Review: Death Parade “Death Arcade”

This week, on Death Parade, we get a throwback to America’s yesteryear. We travel back to the 1980’s, where the arcades were king. That’s when your quarter on the machine means that you’re next in line. All of these things don’t mean shit, because we’re not even in an arcade. We’re back in Quindecim, where you get to play a game, then go to Heaven or Purgatory.

This week, we get a fighter game match between Misuki and Yousuke. The game bears a striking resemblence to Street Fighter IV, but a copy that’s made for like PS1. “Death Arcade” has a plot that is fast moving this week, because the story unravels pretty much at the half way point. I was surprised to see much of the story drop so fast, because Death Parade had a knack to just drop meat within the last few minutes.

Speaking of the plot, it was pretty cool to see two people that had absolutely nothing to do with one another playing. Yosuke and Misaki only had one connection. That being Yosuke knew of Misaki from TV. How they put the separate stories together was well done, especially the outlying details. Without giving too much away, you really got to see how both of their families affected them, as well as the shit that has happened to them in the past. It was really sad, especially when you figure out Yosuke’s story and how he died. Then again, Misaki’s fate wasn’t very pretty either.

Luckily, there isn’t really a lot going on plotwise, meaning that the plot is almost always to the point and rather formulaic. Now, I don’t mean formulaic in the bad terminology, but how the story normally plays out. Keeping the two participants strangers keeps the story fresh, because the writers can’t rely on both of them to convey how they died. That’s why I am enjoying “Death Arcade” so much. I mean, I guess it doesn’t help that most of the episode revolves around Quindecim’s version of Street Fighter.  The only thing I can really say is watch “Death Arcade.” It’s an episode worth investing 23 minutes.