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.
