Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
FrozenRoy
Seeing as this is a 23 minute short for an animation project, you will forgive me if this review is on the shorter end.
Death Billiards certainly does a major part of the entire point of an animation project: It looks GREAT, with a lot of strong shots to show off not only how pretty it looks but some good use of things such as perspective and coloring. I'm not an expert in terms of graphic design so I couldn't go into great detail, but it pretty consistently looked good and used a variety of types of perspective. The sound was also solid, from the voice acting to things like the drink glasses and pool shots.
The one shot episode story could have been done better: The young guy (Otoko)'s breakdown scene where he runs around to escape and whatnot for example along with some pointless repet…
Read at the sourceNadimi
Like many others, I ended up watching this "backwards", i.e. after completing the anime series Death Parade (which was based on this movie).
As such, I expected it to be something along the lines of a quirky OVA albeit with somewhat less-developed design and animation.
Much to my amazement and delight, however, I discovered that both the animation and design were just as stunning and breathtaking as in the later series. From the clean use of CGI to the setting and backgrounds, everything was practically impeccable.
Although the design of the two original characters was probably updated and slightly improved for Death Parade, their main traits and quirks stayed exactly the same. Unfortunately, their personalities and backstories are not explored in very much detail given the rather li…
Read at the sourcejowb63
I was listening to the Death Parade opening song song last night and I got the urge to watch Death Billiards. Death Billiards is the OVA that eventually lead to Death Parade. It's about two people who have to play risk their lives while playing a game. In the spectrum of Death Parade episodes that had this format, it's below average lacking any momentous revelations about the characters. Never the less, it's exciting and entertaining and defiantly worth watching if you enjoyed Death Parade.
Read at the sourcelawlmartz
Welcome to Queen Decim, mystical bar of fate.
What happens when two people, whether they're strangers or the closest of companions, are pitted against each other in a seemingly mundane contest, with the stakes being their own lives? Suspicions, outrage, deceit, bargaining, and all manner of psychological warfare commence, all in the name of survival. However, is everything as it appears?
------If you have questions or comments about this review, please message me-------
Note:
I feel this episode 0, if you will, should actually be seen after the first two episodes of the Death Parade TV series. That way, one has an idea what's going on, and who the characters are. Part of the mystery of the one-shot may be dispelled, but it made much more sense and was more interesting and compelling hav…
Read at the sourceDaJetBoy
As quite few of you already know this is the preview for Death Parade, which has drawn comparisons to things like Saw movies or Twilight Zone, but this particular episode clearly screams out Twilight Zone episode called A Game of Pool. you'll nod if u know what I'm talking about!
Anyway, I actually started watching Death Parade before this, and thus that kinda influenced me of knowing what was going to happen in Death Billiards.
What makes this episode great and like all other death parade episodes are how they present you 2 characters that are pushed to their extremes thinking at first they have to win the "game" to live, but in reality they are both dead and the "game" is really being fought over who gets reincarnated and who goes to the void. The characters start to realize this, but…
Read at the sourceminusatwelfth
This short movie was produced by some amateur trainees at Madhouse. And you can tell, because it wasn't very good.
The story was highly unrefined and boring.The short movie clearly strived to be a thriller and psychological drama. This inherently means the pacing was somewhat decent; there were a few new things to hold my interest for a few seconds.
However the climax was very disappointing. It was not even clear which scene was the climax because the pacing was so monotone and inorganic. It was like reading a list of events on an author's outline, rather than being engaged by the world or characters. So in that sense the story-boarding was quite subpar.
To tie things off, the ending did not resolve anything and was 'open' for the sake of being open. This 'story' was just a one-way trip t…
Read at the sourceRisan07
Death Billiards is a rather unassuming title. It is a short that only has a ½ hour episode going for it with an interesting name but a lacking synopsis. What story could possibly be told in a half an hour that could engage you? Well this hidden gem not only told it well but left me wanting more.
Unlike my other reviews, this one won’t be as lengthy. This is because it is only one episode and thus does not need a lengthy review.
Imagine, you suddenly find yourself in an elevator that leads you to a strange bar. When you try to recollect just how you got there you suddenly can’t remember. Another person also comes into the bar, you shake hands for the first time and introduce yourselves. Then the bartender tells you that you two will play a game against each other, the prize is your life.…
Read at the sourcebleachsai
What happens when two people, who befriended themselves just recently are pitted against each other in a pool match in order for them to survive is the whole concept behind Death Billiards. Death Billiards is a part of the Anime Mirai project and for me, this was the first anime that I watched from this project; and I did not even feel a sliver of regret after finishing it.
After reading the synopsis, I had my doubts if this show can accomplish what it set out to achieve within a solitary episode but I was proven wrong. The story meted out almost all the conditions; trying hard to not leave any loopholes.
Since the animation was done by Madhouse, I had high expectations and it did not let me down one bit. The animation was brilliant and the attention that they paid to bring out many min…
Read at the sourceYoungVagabond
"Death Billiards" has an intriguing premise. An old man and young man, whose names are never given, find themselves in a luxurious, mysterious bar, and must play a game of billiards. It's never revealed what is at stake, only that it's very significant. With comparisons to "Kaiji" and "Liar Game" already swirling in my head, I was immediately engaged.
Unfortunately, the execution is often lacking. The young man is an overly hysterical, ridiculous character, and thus reduces our investment in the game and his fate. If he is neither sympathetic, intelligent, nor even realistic, why should one care? The billiard game itself is okay, but nothing special. Considering what "Akagi" was able to get from Mahjong, they surely could have done more here. On the plus side, I liked both the animation…
Read at the sourcequaoar50k
Only 25 minutes long, but this is perfectly enough time to make people ask some questions about life and death, and equality.
At first, I was a bit afraid of the characters if they are developed or not really. Then it became clear very quickly: they ARE motivated both in their acts and thoughts, so not rough-and-ready at all! Another plus goes for the creators because no additional dialogues were needed to show their personality/backgrounds. I really enjoyed the minimality and simplicity in this.
Gotta admit too that I'm very picky about animation in general,however now I just can't say anything bad. This movie is well animated, the staff surely paid attention to small details. Just press pause while watching backgrounds. Totally worth!
(Personally, I found the movie accidentally by sea…
Read at the sourceYami-
Human minds were never easy to decipher, you would walk past each human thinking their life is as ordinary and as boring as a plain living beings, you would never guess the sort of stories that lived up inside their hearts, you wouldn't guess anything about them.
I don't exactly know how to put it into words, but the anime showed great depth in very short time and managed to show us how a person can honestly be defined when they realise their life is on the line. How twisted are you, really? If you were put in a situation where you had no choice but to fight for a hinted 'survival', how would you react?
Would you be enraged, flustered, maddened be what was bestowed upon you? Death has always been near you, it gets closer and closer to you day by day, that you never realise it until someo…
Read at the sourcegeorgejakes
Death Billiards is pretty much an unknown anime to most people. I ran into it when I was looking for some good Psychological anime to start with.
To start off, I was literally surprised at the fact that the anime was only 25 minutes long, since any good plot according to me should take its time building up the story. And to my surprise, I didn't feel that the anime was rushed at all. It took it's own pace to tell the story it was supposed to.
I'd pretty much say that the anime has one of the best open endings of all time. The anime as a whole can be subjected to multiple interpretations [I don't want to give anything away]. The animation was very well done and the characters were very well developed in accordance to the story.
The dialogues are also written with care such that each o…
Read at the sourceHunterHearts
***THIS IS A REVIEW FOR ALL THE FOUR ANIME MIRAI 2013 TITLES. HOWEVER IT IS MAINLY ON DEATH BILLIARDS****
All the four pieces of work from Anime Mirai 2013 were outstanding, in my opinion. Honestly non of them are "bad" or "average" when you consider that they are 24min one-shots. What really matters here is that all the young animators from each production company tried their best and gave their all into the work.
However, Death Billiards stood out to me the most, and is (in my opinion) a must-watch of the animes of 2013, which is why I am taking my time to write this review. I will try not to go off topic, but I must mention the other 3 entries of Anime Mirai 2013 to present and argue some of the points I bring up.
Why did it stood out to me so much? The general circumstances of the p…
Read at the sourcealoysiuskwok
If you've watched Little Witch Academia, the pioneer of the Anime Mirai 2013, this one might pale in comparison a little. I say that because Little Witch Academia had better closure. Death Billards has quite a cliff hanger at the end and it just leaves questions behind with no answers. You can probably make a clever guess though.
The concept is pretty cool. Elements of the story are slowly introduced. You are slowly revealed the set up and you seem to grasp the story and its concept pretty well. And then things get a little crazy and you're kinda left with "Uh? But that means...." It's new and fresh. It was good. Just good.
The art is.... It could have been better. I mean, it's 2013 already. But then again, how many staff members did they have? The sound was okay I guess. It didn't turn…
Read at the sourceMoxxxu
I didn't like this "movie."
This could be good, if it were a series, not a movie. 25minutes is too minimal time for a movie (at least for this movie). Nothing interesting happened, they just played some billiard and the game wasn't even exciting. Also the plot was kinda too simple & stupid.
After the movie, yes I wanted to see more. But as a one episode movie this wasn't so great. Like I said, as a series this might work!
Read at the sourceKynov
"Life is never fair" - Bartender
Death Billiard is like a piece of beautiful diamond between a pile of rough stones, not so many people even aware of this anime (actually me too, until now). Its kinda coincidence i found this one, honestly i found this one when i am looking for some ecchi anime, thats why i said "like found a piece of diamonds in a pile of rough stones"
Anyway, why do i called it like A beautiful diamond? first of all, Death Billiards is just ONE episode anime. One? yeah just one, but its enough to make your head blows up.
The story involves about 2 man (one young man and one old man), they somehow stranded in a room like a bar and with no hope of escaping, they must play a pool game but its not like any other pool game, the bet for the game is their life!
With that sy…
Read at the sourceStark700
Death Billiards.
At first, I was a hesitating on checking this out. However, after watching another anime from the Anime 2013 Mirai Project group, my confidence was higher than usual and I decided to give this title a shot. And boy, I did not regret that decision.
The anime seemingly takes off in a modern like era at a local bar named the Queen Deim. However, there is a sense of confusion involving memories and how the characters came to this mysterious place. That mystery becomes a sense of danger though because seemingly, two characters becomes involving a game where their very lives at stake. There is seemingly no way out and the only way to escape from the bar is to beat the game. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be a virtual game but one based on a roulette time of challenge. If yo…
Read at the sourcePerisher
Death Billiards should be applauded for its ambition to convey a well executed and thoughtful short story in only 25 minutes. The premise is dark - two men (with a few decades between them) are basically forced to compete in a game of pool... with their lives on the line. What starts off as a cruel premise evolves into something even darker as the two men deal with the severe trauma of being forced into such a grim scenario.
As the game begins we learn about the two unrelated main characters through some brief flashbacks. The challenge of getting an audience to care about them in such a short time frame is handled very well, and as the story unfolds it's hard not to empathise with both of them. Other characters include a mysterious man and woman who act as 'hosts' for the event although w…
Read at the sourceDevikra
Just a Wonderfull short movie and I enjoyed all 25 minutes of it!
I recommend it to anyone who like to be amazed , confused & shocked.
Atleast this was my reaction there isn't a good way to describe it only thing i can say.
Why are u reading this if u can watch this at the momment?!
Read at the sourceTanshaydar
Now that is a single pearl, easy to miss and likely to be underrated.
Madhouse studios must be mad.
A short story of life and death, a story of human life and the illusion of equality. Could it be possible to compress into 25 minutes? Well, it seems it was.
On artistic-wise, visuals were appealing, if not gorgeous. Such details and great work for such a short story, with all the detailed background visuals were something that multiplied the joy.
For a one shot special anime, it would not be fair to judge characters, yet they were not half-baked personages either.
Death Pool (or Death Billards for that matter) uses its visuals perfectly to tell the back story of the characters and their emotions. No need for long speeches and introductions.
Overall, a rare pearl to enjoy.
Read at the source