People really are a selfish, or at least that is a strong impression that Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction (DeDeDeDe) leaves on its viewers. At the same time one begins to wonder if maybe we wouldn't act any different thrust into the same circumstance.

DeDeDeDe does a great job at exploring the humanity of disaster, power, and conflict. How do people react? How do their reactions influence others? What do people choose to believe? Do people choose to help others or see an opportunity to help themselves? Or, do they turn a blind eye and go about their lives as though nothing changed? But, at the real center of the issue is whether any of those choices is actually right. The story is designed in such a way that the viewer comes up with different, and sometimes opposite answers to the same question. It manages to do this without the need for convenient writing. Instead, events are carefully set up and foreshadowed, lending a convincingness to the narrative.

As the anime progresses, the plot slowly becomes driven by the self-centered, self-serving attitudes people display. Interestingly, it is not only the people with power or authority who are affected by this (even the "invaders"). In fact, nearly every decision made throughout the series is shown as an expression of selfishness. The characters are designed in such a way that when two characters make the same selfish decision, one can seem to be in the right, while the other is obviously in the wrong. Surprisingly, there are few flat characters, even among the supporting and background characters there is development. At the same time, the number of dynamic characters doesn't muddy the story. Perhaps because a changing world requires people to change.

If there are two weaknesses of the series, they would probably be the backstory and ending. The backstory for the individual characters is actually fairly well developed. The viewer is told enough about each character and their past to understand the motives for their decisions. Still, the backstory surrounding the "invaders" has a few holes. The viewer is given a general idea of where they are from and why they are "invading", but fairly little info about their history beyond that. This has little influence on the plot, but is a bit unsatisfying. As for the ending, the main issue is that is feels a bit rushed. There is a lot going on, and while nothing happens that hasn't already been foreshadowed, more explanation of some of the events would have helped it to feel a bit more conclusive. Additionally, the many unresolved plot points make it feel that the whole series could just be the backstory for a much bigger series.

Despite its weaknesses, DeDeDeDe as a whole is great. The story is engaging and compelling, but it is not so heavyhanded with its themes that it forgets to be entertaining. Overall, this anime is an 8.9/10.