Monday, February 24, 2020

Death Hall(死役所) Japanese Drama Thoughts(2019)




    Death Hall, also known as Death Office is a Japanese drama that was released in 2019 and was directed by Hiroaki Yuasa. The plot was inspired by the man written by Kishi Azumi and reworked for television by Yosuke Masaike. Masahiro Matsuoka, Sho Kiyohara, Marika Matsumoto, and Yuina Kuroshima star in the Tokyo Tv drama.





   "The Customer is always God". A place that acts as a gate between heaven and hell is seen by many of those who die. At this place, the death must sign papers to again access to one of these two places. Some people don't realize that they have died, while others have unfinished business on earth. This is just another day for the staff in this seemingly busy office.





    Death Hall was a very weird experience when I first started watching episode one. I'm into dark shows that deal with death, bullying, or just overall sadness fill issues. So, Death Hall was right up my alley. Watching a Japanese drama talking about a normal looking office as a place that the dead go before going to Heaven or Hell was kinda comical for me. I still was able to get into the story though due to the fact that each plot line that comes with each episode was a thrilling one. Thrilling due to the strong idea of emotions that are brought at from each character that enters the Death Hall and their background story that they will never have closure to. Never mind that weird ass staff that oversees the progress. We will get to them latter…… Most of the character stories are kinda of sad but Death Hall's scripts makes extra sure to give these side stories some kind of revolution. There's always a satisfying ending to the conflicts presented. We even get a tiny bit of comedy- Ok Ok, It's dark comedy however it's laughs that don't make the drama lose a beat on what the episodes are conveying to the viewer. Then the story begins to focus on the staff and their backgrounds. You learn the reason why they were chosen to oversee the Death Hall which is interesting to say the least. I won't spoil anything for you. Let's just say that Death Hall keeps you on your toes until the conclusion. A spin off or a season two introducing a different cast would be fun.





   Death Hall's cast was full very talented actors and actresses. This drama is one of the most gruesome and dark dramas on recent memory. Blood red is the most seen color even if the drama has a cutoff to how graphic things can get. Each actor and actress had to bring a different personality to their episode as they are oversee by one of the staff. Many of their thoughts are full of regrets that are shown in flashbacks. Some scenes are done to show the present time as well. Wacky weirded out people always seem to have the most deep thought out pasts.



   Death Hall is a nice quick watch even if you don't have to time. Each episode is about an half and hour tops. Fans have compared the drama to an Anime titled Death Parade.






   

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