Death Parade

You may be thinking, "that's such a dark title", well it is a pretty dark show.

This 12 episode anime takes place in the afterlife, in a bar called Quindecim. There's a mysterious white haired bartender, Decim and his helper Chiyuki who bring two people at a time, who passed away, and make them play a game to see whether they can reincarnate, or go to a place which is basically purgatory.

You may be thinking "games are fun, right?", well, if you want to call throwing darts onto a board that inflicts pain on a certain artery is fun, well then, I guess it could be fun? With each different "couple" that comes in, the game is different but ultimately both are staking their lives, or you could say their future lives'?

These people don't know their dead, so with that, they are incredibly confused as to where they are and why. This is purposeful. With them not knowing they're dead, they tend to give it their all in the game their playing to win, possibly even showing their dark sides.

Winning the game doesn't mean you'll be reincarnated, the way you play determines it. So if you use a bunch of cheating tactics, foul words, or anything of the sort it could mean you don't deserve a second chance at life because, what would change if you reincarnate?

Granted nobody is perfect, and these people all died for a reason. Some may have got into a freak accident, were murdered, committed suicide, or experienced any other crazy death you can think of. But like mentioned, they don't know this and it's revealed as they play the game.

Each episode has a different "couple" but the story ultimately follows Decim and Chiyuki as Chiyuki has no memory of anything, so she is put there to help regain these memories and help Decim judge these people.

That's the premises of the plot. So, if you can stomach these dark themes of suicide, rape, death, abuse, trauma, and so on, then you will thoroughly enjoy this show. The ending is beautiful but also very tragic so get ready for a rollercoaster of emotions.

Here is a quick trailer of what to expect:

And here is the link to watch in either English or Japanese.

This anime is a bit old as it came out in 2015. But the psychological and drama themes are nothing new. Each episode is around 23 minutes long with no season 2 in sight. But the ending is left to interpretation so whether you want it to end it can, but don't be too hopeful for anything else from this show.

Hope you at least were a little interested in watching this anime! Next week's anime won't be as dark. (: