Thanks for joining me at Anime Rants, where we’ll take a look at the first episode of Deca-Dence, the new Summer 2020 anime. My first impression is overwhelmingly positive. The concept of the mobile fortress and the mysteries of the world are immediately interesting.

To start off with, we have an exciting if somewhat predictable starting scene where Natsume’s father and others attempt to defend themselves from some fierce and neat-looking Gollad. Skip a few years ahead and we are introduced to teenage Natsume, who I’m already loving as a lead female character. She’s spunky, expressive, reactive, and cute. Even though she’s a Tanker (an orphan who serves the army in noncombat roles), Natsume is extremely ambitious.

Unfortunately for Natsume, who dreams of fighting the Gollad and bringing peace to the world, she is instead assigned the role of armor repair for the Gears (soldiers). Armor workers must spend five years with the duty of cleaning the outer armor of Deca-Dence. Still, even with her aloof and distant boss discouraging her, Natsume dreams of being a soldier.

One day, Deca-Dence encounters a group of Gollad including an enormous one bigger than the fortress itself. Due to one workers selfish actions, there is an accident that sends three of the armor cleaners down into the fray– including Natsume. One of them is killed. Natsume would have died as well, if not for her boss Kaburagi rescuing her and impressing everyone with his skill in slaying Gollad. The blood-sucking harpoon weapons are really interesting.

Kaburagi and others finish off the normal Gollad group, and Deca-Dence is activated to destroy the enormous one. The immense canon of the fortress obliterated the monster, leaving only toasted bits of its meat, spikes, and bones behind. Natsume witnessed all of this up close, being carried around by Kaburagi. Needless to say, she is amazed.

I loved the fight scenes with the Gollad. Sure, it’s no Attack on Titan, but it was all really fun to watch. I liked the character designs and the visuals overall. There was a ton of CGI, but I didn’t really mind. Anyway, the audio also seems good. I haven’t yet identified the Seiyuu that sound familiar, but I’m impressed with whoever is playing Natsume and Kaburagi. The theme song for Deca-Dence is “Theater of Life” by Konomi Suzuki, and it briefly played at the end of the episode. I enjoyed it.

There are already so many mysteries, such as what “bugs” are and why Kaburagi has to dispose of them. There’s the potential for Gollad to be friendly in some cases, as with little Pipe. The Fortress of Deca-Dence reminds me of a vampirical, artificial Gollad with some parts that are still alive (like those nerve fibers). I’m interested to see if this point is discussed later. There was also the weird ending of the episode, with that scene of what looks like a candy-land set for live toys moving around. Wtf was that? Clearly there’s a lot to think about in this exciting new anime!

I truly appreciate you reading my work! Arigatou and please come visit again soon!

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