- The Majority of this has NO SPOILERS, and I tell you in advance in the one part I talk about themI’ll just start off by saying that this is easily so far the anime of the year for me and I’m probably going to give it a 95/100 because everything about this series was phenomenal.Prefix: There is so much I love about this series that I genuinely don’t know where to start, I went into this anime with very low expectations, knowing the history of anime-only series, and how more often then not, they devolve into mediocre time wasters. But I am extremely pleasantly surprised that this show was able to not only keep me interested every episode week to week, but actually was able to stick the landing with the conclusion, which is an accomplishment so rare among anime-only series (cough Darling in the FranXX cough). Maybe I love this series so much because I’m so jaded after watching 100s and 100s of anime, that I’m really surprised at how much this series was able to surprise me, from the world, to the characters, the plot, and everything in between, this series time and time again was able to go in a direction that not only worked plot-wise, but also was genuinely enjoyable for me to see play out. Man, I really like this show. - World / Animation: Let’s start with the world and the premise, which already this 12 episode series is able to cram so much plot and lore into its runtime that it puts so many 100+ episode anime to shame, and then on top of this, the series never feels rushed, which considering the amount of content they cover is another giant accomplishment in its own right. Then there is the animation and the art style, which other than the fact that it looks amazing and breathtaking every second it is on-screen (you probably already know this after the first minute of the trailer) since this was already heavily talked about during the season I feel comfortable in mentioning that at a point in the series they decided to integrate a completely different art style into the show, this was a decision that put a lot of people off and I understand why. The story before this point already had so much in it that throwing an entire other layer on top when you only have 12 episodes is an extremely daunting task, to say the least, but this series not only makes it work by the end, but somehow convinces me that that was the right move all along. - Characters: Then there are the characters, which without getting into major spoilers, I’m just going to say flat out that Natsume and Kaburagi are the best duo I have seen all year, the charisma and rapport they have in every scene is so enjoyable to watch that I can’t even really put it into words. Fairly recently there has been this trend in anime where a female “newcomers” will get a male mentor to train them, and then against all the odds they are able to accomplish their goals, and I love this story arc, call it cliche or overdone, I don’t care, every story I have watched that has incorporated this story structure has been a joy to watch, and so far Deca-Dence is the pinnacle of this category (YES even above BNA which I also like). All the other side characters are enjoyable enough during the time we spend with them, but really the story mainly focuses on the relationship between Natsume and Kaburagi, which is why I’m so happy they work so well together, while individually still being incredibly interesting characters in their own right. - Story (SPOILERS): There is also the story (which I genuinely can’t talk about without spoiling it, so please skip this part if you haven’t watched the series yet, PLEASE for the love of everything holy, do yourself a favor and go into this show as blind as possible, I PROMISE, you will not regret it) Like, if you were to tell me the premise of this show at a pitch meeting and then tell me you want to somehow complete this entire story in 12 episodes, if I was the executive at this company I would shoot your plan down, because I genuinely wouldn’t even know how to finish this plot in quadruple the episode count, let alone 12. We start the show in a post-apocalyptic world where humans live on a moving fortress where they fight monsters that can create gravity bubbles, and the way they fight these monsters is by using a giant spear, draining the monsters of their blood, which they use to power their giant fortress. Then, on top of this plot there is also another plot were a cyborg hive mind is in a spaceship orbiting earth filled with cyborgs that are controlled by the “spirits” of previous humans who fled earth during the apocalypse, and these cyborgs then “play a game” where they put their consciousness into alien-looking bodies that they then use to fight the monsters with the humans on earth, which are also created by the Cyborg hive mind as a way of entertainment for the other cyborgs.

Oh and don’t forget that there is the additional plot element that there is a “cleaner” of sorts employed by the system whose job it is to kill randomly occurring “bugs” in the system, and by bugs, they mostly mean humans that think for themselves….. WHAT? LIKE WHAT? I have seen my fair share of anime, and this is by far one of the most out-there premises I have ever heard of, and not only does it work, it is probably one of the most engaging premises I’ve seen not just from this year, but probably from the last two or three years as well. The amount of creativity and ingenuity involved with writing a plot that involves all of these different elements that still somehow never feels rushed, convoluted, overwhelming, or boring, while still being in the limitations of being a 12 episode series, and then on top of all of this, this is also an anime original series, meaning they have no source material to pull from, makes this really is an astonishing achievement in my eyes, which is probably why I am so impressed by this series.

- Conclusion: I could go on and on about how much I love this series, and of course it is not perfect, if I had to highlight the weakest aspect in my opinion it would probably be the music, while it is not bad by any means, it doesn’t really have a singular track that really sticks with you after the series is over, but honestly because of all the stuff I already listed above, that doesn’t even bother me.

In the end, like I already said at the very top of this post in bold, I am giving this series 95/100 because I genuinely love every aspect of this series, and the only reason it is not getting a 100/100 is because I don’t rate anything 100/100 after a single viewing, but after I watch this series again who knows, it might honestly get raised to a 100/100 if it still somehow holds up. So yeah guys, if it is not already clear, this show is the Anime of the Season for me, and honestly is also so far my top pick for Anime of the Year. Sure I haven’t finished any other shows this season yet, but honestly, everything I have been keeping up with while not bad, I genuinely don’t see how anything this season could top this ending, but I guess we will just have to wait and see. I hope everyone who has read to this point enjoyed the series as much as me, and if you haven’t watched the series yet, I highly recommend you give it a chance, because this series really is special😊