come back, which person are you then?) it’s a tricky situation to handle in terms of writing and also for the viewers, i do like the Chiyuki we spent all that time with and admire her positivness and fighting for what she believes, which makes it jarring when I see her throwing her life away because she couldn’t cope with her inability to skate again, she should have opened up to her mom, her friends or a psychiatris instead of just proclaiming that people never really understand each other and that we are all alone, which isn’t true, many people overcame depression (and far worse things) with help from their families, loved ones and of course medication when they open up and stop being spoiled selfish brats (so please stop treating depression like some incurable disease or cancer, the Silver Lining book/movie is a really good example of someone -Tiffany- overcoming severe depression with help of all the elements I mentioned above), i don’t outright hate Chiyuki now but I wish her back story was different, I did enjoy the skating scene a lot and I really felt the moment they did the knee injury… But i was also disappointed cause that moment I saw where her story is going and was quite disappointed with it.

    Fact is I’m still more pissed at nerd boy and the mother more than Chiyukui’s case because we now know that the old method of judging people creates darkness in people not only bring it out, so nerd boy who threw away his life got a second chance on the expanse of a mother who really deserved a 2nd chance and fought for it because Decim pitted them aganist each other and created faux extreme conditions, at least Chiyuki proved she can be a better person if she reincarnated (which is similar to losing her memory and what she went through the whole series), at least she won’t be getting a 2nd chance on the expanse of someone else, I think Decim might actually try to let her incarnate with her memories intact or something, will have to wait and see.

    /end of rant

    Hunter-wolf
    1. In what way did the nerd boy get his second chance at the expense of the mother? Seems like a silly claim to me, given that the mother did a lot of things that actively hurt and were detrimental to those around her and the boy really just caused some sadness due to his aloofness and eventual suicide. It’s not like the judgement works in a one up, one down manner, so in no way is the boy to blame for the mother’s judgement, even if you disagree with the judgement he himself got. As for her deserving to go back because she fought for it, yeah, sure, if you’re supportive of smashing someone else’s head to get what you want…

      The whole “creating darkness instead of bringing it out” thing is frankly a knee-jerk concept anyway, because there are plenty of people who would never think of murdering someone else to gain an advantage, no matter what the circumstances – so those who are quick to turn to this as a valid solution have more than enough darkness inside them to get a thumbs down judgement. Whether the whole thing should lead to sentencing someone to eternal void is a separate issue, but no “creating darkness” is taking place in these tests.

      BBB
    2. Suicide might be selfish in the eyes of people who haven’t had those feelings, or to the loved ones left behind, but I don’t think it is to the actual suicidal people. They resort to that because they THINK that there is no better option for them and/or that this will be the better thing for their loved ones. That’s clearly not the case, but suicidal people aren’t in a place to realise that. If they were, they wouldn’t be suicidal. So I wouldn’t necessarily call them selfish, because that’s a word that suggests…something a lot more arrogant and less sorrowful than the mess suicide creates.

      Aki-Chan
    3. the two character’s who commited suicide are viewed in a very positive light and one of them gets sent to reincarnation on the expanse of a mother who fought with every cell in her existence to live and the other is the main character of the show (which I now have a love/hate relation with XD).

      What do you mean pro-suicide? It just showed how pathetic the otaku was. They also shown what he felt when realized how dumb he was to kill himself when he had a very caring step mother.

      Also mother was not venerable in any form of way. If you look back you could see how her eldest son and daughter look at her with contempt. There was a distance between them that’s festering.

      Sure you could say that she cares about the well being of his kids which is why she was so pissed off at her assistant/agent for screwing up. Looking back at the portrayal in the arcade match, she called the attack super weak to the point that she said it was useless. Her youngest child was the last one clinging which she praised. At that point I was convinced that she only had emotional attachment to the youngest one.

      megalith
    4. Maybe you should actually do some research on how clinical depression works before ranting about it.

      Also, suicide is the leading cause of death for men 20-45 in Japan. Japan has, depending on the year, either the highest rate of suicide or is within the top three world-wide, so shows that deal with suicide are likely a good necessary thing.

      mozaa
  17. Now I might be wrong, but I thought the whole point is that Mayu actually REFUSED to send the stranger from the picture to the void and chose to insead reunite with Harada by joining his soul in the void. That’s why she looked sullen but not defeated, had his body (dummy) in her arms, stood up to annoyed Ginti AND the mask was blank – Ginti made no judgement. He didn;t send her into the void, she did.

    Ksenya
    1. This makes sense, and is perfectly in line with Mayu’s character. She just doesn’t seem like the person to doom someone else, no matter how obsessed she is with Harada.
      Also a sweet ending since, while the void is a horrible end, at least they’re joined together.

      Thanks for the explanation, since I was confused about that.

      Mormegil
  18. It’s hard to believe that this was an original creation, but I think that’s what made it so amazing. Having no idea what was coming, who will do what etc. I hope Madhouse create something just as good next season.

    Lyfe

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