Deca-Dence

Synopsis

Setting

In the latter part of the 2400s, air pollution reached lethal levels. As humanity hurtled toward extinction, they were also threatened by the emergence of life forms known as Gadoll, which caused the destruction of 90% of the world's population. Large corporations developed cyborgs to carry out human functions, but the cyborgs eventually began to outnumber humans and the Solid Quake corporation acquired rights to manage humanity. The company created a giant dome on the Eurasian continent in which they installed a colossal entertainment facility called Deca-dence, with its own independent all-governing system to make all decisions. The cyborg citizens could then safely experience adventure as human avatars at Deca-dence without the risk of real injury.

Plot

In the fortress city of Deca-dence, the lowly Tanker girl, Natsume, dreams of becoming a Gear warrior following her father's death during a Gadoll attack. She is assigned to a maintenance team led by Kaburagi whom she discovers is more than he appears. Kaburagi has a secret role in eliminating "bugs", humans who threaten Solid Quake's operations. When Kaburagi discovers that Natsume is listed as dead in the company database, he decides to keep her under observation and offers to train her to fight.

Characters

Natsume (ナツメ)

Voiced by: Tomori Kusunoki (Japanese); Trina Nishimura (English)

A teenage Tanker girl who lost her father and her right arm due to a Gadoll attack when she was a child. She has a prosthetic right arm and dreams of joining the Power and fight the Gadoll as a warrior, but after graduating from the Tanker Orphanage, she ends up working under Kaburagi as a maintenance worker.

Kaburagi (カブラギ)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese); Gabe Kunda (English)

A veteran Deca-dence armor repairer with a blunt and surly manner. He was once a great warrior but lost the ardor to fight and spends his days supervising a team on maintenance duties. He follows the cyborg Hugin's orders and spends his nights eliminating "bugs" by removing their chips. His apathetic state of mind changes through his encounter with Natsume, who is determined to become a fighter.

Fei (フェイ)

Voiced by: Mei Shibata (Japanese); Dani Chambers (English)

Natsume's best friend at the Tanker Orphanage.

Fennel (フェンネル, Fenneru)

Voiced by: Eiji Takeuchi (Japanese); Kyle Phillips (English)

One of Natsume's friends at the Tanker Orphanage.

Linmei (リンメイ, Rinmei)

Voiced by: Yoshino Aoyama (Japanese); Kristi Rothrock (English)

A student at the Tanker Orphanage with long purple hair who teases Natsume about her ambitions to become a Gear.

Production

Deca-Dence was first announced on July 5, 2019 by Kadokawa, and is the first original anime work of NUT, known for producing the anime adaptation of The Saga of Tanya the Evil. It was directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa, written by Hiroshi Seko, featuring original character designs by Pomodorosa, animation character designs and chief animation direction by Shinichi Kurita, and music composed by Masahiro Tokuda. The Deca-dence fortress was designed by Zhou Haosong, the cyborgs were designed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, and the Gadolls were designed by Satoshi Matsūra. The series was described as being a mash-up between Mortal Engines and Attack on Titan after the first episode was on air.

Director Yuzuru Tachikawa and chief producer Takuya Tsunoki, who had joined Madhouse around the same time and collaborated on the 2015 series Death Parade, had talked about creating their own original work. After the establishment of NUT in 2017, the idea of creating an original work was spurred within the company, and Tsunoki and chief producer Shō Tanaka, who collaborated on NUT's adaptation of The Saga of Tanya the Evil, had talked about "doing something" together. As a result, Tachikawa, Tsunoki, and Tanaka initiated the project. Writer Hiroshi Seko, who had previously worked with Tachikawa on Mob Psycho 100, was eventually added to the project after some foundations had been built and, together, the four created the series' original concepts.

Tachikawa prioritized developing the script for the dramatic beats that he wanted to depict because developing the setting and characters for an original work could take a long time. Having been written in its entirety based on the story concept created by Tachikawa, Tsunoki, Tanaka, and Seko, the script had to be revised from episode one to allow for more foreshadowing and narrative development in the first half of the story, such as brief introductions of the world view, so that the second half would not be so packed. As a result, more time was spent in the script meetings themselves. In this process, they discovered it was important to drill down on the relationship between Kaburagi and Natsume, and therefore put more effort to portray their interactions and how they complement the inefficiencies of each other from episode two to episode four.

While the production team decided to have a world view of "fighting against big monsters", they wanted to add a plot twist on top of it. Tachikawa then came up with the idea that "actually this world is a creation and operated by something else", which was accepted because it was both interesting and could easily allow for added depth when necessary.

Release

While the first episode had an advanced premiere screening at FunimationCon 2020 on July 3, 2020, the series officially aired from July 8 to September 23, 2020 on AT-X and other channels. The opening theme song, "Theater of Life", was performed by Konomi Suzuki, while the ending theme song, "Kioku no Hakobune" (記憶の箱舟; "Ark of Memories"), was performed by Kashitarō Itō.

Funimation licensed the anime for streaming worldwide except for Asia. On August 25, 2020, Funimation announced that the series would receive an English dub. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was added to the streaming service. In Southeast Asia, Plus Media Networks Asia licensed the series, and broadcast it on Aniplus Asia.

Reception

Christopher Farris of Anime News Network gave the final episode a score of 3 out 5 stars, concluding that the producers "didn't come down as definitively as they could with an alternative to that accursed capitalism, or manage to wrap everything with satisfyingly-tied emotional bows. But by god did they try".