History Main / CelestialBureaucracy

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''; Yusuke's first reaction to reaching the afterlife is to ask "Is this the stock market?" His unexpected heroic death causing problems for the bureaucracy is actually the entire catalyst of the series. Because no one expected him to pull a random selfless act and die, there was no place for him in the afterlife, and he was offered a chance to be resurrected instead. In exchange, he becomes the "Spirit World Detective," overseen by King Yama's son, Koenma. In the manga, it turns out that [[spoiler:the bureaucracy is actually corrupt, with King Yama framing demons for violent crimes in order to maintain the Spirit World's control over the Demon World]].

** Garfield then claims it was his first life, wrangling a full nine more lives for both him and Odie.
** However, there are hints that Heaven doesn't actually work like that, and God's just making up an excuse to show favoritism.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Dead Run", Johnny Davis begins working as a truck driver transporting condemned souls to {{Hell}}. Within hours, he discovers that many of the damned don't deserve to be there. For instance, one woman was too self-centered in life, one man only saw the dirt in life and not the beauty and another was an atheist. After the souls riot, Johnny is brought to meet the Dispatcher, who has the final say on who is sent to Hell because [[{{God}} the Boss]] abdicated responsibility long ago. The Dispatcher explains to Johnny and he is instituting "time honored [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] standards" in holding the departed souls to a high standard. He sees it as his duty to combat the "secular, intellectual propaganda" of the modern age and ensure that pornographers, heathens, atheists, humanists and others receive the punishment that they deserve. Johnny is disgusted and helps a [[DraftDodging draft dodger]], a junkie, a librarian who fought against [[CulturePolice banned books being removed from the shelves]] and a young gay man escape to {{Heaven}}.

* Part of the [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible hard to follow]] plotline of Music/JethroTull's 1973 ConceptAlbum, "A Passion Play", concerns something of a CelestialBureaucracy involving one "[[StevenUlyssesPerhero G. Oddie And Son]]" running Heaven as bureaucratic office managers. This theme would have been carried over into the next year's proposed film project which became the "[=WarChild=]" album.

May overlap with HellOfAHeaven or MundaneAfterlife. Do not confuse it with the video game series ''VideoGame/DeptHeaven''. May overlap with DontFearTheReaper.

* There is [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Christian]] image of Heaven where St. Peter works the Pearly Gates, sitting at a high desk and letting people in based on the information in some great book (or, more recently, computer). God or Jesus will sometimes fill this role. However, this depiction of Heaven is merely a pop-cultural thing, it doesn't appear anywhere in the religion itself. The origin of the meme is probably that in the Bible, the names of all saved souls are said to be written into a "Book of Life" that God uses as a sort of roll of honor -- and even that is probably more symbolic than literal.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''; in fact, Yusuke's first reaction is to ask "Is this the stock market?" His unexpected heroic death causing problems for the bureaucracy is actually the entire catalyst of the series. Because no one expected him to pull a random selfless act and die, there was no place for him in the afterlife, and he was offered a chance to be resurrected. In exchange, he becomes the "Spirit World Detective," overseen by King Yama's son, Koenma. In the manga, it turns out that [[spoiler:the bureaucracy is actually corrupt, with King Yama framing demons for violent crimes in order to maintain the Spirit World's control over the Demon World]].

* ''WebOriginal/KnightsOfJebalot'' has the Afterlife Office, with Clerks to send souls to the Paradise Suites or Hell floors. One even complains that murders are "a lot of paperwork." And this bureaucratic nightmare leads to problems, like [[spoiler: souls escaping, an EldritchAbomination they're supposed to keep locked up going unnoticed for decades, and more.]]

* ''WebAnimation/Purgatony'' is an office comedy web series about bureaucrats in purgatory who determine whether the newly deceased will go to heaven or hell.

[[folder:Websites]]
* In ''Website/CollegeHumor'''s "God's Boss Craig", God is not in charge of heaven. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin He has a boss]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HUBOD7Qt74 named Craig]].
[[/folder]]

'''As a DeathTrope, several if not all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

Welcome to the Afterlife Bureaucracy. Many movies have shown [[ExtraordinaryWorldOrdinaryProblems the afterlife to be just an extension of the bureaucratic nightmare that plagues the living anytime they have any dealings with an official agency.]] Complete with "Now Serving XX (XXXXXXXXXXXXXX...)" signs, waiting rooms and {{obstructive bureaucrat}}s. But if the departed hope to get their Final Reward, they had better make damn sure all the "i"s are dotted and the "t"s are crossed.

Expect Hell in particular to be portrayed like this, because after all, for many people, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat dealing with the bureaucracy]] [[VastBureaucracy is its own kind of Hell]].

** Heaven is like this, at least for the Angels (human souls are all inside their own ''Matrix''-like fantasy worlds). The main hall where the Angels congregate looks like a white, ordane office. And Zachariah can be one scary-ass careerist.
** Hell, under the Crowley regime, is also like this. It's just one long, shabby waiting line. He changed it to this because he noticed that too many people sent to Hell were masochists that were TooKinkyToTorture, but ''everybody'' hates waiting in line.
** [[TheGrimReaper The (current) Grim Reaper]] takes Dean to her office in "Advanced Thanatology", which resembles a large hallway lined with dozens of bookshelves detailing mortals' fated deaths. Apparently, as shown in "Byzantium", the back room is occupied by Anubis, who became one of Heaven's "contractors" aeons ago.
* Deliberately {{Invoked}} by the Ferengi in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''; since the Ferengi [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] is being cunning, and placing wealth above [[OnlyInItForTheMoney all else]] (including family), this is how the Ferengi view whatever they have in place of heaven; and they ''strive'' to get to their Heaven (or, as they call it, The Divine Treasury). Basically, they believe that when a Ferengi dies, he meets the Blessed Exchequer, who reviews his life's finances. Those who have earned a profit in life get to enter the Divine Treasury to bid on a new life in front of the Celestial Auctioneers. Those who haven't are doomed to spend eternity in the Vault of Eternal Destitution.

* WEbOriginal/KnightsOfJebalot has the Afterlife Office, with Clerks to send souls to the Paradise Suites or Hell floors. One even complains that murders are "a lot of paperwork." And this bureaucratic nightmare leads to problems, like [[spoiler: souls escaping, an EldritchAbomination they're supposed to keep locked up going unnoticed for decades, and more.]]