Deca-Dence

Far in the future, the lifeforms known as Gadoll suddenly arose as a threat to humanity. The last surviving humans on Earth confine themselves to the Tank, a lower district in the giant mobile fortress Deca-Dence. While the Gears who live on the upper floors are warriors who go out to fight as part of the Power, most Tankers are content to provide support from the backlines, butchering Gadoll meat and reinforcing defenses. Natsume is among those who would rather go to the front lines; undeterred by her prosthetic right arm, she seeks to join the small number of Tanker soldiers who join the Gears in combat.

But despite her peers at the orphanage each receiving their work assignments, Natsume’s enlistment to the Power remains unapproved. In the meantime, she begins a job as a cleaner in an armor repair team led by the hard-nosed and apathetic Kaburagi, who seems to be more than he lets on. Though initially cold to his idealistic subordinate, he soon recognizes in her the potential to upset the status quo of the world. As Natsume’s new mentor, Kaburagi prepares her for the special and unique role as a game-changing bug in the system.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Natsume Main

Kusunoki, Tomori Japanese

Kaburagi Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Kurenai Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Jill Supporting

Murase, Michiyo Japanese

Minato Supporting

Toriumi, Kousuke Japanese

Sarkozy Supporting

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Donatello Supporting

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Fei Supporting

Shibata, Mei Japanese

Hugin Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Linmei Supporting

Aoyama, Yoshino Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Kikushima, Kazufumi Producer

Iizuka, Aya Producer

Reviews

Sep 5, 2024

Its_munnan

Recommended

Good animation, great visuals, okay-okay story, likeable characters, fantastic action. CGI sometimes doesn't look good but turned out great towards the end. It's mostly a mindless action series but does deal with some themes like class system and others which can't be gotten into without spoiling the series.

The main selling point for me was that the main characters were likeable and you wanted them to survive and be on the next episode. You're not looking to see who dies most gruesomely next, like a lot of its contemporaries. I found the comedy to be quite good as well at parts.

Not much else to say, would ... recomend it. It's a small fun action packed series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 9, 2022

RyanSpring

Mixed Feelings

Deca-Dence = Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress = Knights of Sidonia = Attack on Titan. Yes, there's a "twist" (if you can even call it that) that gets revealed very early on that makes this setup technically different from the aforementioned anime that this is clearly copying, but at the end of the day this anime is far more similar to its influences than it is in any way original and it simply never escapes that. It also doesn't help matters that the female lead here, Natsume, looks like several other characters from different anime as well. Throughout the entirety of my viewing experience of ... Deca-Dence I felt I'd seen what it was showing me multiple times before and the handful of things it did in an attempt to distinguish itself came up well short, leaving it feeling like an inferior knock off more than anything else. Hell, the warriors of this program even fight the big baddies that live outside the walls with ODM gear straight out of Attack on Titan!

The respectably good English dub, helmed by Trina Nishimura (who, oh so appropriately, voices Mikasa in Attack on Titan) and the standout soundtrack, featuring bagpipes of all things, which is not a particularly common instrument in Japanese animation soundtracks, are probably the biggest highlights here. The color pallet as a whole is also worth mentioning as it's very bright and vibrant, though in my view more in a cartoony way than an awe-inspiring "man this is beautiful" kind of thing. The visuals are a mixed bag. The in-game area looks modern and clean, minus a couple points for blatant CGI in one particular instance, but the OTHER area, which I'll decline to name or define for the sake of avoiding (relatively minor) spoilers I think looks like total garbage. It's designed deliberately to vastly contrast its counterpart, which is probably a wise choice, but I loathe the direction they went with this. It looks like something you'd see on Adult Swim on American television rather than anime. It also looks like something a young child should be watching rather than something an adult could watch and not feel a bit silly when another adult walks into the room.

The ending is rushed and ventures into preachy territory, though it's far from the most egregious offender I've seen in this regard, and multiple anime tropes and cliches come out during the late episodes of the show. A very late scene clearly intended to have emotional impact falls very flat and then, even if it hadn't, they go ahead and undo it just minutes later.

There were a few moments in the plot that were genuinely suspenseful and interesting, with the mission and eventual fight against the Alpha Gadoll, definitely not to be confused with an intelligent Titan, being the peak of the program in my opinion. The plot really lost steam after that and was never able to regain its momentum. There was plenty of potential with the setup they created, and I don't think they utterly butchered it, but I definitely don't think they maximized it either. They absolutely could have pushed further and gotten more out of what they built, though admittedly the 12 episode runtime puts a pretty hard cap on how much you can do.

Despite this review probably coming off a bit more negative than positive, I didn't actually dislike Deca-Dence, and I thought it was a decent show. Really, the "humanity is almost extinct and what's left of us lives within the confines of X and monsters called Y that we know very little about live outside of here and threaten to eat and kill us" setup, even though it's definitely not new anymore, is so consistently engaging that it's hard to go too far wrong. Nevertheless, this show is too much like its influences and too little of a standalone product and it certainly cannot live up to the programs it's trying to imitate and it just flat out loses too much steam after the midpoint. With those things in mind, I can't go so far as to say I'd actively recommend Deca-Dence, but, there are certainly worse shows out there.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 6.5-7
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 7

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 16, 2024

SgtSalamander

Not Recommended

*Spoilers Ahead*


Deca-Dence is best described as an ambitious amalgamation of Gurren Lagann, Attack on Titan, and The Matrix, that still falls quite short of the quality, impact, and timelessness those stories have. The story is, on the face of it, an adventurous and creative concept. Giant robots fighting giant monsters is a tried-and-true formula, and not just in the Mecha genre. The world that is constructed here is engaging and lore-filled, which often distracts from some of the drawbacks the show has on display. However, despite the dynamic nature of the story, I only found myself enjoying half the show, ... and that is this anime's major sin; Deca-Dence is split down the middle in every category. In the story, I found the parts focusing on the Humans, or 'Tankers', the most engaging. Their struggle against the monstrous Gadoll is epic and classic, populated by a smooth combat system and believable characters with real struggles and motivations. Natsume's struggle to become a stronger person is set perfectly in this world which challenges her to do exactly that, and this complex society of post-apocalyptic humans living in a moving city with a dedicated racial caste of warriors called 'Gears', absolutely sucks the viewer right in. However, despite my general reluctance do so so, I must discuss a spoiler here in order to fully cover where this anime really falls apart. When the reveal comes about it all just being a game, about the Cyborgs manufacturing the Gadoll in order to hunt them for sport in a weird MMORPG/VR experience, it is not only boring but also cheapens the whole appeal of what makes the initial plot great. If the story didn't take this direction with the Cyborgs the anime as a whole would have received a much better score.

The art faces a similar issue. The backgrounds, interiors, characters of varying importance, and even down to the final detail, the Human storyline is beautiful. Studio NUT made something that looks effortlessly beautiful in every single shot of the Human story. The split here comes with the Cyborgs and their world. I understand where they were going with the Cyborgs, but they end up looking stupid and as a result I am unable to take them seriously. Their world is all bright colors, soft shapes, and empty rooms, and that is dreadfully unappealing. I hated having to look at them so much, and wished that they at least look cool for all the screentime they get. CG is also used here, mostly for the Gadoll, and it is glaringly obvious every time. I find it hard to believe that this CG work was done in 2020. There are also obvious moments where the characters are just not animated, perhaps to save time or money, but it makes them look insane at points.

The sound is ok, nothing less than I expect from a modern anime, but it just meets the requirement. The soundtrack is a good choice for its hype fuel aspect, but the sounds of life are only present at certain moments, drowned out most of the time by the competent voice acting. Of course, the way the Cyborgs sound is also strange and cheap, and their whole sound profile is rough and unfinished by comparison.

The characters were amazing in the Human storyline, especially in terms of Kaburagi in his avatar and Natsume striking out to live her own life on her own terms. The Cyborgs, save for Kubaragi, fell flat for me. Even the former commander Minato was one note. Only the most important people in the Cyborg story, like Kaburagi and the iconic villain Hugin, are fully realized characters at all. Everybody else in the Cyborg storyline feels like NPCs. At the end of the day, the Human storyline in terms of overall quality and enjoyment gets a 7, but the Cyborg storyline which is present around every corner by episode 6, gets a 4. At the end of the day, Deca-Dence is not a particularly good anime, and though it did have the potential to be great, it smothered itself trying to be about a dozen things it's not. Mainly; It is not the masterpiece it presents itself to be. The Gurren Lagann references are fun, though.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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