Review of Deca-Dence
I'll try to keep this review short because there's not too much that needs to be said. Deca-Dence is a fun, digestible 12-episode series that is sure to provide some entertainment for everyone. That being said, it's not the show I was looking for. Art and sound-wise, the anime is near top-notch in quality. The animation is fluid and rivals some of the best I've seen in a while. The art is crisp and energetic, and the music and sound design is great. Nothing wrong there. As for the story though... TL;DR/SPOILER FREE : The story wasn't that great. After the shock of the initial twist, I was leftwith mixed feelings about the story direction. Nothing is necessarily bad, but what I feel was an ultimately shallow creative twist doomed a lot of this show's potential and development. It's a quick, fun ride, but disappointing in how it sacrifices a lot of the character development for Natsume and the side characters in favor of the second plot line.
!!SPOILERS BELOW!!
The cyborg twist completely caught me off-guard for sure. But as the shock died down, I kind of had mixed feelings about it. It seemed a lot like two different shows kind of mashed together, both in color, art style, and storyline. The cyborg plot line is not bad - it's pretty decent. But while I feel Deca-Dence succeeded in its creativeness, it didn't reach its full potential.
In fact, I'd have preferred it go the traditional shonen-esque story route. My first thought was that it was a mash of Mortal Engines and AoT, but it turned out completely differently.
NATSUME 100% SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE SOLE MAIN. She is sidelined for a good majority of the series, as Kabu takes up the spot with his shenanigans. And that's mostly where much of my dissatisfaction stems from. The show introduces us to a world with Natsume at the center. She has the dreams and the goals, she has the uniqueness and she has the personality. The introduction of the cyborgs undercuts all of that and pushes it to the side in favor of a dual-main with Kabu. None of the side characters are developed at all. And unfortunately, the humans (who should've been the main focus) are dropped in favor of emphasizing the cyborgs' development.
Kabu isn't a bad character, but the fact is we've got ourselves a great character with its of potential and development in Natsume. By placing so much of the story with Kabu in a setting thats completely separate from the world Natsume is in, we lose almost all of her story and development. The little we do get is forced and awkward. Kabu's entire progression isn't that much better, as it hinges on a single flashback with Mikey, and that's already pretty flimsy by itself.
Like I said, I guess it's really a matter of preference, but while the cyborg reveal may have been a gutsy move, in the long run, it bogged down the series. Maybe if it had gone on twice as long, the story could have progressed a lot slower and developed more of the characters, but as it is, Deca-Dence takes a great story cake and twists it into something edible but bittersweet. I can't help but imagine if the cyborgs were completely removed from the equation, how it would have gone. It could have been the Demon Slayer of AoT, but instead it's just a mediocre show that's not bad but not good.