Anime Review: Deca-Dence Episode 1

Deca-Dence

Studio: Nut

Genre: Sci-fi, Action

Streaming: Amazon, Hulu

There’s a nice feeling about going into an anime original series – there’s no sense of expectation from knowing there’s an existing work that was popular enough to merit an adaptation. No worries about being spoiled for the storyline, and absolutely no idea how it’s going to turn out. Deca-Dence is one such anime, from a studio with a surprisingly small back catalog – but this first episode starts off strong and indeed could be mistaken for a Trigger anime in some moments. There are a strong visual style and a pretty zany set of ideas on the show which shows that there’s a lot more going on than initially might first appear.

The series shows it’s intentions within the first two minutes – we see a group of men excavating some ruins together in a strange desert landscape. One of their children having hopped along for the ride initially seems like a fun interlude before the reality of the situation hits when the group is attacked by strange monsters – this is when the tone of the show takes a complete shift.  The action is brutally violent and quick and doesn’t hold it punches on showing how gruesome the consequences are and this is when the audience might realise what kind of show this is. More of a sci-fi dystopia then an action series, Deca-dence shares traits with other shows like Attack on Titan, with its focus on humanity’s seemingly futile fight for survival against horrendous foes.

We fast-forward a few years and now the child has grown older – a prophetic limb replacing her lost arm. Natsume has just graduated and is now about to begin her first job … but unfortunately for her the injury she gained years back has rendered her invalid for application to work as a Gear  – those who fight and harvest blood from the monsters outside the city of Deca-dence. Instead, she must work back on the sidelines as a Tanker, repairing the armour of the huge mobile fortress humanity now lives within. There she meets an elder Tanker called Kaburagi whose pessimistic attitude grates on Natsume’s nerves, but is there more to this stoic man than meets the eye?

The visuals and music of this show are absolutely stunning – the music, in particular, kicking in at the perfect moments and the visuals within the action scenes, in particular, are really well done, echoing the wire fights in Attack on Titan with its smooth delivery and speed.  The backgrounds too are well detailed and really give a sense of life for the world the characters live in. The characters too have fairly sharp designs, even the side characters looking fairly memorable. So far as well, the series has shown it’s got emotion too – Natsume is a likable and plucky protagonist, making you laugh out loud one minute with her silly reactions and facial expressions, to feeling for her in the next. For a show such a dark bent in its first few minutes, there’s a huge amount of comedy on show too. It does border on ridiculous at times, particularly towards the end of the episode when the action takes to the forefront but it’s bombastic and quirky nature is definitely eye-catching.

All in all, Deca-dence is a show which packs a lot into its twenty-minute time span and shows an impressive amount of the studio’s talent at that time. It’s too early to tell if the plot will develop in a complex and engaging way but the hints we’ve seen so far, promise much.