After countless seasons of anime and watching 100s of shows it’s hard to find something fresh and original, every show starts feeling like a rehash of another show that’s been already done and referenced to death. At first glance, Deca-Dence may seem just like the type of show that was described above, as in another generic Attack on Titan rip off action show with a forgettable main character with blind shonen character motivations. This review will cover why Deca-Dence is not another repetitive series, can stand on its own merits, and how it is genuinely an original and new take on survival action anime.

Story: 8

Many people recognized that studio NUT, the studio behind Youjo Senki was involved in making Deca-Dence and rightfully expected top tier visuals, what they might have forgotten though was studio NUT’s penchant for episode 2 twists. Similarly, how to other shows they have made, Deca-Dence has a huge curveball twist 2 episodes in, it stops seeming like a generic survival in a post-apocalyptic world anime immediately and becomes much more interesting.
The story takes place in a world where monsters known as Gadoll happen to have destroyed society and all the remaining humans are living in a large mobile fortress known as the Deca-Dence. The main characters consist of the idealistic Natsume and the hardened Kaburagi, both at first seem like coworkers and regular humans working on the Deca-Dence. However we later find out that Kaburagi is actually just an avatar for an AI that is playing a game, in fact the entire scenario in episode 1 is flipped on its head as we learn the world is no more than an amusement park for cyborgs and humans are an endangered species.
As an anime original series, with this many plot points thrown in in the first few episodes, there was concern that the show would not be paced properly with the limited episodes. In hindsight the concerns were not necessary, the show was paced very quick but it did not feel rush, time on screen was never wasted, and overall the series came to a satisfactory ending.

Art: 9

The one comparison with Attack on Titan that I find fair is in regard to the art and animation of this series. Visuals in Deca-Dence are spectacular, from the amazing 3dCGI integration, to the excellent character and monster designs, and the overall perfectly choreographed fights. At first I was not expecting to much, even if its Studio NUT the pandemic has hit the production values of most shows, but rest assured, if there is one thing this series is not lacking, it is great visuals. The Alpha Gadoll fight specifically was one of the best fights that have been animated in 2020, the Alpha Gadoll was a monster that was hyped up but seemed like a letdown during its appearance do to its small size. When the fight started though, the visuals quickly demonstrated why the Alpha Gadoll was such a threat, its combat intelligence and speed made it very hard to deal with and it had heat vision and the ability to generate fog. Most of this was visually communicated perfectly, enough that we did not even need the dialogue, this sort of visual narration is lacking in many anime today and it is a treat to finally witness it after so long.
Background art in this show was top tier, there were so many interesting landscapes, both in the regular world and in the world of the cyborgs. The amount of varied landscapes, the passive Gadoll in the backgrounds, the careful use of monster corpses and the Deca-Dence in all its glory on the horizon greatly helps with immersion into the story.
Character designs for the cyborgs in this series are quite fresh, they do appear somewhat cartoonish however the clash and contrast in atmosphere between the saturated and gritty human side and the cartoonish game world cyborg side actually improved the series. The cyborg character designs helped communicate the general difference in danger and weight for the respective sides in the series, it also helped differentiate the huge difference in world view between the human characters and the cyborgs. There was also a nice touch added by the character designs in expressing character personality, with Kubaragi being the outlier, most characters acted exactly like their designs would expect the audience to view them as. The big guy was tough, the girl was smart and well spoken, and that evil looking guy was the traitor.

The sound: 7

The OP was pretty solid, although its not super memorable it isn’t bad either. The sound effects in general excellent, from the fights, to the robot and game effects, and everything in between. Background sound in Deca-Dence is quite immersive, and though the OST and OP are not exceptional enough to put in a playlist, they perform their role adequately in the show itself.

Characters: 9

Kaburagi and Natsume certainly RISE UP to the challenge of being this season’s top duo, and although they face stiff competition from other popular sequel series, I would say these 2 are definitely among the best this season. The absolute chemistry between Kaburagi and Natsume, the amount of times he shuts her down and the amount of times Natsume defies his expectations and shocks him has been great. Natsume eventually has to come to the realization that her world is manufactured, and this leads to a huge change in perspective that can normally ruin a show, however it was handled with tact and her perspective change felt natural. Natsume specifically realizing that her journey towards wiping out the Gadoll wasn’t a means to an end, but that she really just wanted to become stronger and more confident through her journey was a great revelation that was foreshadowed throughout the series. Kaburagi eventually betraying the system was also built up well, cameos of him working with Natsume over a long period of time, his prior friend who was deemed a bug like Natsume being scrapped and him living with the guilt, his keeping of a pet Gadoll despite the rules. Overall both characters have a lot of growth in this series, and it’s hard to claim the show has a primary protagonist, both characters are excellently developed and their motivations and changes in perspective were well written, enough that it never felt like their decisions were sudden impulsive out of character moments.

The other members of the cast also integrate into the story pretty well. The popular school acquaintance eventually comes along to helping Natsume, her old friend although worried about her at first, eventually comes to terms with Natsume taking on dangerous work. The cyborgs themselves have a very lively cast, and they contrast heavily with the humans with their carefree attitude, the named cyborgs who were in prison with Kaburagi were definitely the best ones. Overall the characters in this show are some of the best this season, and despite only having 12 episodes, they are some of the most fleshed out characters across any anime.

Overall this show gets an 8, for being both a pleasant surprise, and maintaining its quality throughout the show. Normally anime originals are unable to stick the ending, maintain a proper pace, or fall apart in production quality, however Deca Dence lives up to the standard set in episode one and keeps delivering.