Death Parade / First Impressions

「デス・マーチ」 (Desu Maachi)
“Death March”

I should have guessed from the preview last week, but this week’s episode of Death Parade would focus more on the reoccurring characters that we see rather than the newly deceased. In fact, there’s no new visitors to Decim’s bar this week and instead, we’re introduced to more people that work in purgatory with Decim. Nona makes her reappearance, along with several new characters whom we haven’t seen anywhere but the opening sequence thus far. Amongst the new characters include: Ginti (Hosoya Yoshimasa) who is another arbiter that was sent to test Decim and Clavis (Uchiyama Kouki), whom we’ve seen before, he’s our elevator man. There’s also someone who claims to be close to “God” and another lady that acts the centre of information flow. What I found most informative about this episode though, was the background of Nameless Girl. It’s clear now that she came to Quin Decim as a deceased human, but she knew that she was dead and unsure of what to do with her – Decim and Nona kept her around. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to her in the future… but what’s more interesting is what this implies for Decim, Nona and others. Does this open up the question of how they got there and who they are?

I’m sitting on the fence of whether or not I like this new story expansion of Death Parade. Personally, I really liked the episodic approach of the first few episodes that showed a new pair of individuals that entered Decim’s bar. I like being able to analyze the characteristics of each person myself and come to my own conclusions of whether or not Decim’s judgment was right. I also like hearing what others think and trying to guess why Decim made the decisions that he did. The fact that the writers can come up with a new and even better story every week just goes to show how great they are at storytelling and keeping things fresh. On the other side of the fence, I like having continuity in my stories. I’m not someone that likes episodic anime normally. Knowing that the characters have some sort of connection means that there’s a larger picture at play and this is what intrigues me to continue watching. However, for Death Parade, I’m somehow fine with the story not focusing on the additional characters in or around Quin Decim. I feel like the anime already has so much to offer in terms of content, thrill and it doesn’t need the added stories between the recurring characters. The fact that there is another story to be told, only makes me skeptical as to how it adds value to the anime. While I like Nameless Girl and the way that they brought her into the story, what is her purpose and is her story going to be the finale? Now that we’ve gone this far, I have high expectations of Nameless Girl and what happens to her in purgatory. Will she end up staying and becoming an arbiter herself? Or will she eventually pick an elevator for herself?

The episode definitely leaves more questions than answers, but I like the added tales of Chavvot and Jimmy. A while ago, a lot of people thought that the book Nona was reading (in episode 2) would be key to unlocking… something. Turns out it’s very much linked to Nameless Girl and the dreams that she’s been having. The story is rather simple, almost too much so and I’m just waiting for the moment that the plot takes a dark turn (Chavvot’s smile also looks so creepy!). I’m hoping it’ll be used to explain Nameless Girl’s previous life or even reveal a bit more about Nona. Up until this point, it was uncertain if Nona, Decim and folks were actually living people (who never moved on) or if they were something else. After this episode, I don’t think they’re human but they were likely created by “God” or someone of higher power to do the job of arbiter and manager. Purgatory needs someone to organize the information; it needs order and it needs “people” to run the show when deceased human souls are sent there. The fact that there’s any chain of command and order already amazes me, but also makes me sad to hear that Nona’s gone through it for almost a century. No wonder they play games – boredom would really be an issue with me.

This pretty much mentions all the important points of the episode that I wanted to hit. The last thing that I wanted to talk about was how Decim actually failed this test given to him by Nona. A shame, but also a good way to show just how flawed Decim is as an arbiter. I thought episode 2 made it very clear already, but it’s perhaps Decim has such a blank demeanor that we often forget that he also has thoughts and feelings. The way he treats Nameless Girl is definitely a good indication that he feels for her and he appreciates her input while he’s judging others. Decim is not as expressive as any of the other characters, but that’s just him and some people are naturally born as unexpressive individuals. Sadly, Decim’s inability to probably judge people has also gotten him into a fair bit of trouble now. Honestly, how can you not realize that someone without memories could be dangerous or an anomaly? My attention would be all on the kid and the guy… well yes, he’s violent but it’s the kid that you don’t know anything about. Anyway, I hope next week brings us back to the evaluations of new couples and pairs but judging from the title, we’ll probably see more recurring characters brought back.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: A switch in focus on #DeathParade this week. There’s actually some background to the characters that run Quindecim and rules in purgatory.

 

Preview

47 Comments

  1. Main concern of the anime presented: how did Nameless Girl retain her memories. Has it happened to others before her. Does retaining one’s memories automatically give one the free chance of lingering about in bargatory.

    And apparently, “God” is no longer there with them? So confused.

    Petit Orenji
    Reply

    1. Couple of theories here A: their God got bored of Purgatory, decided to become human but as a consequence lost all his powers and memories of being God, now he finally died and came back to Purgatory i.e Nameless girl, that’s why she still had her memories, some power still lingers within her.

      B: Their God simply forgot he was God due to some random reason which is yet unknown to us, and Nameless is actually linked to him, that’s why she was able to remember dying.

      Dwarg
      Reply

  2. I have a feeling Nona is indirectly having Onna regain her memories from experiencing the same, recurring Chavvot dream and the Chavvot replacement board. While I can only speculate with Death Parade, I now know those were Jimmy and Chavvot dolls shown at the end of the opening sequence.
    http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/ichigo_daisuki/Death%20Parade%20-%20Opening%20Sequence%20End_zpsefj92i8m.png

    Thank you for the coverage! I’m really glad Death Parade is getting coverage on Random Curiosity~

    ichigo
    Reply

  5. This show has managed to trick me everytime so far. The old man in the previous episode’s preview who had a dismayed, concerned look turned out to only care about losing at pool. And is potentially something of a jerk.

    Only red-head so far has had a character in line with his appearance. And this red-headed, tanned, passionate, angry character uses WATER as a weapon.

    Kudos, Death Parade.

    Blue
    Reply

  6. I’m about 70% sure the Nameless Woman was a skater now. I’m not sure if she’s Chavvot herself like some people have speculated on other sites but there’s a lot of skating hints atm (which reminds me of how many things seem like their hidden in plain sight in the opening).

    For one, Chavvot first met Jimmy while skating on the ice.

    Second, in the opening, in the scene where Nona and Quin are drinking together you see the Nameless Woman skating past them in the background. She has a figure skater’s pose.

    Third, also in the opening, on the table with the different games you can see a pair of skates on the left side of the table.

    And lastly, the outfit the Nameless woman sees in the closet. It looks fairly ornate. One of the things that came to mind was its the sort of outfit a skater would wear.

    I’m not sure if the skating itself is important but it does strengthen the parallel to Chavvot. In turn, it feels like Decim is being set up as a natural parallel to Jimmy. If only because the thing that Jimmy remembers about Chavvot was her smile and that’s what Decim thought about when explaining to Ginti why she was important to him.

    As for the fate of the Nameless Woman, I’m starting to think this really might be a prequel to Death Billiards so she might really end up sticking around. In Death Billiards, the randomizer board was the one that Decim was putting up this episode (the one of Chavvot skating). Assuming that this is a prequel, it can be assumed a) that board becomes a permanent addition b) the Nameless Woman will continue to work with Decim a while longer.

    Acerbus
    Reply

    1. Adding onto all this, there was a point I forgot to add.

      In the flashback we see of the Nameless Woman first arriving, she has that silver streak in her hair even back then. How this mixes with someone who may or may not have been a skater, I’m not sure, but it does imply that there’s something else about the Nameless Woman herself. It might not be as drastic as her being the Absent God but if the Chavot/Jimmy story has something to say, she may’ve been connected to Purgatory/Arbiters even before she died.

      Acerbus
      Reply

    2. That’s a cool theory – although the fact that Chavvot doesn’t talk (or can’t talk?) is something that doesn’t settle well with me =S her smile is also really creepy lol.
      I need to watch more or see more of the story before I can develop a theory for the relationship between Nameless Girl and Decim. They don’t seem to be a romantic couple? Compared to Jimmy and Chavvot’s story anyway. I think it’s possible for the characters in Chavvot to be Nameless Girl and Decim… but that would be incredibly sad because that means Jimmy died years before Chavvot and he’s been waiting in purgatory all this time. They also don’t seem to carry the same personalities as the characters in the book which is odd because Jimmy is so happy-go-lucky and Decim is like a wall o_o But that might also be subject to change…

      Anyway, I think it’d be interesting if Nameless Girl turned out to be a figure skater… although I don’t know what that revelation would mean for us. If she just turned out to be a regular human that had an unfortunate accident, I don’t think it’d paint her to be a very special individual.

      Cherrie
      Reply

      1. THere is one theory I saw that might bridge the figure skating make bridge to Chavvot/why she managed to realize she was dead. If the Nameless Woman/Chavvot are deaf and she was suddenly able to hear again, that would be a tip off to her. However, I’m not leaning on this one because a) Ginti said he’d never heard anything about a human remembering they were dead and it’d be too odd they’ve never had someone with disabilities before b) the silver streak in her hair was even when she first arrived (which, given the fact the series has put a lot of emphasis on treating people as realistic as possible, seems like a weird detail).

        I do think the figure skating seems mostly important due to something else (i.e: it ties to Chavvot) than the fact she’s simply a skater. Since as you said, if she were just a normal human who experienced an unfortunate accident then there wouldn’t be much of a reason to build up this mystery around her. If Decim is somehow Jimmy, I think the change in personality could be explained by a memory wipe/age/how long he’s been doing the job. According to Nona, Decim’s been on the job for five years and still seems new compared to someone like Nona, who’s existed for at least 80 years (and that was all when she was manager). Assuming he didn’t just spring up into existence/he was also human once (and by extension, other Arbiters), the show has shown that Purgatory isn’t shy about wiping memories and altering people. Even though Decim (in Death Billiards) says he has no experience being alive, that could also be explained by a wipe.

        That said, like I said, the Nameless Woman/Decim may not actually be Chavvot/Jimmy but meant to be a parallel. I think it goes a bit further than that though because they’ve gone from teasing the importance to explicitly tying it to a character.

        Acerbus
        Reply

  7. I don’t know about any of you guys, but I personally thought this episode was beautiful. I’m not even talking about the story content, although that was good as well. I’m referring to the presentation/execution of this one particular episode. It really connected things (at least for me). It felt like a story that started in the middle, went somewhere, and looped around back to the beginning. Almost in a Black Rock Shooter-esque fashion.

    Did no one else think the dreams no name girl are having are basically the events that occur in the book Nona was reading?

    pearthefruit
    Reply

  9. 1. That pool table, I WANT THAT, too bad it’s impossible to exist in reality. Also, they left out pluto, substituting with the moon instead

    2. Ginti shares the same VA with Free! Sousuke, it’s like they merged his personality with Momotarou. Heck, even his elemental affinity when attacking was with water.

    3. Onna was definitely not from this world seeing that everybody else had those uniquely cross shaped pattern in their eyes. Also, this Chawot storybook has been waving in our face since the OP, there is definitely something they want us to pay attention to. There was an episode where Onna had this weird but bright smile on her face, resembling the description of the girl’s weird smile.

    4. I think it’s very nice they took the effort to slowly explain and introduce us to the world that governs the dead’s judgement. I can’t foresee every episode being just a judgement of two people who died, that would be very boring eventually. They govern the dead worldwide, but it’s probably just simple to say Decim’s the Japan division? 😛

    Azsurance
    Reply

      3. anyway, there is a Human Probe in transit to Pluto. to explore this one, as right now Pluto is more then 1 Planet, seems like it is a combo of 2 or 3 dwarf Planets.

        Do not ask me, where to find infos about the Probe in transit.. i only know this through news links of the past

        WorldwideDepp
        Reply

  13. Wonder how the Chavvot stuff ties into this. If it wasn’t for it I would half suspect Kurokami no Onna to be the lost god. And not just because of the terrible double entendre of her name.

    The currently rather high death rate in Japan also might have an actual plot significance.

    Also, this episode was kind of an eye-opener for me concerning this half-assed system. God is gone (whether he actually existed or it was just some kind of metaphor is irrelevant) and the poor people are left to deal with these honestly rather incompetent “people” who get to decide whether they are reborn or are doomed for eternity.

    Access
    Reply

  16. Without a doubt (well my mind), this red girl in the books is our Nameless Girl, and the Boy is our Decim

    https://randomc.net/image/Death%20Parade/Death%20Parade%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
    She must be some kind of Gatekeeper, or she sort out the Souls from the Bodys. That would explain the Blood drops

    And she is one of the “Dark side”, her Eye cross is different

    The eyes are important here, they give some kind of Rank status of them all. Just the Nameless Girl, has Human Eyes.. i wonder for how long…

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

    1. btw, what flashed my mind, could the entire building there in be the “Tower of Babylon”?. Here and there you can see how old this build is, just look at the surrounding of the billiard table

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

    2. I thought the woman at the end was our “information sorter”. You see her using her “computer” or whatever that thing was to sort pieces of data and I think that’s her job – to send memories to the arbiters and that’s how Decim gets them. She also pairs the people up that end up at Decim’s bar so that’s why she knew about Decim being tested that day. Just a thought – I could be totally wrong (which I usually am =X).

      Cherrie
      Reply

    1. i am more curious, in WHY she remember. Most of the Persons arrive there just began to get their Memories back, when playing the Game, and our nameless girl do not play. Or is this all a Great Gaming involved the arbiters? some kind a higher Game under God’s order?

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

      2. She was born Human, and transcendent into heaven. Perhaps she had the same curious like Princess Kayuga (what i pre ordered) and wanted to visit Earth again, and then lost her memories, and this is a higher game to regain the memories back

        WorldwideDepp
        Reply

  22. But what i found and find it still strange. Mostly when Japan talk about our Christian God, he is already Dead or “not at home”. I know there is not bad meaning in this, but do not our Christian God has eternal Life? again, i know they do not mean it bad

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

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