#the only anime I regret finishing more than this one was darker than black s2 and that is saying something

[llycaons]

what did you dislike in death parade? i remember only starting it years ago but don't recall much now

oh I saw it years ago too...like in high school? and I still have no idea why I stuck it out to the end. every single episode just made me so angry and miserable. I ended that show feeling empty and gross and the only thing I was glad about was that I wouldn't have to watch another episode. like I do not recommend finishing it, anon. I put this under the cut for length

okay to start with pros, the opening was excellent, the animation was beautiful, and the character design was really fun. but outside of that...the vibes were miserable and it was written to be ansgty for no real reason. so almost every episode focused on a person who had recently died and often a loved one/someone connected to them who was also dead was there and these games in the bar would decide whether they went to hell or not...or something? and sometimes only one person could go to heaven? so you'd have really tragic and awful stories with good people who'd done nothing wrong being doomed for eternity...

so in the first ep there was a newlywed couple and something something the wife lied to the husband about cheating on him because she wanted him to be safe which sent her to hell even though she was a good person and he was legitimately horrible...like what's the fucking point? it was emotional torture porn. I don't remember a lot of the stories but every one I remember was deeply misogynistic and involved women suffering or sacrificing themselves for the men in their lives. like the female fan who was like 'it's my choice to die for my (male) idoll!' or something trying to spin it into like an empowerment scene? or the one about the girl who had been sexually assaulted who ended up in the afterlife with her brother and the cop who watched her being assaulted and did nothing because he needed evidence?? and the focus was more on her brother because he was really mad about it and not because SHE was the one who's been hurt? it was a setting disrespectful of its own characters, designed to put them in impossible and painful positions and to this day I don't know what the point of it all was thematically or narratively

like I get why fans would say 'oh it say a lot about the human condition!' but I really don't think it does, I think the writers just tried to make things as difficult and angsty as possible and try to pass it off as 'deep'. it said nothing meaningful, its recurring characters had basically no personality until the very end (which I found...not terrible but definitely not worth it), it was an angstfest and it treated women (and survivors of assault) like garbage while never interrogating why these things happened or exploring any other avenues for women to exist in or act. the recurring female character had memory loss and that meant she was very passive and had little personality for the majority of the show. the ending had some haunting scenes but it handled suicide extremely superficially and the main guy finally expressing emotions was not satisfying enough to make any of this worth it. I literally don't remember what happens to the woman and I know the bar system is still in place by the end so...idk I got no praise for the finale

mostly it just made me feel really shitty and hopeless and miserable, which I'm not looking for in my media. I like hopeful stories, stories that make me feel good, stories that provide some commentary or introspection, dark stories with hope and light at the end of them, and fun stories, or at least stories that make a unique point or make their point in a unique way. and dp wasn't any of those for me. it wasn't even engaging or entertaining! I couldn't stay emotionally invested because each main character was cycled out every episode and they all had horrible endings, the two recurring characters had no relationship to speak of until the very end and seeminly no internality, and the worldbuilding was very bland. and it was not entertaining because...like I was bored most of the time. it actually made me feel the same way as f/ma 03 did by the end, or hann/ibal. in retrospect I have slightly more respect for 03 which despite its many flaws had some solid scenes and never bored me, and hannibal is genuinely well-made which is more than I can say for dp. its popularity really was a flash in the pan bouyed by pretty animation and a fun op, but it's nowhere now because it was a bad and shallow show. if it was still popular I'd hate it a lot more but some things deserve to be forgotten. so I'd say don't bother with it unless you like those darker stories, which I know some ppl do! but I just don't see any value in it

sorry for writing five paragraphs about a show I barely remember but I love getting asks like this because being a hater is such a beloved hobby of mine lol. so thanks anon! hope you have a good one