Death Parade

Plot

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

Main characters

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 who have 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.

The Assistant (アシスタント, Ashisutanto)

Voiced by: Asami Seto (Japanese); Jamie Marchi (English)

Decim's assistant, who has been learning the methods that arbiters use to judge human souls and helping Decim learn about human behavior. Initially credited as "the black-haired woman" (黒髪の女, kurokami no onna), she is ultimately revealed to be a human, Chiyuki (知幸, Chiyuki), rendered amnesiac by Decim to become his assistant and an Arbiter after she had arrived in the afterlife on her death with all memories of her life and the process of passage between life and death intact, seen by the Arbiters as a message from the missing God.

Other Arbiters

Nona (ノーナ, Nōna)

Voiced by: Rumi Ōkubo (Japanese); Jad Saxton (English)

Decim's boss, with the appearance of a young woman. 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)

An 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, hence its name, Quindecim.

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.

Players

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 send his soul for reincarnation rather than into the void.

Machiko (真智子, Machiko)

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese); Trina Nishimura (English)

Media

Death Billiards

Death Billiards (デス・ビリヤード, Desu Biriyādo) 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.

Death Parade

An anime television series based on the short, titled Death Parade, aired in Japan on Nippon TV between January 9 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. The series was removed from Crunchyroll in October 2025.

Reception

Death Parade won the 2016 Anime Trending Awards in the "Best Original Anime" category and was nominated for their "Anime of the Year", "Supernatural Anime of the Year", "Mystery or Psychological Anime of the Year" and "Opening Theme Song of the Year" categories. 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.