Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction

*Mostly spoiler-free review, spoiler section marked below* Trying to write a coherent review of an Asano piece is a monumental task, but considering Asano himself is able to consistently deliver compelling work after compelling work, all while separating himself from the formulas that brought him success in the past, I figured I’d at least give it a try. Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction (DDDD for short) can be a hysterical dystopian slice-of-life, an all-out sci-fi world war, a defamation case against our superficial society, or perhaps the most modern and pertinent sociopolitical commentary of our time, but to me, it’s just a fun, simple reminder of thingsthat matter. If you never read Asano’s books before, you might be taken aback by the incredibly genuine dialogue, unfiltered humor, or even just the impossibly detailed background art. There’re probably just as many brushstrokes on each page than there are pixels on your screen. Flip through a landscape or two and see for yourself. But instead of dropping your jaw at each exquisite illustration and passing it off as substanceless detail, I implore you to look past just the art and take a chance at understanding Asano’s deeper ideas, as wordy as they may be. The funny thing is, you can probably get away with skipping 75% of the text, specifically all of the news talk and political pseudo-speech. Not to say that it’s not important to the story, but you really only need to read the headlines to know what’s going on. Anything beyond that becomes drastically diminishing returns in terms of useful information, much like in real life (a comparison that applies to many other ideas in this story as well). At the same time, there are certain conversations which have such heavy implications yet have such subtle delivery that it’ll take a revisit or two to really understand. If that sounds like something that interests you, then please, be my guest. On one hand, you could be more entertained by tuning out all the outside noise and relegating everything to “cute girls doing cute things”. On the other hand, the fact that you wouldn’t be able to even if you tried is what makes DDDD such a unique experience. Whether it be the overbearing news headlines, Asano’s doomsaying scenery, the, not-so-subtle foreshadowing (X DAYS UNTIL ___________________), or the convoluted character writing which has you wondering how the hell they became the people they are, the story of the world told between the lines drives the narrative and its glaring contrast with the apparent story of the characters pulls you in for more. However, if you have read Asano’s books before, like myself, you can probably go in expecting his signature style of “deep fiction” and still be impressed because, despite the complicated description of his style I made above, one of the first things you’ll notice is “Hey, it’s not as heavy as I thought it would be.” Compared to his other works (Solanin, Punpun, etc.), DDDD turns out to be quite the easy pill to swallow, and I’d say that’s mostly due to the fact that the minimal humorous jabs he’s included previously has been replaced with the very upfront satire against everything superficial in this world (AKA anything that comes out of Ontan’s mouth). I mean, the inclusion of “Isobeyan”, a weekly manga strip within a manga, in the beginning and throughout makes a slight against the average, terrible-yet-not-completely worthless and mildly entertaining media that saturates today’s market, and if that doesn’t explain how meta you have to be to understand Asano’s sense of irony, I don’t know what will. The comedy will definitely throw you for a loop, especially at the beginning, and it’ll take you a while to figure out what the story’s actually about but once you get into the meat of things, you’ll find that it evolves into a pretty hard book to put down. *BEGINNING OF SPOILER SECTION* I’m not gonna pretend I understood everything DDDD was about. I’d even go as far as to say that trying to understand absolutely everything Asano was trying to say is a completely futile task. But at least *some* of his themes got through to me, enough of which I was able to internalize, feel, and form my own ideas with. There’s realist/pessimistic romantic drama (historically one of Asano’s strong suits) reflected through short yet dense side character mini’s (Watarase/Sumaru, Kiho/Kohiruimaki, Ai/Monica, etc.). There are political agendas tinged with conspiracy and corruption, where, although fictional, is explored on such a worldly scale that it feels nearly impossible Asano was able to accumulate so many points of views from his home in Japan. There’s socially-driven xenophobia fueled by economic interests, and the fact that the cause and effect of A-rays are never clearly explained should tell you a lot. There’s conflict on the very thin line between centrist-progressivism and radical progressivism, where I wish I could step back, ignore, and roast the masses with a vocabulary as articulate as Ontan’s, but instead find myself in Futaba’s shoes believing in independent thinking, noble and self-righteous up until the very moment it actually matters. There are so many themes that I can try to list, but ultimately, there’s no better place to hear them than from Asano’s own pages. On top of all of that is Ontan’s, Kadode’s, Hiroshi’s, Ooba’s, and Asano’s own argument that none of it actually matters, and despite the turbulence of the ever changing, politically and economically-driven society we live in, we’re better off choosing to focus on what’s in front of us, because there’s only so much of it that’s in our control. Sure, you could say it’s naive to oversimplify things to “absolutes” like the characters do, but in the end it’s up to you to decide who’s actually happier and who you’d rather be like. The validity of the argument is constantly up for debate. I, for one, had doubts on the believability of each character’s path. For example, there was a turning point in chapter 64 where a demon takes the autism pill and a pen-shaped AK-47 falls from the sky, greatly exaggerating a point that’s already been made while also becoming the basis of the entire plot. However upon rereading, I actually appreciate the intervention of the pill because it made Kadode’s personality even less contrived than it could’ve been if she’d developed her disturbing worldview “naturally”, regardless of the bullying, domestic tension, and blind devotion to her friend. But of course, I went full circle and thought “Wait, how much of that even matters.” I mean Asano literally resets his entire universe twice, the first time for a little girl trying to save her friend and the second for a manga artist trying to look out for his daughter yet doing nothing more than speaking to her nicely a few more times, which in my opinion, is a really self-deprecating thing to do, but hey, Asano’s the manga artist, not me. Some would say that’s a bit of an anti-climactic conclusion, but again, let’s try to wrap our heads around what “actually matters” here. In some universes, Ontan is friends with Kadode. In others, they’re not friends. And in some, the earth is destroyed. You can decide for yourself which one you’d rather be in, but I think the smiles on their faces tells which one Asano would prefer. *END OF SPOILER SECTION* Asano really outdid himself this time, writing my personal favorite manga to date, and that’s not to take away from any of his other works or manga in general. It’s just that when you read something so modern and relevant to our generation, it’s hard not to make comparisons between a fictional world and our own and constantly form ideas that challenge the status quo. The story is an argument and a counter-argument in it of itself, endlessly touching upon complex themes, while at the same time, remains delightful and enjoyable. “No matter what anyone says, your life is yours alone.” Thanks for reading to the end. I realize that this review might come off as a bit of a roller coaster, but maybe it reflected my experience reading this book.

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction is such a bizzarre manga, so bizzarre that I’m willing to say that no manga in existence is even remotely any similar to whatever this was about. I’m going to be brutally honest here, DeDeDeDe is not for everyone. It’s a very slow paced slice of life with some hints here and there of an underlying plot. Does the author deliver it in the most meaningful and excellent way? Yes, of course. We are talking about Asano after all, he knows what he’s doing and knows how to make use of every single little thing the story presents to us. Butis it hard to keep reading until the turning point of the manga and finally reach the real plot? Also yes. I’m not talking personally, as I have enjoyed it since the first chapter, but I acknowledge that a slow paced dialogue-heavy slice of life isn’t something easy to go through, especially with an unusual kind of comedy. Do I still recommend it? Yes, everyone should give it a try nonetheless. It’s a must read in both the slice of life and sci-fi genres. Just one thing, don’t go in expecting another Punpun type of story, this manga is not about depression and wrong choices in life, but on the contrary it is about learning to cope with the sometimes sad reality. Otherwise known as DeDeDeDe (or even better, DDDD to make it even shorter), takes place during a particular time in life of a group of girls— the aliens have invaded the earth. But not quite the way you might perceive it or how Hollywood’s productions made it look like most of the time. In this story, the huge aliens’ mothership floats right above everyone’s head. If you think it’s gonna be an all-out fight between humans against aliens, I’m glad to tell you are wrong. Asano takes an interesting and perhaps even realistic approach to an alien invasion. The girls keep being girls, trying to live their lives to fullest while having to deal with heartbreaks, studying but also enjoying their adolescence doing whatever they want. It’s a story about the everyday’s life of these girls, while struggling to cope with the way their reality suddenly changed one day and could do nothing about it. I mean, what are you even supposed to do with aliens coming from a civilization thousands of years ahead in technology? Everyone in their own way tries to accomodate to the new lifestyle, and I promise you, it’s gonna be an interesting journey. It’s like mixing genres that has got nothing to do with each other and yet flow into each other so well. Let’s talk about the characters first. Every single character is perfect for this manga. We have gag characters, politicians (which are made fun of in the most satirical way), idols, NEETs, rebels, activists, aliens, mangakas and three masterfully crafted and written main characters— Ouran, Kadode and Ooba. Kadode is the first character you meet in the manga. She struggles with two things, love and family. A teenager having to deal with struggles typical of a teenager. She wants control over her life and emotions but just doesn’t seem to ever happen. It’s not about the aliens, her life is just about her struggles. To comfort her, we have her childhood’s friend Ouran. Ouran is a seemingly happy-go-lucky character which copes to the aliens’ invasion by making absurd internet jokes, and she always deliver them in the most weird way. She’s personally the “life” of the story, without her, DeDeDeDe wouldn’t have been the same. Lastly we have Ooba. Ooba is an idol, or maybe an alien, or perhaps both? Who knows, “lol”. He’s the most absurd character in the story, and is also the one I appreciated the most. I recognize he was not an easy character to write considering who he is. But did the author know how to deal with his character? Absolutely. He wants to learn about everything and everyone around him. Can’t say much about him cause there’s nothing to say. Or maybe there is? Who knows, “lol”. Of course there are many other characters in the group, and each one of them had an interesting development. Do I wish we expanded more on the group? Yes. Although the only possible way would have been to stretch the story out some more, but unfortunately the manga is relatively short, so there wasn’t much time. Do I even have to praise Asano’s art. It’s mesmerizing, aggressively detailed, stylistic, complex, deep and realistically beautiful the art in this manga. From the photo-realistic backgrounds to the weirdly designed side characters. It’s like mixing the unrealistic with the realistic. It’s not surprising how well everyone still fits in the picture despite being so absurdly designed considering Asano’s other big serialization— Oyasumi Punpun. I believed he had already mastered the complexity of mixing absurd with reality with Punpun, and he probably did, but with Dededede it’s obvious the growth as an artist since his previous work. I have really not much to say, I’ll be honest. The manga’s art speaks for itself and gives life to the world, characters, humour and everything. Now, get out of your bed, take your car, ask a friend or two to come with you and start driving. It’s not important where, just keep driving wherever you feel like to go. Go visit places you’ve never been to, cities you’ve never seen and take roads with some beautiful sights when looking at the window. Can you feel some excitement? I do. This is pretty much what Dededede feels like to me. Impossible to predict because you never know what could happen next. This is where the enjoyment from this manga comes from— the unknown. Of course, there are some aspects of this “unexpected” that at first could come off as nonsense, which is understandable, the second half of the manga is pretty much a whole different thing from the first fifty chapters, but fear not, the author knows how to handle even what at first makes no sense. Again, it’s not an easy manga to enjoy. The whole lot of dialogue a lot of times can turn you off, but don’t worry, a lot of it is skippable. You could decide to read half of what they say and still able to understand almost everything. And that’s what I did a lot of times, specifically when the politicians spoke. Overall Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction is a manga that mixes absurd with reality while delivering one of the best slice of life ever in a very exceptional way. Everything this manga does is an achievement for most story writers. It’s a memorable journey from start to finish, which again I recommend to everyone willing to read a slow paced story out of the ordinary with charismatic characters, sudden turns of events, shocking reveals, heartwrenching moments, internet comedy, heavy tension and of course, with an amazing group of characters. It’s a story that by all means shouldn’t make sense, and yet it does. Read this manga when you have time. For any weird phrasing order or grammar mistakes, I apologize in advance as I’m not a native speaker.

Wacky title aside. Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction is one of the most incredible manga stories I've ever read. It's a bit weird and it's a bit unconventional, but follow it and it will definitely be worth it. For me, this was my first Inio Asano manga so I had no specific expectations from the get go, but now I really get why this man's works are so lauded. This was a masterpiece of writing that deserves to be experienced! Firstly, let's just talk about the art for a minute. It's not really anything to write home about in my opinion. Some of the character designsare pretty wacky and there are some digitized backgrounds that may take you out of it a bit. But, the art is at least nice and clear so it's very easy to follow what's happening, the emotions of the characters are very well represented and the backgrounds are used to great effect to give a clear sense of location. The greatest strength of Asano-sensei's art isn't in the drawings themselves however, it's in everything around them - composition, structure and page flow. I don't really know how else to put it, but there is something oddly...cinematic about this manga. The way the panels are framed, the way they flow between each other, the way the characters are posed and the way the different moments are depicted, it just makes for this very engaging experience that truly feels alive and almost animated as you read it. It's like the greatest strengths of film were successfully translated onto a page, while also using the greatest strengths of the manga medium itself. This really shows that any wacky art is a deliberate stylistic choice, for clearly Asano-sensei is an incredible mangaka that has exceptional mastery of his craft. What enhances the natural flow of the pages is also just the way the dialogue is written. This is another thing difficult to quantify, but I feel that DDDD has some of the most natural sounding and well flowing dialogue out of any manga. The conversations flow like they would in a real situation and this grounds the experience in fantastic believability. This is not an action series, so the dialogue is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Thankfully, the lifting is done masterfully as both exposition, character motivation, emotion gravitas and deep subtext are woven together in such a way, that you don't even notice how much is said without being overly verbose. This well-written dialogue in conjunction with the cinematic visuals makes for a very easy and engaging read, that is paced perfectly and will hold your attention from beginning to end. However, let's get into the meat and potatoes here. Inio Asano's greatest strength is clearly his writing and this is the true star of DDDD. Making a mostly slice-of-life manga with minor sci-fi elements and using it to tell a deep and philosophical story touching on many complex topics like war, the military-industrial complex, clandestine politics, freedom of speech and much more is no easy feat. And whenever writers try and integrate philosophy into a story, it can be hit or miss as the danger of becoming pretentious, pandering or just downright boring is quite significant. However DDDD is none of those things and its philosophical commentary on various human aspects is woven masterfully into a thoroughly engaging tale about some very real feeling people. There is also the absolutely perfect pinch of humour added in to season this phenomenal dish just right! For me personally, this is far from the typical story I would go to. However, it's so well written, that I was able to engage with something different from my usual tastes. The sci-fi elements are a great addition and they helped make this experience that much more intriguing. But I asked myself - would I still enjoy DDDD if these elements weren't present? Well, I can confidently say, yes, yes I would. The main reason is the masterfully written characters, all of which are profound, multilayered and believable. Each one isn't just a plot device or an extra that is there to fill space. They all feel like real people that you can understand. I hate using this word but I feel that it's appropriate here - relatable. These characters are just trying to go through life and make ends meet in a world that is hostile to them. They face issues that we can all understand and empathize with and while we may not agree with their decisions, we understand why they did what they did. Each character is a full experience and a unique commentary on what it is to be human. On their own, they are amazing already, but through some absolutely stellar chemistry, we get some of the most enjoyable and genuine character interactions ever. Friendship, love, hate, fear, anger, joy, despair - all of these feelings are truly palpable. In conclusion, DDDD is unconventional in many ways, but experience it to the end and you will be greeted with a phenomenal, multilayered story that weaves its plot threads, subtext and philosophical commentary in a masterful manner. The way that all elements remained relevant, literally every panel and every line of dialogue was a carefully chosen building block for this interwoven masterpiece. And all of it told in a fun and engaging visual language that is unlike anything else put to paper. By the end, even the bizarre title makes sense and you deeply understand the layered reasons why it was chosen. Inio Asano truly is a brilliant writer and an amazing mangaka and this helped me realize this. Perhaps now, I will be emotionally ready for Punpun too. In the meantime, do yourself a favour and read Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction. A lot of fascinating things are in here and they deserve to be experienced. For this, I am absolute!

Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction is not about aliens, it's about love! This is probably the most significant piece of popular fiction of the century that not enough people are talking about, one which recquires an attentive reader but pays off exponentially. To understand Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction, one must put it in context with the rest of Asano's works and see the theme that has persisted throughout his career. Asano's obsession is the fundamental division between the individual and the collective. This division manifests itself via anxiety about conforming to societal expectations; his most emblematic character, Punpun, is so idealistic about his dreams thathe percieves his life as a responsible adult as "the life of a ghost... who's pushed around by the wind": such a gloomy worldview! This constant enemy of individuality, dreams and freedom is dubbed "The World" by Asano's characters: in Ozanari-kun (one of his most underrated works) we see one of the protagonists fantasize about taking revenge on everyone in the world; Punpun wishes that "a meteorite or a comet hit the earth", he wants to "disappear from everyone's memories" and the love of his life says "everyone can drop dead for all I care"; in Nijigahara Holograph a boy carries around a box that will destroy the world after being opened and he doesn't doubt opening it. But the destruction (hey! one of the nouns in this manga's title!) of The World can be a more symbolic deed achieved through transgression, that is, the active pursuit of the "forbidden"; we can destroy The World by breaking the rules. In Solanin a bunch of twenty somethings destroy their comfortable lives by giving up on their normal jobs after deciding to revive their teenage passion for music; A Girl by the Sea show us a couple of teenagers destroy their own sense of identity and figuratively escape The World by engaging in sex. But all of these examples show us the sentiment that The World (filled with pragmatism, history, context, necessity) and the individual (filled with ideals, detatched and free) cannot be reconciled: entering The World means to lose oneself and those who cannot accept The World as it is and as it recquires them to be more often than not commit suicide. Is Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction another chapter in this pessimistic Asano worldview? My thesis is that it is not; I possit that Asano finally offers a way to overcome this fundamental opposition between the individual and the world and which does not destroy either of them. Kadode and Ouran, two best friends, are our protagonists, they're at the threshold of adulthood, graduating highschool. The World of adulthood they're about to enter is mentally overwhelming. A seemingly unsolvable problem hangs over everyone's heads and the sentiment that the state of affairs will only worsen is ubiquitous. Kadode and Ouran are so devoted to each other that at times their friendship seems just enough to put the nausea of the real world aside for a moment (even if at times this can look like indolence); nonetheless The World enters their lives forcefully in one way or another: at best they have to listen to politics obssessed nutjobs and at worst, they lose loved ones. Surpringsingly, for an Asano manga, we are shown how The World operates: that unmovable source of anguish (and of crumbs joy) is the chaotic amalgamation of the selfish interests of politicians, of the shortsightedness of capitalisitic industrialists and and of the neurotic passions of the masses. Kadode and Ouran appear static in their personalities and don't seem to approach the complexity of the World seriously so the author shows us how and why other, secondary characters take a stance and choose their own path in life (a lot of them undesirable and product of fear). But on the second part of the manga we are actually revealed the reason of Kadode and Ouran's indifference about anything that's not their friendship: one of them has chosen (yes, chosen) to love the other despite everything, despite The World. That is, for me, the most beautiful thought Inio Asano has ever given us. The love Kadode and Ouran have for each other is not erotic but platonic; their desire to be together is not a result of the fleeting desires of the body that may or may not be there. Their love stems from a genuine desire of seeing the other as happy as possible, to put a smile on their faces. Like this, Kadode and Ouran can actually enter the World of adulthood and cope with its complexities without giving up their sense of self: they now have a stake in the World , a real reason to participate in the game: each other. So far I have spoken almost exclusively about Kadode and Ouran's character arcs, but the list of significant characters in here is enormous and covering all of them would be silly. It's clear, though, that Kadode and Ouran are the key to descipher Asano's ideas on the more abstract themes in this particular manga: technology, social isolation, fundamentalism and the geopolitics which permeate the work are examined through the notion of "I don't need power, I need a friend".