Meet one of my newest, most favorite anime—by far! As soon as I heard the plot for Death Parade, I was beyond excited for this show to come out. I can't even properly sum up how excited I really was into words. As soon as it came out and I started watching it week by week while it was airing, I can honestly say I was not disappointed. This anime, unlike a few I've seen that were just built up to be so great and let me down, didn't do that. It lived up to every single expectation that I had.

I'm going to tell you right now, there are really no bad words in my review. I wasn't sure how to go about being critical of Death Parade. I just love it that much.

For starters, let's talk about the animation. For an anime that's supposed to be a psychological thriller in some aspects, the animation itself wasn't dark, like one would expect. I will admit, there were scenes that were subtle in color and had darker lighting, but even then those colors were so vivid. The choices in colors that the animators used were perfect compliments to the recurring themes throughout and just the entirety of the settings. The character animation was wonderful, as well. I really am falling more and more in love with the advancing newer art style that's being seen so often in so many of the anime being released lately. There's just something about the balance of colors with this new style of art that complements each other so wonderfully. Each character in Death Parade had their own unique characteristics that made them special within this art style. While many of the darker colors were vivid, I found for a lot of characters in the anime their own personal colors used to portray them were more subtle, but bright in their own sense. This newer generation art style in anime is also a great showcase of fluidity in the movement of the characters and their actions. Death Parade illustrates this very well.

Something that threw me off about this anime was the opening of it. It's super fun and catchy—enough so that I went and downloaded the song because I loved it so much! It'll throw anyone off, I think. It doesn't fit the style of what the anime's genre is supposed to be. At all. But I think that's what makes it so great. It draws the water in because anyone listening just wants to dance in their seat to it! The ending was also a very good song, and the ending itself had a standard animation; but often times there would be an animation specific to a certain episode and reflecting events in the episode. I found that unique, considering that's usually done for anime that are more established (normally as manga) and are certain to have recurring seasons.

Oh—also—super important here: Watch after every single episode's ending credits if you watch this anime! I have had friends who did not do this and they missed some important things that occurred! The anime doesn't end as soon as the ending animation and song begin. It actually ends after the credits. Some of these mini scenes after the credits reveal some sneaky little hints as to what will be happening in the plot, some are just super fun to watch and are a quirky follow-up of the episode, and some are just previews for the next episode. However, I still suggest watching them.

Now, I think what I liked most about this anime was the plot itself. It was different—and that's great! It was a take on a recurring theme that we see in all cultures about life after death, reincarnation, heaven and hell, etc. Whatever you may call it—it was a more modern take in animation form of all these ideas tied together. It reminds me of the judgement system that you often see in Chinese and Indian Buddhist practices...although to me, this plot line reflected the Chinese Buddhist practices more so, since I recently leaned about it in my Chinese art history class.

Ah, sorry...went off on a bit of a tangent there—anyway! It has a unique idea and plot. Unfortunately, the show is only twelve episodes long and I feel as though they cut a lot of things that were important to the story line short because of the limited time frame. However, with the time frame they did have, the producers did amazing with it. There are enough questions leftover that if this anime has a big enough fan base that it gathers, I think a second season might be discussed (I haven't looked into it or any rumors about it to see if this is true). There are also enough questions to leave intrigue and keep the audience interested and always guessing. So many questions were left unanswered that I really hope people watch and express their interest in this anime—I need to know the answers about certain characters, like Nona and Decim!

Speaking of characters like Nona and Decim, I personally think this anime had some amazing character development despite the fact that it was so short. Especially within Decim, who, really, was the main focus of this anime and was supposed to have the majority of the character development. I won't reveal too much, but I will say the subtle development that's hinted at and sometimes seen throughout the course of the show is wonderfully tied together and revealed in the last episode. Another thing that makes me hope there's a second season to come, because the way in which Decim's development came to light is almost like a revelation in itself, and really needs to be explored some more. What was Nona's plan this entire time? What will happen to Decim now? I could list so many other questions, but I would probably ruin it for a lot of people by just asking them.

Besides that, there are an array of other characters who only serve a purpose for the one or two episodes they appear in, but each and every one of them are likable or connectable in their own way. They each add to the character development of Decim. They add to the development and growth of other characters, like the Black Haired Woman. They all have their own story to tell and while they may not stick around long, and you may get a bit too attached to them—I can't blame the producers for making so many minor characters, considering the plot of the anime. But it's easy to see a lot of development went into each and every minor character, no matter what big or small purpose they were to serve. I think it's a risky way to go about production of an anime...but at the same time, it's commendable and it worked well with this specific genre and plot, and it was done very well.

The entire anime is a mix of mystery with so many things that are clear and set in stone that the watcher always knows what to expect and what happens. But then there are so many questions, as well, that keep the viewer curious throughout the show. It's a show that ends with quite a few questions, but it's not a terrible ending that is difficult to live with. Although answers would be wonderful, if you ask me.