This rating on decadence Contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the chapter, we recommend that you do it and then go back to read the review.
Chapter 1: "Ignition"
decadence He begins his story with a mission where the young Natsume infiltrates to see her father's work abroad. Monsters called "Gadoll" attack her, her father dies and she loses an arm. Years later, she dreams of being a warrior abroad, but in her world and with her skills that is almost impossible. In a post-apocalyptic future, people survive in a fortress that drains energy from their enemies, the Gadoll monsters."". Life is divided into "gears" (warriors) and ""Tanker ”, to which Natsume belongs.
Finally, in his instruction, it is decided that he will be on the cleaning team, where he will meet his boss Kaburagi. In one of the tasks on the outer deck, you and other workers are shot by assault a ""Gadoll"" huge. However, Kaburagi shows extraordinary abilities, fights monsters and manages to save them.
Analysis: A pilot episode with surprises
When we know that the director of this new series is nothing more than nothing Yuzuru TachikawaOur expectations live up to the animation Mob psycho and Death parade (In particular, we thought about the screenplay for the last one and its surprising narrative). So the natural consequence is that we look at the first chapter with food cravings and a filter of very narrow quality.
In the first chapter there is no doubt that the studio has produced satisfactory animations, excellent drawings and character designs. However, the story seems to be a mix of two Crazy Max and Mortal engines with the recurring plus of post-apocalyptic errors.
I spent a few days debating internally, navigating between the great movement that integrates the fight scenes and the simple, overused plot. At intervals, short pictures of strange beings warned that there was something else. And I decided to wait, I bet on a double rating, I kept my fingers crossed.
After all, it was a wise decision. decadence I had reserved a real-time bomb for the next chapter.
Chapter 2: "Sprocket"
In this second installment of decadenceWe start with Kaburagi's vision and a more complex truth about the decade fortress is revealed. It is a game on the physical level for virtual intelligences that charge themselves with "Oxycone", the energy that they draw from the "Gadolls". Kaburagi was like a "gear" like the others, but an incident 3 years ago changed everything.
Mike, a member of his group, committed an illegal action by releasing his limiter to gain more strength and leaderboard points. However, he was quickly discovered and executed along with the rest of the team. Kaburagi was forced to infiltrate people ("tankers") in order to fix all the bugs he discovered.
In the present, Natsume spots him by removing a person's code, although Natsume interprets that he tried to steal it and encourages him. Kaburagi is moved when he discovers that Natsume is a system failure because he is on the dead list. Instead of removing her, he decides to help her train.
Analysis: the theater of life
Life is the game and the game is life, that is the basic premise of decadence. The first chapter dealt with Natsume's point of view and the second expanded the complexity of our views thanks to Kaburagi's optics. With such duality, the second episode was an earthquake, a turn that was worth it TachikawaAnd in short, a risky bet that cannot leave anyone indifferent.
The idea is really daring, the design of the virtual intelligences that affect the physical world is colorful and childish, but the action is blatant. Sometimes it is difficult to connect to such TamagochisBecause their suffering is real, but our brain connects them with pleasant stories. In the future, they have to convince the public to create a deeper catharsis that plunges us completely into the cruel limits of this rainbow reality.
On the other hand, man becomes the most insignificant part of the equipment, with an existence on the verge of extinction and limited to the desire of these artificial intelligences. All of this while being absolutely unaware of the fact. Isn't the concept great? In this story, we are the NPC characters of a game that play a leading role in virtual creatures typical of our games. It is an absolute turn.
Duality of the worlds
The connection between Natsume and Kaburagi is necessary, both have confronted the system that regulates and limits their freedom, and they have come to different opinions at their level. When Kaburagi gives up and decides to let himself die, the young Natsume vibrates with passion and energy. She is naive and pure, does not know the dark mechanisms of her world and is not ready to give up. The simplicity and kindness of his desires arouse emotions in Kaburagi, who wants to challenge and live his system. Two systems, two visions of reality and the same convergence.
It is an interesting relationship between apprentice and teacher, because in addition to the topics, it also offers identification between the two, the same conflict at different levels against the same enemy: the laws of their world.
Decadence after Kaburagi: an outline
Aware that the series is just beginning, the following lines are just a short line to clarify and underline the keys to Kaburagi's virtual universe. Given the party full of colors and cute eyes, the keys to his life quickly pass to us:
- The system that governs your world is based on eliminating errors. For them, the game is survival, society is profit or death.
- The story of Mike and his friends is a deep trauma that leads Kaburagi to leave life and commit suicide.
- Although it is difficult to create excitement in virtual form, we must remember that we are shown the scene of an execution.
Finally
decadence It has taken an original and risky turn. This double check is not intended to be exhaustive in analyzing all aspects, but is currently the most notable as we have 10 more chapters to draw conclusions from.
Together with the narrative concept, which has to fight against the viewer's mental stereotypes and connect them with the suffering of colorful beings, we find a very decent visual work. I recommend visiting the official website I refer to at the beginning on behalf of the series.
What other surprises await us? decadence?
