New Winter Anime Announced: Death Parade
At the end of October it was announced that the Anime Mirai one-shot Death Billiards was getting a release and it would be called Death Parade. The date has now been confirmed as January 09th, putting it right in the middle of the winter anime season and this is one anime title fans should take notice of.
Death Parade is based on the Anime Mirai 2013 one-shot OAV Death Billiards, a dark supernatural tale about a young man and an old man who find themselves in a huge bar named the Queen Dekim with no memory of how they got there and faced with a bartender and hostess who tell them that they must play a game chosen at random and they must play it “as if their lives are on the line”. What unfolded was a gripping, mature, and beautiful tale about two very different lives lived all animated gorgeously by Madhouse. Here’s a link to the trailer for Death Billiards.
The synopsis on My Anime List suggests that this will be an expansion of the premise seen in Death Billiards:
Synopsis
“Welcome to Queen Dekim.” What greets two unsuspecting guests is a strange bar, Queen Dekim, and the white-haired bartender, Dekim. “From here you two shall begin a battle where your lives hang in the balance,” he says to introduce the Death Game. Before long the guests’ true natures become apparent. As a matter of course, at the game’s end Dekim is revealed to be the “arbiter.” Dekim’s judgement on the two guests is…
Madhouse (Paranoia Agent) is animating once again so expect more gorgeous work and the director is the creator of the original one shot, Yuzuru Tachikawa (episode director on Attack on Titan, Kill La Kill and Steins;Gate). Some of the cast from Death Billiards are returning with Tomoaki Maeno (Akatsuki no Yona) playing the bartender and Asami Seto (Tari Tari) playing the woman.
As of yet the duration of the anime unknown but the concept, if developed properly, could run and run. Here’s another image that teases that it could be a TV anime with some duration thanks to multiple characters visiting the mysterious bar Queen Dekim:
Find out what other shows are going to be airing in the Winter 2015 season with Part One and Part Two of AUKN’s Winter Anime guides.
