Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Deca-Dence
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1386 |
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"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" (the Who, Won't get fooled again).
My first thought when Kaburagi met the Misato-voiced cube, with her story of eternal recurrence, was, "Oh, just like Neo meeting the Architect". Then Natsume finds that the path to true liberation lies through starting your own business. On the other hand, my first view of the post-collapse world was, Agrarian Utopia as entertainment might actually make sense in a Minecraft and Animal Crossing world. I did enjoy the whiplash among the Heybots from mourning and toasting Donatello's selfless heroism to realizing it just meant he gets logged out of the game. What will restored-from-backup Kaburagi think when he discovers his role in Jill and Minato's leveraged buyout of the Corporation? (I take it that Kaburagi's backup was on Jill's smartphone, lost in the desert for three years? Going back to check, there is a prominent scene of her smartphone spinning off in the aftermath of Donatello's attack on the Omega Gadoll.) |
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Sisyphusson66
Posts: 96 |
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I've agreed with your reviews so far Chris, but this one I am going to have to disagree with. There were no lofty ideals amongst the cast beyond being able to overcome their limits and live better lives. No one had any revolutionary ideals or plans, they just wanted to simply live. The changed the system, not in any sort of totality, but in mindset and equality. Yes the system itself doesn't seem to have changed, but the people behind it have, and the way it works now in a way that is mutually beneficial for the gears and the tankers. Society is one that is inching closer towards a society that allows for everyone to lead better lives at the hands of those who desperately want to make it happen. For that, I loved the ending.
The ending also has a lot of similarities with the ending of Monster's Inc. In both, the systems are similar to the ones before, but more beneficial to all parties; the system is now run by those whom we view as ethical and trust, those with a better vision; and both have beloved characters torn from one another reunited through the painstaking work of a one-eyed character. |
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Grimvice
Posts: 89 |
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THIS THOUGH!!!!! I loved this ending because I'm so sick of western works depicting systems as inherently evil, when the reality is that the system itself isn't, but the people working it may be. In the case of Deca-Dence, it was an inherently-flawed system because was designed by the AI with the primary goal of providing economic prosperity for the cyborgs, while prioritizing the survival of the human race second. But then when the system was forcefully challenged and destroyed, there was a quick and similar but inherently better system to replace it, one that may come with it's own drawbacks, but ultimately one that is beneficial to both the cyborgs and the humans |
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cheshire1501
Posts: 51 |
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I see the D&W mantra of "themes are for 8th grade reports" is more expanded than I thought I recomend to read the Reddit Q&A with Yuzuru Tachikawa and the video interview published a couple of weeks ago for more in depth view of Deca Dence and his other works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20HgRYq_nQQ |
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KaidoYuji8Shinji
Posts: 119 Location: Manchester, NH |
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I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought “...Misato??!” |
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alaskaslim
 Posts: 26 Location: The Land Up Over |
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Every single review I read of the show says its criticizing capitalism, with the reviewers cheering it on..
... But other than the environmental collapse which I waved off as a pretty route, boiler plate premise, I never once sensed this. It seems Deca-dence was more interested in power dynamics than simply the economic system. The robot society was cheap and gaudy in their presentation, evoking some e-commerce aesthetic I guess, but where is the capitalism? The robots aren't going off forming their own businesses (not until the end at least), and the system-cyborg makes no mention of money or profit or stakeholders being the thing she serves. Her service is to a vague idea of not letting the world collapse. Kind of an odd mission statement for a corporation to have. When you read the words of Hiromatsu Shu; the series designer's own description of what kind of dystopia this world is, his direct allusions are to Brave New World and 1984 -- neither of which typify "late stage capitalism". "When the privileged class rules in perpetuity without even touching any other world, that, to me, is dystopia" So if this was meant to be a scaving critique of capitalism and its excesses... it's pretty confused. But I don't think it is, given we see the characters act capitalistic at the end there. It's more like "let's have more mobility". |
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