Deca-Dence (Episode 7) – Driveshaft

Decadence Title

Kaburagi has logged back into Deca-Dence with a new Avatar and arrives just as a new quest begins. There’s a hole in the side of Deca-Dence and the Gadoll are coming inside!

What happened?

The Gadoll are trying to get inside, but with the Gears fighting outside and the Power is holding the opening. Well, they were until a Gadoll with the power to emit high-voltage electricity cuts a path through. With several Gadoll flying around the inside of Deca-Dence, Kaburagi leaps into action taking down a large one, but another slips past him and is headed towards the fleeing Tankers. It looks like all is lost, but Natsume swoops in and brings it down with one hit.

After the battle is over, they get to work on coming up with a plan to fix the hole, but it’s huge and everyone is terrified that the Gadoll will attack again. Natsume isn’t about to give up hope though and hurries around the Tankers asking for help. All are too afraid or more concerned about protecting what they have. However, it would appear that Natsume got through to some of them and work begins.

Kaburagi, meanwhile, met with Minato and asked if he was the reason that he wasn’t dead. He was, but he also asks that Kaburagi doesn’t cause any more trouble or he might not be able to help him. Kaburagi approaches Natsume and tells her that he knew Kaburagi (he’s in a different Avatar, although it looks like Natsume saw something. She confides in him how she’s afraid that she can’t change things and that if she gives up hope, she’ll give up everything. Kaburagi returns to the correction facility and proposes a plan to Donatello.

Decadence Episode 7 Natsume Takes Down a Gadoll inside Deca-Dence

What did you think?

And I’m back on board with Deca-Dence. It was dicey for a while there. As I watched the first half of the episode, I couldn’t help but wonder how much more of a sucker punch it would have been to find out that there was nothing they could do and the entire premise was manufactured as a game after the fact. Obviously, Natsume and the Tanker don’t know, but we do. The thing that made up for it was watching Kaburagi struggling with the knowledge he has and how it enraged him to see Natsume so broken. If it were me, I would have liked to create this as two separate stories. One focused on Natsume and the struggle to survive and then another focused on Kaburagi as he sees the real world and struggles with what’s going on.

Decadence Episode 7 Natsume Trying to Rally the Tankers

What have you learnt?

From my last comment, I think I’m starting to understand my frustrations with this series, beyond the animation of the cyborgs. It’s actually two very different stories with two protagonists that they’ve tried to blend together. Separately, they would both be enjoyable. Having them back to back with the second story revealing all about the first story would be incredible and make rewatching the first half alongside the second half a must. As it is, I feel like it is trying to do too much and as a result, loses a lot of the impact in both. That said, this was possibly my favourite episode. I’m looking forward to seeing how it continues.

Decadence Episode 7 Kaburagi has had Enough

Other reviews in the series

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Deca-Dence Blu-ray – $48.74

from: Right Stuf, Inc.

6 Comments

  1. Same, I’m quite keen to see the next move the show makes.

    (I’m still feeling a little cut adrift re: what’s really going on with the cyborgs, but my curiosity outweighs the potential for confusion right now.)

    • Agreed, I still think we have a big twist coming… That’s right, another one!

    • I’m leaning towards a game within a game and the cyborgs are humans and the humans are AI…

  2. ” It’s actually two very different stories with two protagonists that they’ve tried to blend together.”

    Agreed pretty much with this entire paragraph. Separately, they’re great… Together, oil and water. Makes a great vinaigrette, but you have to work at it. And it doesn’t take much for it to all fall apart.

    • Thanks. It’s been bugging me why this series isn’t completely gelling with me and I think this is it.

      I feel like if they’d spent the first four episodes with Natsume and really got us believing in the world and then dropped the bomb on us in episode 5, we could have followed Kaburagi for another four episodes as the world is revealed and then had the two stories coming together once we were invested in both. I feel like I want to care, but it’s just not making me.

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