Death Parade

## *Death Parade (anime)*

***Death Parade*** (Japanese: デス・パレード, Hepburn: *Desu Parēdo*) is a 2015 Japanese anime television series created, written, and directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa and produced by Madhouse. The series spawned from a short film, ***Death Billiards*** (デス・ビリヤード, *Desu Biriyādo*), which was originally produced by Madhouse for the Young Animator Training Project's Anime Mirai 2013 and released on March 2, 2013. The television series aired in Japan between January 9, 2015 and March 27, 2015. It is licensed in North America by Funimation and in the United Kingdom by Anime Limited, the latter of which was eventually cancelled. The series was obtained by Madman Entertainment for digital distribution in Australia and New Zealand.

## Plot[edit]

Whenever someone dies, they are sent to one of many mysterious bars run by bartenders serving as arbiters inside a tower in the afterlife. There, they must compete in Death Games with their souls on the line, the results of which reveal what secrets led them to their situation and what their fate will be afterwards, with the arbiters judging if their souls will either be sent for reincarnation or banished into the void. The series follows Decim, the lone bartender of the bar where people who died at the same time are sent to, known as the Quindecim bar, and his assistant.

## Characters[edit]

### Main characters[edit]

Decim (デキム, *Dekimu*)
Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (Japanese); Alex Organ (English)
The bartender of the Quindecim bar (located on the 15th floor) who oversees the Death Games between people who have died and must be judged. His hobby is making mannequins that resemble guests which made an impression on him. He is supposed to have no human emotions, just like all arbiters who are referred to as dummies because they have never lived or died. As a risky experiment, Nona allows him to develop his interest in learning about human emotions.
Chiyuki (知幸, *Chiyuki*)
Voiced by: Asami Seto (Japanese); Jamie Marchi (English)
A human who initially has no memory of her life or her real name and is simply referred to as "the black-haired woman" (黒髪の女, *kurokami no onna*). She works as an assistant at Quindecim, learning the methods that arbiters use to judge human souls and helping Decim learn about human behavior.
### Other Arbiters[edit]

Nona (ノーナ, *Nōna*)
Voiced by: Rumi Ōkubo (Japanese); Jad Saxton (English)
Decim's boss, with the appearance of a young girl. She reports to Oculus and manages the arbiters, primarily working on the 90th floor and sometimes overseeing the games.
Ginti (ギンティ, *Ginti*)
Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese); Robert McCollum (English)
A arbiter bartender who runs and oversees death games in the Viginti Bar on the 20th floor. He does not get along well with Decim and disapproves of his reliance on Chiyuki, although their relationship is not antagonistic.
Clavis (クラヴィス, *Kuravisu*)
Voiced by: Kōki Uchiyama (Japanese); Z. Charles Bolton (English)
An ever helpful elevator attendant who is always smiling.
Quin (クイーン, *Kuīn*)
Voiced by: Ryōko Shiraishi (Japanese); Anastasia Muñoz (English)
A member of the information bureau who ran the Quindecim bar before Decim took her place after she moved into the information center.
Castra (カストラ, *Kasutora*)
Voiced by: Ryōka Yuzuki (Japanese); Morgan Garrett (English)
A woman in a skull helmet who oversees deaths across the world and decides which souls are sent to which arbiters.
Oculus (オクルス, *Okurusu*)
Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (Japanese); Jeremy Schwartz (English)
A powerful being with a lotus-like beard and hair who is close to god and manages the arbiter system. He spends his free time playing galactic pool.
### Players[edit]

Man (男, *Otoko*)
Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura
He appeared in "Death Billards" as a cocky young man in his 30s who came in before Roujin at Quindecim. He and Roujin were forced to play a game of billiards that would decide their fate. In the midst of the game, he was completely surprised when he underestimated Roujin who, at his advance age, was already beating him in the game and was able to defend himself after he lunged at him with a cue stick. After the confrontation, he was able to recall that he is already dead and that he died at the hands of his girlfriend who murdered him after he cheated on her. At the end of the game, he and Roujin both were led to the elevator to reincarnation and the void, respectively.
Elderly Man (老人, *Rōjin*)
Voiced by: Jun Hazumi
He appeared in "Death Billards" who died of natural causes. He arrived in the Quindecim after Otoko, where they were both made to play a game of billiards that would decide their fate. Unlike Otoko, who is cocky and aggressive, he is calm and level-headed. Even when in the face of a confrontation with the latter, he was able to defend himself from Otoko's assault. At the end of the game, they were led to the elevator by Decim where it was not known as to what their fate has become. Before entering the elevator, he whispered something to Decim whose details are unknown. In the final scene he was seen with a smirk on his face as he has been sent to the void.
Takashi (たかし, *Takashi*)
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese); Eric Vale (English)
The first to play the game. He and his wife Machiko enter a darts game with their lives staked on it. After suspecting Machiko had an affair, he sets out to win the game, later learning his suspicions and jealousy drove him and his wife to their deaths. He ends up losing but Decim decides to puts send his soul for reincarnation rather than into the void.
Machiko (真智子, *Machiko*)
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese); Trina Nishimura (English)
The first to play the game. She and her husband Takashi play a game of darts, believing their lives staked on it. After admitting to committing an affair and claiming that she married Takashi for his money, she landed the winning shot. Takashi tries to attack her to be stopped by Decim. Although she wins the game, Decim decides to sends her soul to the void. It is later suggested that she lied about her baby being other man's child to lessen Takashi's guilt about having killed his own baby, implying that she did truly love him. Although Chiyuki notices this, it was too late for Decim to reverse his judgement. It is later revealed that Machiko cheated, but the assistant (black haired girl) suggests that Takashi’s jealousy had driven his poor wife to commit something she would forever regret. Her husband's constant jealousy and mistrust towards her lead to her cheating out of frustration, something which she regretted immensely.
Shigeru Miura (三浦 しげる, *Miura Shigeru*)
Voiced by: Junji Majima, Lynn (young) (Japanese); Micah Solusod (English)
He is a college student who awakens at Quindecim and reunites with his childhood friend Mai. He plays Death Bowling against her, later learning that they died in a bus accident together.
Mai Takada (高田 舞, *Takada Mai*)
Voiced by: M.A.O., Yuna Taniguchi (young) (Japanese); Bryn Apprill (English)
A part-time attendant at the bowling alley where Miura and his friends often played. It is revealed that she was childhood friends with Miura.
Chisato Miyazaki (みやざき ちさと, *Miyazaki Chisato*)
Voiced by: Marie Hatanaka (young) (Japanese); Tia Ballard (young) (English)
A childhood friend of Miura and Mai who moved away. Mai initially claims to be Chisato, when she meets Miura at Quindecim.
Misaki Tachibana (橘みさき, *Tachibana Misaki*)
Voiced by: Yuriko Yamaguchi (Japanese); Monica Rial (English)
She is the hostess of a reality television show. Misaki's explicit relationship at a young age leads to an unexpected pregnancy with an abusive man. She attempted to raise her five children despite the mishaps of her multiple failed relationships. She was strangled to death by her talent manager in a fit of rage after she slapped and antagonized her.
Yousuke Tateishi (立石 洋介, *Tateishi Yousuke*)
Voiced by: Masakazu Morita (Japanese); Ian Sinclair (English)
Yousuke's parents had a divorce and his father remarried. However, Yousuke refused to accept his new mother and avoided her at home, eventually committing suicide. He is placed in a Death Game against Misaki where they must fight in an arcade game.
Mayu Arita (有田 マユ, *Arita Mayu*)
Voiced by: Atsumi Tanezaki (Japanese); Leah Clark (English)
An excitable high school girl who died after slipping on a bar of soap. She is sent to the Viginti where she plays a game of twister against Harada. Unlike the other guests, she ends up staying at the Viginti instead of passing on. Ginti later on presents her with Harada's soul-less body, telling her that it is possible to revive him, but it would require sending another young man's soul into the void in his place. It is not shown what she chooses to do, however she is shown to be bringing Harada's body with her to retrieve his soul. Ginti was originally going to reincarnate her, however changed her to the void after she insisted she lived for Harada and would want to be with him. As they enter the void, Harada manages to be revived for a brief moment before both their souls fall into the void, visually joining as one, reducing their bodies back into the mannequins they originally were.
Harada (原田)
Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese); Josh Grelle (English)
A male idol who was part of the boy band C.H.A., who plays against Mayu at the Viginti. After causing a fan to commit suicide after breaking up with her, Harada was killed by a timer bomb given to him by his girlfriend, who was that girl's sister. His soul-less body makes a comeback in episode 11, eventually revealing that his soul has been sent to the void. Mayu, believing she was given a choice to revive him, is tricked by Ginti into joining his soul in the void. The two orbs of light representing the two's souls merge into one as they fall into the void, possibly indicating a literal joining of souls.
Shimada (島田)
Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)
Together with Tatsumi, he arrived at Quindecim, where they both have to fight in a game of air hockey that would decide their fate. Prior to the game, he finds a bloodied knife in his bag with no idea as to why he had it. During the game he recalls that he has a sister named Sae who was violently raped by a stalker and that he was able to kill the stalker with the knife from before, but was mortally wounded during the struggle. He then killed whom he thought to be the stalker's "accomplice", not knowing it was Tatsumi. He later remembers that he died from the loss of blood from the fatal wound he sustained earlier. In the last phases of the game he realizes that the one he thought was the accomplice was actually Tatsumi who went there to kill the stalker as well. He becomes extremely enraged when he learns that Tatsumi, a detective, actually witnessed his sister's assault but did nothing to save her. Despite Chiyuki's attempts to lessen his guilt, he gave in to Tatsumi's taunts. At the end of the game it is suggested that both he and Tatsumi were sent to the void.
Tatsumi (辰巳)
Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese); Kent Williams (English)
He arrived with Shimada at Quindecim, where they have to fight in a game of air hockey. He was a detective whose wife had been brutally murdered. After tracking down and killing the culprit, he began a string of vigilantism where he monitors suspicious people before executing them should they commit a crime, hence he witnessed Sae Shimada's rape and was deduced by her to be an accomplice involved in the assault. Arriving at the stalker's house later, he found the stalker already dead before being fatally stabbed by Shimada, who assumed he was the "accomplice" his sister mentioned. He died of blood loss just as Shimada passed out from his own fatal wound. At the end of the game it is suggested that both he and Shimada were sent to the void.
Sachiko Uemura (上村 幸子, *Uemura Sachiko*)
Voiced by: Ikuko Tani (Japanese); Linda Leonard (English)
A lone guest who was sent to Quindecim so as to judge hers and the black-haired woman's souls in a game of Old Maid. She was a story book illustrator and the wife of the elderly man from Death Billiards. Chancing upon a card illustrated with a character she never got to draw, she deduced that she was dead, despite not remembering how she died nor does she want to learn it, thankful that she has seen her illustration come to life. Later on as she witnesses cards with illustrations from the *Chavvot* story, she explains the story and the author's feelings that went into it, which allowed the woman to recall part of her childhood memories and her name, Chiyuki. After the end of the game she is sent to be reincarnated.
## Media[edit]

### *Death Billiards*[edit]

*Death Billiards* was produced by Madhouse as part of the Young Animator Training Project's Anime Mirai 2013 project, which funds young animators, alongside other short films by Trigger, Zexcs and Gonzo. *Death Billiards* and the other shorts each received 38 million yen from the Japanese Animation Creators Association, who receives funding from the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The short was created, directed and written by Yuzuru Tachikawa. The short, along with the other Anime Mirai shorts, opened in 14 Japanese theatres on March 2, 2013.

Transcription: "Desu Biriyādo" (Japanese: デス・ビリヤード)
 Two men – a younger man wearing a suit and an elderly man – find themselves in a bar helmed by a bartender and his female assistant. Their reason for being there is to play a game of billiards, for their lives. As they play, they begin to recall their past lives. The old man is likely to win, so the younger man attacks and kills him and wins the game. At the end, both men realize that they are already dead and each enters an elevator to take them to heaven or hell. They depart, but the bartender refuses to divulge their destinations to his assistant.

### *Death Parade*[edit]

An anime television series based on the short, titled *Death Parade*, aired in Japan on Nippon TV between January 9, 2015 and March 27, 2015. Produced by NTV, VAP and Madhouse, the series is created, written and directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa, with Shinichi Kurita designing the characters and Yuki Hayashi composing the music. The opening theme is "Flyers" by Bradio while the ending theme is "Last Theater" by NoisyCell. The anime is licensed in North America by Funimation, who simulcast the series as it aired. It was also acquired in the United Kingdom by Anime Limited, however, it was later announced that the release was cancelled and delisted. A broadcast dub version began streaming from February 18, 2015, both on Funimation's website and a Dubbletalk programming block which is streamed on Twitch.

## Reception[edit]

A poll done on the Japanese video-sharing service Niconico at the end of the Winter 2015 airing anime season, ranked Death Parade 9th as the users favorite anime of that season. The English dubbed version of the anime had nominations for "Best male lead vocal performance in an anime television series/OVA" and "Best female lead vocal performance in an anime television series/OVA" and it won the "Best vocal ensemble in an anime television series/OVA" for the "BTVA anime dub television/OVA voice acting Awards". IGN listed *Death Parade* among the best anime series of the 2010s.