Death Parade | First Impressions

As a major fan of MADHOUSE Inc. and their works in general, I had been looking forward to Death Parade for a quite a while, and as the weeks and days piled up metaphorically in my mind it became harder to resist checking out the little releases that were let out for Death Parade. Often time's we're built up by seeing something great and then being thoroughly disappointed, so I had kept to the times I had been disappointed by media in itself- cough Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief movie cough - and not watching a single little thing.¹

When we start, we're greeted with a supremely fantastic OP after a little bit of teaser animation that leaves little explained with a couple exiting two side-by-side elevators with no memories on how they arrived there, walking up to a bar and seeing our poster character Quindecim. We don't have time to absorb any information before being tossed in to "Flyers" by BRADIO. I listened and watched and honestly was thoroughly enjoying the song and the animation quality that was in full display for me to soak in. In fact it reminded me so much of the art of Black Butler: Book Of Circus that I made myself check if the lead creators were the same. 

After a breath taking little intro that had me hyped up on the inside, but nonreactive on the inside, I continued on.

Now the music is the first thing I have to comment on. Soundtrack is very important to me; after watching Chaika: The Coffin Princess I took the time to download the complete OST, and when the anime I'm watching has a little sound in the background to boost the general feel, I love it. Death Parade had this soft bar music that sounded authentic and so cliché that it fit perfectly.

Now to keep spoilers to a minimum, as is what I'd like to do with every update I do, I'll just hover over what we basically get.

Basically: Supreme animation and art. A pretty dark story that unravels before you, and a hint at how this anime has earned the R - 17 rating. 

The little dark side of me enjoyed the conflict quite a lot, and knowing that it only was for this single episode was quite awesome. The story has a pretty awesome twist after the ED that I found to be mediocre. however above all the art is beautiful and I will keep watching even if it's just for that. It's such a high quality that keeps you, or at least me, invested. From the little preview of the next episode, the setting is going to expand quite heavily, so I'll have to wait for that.

In the end I'm giving it a 9/10.

While this is a pretty high rating for an anime that I've only seen one episode for, it shows promise for an awesome season. Besides; usually my first impressions are pretty damn accurate.

Now, on to Assassination Classroom.

¹ - Please note that I said "watch". That doesn't count for indulging on looking at the little pieces of artwork that the Facebook page released. Don't judge.