©Ino Asano/Shogakukan/DeDeDeDe Committee
While the relationship between Kakuzu and Ouran is the heart and soul of the show, I still enjoyed these episodes even without them. It’s important to keep an eye on the bigger events happening in the world from time to time – events that Kadode and Ouran have no way of knowing. Even better, we have these events presented to us through a mix of story types.
On the one hand, we get personal, one-off stories, like stories about journalists. Through it, we not only learn about the people still living in the abandoned area (and their interactions with aliens), but we also gain a strong moral about social networks and relationships.
Journalists care more about people online than in real life—using the latter to have sex and nothing else. However, because of this, when she was in a life-or-death situation, her real-life contacts didn’t even bother to answer her calls, and her posts on SNS either went unanswered (or failed to upload). What’s even more ironic is that she’s in a life-or-death situation because of her relationship with a real-world person – she’s in danger because she sees herself in another woman. It’s heartbreaking, but the message is clear: cultivate real-world relationships rather than online ones, or you won’t have anyone to help you when you need it most.
Then, in another vignette, we see how things unfold from the top. The totally un-Trump president not only secretly planted a backdoor in Japan’s network infrastructure, but also in a network of laser gun/AI-controlled walking tanks. Unfortunately for the United States, the Japanese government (except for the incompetent Prime Minister) knew this was coming and was ready to abandon Tokyo. Meanwhile, the SES director hands over sole control of the artificial intelligence to his secretary/lover Hikari, so the backdoor is pointless. So when US agents came to kidnap her they were wiped out by Kenichi who then immediately used her to kill 5000 aliens Mechadrones and space lasers. So now the most destructive force in the world is in the hands of an immature teenager with a God complex and a murderous maniac.
Speaking of aliens, they also seem to be victims of the government. The overloading of the mothership’s reactors was planned – so the alien civilians on board were nothing more than a distraction. What the alien leaders hope to gain by destroying their ship, their people, and… well, Tokyo (if not all of human civilization) remains a mystery.
So in the end, this episode is all about showing us how crazy things get out of hand. As Cardo and Ouran hang out on the beach with their friends, the fate of the world hangs on a knife-edge, and those in control seem destined to bring everything around them to collapse.
grade:
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededed Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
