Current Events > Death Parade was so underrated.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://youtu.be/Ca5Tf5BDSYI?si=4QwIJEfQzsr5d63e

I feel like not many people know much about it beyond the absolute banger OP. I went back and read through older discussions of it and people seemed to hate it, and nowadays, most people I know have either never heard of it or only know the OP at most.

It's a great show, though. It has a fun structure to it with the death games and tackles some really heavy topics in a really interesting way.

I'd go as far as to call it one of my favorite animes of all time.

Was thinking about this show yesterday, funny enough. I thought it was well-received back in the day, but maybe not

Ushiromiya posted...

Was thinking about this show yesterday, funny enough. I thought it was well-received back in the day, but maybe not

The ice skating scene popped up in my recommended on YT recently and I watched it. Such a good scene, and just reminded me of how much I loved the show.

It's possible that it was better received than I thought, but the discussion threads I was browsing through were just shredding it from week to week. It was kind of shocking, since I really really loved the show and figured that it would be at least moderately liked.

I first heard of it because they referenced Death Note.

I thought Oculus, the guy with the glasses, was going to be important, like maybe a villain, but nothing happened with him lol

Death Billiards is even more underrated. It's the prototype for the first episode, but they're different enough that it's still worth watching the original and I really have trouble deciding which I like more

Letsago posted...

I first heard of it because they referenced Death Note.

I thought Oculus, the guy with the glasses, was going to be important, like maybe a villain, but nothing happened with him lol

That'd be my lone major issue with it. I will admit that there was a lot of setup that felt like it didn't ultimately go anywhere. I sort of wonder if it was meant to set up a potential season 2 that just didn't materialize.

Still, the individual episode storylines were fantastic & I think the core plot still worked with all of the Chiyuki stuff, so I didn't mind it.

PurestProdigy posted...

Death Billiards is even more underrated. It's the prototype for the first episode, but they're different enough that it's still worth watching the original and I really have trouble deciding which I like more

Yeah, it was great too. I kind of consider it more or less part of the series honestly, despite technically being its own thing.

Ushiromiya posted...

Was thinking about this show yesterday, funny enough. I thought it was well-received back in the day, but maybe not

It was extremely well received back then.

ellis123 posted...

It was extremely well received back then.

Interesting.

Maybe it's just the place I was looking then, because most of the episode to episode comments seemed to be complaining about it. I just assumed that it was a wider sentiment, but glad to hear that it was well-received then.

Though, I do definitely still think it's pretty obscure these days. I know several people who watch anime a pretty good bit and they've all either never heard of it or have only seen the OP.

dotsdfe posted...

Interesting.

Maybe it's just the place I was looking then, because most of the episode to episode comments seemed to be complaining about it. I just assumed that it was a wider sentiment, but glad to hear that it was well-received then.

Though, I do definitely still think it's pretty obscure these days. I know several people who watch anime a pretty good bit and they've all either never heard of it or have only seen the OP.

While MAL got bought out and really isn't worth going to anymore for much, you can use it as a good barometer for a lot of older stuffs, Death Parade being old enough that it applies. They have it as a 8.14/10, one of the highest on the site and very much in the "massive success" category. It also has just shy of 2 million people who watched it on the site, making it the #49 for most watched anime ever. While it is true that not every watcher used MAL it is hard to describe just how *insanely* popular it was when it was airing, and how much people loved it.

As for why no one talks about it... that's how it goes when it's not about fighting. When a show is even slightly cerebral with no punching or explosions the Internet at large mostly just forgets about it. In that vein I would definitely say it's on the more obscure end, but more in the "people who weren't watching anime during that season don't know about it" more than anything else.

I put it in my watch list ages ago and never got around to it.

ellis123 posted...

While MAL got bought out and really isn't worth going to anymore for much, you can use it as a good barometer for a lot of older stuffs, Death Parade being old enough that it applies. They have it as a 8.14/10, one of the highest on the site and very much in the "massive success" category. It also has just shy of 2 million people who watched it on the site, making it the #49 for most watched anime ever. While it is true that not every watcher used MAL it is hard to describe just how *insanely* popular it was when it was airing, and how much people loved it.

As for why no one talks about it... that's how it goes when it's not about fighting. When a show is even slightly cerebral with no punching or explosions the Internet at large mostly just forgets about it. In that vein I would definitely say it's on the more obscure end, but more in the "people who weren't watching anime during that season don't know about it" more than anything else.

Well, glad to be wrong about the perception then. I think there's a really strong argument for it being my favorite anime of all time. If not, it's very close.

I suppose the ODTs I saw were just outliers. They felt so negative week to week as I browsed them and I got the sense that it was disliked to hated, honestly.

Now if only I could get my friends to watch it. One step at a time, I suppose.

party_animal07 posted...

I put it in my watch list ages ago and never got around to it.

For what it's worth, highly recommend if you're still interested. I really, really loved it.