Death Billiards

Synopsis

Two people wake up in Quindecim with no memory of how they got there. A young woman greets them and leads them to a small bar where a bartender waits. They are informed that they must play a game chosen by spinning a roulette wheel and cannot leave until it ends; refusing will bring severe consequences. Along with the rules, they are warned to treat the match as a matter of life and death. The game selected is billiards, but they soon discover that the stakes go beyond simply potting balls. The result of the game holds the power to decide whether they survive.

Background

Death Billiards is one of the four anime works that each received 38 million yen (about US$480,000) from the "2012 Young Animator Training Project." Just like in 2010 and 2011, the animation labor group received 214.5 million yen (US$2.65 million) from the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs, and it distributed most of those funds to studios who train young animators on-the-job. The film was later expanded into the 2015 TV anime Death Parade.