English Dub Review: Deca Dence “Radiator”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

As a consequence for Kaburagi going against the programming’s wishes for him not to interfere with Solid Quake’s inescapable death bullshit, he’s sent to a bug correctional facility instead of being scrapped for insubordination. And it’s here when you see what happens to him and the other bugs as they’re tasked imprisoned in a massive site where they, literally, spend their time mining Gadoll shit. Not just that, but they’re based underneath a lake bed, where above them is a facility that creates Gadolls that players of Deca-Dence fight against which if you think about it, is a weirdly fucked-up cycle as that same feces is what the Gadoll also bleed out when you kill them and it’s reprocessed into energy for the Deca-Dence game itself. During the course of the plot that makes both Kaburagi and the other cyborg people the primary focus, he encounters a fellow inmate named “Sarkozy” who explains that there’s a slim chance for Kaburagi to get back to the surface to login to Deca-Dence.


At first, it predictably goes about as well as you’d expect that Kaburagi would just so happen to encounter an old player/ex-friend of his named “Donatello” who’s now the leader of a tough band of inmates who somehow have access. But much like the rest of the inmates, Kaburagi’s track record as a bug-decimating administrator isn’t winning him any favors within the Bug community. So to prove his worth, Donatello challenges Kaburagi to a Death Dive match above the rotating Gadoll shit-grinders for a chance to contact Natsume through the Deca-Dence link. It’s an interesting & suspenseful scene, and while the ending is somewhat predictable in these cliche “prison break” storylines. But the episode ends when Kaburagi is told that there’s a catch to be part of the game again, but regardless, he remains undeterred for the sake of Natsume…



Our Take

I think it was cool to get the cyborg side of the story in today’s episode. It’s a nice break from the battle and action of Deca-Dence and helps the audience learn what the “real” world is like within this show’s universe. Some really interesting side characters involved in this episode as well. The duel between Kaburagi and Donatello looked great. and excelled in terms of tension & suspense. During the proceedings of this episode, we also get a brief scene of Natsume & Kurenai cuddling with their tiny Gadoll pet named “Pipe” as they take this unknown reprieve away from the Gadoll attacks. I really hope they can both hold out for Kaburagi cause he really does want to get back.

Overall, Aside from explaining how Gadoll’s are created, I still had a good time while watching it. What’s easily the biggest plot-hole is how oddly convenient that Kaburagi’s old team just so happen to establish a whole set-up to log into Deca-Dence again without raising any sort of suspicion? I mean seriously! How can a group of rebels exist in a weirdly structured prison that somehow has a hidden room with internet access and not be detected?

Hopefully, they’ll answer this in a future episode.