Death Parade

[Buffalobiian]

now another thing: i do think that masks aren't always showing the same destination! - it depends on personal interpretation of human being sent. For some being removed from human world might be a reward mind you(when you look at reincarnation - the whole idea is to break out of that cycle) - but for it to be a reward you need to live a 100% good life(no doubts), with no error margin.
This would make sense too - she was sent to void, but together - with someone she truly loves - it was basically the supreme reward for her - even if realistically it is a punishment for everyone else.

So why the change in mask? If the place she was going to was so rewarding, why is there a need to change from Heaven to Hell? Also, if you watched Death Billiard, the old dude smiled triumphantly as he was sent to Hell. I don't think this idea stands.

Ginti rigged the choice to send Mayu to void. there are few clues: Harada was already in void(which is assumption too, mind you), you can't get back from void.
if she chooses to sacrifice the stranger - she goes to void.
if she chooses to sacrifice herself - she goes to void.
she wouldn't ever chose to sacrifice Harada because that would violate her raison d'etre.

I don't think that's the case. Arbiters exist to judge people. They don't just send people to whatever place the people demand, be it void or reincarnation. That would be undermining their role.
-I believe that if Mayu chose to sacrifice herself, she'd have been reincarnated because that shows she's a good person.
-If she chose Light to go to the void, she's dooming someone else for a person she loves. From Ginti's perspective that's selfish and therefore evil.
-If she chose to sacrifice Harada, I see it as being neutral/good. It's letting the natural order of things happen. Whether that would have satisfied Ginti that she'd go to heaven, I don't know.

After watching the episode again, I agree with Shinta. Looking at her hand signifies she made a choice IMO, and holding onto Harada's body suggests that he was expected to have his soul returned (why hold onto it otherwise?).

I'm not entirely sure, but has the mask ever flipped after the people were inside? I think it has always stayed how it was

Never.

My idea has less assumptions because I didn't make up a third choice.

The 3rd choice (sacrificing Mayu) exists, but she quickly declined it after hearing about it. She could well have chosen to void herself ultimately, but I don't think she did. As you said, she wouldn't be asking about their destination after all.

However, in the end the elevator swap still doesn't explain everything. Ginti's all powerful here. He doesn't need to trick anyone into hopping into an elevator. All he has to do is prove they're a bad person (the choice), then say "You're selfish, go to hell". Decim's strung people to their elevators at least once.

It's because of there not being a need to trick that I still wonder if the change in elevator was an after-thought from their final conversation.

[shinta|hikari]

The 3rd choice (sacrificing Mayu) exists, but she quickly declined it after hearing about it. She could well have chosen to void herself ultimately, but I don't think she did. As you said, she wouldn't be asking about their destination after all.

That choice was for Mayu to go to the void, but Harada gets saved. She actually wanted to do that, but Ginti scared her and provided a different choice (B) in its place. That's why I said only choices A (Harada drops) and B (Light drops) exist. If you think C (only Mayu drops) was still on the table, then that's fine. It still doesn't mean that D (both Mayu and Harada drop together... really where did this come from) was ever offered, nor did Ginti have a reason to take such a suggestion from Mayu.

However, in the end the elevator swap still doesn't explain everything. Ginti's all powerful here. He doesn't need to trick anyone into hopping into an elevator. All he has to do is prove they're a bad person (the choice), then say "You're selfish, go to hell". Decim's strung people to their elevators at least once.

It's because of there not being a need to trick that I still wonder if the change in elevator was an after-thought from their final conversation.

He doesn't need to trick Mayu, but it's a lot easier that way. Why force her inside and reveal his own lie (and insecurity) when he can just continue the lie and drop her to the void without hassle? In the first place, physical intervention is a last resort to arbiters. As seen in all the episodes, the first thing they do is trick people with misunderstandings, half-truths, and lies. That's simply what he did.

You know what's funny? I've been arguing about this thing with Ryll, but there are two lines in the episode that practically cement that Mayu would never let Harada fall into the void, with or without her.

Ginti: "What kind of person would it take (referring to substitute) to cast Harada in the void?
Mayu: "Sore dake wa zettai ni dame." (translates to: That is absolutely not possible/not an option.) HS's "There's no way I'd do that." is fine too.

How can you expect me to believe that she chose to drop both of them into a place she feared herself and declared she would never put Harada in right after this exchange?

[Xelbair]

So why the change in mask? If the place she was going to was so rewarding, why is there a need to change from Heaven to Hell? Also, if you watched Death Billiard, the old dude smiled triumphantly as he was sent to Hell. I don't think this idea stands.

Because for her it was akin to heaven, and when the elevator closed it either returned to objective state(void) or to ginti's subjective status(void).

[Buffalobiian]

Because for her it was akin to heaven, and when the elevator closed it either returned to objective state(void) or to ginti's subjective status(void).

And what about in Death Billiard, where the dude smiled as he was sent to the void? The mask there didn't change at all either. I don't think this theory stands because participants aren't necessarily told where they're going, so subjective feelings about their destination affecting the mask would be strange.