The first episode to the English dub version of Death Parade, titled “Death: Seven Darts,” is currently streaming on FUNimation for paid subscribers. This is exclusive to paid subscribers only, which means they can exclusively watch the dub at any time.
In layman speak, you need a premium membership to FUNimation in order to watch the English dub to Death Parade. This is part FUNimation’s “DubbleTalk” block that streams on Wednesday nights starting February 18th.
Takashi and Machiko, newlyweds, appear at the Queen Dekim without any memories prior to how they have arrived. They meet Dekim, the arbiter, the main protagonist of the series. He ends has the memories of the couple prior to them dying and withholds it in order to force the couple to play a randomly selected game, which is a game of darts.
But the game of darts has a twist as the boards are connected to their bodily senses.
I have already watched the original Japanese audio version with English language dub, which my review can be read here.
My thoughts on the English voices:
I was surprised that Dekim’s English voice was satisfactory.
Listening to Dekim speak in English really set the mood for the episode. I have noticed Dekim as a calm and composed person through the series let alone the first episode. Hearing Dekim’s English voice gave me confidence in the dub of Death Parade.
I was surprised to learn that Eric Vale voiced Takashi, which made me happy because I am a fan of his work ever since he voiced Trunks in Dragon Ball Z. When I compare the English and Japanese language versions of the first episode, I felt Eric Vale fit perfectly as Takashi.
I felt that Vale did a great job voicing Takashi.
For a moment, I thought that Vic Mignogna was the voice of Takeshi. If you have watched Fullmetal Alchemist or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, then you should know what Vic’s voice should sound like.
I was also satisfied by Trina Nishimura’s role as Machiko.
Vale and Nishimura, respectively, were convincing as Takashi and Machiko. I felt the voices definitely fit the characters in this episode.
My thoughts on the story:
Even though I have already written a review for the first episode, I might as well express it again. The first episode was twisted as f—k because the dart boards are linked to their senses, which means Takashi’s dart board is connected to Machiko’s senses and vice-versa.
The game is one of many that is designed to bring out the darkness in people’s hearts.
Takashi is quick to assume that Machiko was unfaithful to him without bothering to listen to her side of the story. It is very twisted because Takashi is quick to jump to conclusions because he thought Machiko was the “Matchy” that her friends were talking about.
It is safe to say that the honeymoon is over in many senses.
The first episode was depressing and watching it again this time in English dub made it more depressing. If you have watched series already, then you should know that the players realize they are dead by the time the game ends.
I enjoyed the dub version as much as I enjoyed the original Japanese language version.
Death Parade let alone its first episode intrigues me because winning a game does not automatically guarantee that you will ascend to Heaven.
I thought the concept of Death Parade was original because each episode centers on two people that have died at the same time and must compete against each other in a randomly selected game. The purpose of the games got my interest because they are designed to draw out the “darkness” in the soul.
You descend to Hell if your soul is dark enough, which means you can still go there even though you won the game.
