Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction

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Read it. It is something you should read, probably now or at least soon. And I say this as a person who always hisses with frustration, when she reads Asano, and is ready to disagree with him in this work too. But DeDeDe is currently so relevant, that it’d be stupid not to explore the living nerve. The collision of life and fiction is like nothing else around, so I’ll keep telling you and others to read it.

DeDeDe is about the anxiety that people of today feel or at least sense brewing, especially the young ones, those with the big unknown ahead and the world crumbling all around. DeDeDe is about the eternal question of “How can I have fun with friends, when there is war, and suffering, and death, including the death of my close ones and me, but then what is left to me, if I do not, also what the stupid and weak me can do anyway for this turbulent and complicated reality?”. It contains alienation and aliens, war approaching and love passing, growing up and dying off, faithful friendship and fleeting ideologies, hopes for future and plans for resignation, also a giant-ass flying saucer above Tokyo – the “mothership”, that drops aliens, blocks the sun and embodies this creeping unease.

It’s not easy to sum DeDeDe up. Nor should I attempt to. Asano is at his biggest and most literary here, reminding me of Tolstoy stronger than ever. DeDeDe is a “high” literature novel in scope, sprawling and dialectical, one that clearly aims to reflect the modern life in Japan in its various forms, cataloguing types and summing up experiences. The writing is wonderful, the narrative is complex – the author weaves many stories at once and makes use of the interesting technique of a story into a story (there’s a fictional comic that many characters read and almost every character knows). And the art is superb. Asano has accumulated enough experience and assistants to blend in detailed backgrounds (clearly based on photos), character designs and fictional elements seamlessly, creating shots, that are nothing if not breathtaking. Though it’s useful to remember that fictional world is like that – a focused reflection, not a straight carbon copy.

Too bad Asano is too honest and personal (by the way, that is what I hate Tolstoy for), it’s all him in his work, wherever you look or whoever follow. He eats away his characters mercilessly, and the schoolgirl protagonists (one self-insert for the reader, the other insane) feel like part mouthpieces, part anchors with rare moments of true life of their own. The characters, who are closer to Asano in age and sex, come out considerably more lively. Yeah, schoolgirls, probably, are the logical main characters in an attempt to summarize Japan, and an author does always mold his characters as he wishes, but still it’s not good enough for a big realist novel, which this manga aims to be the closest manga analog to. And Asano heavily discriminates his side characters (even bypassers), making some characters look cartoonish and ugly, giving them some oversimplified caricature features or, specifically, robbing them of “manga eyes”.

For all the deep, torturous topics Asano touches upon in Demon Destruction, for all the tension created, I am sure his answer will be small and personal, one not really solving shit (seen it in his Bakemono Recchan, that was when I found the key to my frustration with his works). This approach is honest, but it’s not enough for a work on ideology, though it happens pretty often even with classics. Also the answer given will be flawed as a result of the situation, of the fantastic analogy, that Asano has personally crafted. Why are aliens like this and not like that? What are they metaphor for? Punpun was easier, growing up and having depression are two things many can empathize with without further questions.

Yet for the potential failure on the ideology front, the personal parts strike close to home. It’s a lot to say this for me, wasn’t easy but I have come around. How could I not, if I also try to have fun with friends, even though I breath the heavy air of today’s world, half already in hell, half going there? And procrastinating death is what all of us do, everyday and no exception. Maybe the personal aspect will betray me as well, the answer of DeDeDe may still turn out to be either too edgy, or too hipster, or too Japanese for my liking, but mostly likely it will be too Asano. But there’s a lot to like and to think about during the ambitious and suspenseful ride. I know I am curious about the answer too, so I am looking forward to it, while I bask in the great atmosphere of DeDeDe, all concentrated Japan, all tension and then also some philosophy and a pinch of good social critique on top.

DeDeDe is the sort of thing you will shove into your professor, who condemns your for reading manga, the sort of thing you go to to repent for all the harem you have read. It is a beautiful and substantial work by a great author, made about things many people, and there’s a good chance you too, are living and pondering right now. Not reading it robs you of an experience, so, come on – read it, better now or at least soon.

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The quality of the drawning is outstanding. The pace of the story is somewhat slow, but it's still good to dig in some details of the characters. As the story goes on, there are new details that are revealed to us concerning some totally unexpected actions abd stories of the characters.

The art of the manga is carefully made. I am very grateful that Asano and his assistants have put that amount of effort doing it.

If you are not very patient, maybe I would suggest you to only start reading it when it's finished, because the story is still going on.

Asano, you have a huge fan in Brazil, ty so much for all of your work that's a pleasurable food for thought.

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---D English is not my native language, so this will be poorly written but I assume it will be understood the same, in the end for those who speak Spanish there will be a version in that language
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Dead Dead Demon's Dededededetruction is probably the work that Inio Asano has enjoyed the most, among all that he has done to date, while in my opinion it is the most complete work of Asano and curiously also the most different compared to the rest of his sleeves, a refreshing change that was already necessary.
Although in parallel with "A Girl on the shore" or "Oyasumi Pun Pun" his script falls from time to time it is balanced with his wonderful visual narrative, a polished drawing that many times without the need for any dialogue transmits us almost perfectly all the feelings and thoughts of the characters.
As usual in Asano, he presents us with a work riddled with existentialism and almost ridiculous ironies in a slow-paced slice of life format in which a group of adolescents close to reaching adulthood face a series of conflicts that will make them evolve. as characters and in most cases it occupies them to show us the most shameful, disgusting and in general dark that people can become, but to this format already preset in their sleeves we are surprised by adding in the background science fiction, with a world attacked by aliens who look much more tender than usual, with obvious references to racism and Japanese foreign policy but adorned with an extremely bizarre and sometimes childish but quite bearable humor. It is quite interesting in how in the world presented by Asano humanity continues to seek its desired routine even when the world could be in imminent danger and without taking weight they continue with their lives.
Without a doubt I recommend it and if it is not noticeable, I have liked it a lot, being among my favorites in Asano, although I also understand those who were not, since they were predisposed to the usual works of Asano, but not because they are different, they are bad and for the On the contrary, it gives Asano more flexibility than we would expect from him in terms of stories and their type.
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Dead Dead Demon's Dededededetruction es probablemente la obra que Inio Asano más ha disfrutado realizar, entre todas las que ha hecho hasta fecha, a la vez que es a mi opinión la obra más completa de Asano y curiosamente también la más diferente en comparación con el resto de sus mangas, un refrescante cambio que ya iba siendo necesario.
Aunque en paralelismo con "A Girl on the shore" u "Oyasumi Pun Pun" su guión caiga de veces en cuando este es equilibrado con su maravillosa narrativa visual, un pulido dibujo que muchas veces sin necesidad de dialogo alguno nos transmite casi a la perfección todos los sentimientos y pensamientos de los personajes.
Como ya es costumbre en Asano nos presenta una obra plagada de existencialismos e ironías casi ridículas en formato de slice of life de ritmo pausado en el que un grupo de adolescentes cercanos a llegar a la adultez se enfrentan con una serie de conflictos que los harán evolucionar como personajes y en la mayoría de casos los ocupa para mostrarnos lo más vergonzoso, asqueroso y en general oscuros que pueden llegar a ser las personas, pero a este formato ya preestablecido en sus mangas nos sorprende agregando en el fondo ciencia ficción, con un mundo atacado por aliens de aspecto bastante más tierno que el acostumbrado, con obvias referencias al racismo y a la política exterior japonesa pero adornados con un humor sumamente bizarro y a veces infantil pero bastante llevadero. Es bastante interesante en el como en el mundo presentado por Asano la humanidad sigue buscando su deseada rutina aun cuando el mundo podría estar en inminente peligro y sin tomarle peso estos siguen con su vida.
Sin duda la recomiendo y si es no se nota ya me ha gustado bastante quedando entre mis favoritas de Asano, aunque también comprendo a los que no ya que iban predispuestos para las obras usuales de Asano, pero no por ser diferentes son malas y por el contrario este dota a Asano de más flexibilidad de lo que esperaríamos de el en cuanto a historias y su tipo.

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Dead Dead Demons DeDeDeDestruction is the currently running series by Inio Asano, a mangaka who has become the new hotness among pretentious people for the realistic quality of his work and his skill in portraying the depression and alienation of young people, which of course academics love because not only are they all depressed, but also because alienation is a buzzword used about late-stage capitalism or whatever, which is an uplifting term because it implies capitalism will ever end. Anyway, I know all of this from hearsay (and because the other person in the review section who gave this a 9 is one such academic who mentions, like, Tolstoy and some other old manga authors no one reads), because I've never read any of Asano's other work. None of that means I don't like this series, though (henceforth referred to as DeDeDeDe, like from Kirby); in fact, I like it a lot, enough to have my profile picture be the main character, and so I'll now proceed to start doing my job and explaining why.

Basically, you can say this series is good because of stuff like the alienation thing that I mentioned, which is true, or you can phrase it like I am and say simply that this manga is an extremely fun slice-of-life comic full of characters that act like people I'm friends with and set in a world that resembles the one I live in like no other I've ever seen in media. I was born in 2001, and am therefore solidly of the zoomer generation, and this manga is the song of my people, capturing the zeitgeist of gen Z to the greatest level of accuracy that I've ever seen in media, and for a slice-of-life story, that is incredibly important because portraying life is what the genre is all about. K-On excels at showing us a picture of a complex and lively group of friends, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou presents nature and the passage of time like no other series, and DeDeDeDe shows us the world as it is without casting judgement or pulling punches.

Teens in first-world countries today, whether said country is Japan, America, Europe, Australia, Korea, China, or wherever else, are coming of age in an absurd world where the difference between irony and sincerity is impossible (and maybe even irrelevant) to distinguish, where the massive amounts of knowledge and media available confuse us as much as they enlighten us, and where the very idea of preparing for the future seems bizarre when all that future holds is global instability, catastrophic climate change, and extreme economic inequality that might very well doom our entire species. Our governments do little, our youth movements are ineffectual, and though people should be banding together, our power structures continue to cast people aside. That's the truth the laughing kids of my--and these characters'--generation hide behind edgy memes and lighthearted complaints, but that looms in the background nonetheless, casting all of our daily lives into its subtle but deadly shadow.

And fittingly enough, even this manga hides the truth behind a metaphor. In DeDeDeDe's Japan, it isn't climate change, but a literal massive shadow that hangs over modern, daily life. A gargantuan, industrial mass of an alien spaceship has been floating in the air for three years by the start of the story, and though little violence happens and its extraterrestrial inhabitants are quite weak, the government fearmongers about them, corporations step in to cash in on weapons to use against them, and psychopathic young men wander around the backstreets to hunt them down. Through all of this, the real problem, that the ship may melt down and doom humans and "invaders" alike, is ignored and suppressed as politicians and billionaires build bunkers to weather the storm. It may seem a bit on the nose when I explain it here, but when it is revealed little by little in the story you realize that the characters are living in a world of endless high alert and military-industrial insanity just like ours.

As I said, though, the series is quite fun for the most part, and even that emulates life. The worst hasn't happened yet, and though realizing these impending disasters makes it harder to relax, it also makes you want to do so more, because its an escape. Though our industrial society may face its ruin, it still provides people with a lot to enjoy, and if there's little you can do, why waste the time you have left? The day-to-day lives of the characters, as well as their personalities and dynamics with each other, are really fun, and also very realistic. The girls banter about stupid things, bring up taboo topics to joke around, make autistic ideological declarations, and ignore the grim truths of the world the same way my friends do. One of my favorite characters, Rin, is a shy cosplayer with a secret Yaoi obsession that she is prodded by another character to admit loudly to her class because "in a surveillance state, our kinks are the only thing they can't take from us!!!" The main character, Kadode, is meant to be a self-insert but her friend, Oran, is utterly unhinged in a believable way, spouting political jargon and obsessing about shooting games and the similar bloodbaths to come because its her only way of coping, and somehow the reality of this only makes it more endearing, an insane feat that this manga somehow manages to pull off.

The artwork is perfect for the tone and themes as well. The characters have cute, distinct, and unrealistically abstracted designs for the most part, and many background characters even look ever so slightly deformed, but there is a down-to-earth quality to their bodies, framing, and implied movement that is difficult to deny, especially when they are shown in Asano's lavishly detailed backgrounds based on an eccentric amalgam of photographic references. The lighting and shading is also weirdly juxtaposed with the characters, again making their goofy designs blend in much better than they should, to the point where even they seem like perfectly natural parts of the setting. Just like the story, the art is an incongruous but resonant clash of tonalities that Asano manages incredibly, to the point where this slice-of-life manga manages to have better dramatic two-page spreads than something like Takehiko Inoe's flatly hyper-technical samurai manga Vagabond.

Slice-of-life fans and people who process the world like I and many other young people do can't miss this one, and the only major complaint that I have to counteract my praise is that DeDeDeDe introduces some characters, specifically in its main cast of girls, that it ends up not spending enough time on, making the characters, though interesting and complex, ultimately not really the driving force of this manga as much as they could have been. The uncomfortable realism of its world, though, and the comfortable resonance that can be found in the interactions of those who somehow still live in it, are really the driving force of this manga. And even the lack of character development is relatable to me, although hopefully you aren't as pathetic as I am.

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