English Dub Review: Deca-Dence “Ignition”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Taking place in a non-specific post-apocalyptic shit-hole of a future where humanity was driven to the brink of extinction by the sudden emergence of unknown monstrosities known as the “Gadoll”. What’s now left of humanity has managed to survive by becoming the inhabitants of a 3000m-high mobile fortress known as the titular “Deca-dence” built to protect themselves from the oncoming Gadoll threat. Denizens of the titular Deca-Dence fortress are often hand-picked but fall into two job categories: Gears who are warriors who fight the Gadoll daily with high-tech weapons & land-vehicles, and Tankers, those without the skills to fight but do standard maintenance & upkeep such around the fortress such as armor repair, janitorial work, etc.


One day, a teenage orphan named Natsume, who’s been reduced to the status of “Tanker girl” dreams of becoming a Gear and meets her cynical & silent boss Kaburagi, an armor repairman of Deca-dence. However, she discovers that despite Kaburagi’s cynical nature, he has a gentle side and is breaking the rules by keeping what appears to be a small Gadoll creature about the size of a small dog as a pet which she names “Pipe”. One day while Kaburagi and Natsume are cleaning the exterior of the moving fortress city of Deca-dence, they come under attack by a horde of Gadoll, including a Whale-sized creature which is almost as big as the fortress itself. Natsume, Kaburagi, and two others of the team fall from their positions, but amidst the chaos, Kaburagi reveals another side of himself to Natsume in the face of danger…


Our Take

While the premise itself feels like a cross between Mad Max, Mortal Engines, Gurren Lagaan, and Attack on Titan with creature designs that feel somewhat reminiscent of the grotesque insect monsters from Starship Troopers. One of the other aspects I found interesting is that the green blood of these monsters is a primary fuel-source to their various weapons and vehicles with some feeling reminiscent of the “3d Maneuver Gear” weapons from Attack on Titan mixed with random land-based vehicles but for some reason, no planes or boats assuming this apocalyptic setting has any sort of oceans at all since there’s one scene when you learn that they still have rain and possibly thunderstorms.

The first episode introduces some of the main cast with Natsume and her classmates along with a flashback delving into Natsume’s backstory that I guess works as a decent jumping-on point to begin, but for an unexpected opening, it leaves quite a lasting impression in terms of what cemented her personality, especially since these are moments that further shaped Natsume’s as a character. Such as losing both her father and her right-arm at a young age which cost her the registration to become a soldier. Being put on cleaning duty for five years, etc. And it’s all the more ironic & fitting that Natsume is voiced by Attack on Titan English dub regular, Trina Nishimura who voiced one of AoT’s more popular characters, Mikasa Ackerman, while Kaburagi is voiced by Gabe Kunda.

As a protagonist, Natsume has a very outspoken personality and it feels nice so far that she and Kaburagi have some character chemistry already although I kinda like Natsume a bit more. On the other hand, I have a feeling that we the audience are quite surprised to see another side to Kaburagi near the episode’s end and leaves me curious to see how the show plans to develop their relationship including a separate plot-thread where Kaburagi is seen removing something from a comatose man in a dark alley which also raises more questions than answers. And finally, both the music and the animation at the big action scene to end this premiere was certainly a visual spectacle with the animation being so fluid especially in the end an intricately detailed transformation scene involving the fortress, but that’s to be expected of the animation team known as “NUT” who have also done stuff for The Saga of Tanya the Evil and FLCL: Alternative.

Overall this was a fine start, but looking forward to more of its world-building. I think it has the potential to become worthwhile, but that also remains to be seen in future episodes.