all caps
In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...
in
Latin script
The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...
, is an original Japanese
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series produced and animated by NUT. The series aired from July to September 2020.
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
;
:
: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.
;
:
: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
''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. After the final first-run telecast on NBC in May 1983, the series went into reruns on Sundays fr ...
. His apathetic state of mind changes through his encounter with Natsume, who is determined to become a fighter.
;
:
:Natsume's best friend at the Tanker Orphanage.
;
:
:One of Natsume's friends at the Tanker Orphanage.
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:A student at the Tanker Orphanage with long purple hair who teases Natsume about her ambitions to become a Gear.
;
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:A great female Tanker fighter who Natsume admires.
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:Commander of Deca-dence who has the responsibility of keeping the entertainment facility of Deca-dence operating effectively for the Solid Quake corporation.
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:A member of the Game Police who is always seen with Hugin.
;
:
:He is second in command of Deca-dence, reporting to Hugin. He is also an old friend of Kaburagi and defies the rules by keeping avatars in stasis after their chips have been removed.
;
:
:A "bug" which Kaburagi found six years ago and Natsume named Pipe because of its penchant to hold pieces of pipe in its mouth.
;
:
:A self-appointed boss of the bugs in the Bug Correction Facility. He was previously one of Kaburagi's colleagues when he was a warrior.
;
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:A female bug with high level technical skills.
;
:
:A bug Kaburagi meets at the Bug Correction Facility. While he is known to be cowardly and a pushover, he is capable of acquiring goods. He is known by the nickname "Sark".
;
:
:A bug who is Donatello's henchman. He was previously one of Kaburagi's colleagues when he was a warrior. Thanks to his cruel personality, he likes to pick on the weak.
;
:
:One of Kaburagi's colleagues when he was a warrior.
;
:A place deep below Deca-dence where bugs are sent instead of being scrapped for insubordination. Their de facto leader is a Donatello, and other inmates include Jill, Turkey, and Sarkozy.
;
:Beasts which often attack Deca-dence and have been given names such as: octhulhu, avispine, seldurum, spoonwormer, nemollis, burrn, darumoss, megaloain and the gigantic giland. Both the fortress city Deca-dence and the cyborg society under the control of the Solid Quake corporation utilize the liquid oxyone which flows through the Gadoll's veins as their power source.
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
''The Saga of Tanya the Evil'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese light novel series written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki. It began serialization online in 2010, on the user-generated novel publishing website Arcadia. ...
Hiroshi Seko
is a Japanese anime screenwriter. After serving as an episode screenwriter, he was given the role of head screenwriter for ''Seraph of the End''. Since then, he has done screenwriting for many other series, such as critically acclaimed titles ''A ...
, 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
cyborg
A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. The series was described as being a mash-up between '' Mortal Engines'' and ''
Attack on Titan
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It is set in a world where humanity is forced to live in cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to a ...
'' 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
is a Japanese web manga series written and illustrated by One. It was serialized on Shogakukan's ''Ura Sunday'' website from April 2012 to December 2017. It has been also available online on Shogakukan's mobile app ''MangaONE'' since Dece ...
'', 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.
The team decided to create new designs for the cyborgs instead of using skeletal or mechanical ones, and it was decided that said cyborgs would be hand drawn instead of being made with
3DCG
3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...
. The design lightly referenced
Doraemon
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. First serialized in 1969, the manga's chapters were collected in 45 volumes published by Shogakukan from 1974 to 1996. The story revolves around an earless robotic ...
, a robot from the future with a cute design. They also considered the cute, organic design as a mitigation to the violent atmosphere of the story. The designer of the cyborgs, Kiyotaka Oshiyama, had worked with NUT during the production of '' FLCL Alternative''. The staff found Oshiyama's design of
mecha
In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines, typically depicted as piloted, humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japan ...
s to be organic and soft, yet still clearly mecha-like, which suited ''Deca-Dence'', and therefore invited him to join the project.
The design of the cyborgs directly affected that of the Gadolls; while the team thought it was good to use ordinary designs, for example,
dragon
A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...
-like or
spider
Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...
-like monsters, Tachikawa was worried it would make the atmosphere of the story too violent. After Oshiyama's designs were finished, the team decided to make the Gadolls cuter but horrible because that is what those cyborgs would create. The designer of the Gadolls, Satoshi Matsūra, was invited by Tsunoki via the contact listed on Matsūra's
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
account after Tsunoki occasionally found Matsūra's character designs on the Internet and thought the style was suitable.
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
is a Japanese singer from Osaka Prefecture who is affiliated with Sony Music and Kadokawa. After winning the Animax All-Japan Anisong Grand Prix in 2011, she made her debut in 2012 with the release of her first single "Choir Jail", which peak ...
, while the ending theme song, , was performed by Kashitarō Itō.
Funimation
Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...
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
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
's acquisition of
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...
, the series was added to the streaming service. In Southeast Asia, Plus Media Networks Asia licensed the series, and broadcast it on Aniplus Asia.
Episodes
Reception
Christopher Farris of
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
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".