Right.
So, how’re things goin’ on this ol’ blog of ours? Last I checked, I worked here and used to write weekly reviews for seasonal anime but that was almost a whole… * flips back calendar pages * month ago.
Wow. Time sure flies by, huh?
But what can ya do? Sometimes real-life stuff takes precedence over our creative projects and of course, we anime fans are not unfamiliar to such hiatuses. * cries in Hunter x Hunter *
Anywho, getting to the agenda for today: Deca-Dence!
We have had three installments of the show since the time I last wrote about it so let’s quickly look at how our rag-tag team of tanker-gears and their alien overlords is faring these days, shall we?
Episode 6: After being stun-gunned to unconsciousness for disobeying orders at the end of Episode 5, Kaburagi wakes up again and is genuinely surprised that he does. He had expected the punishment for his treason to almost surely be death but here he was, alive and kicking. The head of the corporation explains to him that he actually has something far far worse than death planned for him: MANUAL LABOR. * shivers * Kaburagi pleads that he be not dealt such a cruel judgement and begs for the sweet relief of death but his fate is sealed. He is going to work till he’s old and grey. He is sent down to the underground facility where other bugs and rejects like him dwell. They have oxytone animas every morning and then are made to work for the rest of the day. And shit work at that. Quite literally as they are made to clean Gadoll shit day in and day out. Their only momentary escape from the horror of the entire situation is the alcohol Lark makes from said Gadoll shit. But somehow Kaburagi doesn’t find the drink very appetizing. He decides to break out of this hellhole and goes over to the leader of the bugs, his old mate Donatello, to seek his help. They have a good old-fashioned metal vs. metal brawl which Kaburagi wins. As per the terms the term agreed upon, Donatello decides to help him and assigns sassy-super-hacker Jill to help him log in to Deca-Dence using a new account. And thus, with a new avatar and a stronger-than-ever resolve to save Natsume, Kaburagi starts his NEW GAME.
Episode 7: Kaburagi logs in as someone he’d never imagined he’d become, a long haired redhead. But that’s the hand he’s been dealt, so he takes it with a grain of salt and sets out to do what he came to Deca-Dence to do. But before he can do that, he sees a horde of Gadolls flying inside the moving fortress and decides to show them who’s boss. He is joined in battle by Natsume of all people and she seems to have improved in leaps and bounds both as a fighter and a leader. The other gears too have started accepting her as one of their own. Having a fighter like her join their ranks has been one of the few positives they’ve been holding on to while things keep turning grimmer on other ends. The most pressing issue they need to deal with is the increasing number of Gadolls making their way into Deca-Dence through the hole in the wall. Natsume proposes seeking the help of the residents to borrow equipment which can help fix the wall. Even though the other gears are not in favor of that idea, she goes ahead by herself to show them that if they ask nicely, even the most hardened of cynics would listen to them.
She goes over to a butcher’s shop and gets the door shut on her face> She seeks the help of her friend Faye to pretty much the same result. But in typical Natsume fashion she doesn’t give up and keeps going door to door only to be disappointed over and over again. When she returns to the gears’ base, empty-handed and dejected, she is surprised to find that the other gears had run into some people who were willing to help. They attribute their willingness to a couple of persistent girls who changed their minds, one of them being Faye. So, Natsume gives her a big ‘Thank You hug’ in return. Later on, when she’s feeding pipe, a strange man comes up to her and offers her some milk. She takes the offering as a symbol of peace and is delighted to know that the man knows Kaburagi. He tells him that she understands that he might be busy and he can take his time as she won’t give up on him and won’t stop fighting to get stronger no matter what. Hearing that makes Kaburagi go full GAR and say to himself, with bloodshot eyes, that he’s gonna take down the whole damn system.
Episode 8: Kaburagi presents this idea to Donatello who seems to laugh it off at first but upon seeing Kaburagi’s determination, he asks how he intends to do that. Kaburagi tells him that he’s going to destroy the factory that manufactures Gadolls to which sassy-super-hacker Jill comes in with her voice of reason and informs them of the impossibility of the mission. She tells them that for this purpose they would need an avatar with no chip and those get terminated instantly by the authorities. But Kaburagi knows of one avatar like that which hasn’t yet been terminated – his own. Though, retrieving it was still going to take a lot of work. He convinces Donatello and the others to form a last-ditch Avengers-lite team and embarks on this Mission Impossible. Sassy-super-hacker Jill does her thing and they are able to walk into the facility with no resistance. There they replace Kaburagi’s avatar bod with an alien sex toy, leaving Minato with some explaining to do and he immediately realizes that it must be Kaburagi’s doing. Later on, a man creeps up behind Natsume on her way back from drilling at the wall and she is about to beat him to a pulp and show him who’s boss when she realizes he’s the real boss: hers. Kaburagi tells Natsume that he intends to embark on a very dangerous mission but he needs her help and she’s the only one who can accompany him. To which she readily agrees. The episode ends with Lark being manipulated into sabotaging Kaburagi’s mission for the greater good. And considering how simple-minded he can be, it can only mean trouble.
Concluding Thoughts: After the bombastic mid-season climax of Episode 5, Deca-Dence seems to have eased up in its intensity in the recent episodes. Which was expected as there’s only so much escalation in plot a show can manage. The production while still being well above satisfactory does not come close to the glorious heights of episode 5 though I believe that the show will go all-out in that department come the next battle. The story’s anti-capitalism message also seems to have become more and more clear with every passing episode and if nothing else, each installment expands on this wholly original world the team of writers have conjured up. Now that the stage is set for an exciting last few episodes, I look forward to Deca-Dence taking its limiter off and racing to the finish line in a blaze of glory!
