Welcome! In this episode of Deca-Dence, we saw Natsume begin to train in combat with weak Gollads. Things were tough, but they were going well, until an horde of Gollads started an attack underground. Natsume and Kaburagi got thrown into the fray, as did the harmless “bug” Gollad, Pipe. Natsume had insisted on bringing Pipe outside since she found a disguise for her which would allow her to pass for dog. … It’s not exactly what you call cute.

Now Pipe, Kaburagi, and Natsume are all about to be caught up in the subterranean battle. A few other things of note happened, such as Natsume getting an improved artificial arm and hand. It has better dexterity and it can be switched to a mode where it holds the blood-sucking harpoon weapons to shoot at Gollads. She hasn’t had the chance to use it in a battle yet. The episode ends with her chasing Pipe into the underground caves.

Those are the main events, but this episode also provided a lot of information that I want to touch on briefly. There was some information about how fighting the Gollads works. I was pleased to see some detail here. For example, Gollads produce a field here gravity is unstable as a method of defense, but it’s possible to fly around if you ride the little paths in the air made of oxyone from the tank on your back. More oxyone must be collected than spent, so too much time meandering in the air isn’t good.

We also got to know some about the truth of this world and its history. Well, such as it’s told to the Gears, anyway. It explains how these weird little robots came to be, as products of a world where cyborg technology ruled. Everything now is controlled by “the system” and the real humans don’t know anything about the real world of the Gears. We still don’t really know what “the system” is, or how Gollads came to be. This anime is clearly a dystopian tale, and I happen to love those, though they are becoming a bit overused. I’m interested to see how this show plays out and if I will consider it a decently creative little dystopian story, or whether it will fail and be utterly mundane.

That’s all I’ve got in me today, so thank you very much for reading. I sincerely appreciate it.

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