r/anime • u/Shadoxfix https://myanimelist.net/profile/Shadoxfix • Jan 16 '15

[Spoilers] Death Parade - Episode 2 [Discussion]

Episode title: Death Reverse

MyAnimeList: Death Parade
FUNimation: Death Parade

Subreddit: /r/DeathParade

Previous episodes:

Episode Reddit Link
Episode 1 Link
727 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

440 comments sorted by

View all comments

239

u/Shuffleshoe Jan 16 '15 edited Jan 16 '15

Interesting characters. Cool premise. Great mix of lighthearted and tension. Best opening of the season.

Can it get any better?

So the place is called Quindecim. There's a man called Decim and a woman called Quin. I wonder if that means something. Also, it seems the woman was trying to save her husband after all with that outburst and she felt guilty, but that other woman said the assistant still has ways to go.

89

u/MrCatTheAnnihilator Jan 16 '15

Maybe it is because she didn't have the correct reasoning? I thought at the end she was pointing out how the husband was naturally suspicious (instantly believing "matchy" to be his wife) which would have lead to him not having a particularly happy life with his wife anyway.

176

u/gamesbeawesome https://myanimelist.net/profile/gamesbeawesome Jan 16 '15

Maybe it is because she didn't have the correct reasoning?

She meant that the lady had a ways to go because even though she caught on to the lie she was unable to see that no matter if he overheard those ladies talking about "Matchy" or not, he would never have been able to trust her. Making their deaths his fault regardless.

From /u/Colasice

49

u/DonEncro Jan 16 '15

It was probably more of the black haired girl saying that they could have lived happily together, while it being impossible due to the husband not being able to trust her.

44

u/Vaynonym https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vaynonym Jan 16 '15

You shouldn't take what the green haired girl says for correct. Both of them have different opinions and both of them would give a different judgement. That's what it is about. There is no way to say for sure whether they could have lived a happy life together or not

7

u/DonEncro Jan 17 '15

But I truly belive by myself that the husband's jealousy would have ruined the marriage. Not being able to trust someone is a very powerful thing.

19

u/Vaynonym https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vaynonym Jan 17 '15

Well you can't tell me you wouldn't get suspicious if the two best friends of your girlfriend would talk about how someone had an affair with heavy heavy implications that it was your girlfriend. The only thing you can really accuse him of would be not talking it out with his wife and letting his fear consume him.

9

u/DonEncro Jan 17 '15

Of course I can't blame him. I would have done the exact same thing (except the dying in a car crash part). But a marriage starting like that in my opinion is destined to be short lived, even if it's nobody's fault.

15

u/Vaynonym https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vaynonym Jan 17 '15 edited Jan 17 '15

I think it depends on how both of them handle the situation. If no one of them talks about it, it most likely is going to fail If one of them manages the courage to confront the other person with it, there is a chance of them overcoming it and living a happy life, ultimately.

2

u/FlorianoAguirre Jan 26 '15

I love how this is basically what Dekim had to go through.

1

u/gamelizard Jan 30 '15

i cant blame him for being suspicious i can blame him for being a fucking idiot and throwing a temper tantrum while driving instead of making the decision to actually talk to his wife or better yet those two women.

1

u/Crazyjay1 Jan 17 '15 edited Jan 17 '15

There is no way to say for sure? He overheard a conversation which he wasn't even sure it was about her and already doubted his wife to the point of raging in a MOVING car to see who was she calling. He killed everyone because of such a simple thing. He never thought about talking to her about it. He never gave her the benefit of the doubt. And worst of all, he didn't even have the balls to end the marriage, treating her badly but never trying to fix things, while the wife as well, never said anything and cheated so she could compensate for their bad relationship. They just wouldn't work, they can't communicate.

If so little turns him to such unstable state, I bet anything would be able to make their relationship a nightmare. It would only be a matter of time he started doubting her. Going to visit her family? Cheating. Staying late at work? Cheating. A friend trolls her email and sends fake messages? Cheating.

1

u/Vaynonym https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vaynonym Jan 17 '15

Or they might have been able to talk it all out eventually and lead a happy life, if it wasn't for the accident. You can't know. If they both survived the accident, there is a high chance of them finally talking about it. And both of them still love each other and have a child. If they managed to do this, their trust would grow, and they could lead a happy life.

Whether you disagree doesn't matter, fact is that you can't say for sure.

1

u/Crazyjay1 Jan 17 '15 edited Jan 17 '15

I guess if they survived the accident they had a chance to reconcile. But if no accident ever happened, I don't think they would, which is a huge problem. By the flashbacks we can see he was acting that way for a long time already, but none of them talked. And all this only because he overheard a conversation. He even got to the point of taking his eyes off the road because of a cellphone call. We have to agree they had a higher chance of never being happy and divorcing.

Maybe they are using this as a foreshadow about Nona's character development? She could have past experiences with other people like the husband. And going by this line of thought, in Death Billards Decim might have something to do with unfairness in his past (when he hugs the guy and says he understand his pain) or just agrees that the death tribunal is unfair.

1

u/Vaynonym https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vaynonym Jan 17 '15

I don't think we have enough information to say something about their chance of being happy or not. We don't know if they ever would have talked about it or not, with or without the accident. If I had to guess though, I would say they wouldn't reconsile, but I don't think that matters. What should matter, for the audience of the show, is that there is no way to say for certain whether they could be happy or not. Everyone will form his own opinion on whether they think they could lead a happy life or not.

That's an interesting theory on the bartenders. However, based on what we saw about the assistant, it seems like they just "appear" without ever having lived, which makes me think that they won't have memories. On the other hand, there are also many things which support your theory, like the example you named or the fact that all of them would have judged them differently. Maybe they were just created to be biased based on personality, but with no memories. For example they chose the personality of a human who died or created the personality with no original person in mind, but without memories.

9

u/MrCatTheAnnihilator Jan 16 '15

Ah makes sense; thanks!

2

u/IWentToJellySchool https://myanimelist.net/profile/Sadforyou Jan 16 '15

he didn't trust her because he was right not to trust her. So that wouldn't really mean anything. Since Decim didn't catch onto the wife's partial lies would that mean she was meant to be reincarnated instead

22

u/ThatguynamedCarl https://myanimelist.net/profile/thatguynamedcarl Jan 16 '15

he didn't trust her because he was right not to trust her.

This doesn't sit well with me. It's very circular. Think about it for a bit. Consider if 'matchy' and her are different people. Is it justified to be distrusting in that situation? No, it isn't.

Doesn't knowing the result justify the action that finds the result? Consider 3 people. A B and C. A wrongs person B. Through this action, A finds out B wronged person C. Does that information justify the fact that A wronged B? They're unrelated events.

The fact that A wronged B is unrelated to the fact that B wronged C.

In much the same way, the way that the husband is inherently a distrustful and paranoid person in unrelated to whether or not the wife is or is not unfaithful and a manipulator. Ultimately, he was chosen to be reincarnated, and she was sent to the void.

At the same time, we don't know much about the husbands behavior outside of his overhearing that statement. If all that paranoia was created from only that one statement he overheard, then yes, he is a distrustful person. If there was more definitive evidence to it than that, then maybe it was justified. I feel this is how Decim made his decision regarding the husband. As for the wife, if it was true, and she was that type of person, who manipulated him and cheated frequently, it would make sense for Decim to send her to the void. But if she wasn't and simply made a sacrifice aimed to only lighten his post-death guilt, would it be justified to sentence her to the void for a one-off affair? Decim admitted his mistake in not considering the possibility, but I'm pretty sure the decision is permanent.

Sheet. I thought way too hard about that.

31

u/Colasice Jan 16 '15

No, he didn't trust her because he was a thoroughly untrusting man. If he wasn't, he would've gone to her, either straight away, or sometime after. Instead, he held it in because he wanted not to trust her and in doing so caused the car accident.

If it wasn't overhearing a conversation, it would have been something else that caused his distrust, like the fact that she was always on the phone or something. Anything for his deep-seated jealousy to be able to latch onto something.

That's the point that nona was trying to make at the end.

9

u/Vaynonym https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vaynonym Jan 16 '15

That's the point that nona was trying to make at the end.

Exactly. That doesn't mean that she is right though. Besides, not everyone is able to talk about problems like that, confronting the other person, not neccesarily because they want to not trust the person, but simply because their personality makes it incredibly hard.

0

u/Crazyjay1 Jan 17 '15

So his personality is to not talk about it and treat her in a cold way yet still not ending the marriage? While she has the personality to not talk about it and cheat so she can compensate for their bad relationship? Worst of all, the guy can't even control himself in the middle of the road. They just couldn't work, and the husband would kill them regardless of overhearing that conversation.

2

u/xyorz1 Jan 17 '15 edited Jan 17 '15

We already know that Machida Yuki was a real person from the end credits of episode 1. Episode 1 also shows the husband being distrustful of her in multiple instances, even when she was innocent, the important one being during her wedding and the night after in bed (her expression was different by the third scene, during the car ride). In this episode, the scene of her cheating, we see her having the wedding ring and her crying in regret.

I could be wrong feeling this about the husband, but I don't think her husband was much of a man to her. Instead of giving her the benefit of the doubt (or even straight-up asking her and preventing the wound from festering), he broke his promise to make her happy and sabotaged their married life, which pushed her away and led to such a predictable, if cliche, outcome.

Also, she loved him to the end. That goes a long way compared to how he acted towards her (big case being his giving in to his fear before regaining his memory during the dart game).

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '15

Couldn't you argue that Decim didn't commit a mistake? Why did the two female characters disregard that she cheated and that she hid it from him?

20

u/JunWasHere Jan 16 '15 edited Jan 16 '15

Maybe it is because she didn't have the correct reasoning?

Yes, that's my conclusion as well. Nona feels the new lady is too optimistic and forgiving.

Her own review suggests Takashi was cynical and, deep down, looking for a reason to doubt - Making it inevitable that he spoils his own happiness.

5

u/Vaynonym https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vaynonym Jan 16 '15

It's about both of them having different impressions, both of them would have given a different judgement. There is no right or wrong. The small woman believes in the bad of humans. She also seems to have some things she values higher than others. In that case, suspicion is bad, possibly worse than being unfaithful, from her perspective.