Review of Deca-Dence

Damn, Deca-dence. We are introduced right away to a group of humans so pitifully beyond hope of salvation that it hurts a bit. Then things get worse for them right away with the shocking revelation in Episode 2, which left me wanting to return to the comfort of episode 1. Shortly after the twist, all is forgiven as Deca-dence makes excellent use of the whacky setting. My appreciation for even trying to pull something like this off let alone actually getting there built steadily throughout the show. Story/Enjoyment 9 First of all if you've ever been a gamer feeling that you've been giving your precious hours awayto some bullshit corporation's bottom line - yeah, Deca-dence gets it. The themes presented here are on point for gamers who can't quite figure out why they still bother when they're not having fun anymore.

For the world building, deca-dence gets the same kind of slow clap as Planetes, Cells at Work, Ergo Proxy, BLAME!. I have a soft spot for the creative universe on display here, but Deca-dence also deserves props for the father-daughter, people-over-profit character arcs and refusal to devolve into janky fanservice or romantic overtones where they obviously wouldn't fit. Deca-dence isn't just outside the box, it flips the box inside out and adds a few more dimensions to it then stuffs adorable Natsume into the resulting hypercube and tells resident badass Kaburagi it's his job to get her out - which he does! Love it, props to creators, animators, and voice actors all on this one.

SPOILERS, just watch the first few episodes and skip this if you haven't seen it, you'll know by then if you want to finish Deca-dence. I won't go into detail, but I will ruin the surprise:

Deca-dence is some brogrammer's acid trip animated - a reverse issekai survival game where the remnants of the actual human race are NPCs. Cyborgs login to corporeal avatars housed in the mobile in-game fortress Deca-dence to fight giant monsters called Gadoll for fun. The nearly extinct humans are the IP of the cyborg corporation that runs the game world, basically in-game assets. In this setting, a suicidal surrogate uncle's tale of revolution, borrowing heavily from MMORPG and cartoon-land to provide structure to the plot and setup the story beats, is told. Our surrogate uncle is Kaburagi, is a cyborg e-sports star whose aimlessness begins to abate when he encounters a young human girl named Natsume who has been assigned to work with him in the game world.

The cyborgs, who have ascended and replaced humanity as the species that calls earth home, sectioned off an area of 3D spacetime into a bubble approximately the size of the arctic circle and replaced the rest of the spacetime that surrounds the earth with a virtual spacetime - at least that's what it looks like. Kaburagi, finding some solace in indulging Natsume's dreams which he knows are hopeless to a degree that far exceeds your average "kids will be kids" variety of non-viable decides not to kill himself because Natsume inspires him. His growing affection for this hapless war amputee builds until he resolves to go down in a blaze of glory fighting an impossibly oppressive system to achieve an even more impossible outcome basically to secure Natsume's survival. Surprisingly, Kabu and Natsume start picking up creative wins. I can imagine Dad's with daughters tearing up watching this shit.

Now as amazing as all that is, Deca-dence is being marked up based on the sweet premise. The automagical paths to victory, questionable saves, and convenient cyborg buddies with all the requisite talents to help Kaburagi burn it all down are eyebrow-raising to say the least. Unlike in Planetes, which conveys just how airtight corporate structures of control can be when it comes to maneuvering against them from within, Deca-dence oversells the damage malicious power users attacking a properly administered system from within can do. Makes for great action sequences and solid emotional payoffs between Kabu, his crew, and Natsume. The setting is so odd you really don't know quite how they're going to end it, so the ending came off alright normalizing for Anime endings overall. I would have preferred something more brutal.

Art 9

Would be a 10 if the CGI for the bigass Gadoll had been better. Everything else just pops at you, with wonderful colours and impressive integration of very different art styles. Great landscapes, cool take on steampunk, really good character models with a subtle, unique look and hairstyle for all the human character models.

Sound 8

First of all, the dub was good enough that I held off watching the last three episodes for weeks hoping they would be dubbed and I could finish Deca-dence that way. Voice-acting in the first 9 episodes of the dub was amazing, will be rewatching when the last 3 come out.

OP is legit, sound is pretty good overall but didn't stand out to me. The monsters didn't make the best sounds, the fights lacked a degree of atmospheric sophistication - felt like they didn't try too hard in this department but rather went for the safe and solid approach. Sounds feel lifted out of Anime from the past and don't quite do the progressive theme and setting of the story justice.

Character 8

Kaburagi carries the whole thing, Natsume is fun, Kurenai thirsting after Kabu's avatar is hilarious. Again, I really liked a lot of the character models with the extra attention to subtle hairstyle and clothing differences despite the fact that everyone is wearing similar "off-duty" uniforms with cargo pants and basic tops. Still, the only part that really shines besides Kabu's arc is how they humanized the goofiest looking cyborgs ever and made them relatable dorks. Now, that doesn't sound very realistic so let us forgive that aspect. The cyborg crew is hilarious, but completely out of step with what we know about the world they come from. It would seem they symbolize the kinds of avatars we create for ourselves in virtual space and the motivations we have to do so. Kabu symbolizes finally shedding the safety of an avatar and integrating the desires that drive their virtual adventures with real life priorities to finally find a hill to die on.