English Dub Review: Deca Dence “Transmission”



As Kaburagi prepares to fight the Gadoll and Natsume follows him to rescue their Gadoll pet “Pipe”, she decides to put her new mechanical hand in action. The other gears join the battle. And I gotta say those combat sequences alone are thrilling in places and to be expected from the “NUT” animation team. But with every thrill, also comes drama searching for Kaburagi’s pet Gadoll “Pipe” is into mortal danger, and the true fear of being a Gear is shoved right in her face, with imminent death if not careful. Of course, taking Kaburagi’s mental & physical training to heart, she attempts to maintain composure and effectively jumps into battle against the Gadoll herself. and even goes a far as to help in taking down a giant rolling Gadoll that’s eventually but killed by a Gear legend that Natsume looks up to named “Kurenai” Who is also the leader of a small militia of Gears called the “Power”.

Impressed by Natsume’s skill, Kurenai invites her to join them and is especially impressed when she sees Kaburagi whom she sort-of has a history with. But with every good thing going on in Natsume’s life, it’s not without consequences as her friend Fei wants nothing to do with her, while at the same time this is going on, the titular fortress locates what’s possibly the last Gadoll nest which is found in an icy wasteland and shrouded in a fog created by a Gadoll they call “Alpha”.

As the Power prepares for an all-out assault, Natsume is placed under the care of the triplets, Mindy, Mundy, and Mendy, but due to a startling revelation within Solid Quake that Kaburagi becomes aware of that could put thousands of Gears in mortal danger, Kaburagi is advised not to become involved. But recognizing how much of a suicide mission this all seems, Kaburagi attempts to discourage Natsume partaking in it which goes about as well as you’d expect… It’s a heavily dramatic scene and ends on both an uplifting and foreboding note when Natsume makes a life-changing decision that will further define her character and the rest of the plot forward…



Our Take


This episode gave off both a very somber & suspenseful atmosphere and yet some inspiring vigor for Natsume at the same time. Which is sort of the case when Natsume wants to do more for her people in the face of adversity despite nobody but Kaburagi knowing that this point that this so-called Gadoll nest is just an unwinnable death trap for the Gears who blindly believe they’re gonna end the struggle once and for all. But in reality, it’s all a setup for disaster that’s meant to make the veteran virtual players look awesome by coming in to save the day? For a big-time company like Solid Quake that technically owns humanity and keeps it in a private habitat where they could potentially die for their own amusement. It kinda makes you wonder if the cyborg operators in charge of this game are either sadistic douche-monkey’s or are just as cold & unfeeling as the machines they made themselves for doing this without a second thought.

The drama also excelled in the second half as Kaburagi was actually so damn close to spilling what’s actually going on in that world. He sure has gotten very attached to Natsume to the point where he doesn’t want to see her face mortal danger. And given Natsume’s Track record of everyone telling her “No”, all her life ever since her father died, it must feel like the entire world was against her after she joined the powers, and Kaburagi trying to persuade her out of the next fight was more of a “wrong place wrong time” which ironically, only made things worse.

With the next episode, It’s easy to assume there will be lots of death and a potential tonal shift, but I’m still wondering when the Solid Quake rulers will figure out what Kaburagi is doing and how he’ll be able to save Natsume’s ass from certain death.