Kora
“Long ago, the mysterious Gadoll suddenly arose as a threat to humanity. This led to the loss of over 90% of the world population.”
Deca-Dence is a show which seems far more enamored by its world than I am. If I were to sum up this show in one sentence, I would say, “It’s what you’d get if you blended Attack on Titan with Mortal Engines and then sprinkled a little Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress on the side.” I’ll admit that this isn’t a perfect comparison, mainly because it requires that people actually remember that Mortal Engines was a thing. However, were you to throw those various components into a blender, the end result would probably be pretty close to this first episode of Deca-Dence. This results in the world feeling a bit jumbled and unfocused, and the tone isn’t zany enough to cover up the cracks. Furthermore, I wouldn’t go so far as to call the characters problematic, but they’re overly familiar and not engaging enough to cover for the show’s discrepancies. To summarize, Deca-Dence is deca-decent, but doesn’t have enough going for it in this first episode to warrant a recommendation.
The show follows Natsume, a young resident of the titular city who lost both her father and her right arm to monsters called Gadoll when she was a child. Humanity has long been besieged by the Gadoll attacks and has taken refuge in Deca-Dence, a mobile fortress capable of repelling the assaults. Natsume dreams of joining the Survey Corps The Power, a group tasked with voyaging outside of the city and hunting the Gadoll. Unfortunately for her, her missing right arm prevents her from being capable of qualifying as a soldier, despite possessing a capable prosthetic. As such, she finds herself instead tasked with cleaning and maintaining the city’s armor. As she gets to know her superior, Kaburagi, she begins to realize that there may be more to the gruff tradesman than he lets on.
The production is being handled by Studio NUT, which previously worked on FLCL Alternative and Youjo Senki. The animation and action are well done, but there are issues that hold the production back. This is NUT’s first original work, and I just can’t argue that I’m on board with the creative direction. Initially there is a sense that the show will be optimistic, but with an undercurrent of brutality as the opening shows Natsume losing both her father and her arm. However, by the end of the first episode the city has turned into a gigantic rocket-powered fist, and I’m scrambling to figure out where my suspension of disbelief is supposed to lie. I should add that I’m something of a fan of physically damaged female characters. We’re so used to seeing male characters with intimidating scars or cyborg limbs, that it’s a bit refreshing to see a female character get the same treatment. That being said, I’m not all that keen on the actual design for Natsume’s prosthetic. The fingers are just tentacly blobs, and I wish they had gone with a more traditionally mechanical appearance. Plus, nothing we’re told or shown in the episode suggests that it’s any less effective than a normal human arm, so the idea that it is the rationale for not hiring her as a soldier seems peculiar. Maybe I’ve played too many video games, but the argument of, “I’m sorry, we can’t hire you as a badass soldier because you have a fully functioning cyborg arm,” just doesn’t sound right.
Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:
- I might give the show another episode or two, but I can’t say I’m overly interested in it.
- The show throws a couple terms around, so I may have gotten myself confused, but I think “The Power” is the name of the Gadoll hunting group. I’m not clear on why some of them have non-conventional skin tones, but maybe that will be explained at some point.
- I think Gadoll is both a singular and plural noun, but, as I’ve said, there are a lot of terms in this first episode, and I can’t be sure.
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