Dededede or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dystopia
Time for my first manga related post!
Quick note: My objective is not to give a full summary or review nor will I mention anything too important, but I will talk about the plot a bit. If you really want to check this out without knowing anything at all you may want to go read now!
In any case, I'd like to talk about what is currently one my favorite ongoing manga:
デッドデッドデーモンズデデデデデストラクション - Dead Dead Demons Dededededestruction by 浅野いにお - Asano Inio, of "Oyasumi Punpun" fame.
I won't bore you with too many details about the author that a quick and painless Google search could get for you, but I will say that his works tend to be centered on the characters and their interactions as opposed to action-based, and this is no different in Dededede.
The manga follows the standard formula one would expect of a slice of life: we get to see the story of a small group of cute high school girls living in Tokyo as they go through life worrying about what girls that age worry about: boys, having fun with their friends, getting into university, etc... with the slight difference that a huge alien spaceship is floating ominously over the city, very reminiscent of District 9.
Talking about District 9, while the imagery is similar (so much so that I wouldn't be surprised it was an inspiration) , the backstory is quite different. In the manga the aliens, appropriately referred to as "invaders", started an actual invasion of Earth. In contrast to most examples in the scifi genre though, the attack was quickly repelled by the JSDF and US forces, with many invaders hiding in abandoned parts of the city after their ships were shot down.
3 years later and Japan is still trying to find the best way to deal with/take advantage of both the invaders and their unintended political, technological, and economical consequences. That being said, most of the common people have gone back to living a relatively normal lifestyle; being more concerned about being late to appointments than by the military hunting down aliens in their neighborhood.
These 2 sides, a small personal one and a broad panorama, are one of the strong points of this manga: the two very different stories run parallel, mix, and contrast throughout it all in a surprisingly harmonious way. We get to know as much about the budding relationship between one of the main characters and her high school teacher as we do about the political controversy surrounding the re-militarization Japan is going through to face the invaders (officially the aliens... but also any potential humans ones). By the way, if that last sentence seems eerily reminiscent of current events, that's no coincidence. Like any decent scifi work, the issues in Dededede mirror those of our reality and this is just one example.
While it is very well done, the "big" side of the picture (given through talk shows, twitter posts, imageboards, etc...) does feel a bit like an info-dump at times. Even those are pretty interesting in their own right if you don't mind reading in my opinion, so I can't say I was bothered too much; but I do think some people would find it rather slow.
If the mix of perspectives is one of the strong points of this manga, another one would be the characters.
While the story starts by focusing on the two main characters ,Kadode and Ontan, and quickly includes their circle of friends; we get to know quite a few of different people with different opinions and ideas about the invaders. Reporters, soldiers, protesters,... and even some of the invaders themselves.
"Quality over quantity!" you might object, the good thing is that in this case we have both. Each character is very unique and has it's own idiosyncrasies, with all the faults that may entail. It's impossible not to care for the main characters and their stories are just as, if not more, gripping than the alien plot. At the same time, even if you don't sympathize with a character's position on some issue (and that's bound to happen, given all the political issues the plot revolves around), they are at least understandable and not treated as inherently "evil".
Together with the great characterization is the art. The backgrounds and inanimate objects are done in great detail, from panoramas to covers (as you've probably noticed from the panels I've posted); but where it really shines is once again with the people. While the style is consistent, the mangaka is not afraid to play with faces and body types. the result being that the models vary just as much as the personalities of the characters. It's not strange to see a girl with huge "anime" eyes in one panel and a middle-aged man with a more realistic face on the next. Another thing that I find refreshing is that these models don't necessarily reflect the character, so the "bad" guys don't look evil, nor is it true that all "good" guys look cute or nice.
This is already a bit longer than I expected, so I'll finish with the last thing that makes me like this manga quite a bit and that ties it all back together: the mix between hope and despair.
You may think that the title of this post is just alame clever reference to Dr.Strangelove, and it is indeed, but the title is actually not a bad synopsis for the manga. While never overtly scary or depressing, the background of the story does give a feeling of malaise. Pollution, militarization, genocide, media control, etc... are all present.
At the same time, the girls respond to this world in their own ways while continuing to enjoy their lives. Their interaction is really enjoyable, much more than the average slice of life (and I enjoy the slice of life genre in general so that's saying something), the humor and references are on point and I can't help but feel happy whenever they're happy.
Just like I care more about the characters with each volume, the feeling of dread also increases, and it is pretty clear by volume 3 that the story is not going to have happy ending, at least not in a conventional way.
Regardless, I really really want to see what happens next, and at the end of the day, that's probably how good manga/novels/shows should feel like, right?
Enough rambling for now! I hope you feel like checking it out after reading this, you won't be disappointed! Feel free to let me know what you think about it!
Quick note: My objective is not to give a full summary or review nor will I mention anything too important, but I will talk about the plot a bit. If you really want to check this out without knowing anything at all you may want to go read now!
In any case, I'd like to talk about what is currently one my favorite ongoing manga:
デッドデッドデーモンズデデデデデストラクション - Dead Dead Demons Dededededestruction by 浅野いにお - Asano Inio, of "Oyasumi Punpun" fame.
 |
| The covers of each chapter can get pretty imaginative, not going to spoil any really cool ones though. |
I won't bore you with too many details about the author that a quick and painless Google search could get for you, but I will say that his works tend to be centered on the characters and their interactions as opposed to action-based, and this is no different in Dededede.
The manga follows the standard formula one would expect of a slice of life: we get to see the story of a small group of cute high school girls living in Tokyo as they go through life worrying about what girls that age worry about: boys, having fun with their friends, getting into university, etc... with the slight difference that a huge alien spaceship is floating ominously over the city, very reminiscent of District 9.
Talking about District 9, while the imagery is similar (so much so that I wouldn't be surprised it was an inspiration) , the backstory is quite different. In the manga the aliens, appropriately referred to as "invaders", started an actual invasion of Earth. In contrast to most examples in the scifi genre though, the attack was quickly repelled by the JSDF and US forces, with many invaders hiding in abandoned parts of the city after their ships were shot down.
3 years later and Japan is still trying to find the best way to deal with/take advantage of both the invaders and their unintended political, technological, and economical consequences. That being said, most of the common people have gone back to living a relatively normal lifestyle; being more concerned about being late to appointments than by the military hunting down aliens in their neighborhood.
 |
| A slightly different take on your normal Tokyo skyline. |
These 2 sides, a small personal one and a broad panorama, are one of the strong points of this manga: the two very different stories run parallel, mix, and contrast throughout it all in a surprisingly harmonious way. We get to know as much about the budding relationship between one of the main characters and her high school teacher as we do about the political controversy surrounding the re-militarization Japan is going through to face the invaders (officially the aliens... but also any potential humans ones). By the way, if that last sentence seems eerily reminiscent of current events, that's no coincidence. Like any decent scifi work, the issues in Dededede mirror those of our reality and this is just one example.
While it is very well done, the "big" side of the picture (given through talk shows, twitter posts, imageboards, etc...) does feel a bit like an info-dump at times. Even those are pretty interesting in their own right if you don't mind reading in my opinion, so I can't say I was bothered too much; but I do think some people would find it rather slow.
 |
| Ontan and Kadode, looking cool |
If the mix of perspectives is one of the strong points of this manga, another one would be the characters.
While the story starts by focusing on the two main characters ,Kadode and Ontan, and quickly includes their circle of friends; we get to know quite a few of different people with different opinions and ideas about the invaders. Reporters, soldiers, protesters,... and even some of the invaders themselves.
"Quality over quantity!" you might object, the good thing is that in this case we have both. Each character is very unique and has it's own idiosyncrasies, with all the faults that may entail. It's impossible not to care for the main characters and their stories are just as, if not more, gripping than the alien plot. At the same time, even if you don't sympathize with a character's position on some issue (and that's bound to happen, given all the political issues the plot revolves around), they are at least understandable and not treated as inherently "evil".
Together with the great characterization is the art. The backgrounds and inanimate objects are done in great detail, from panoramas to covers (as you've probably noticed from the panels I've posted); but where it really shines is once again with the people. While the style is consistent, the mangaka is not afraid to play with faces and body types. the result being that the models vary just as much as the personalities of the characters. It's not strange to see a girl with huge "anime" eyes in one panel and a middle-aged man with a more realistic face on the next. Another thing that I find refreshing is that these models don't necessarily reflect the character, so the "bad" guys don't look evil, nor is it true that all "good" guys look cute or nice.
 |
| Ontan being Ontan. |
This is already a bit longer than I expected, so I'll finish with the last thing that makes me like this manga quite a bit and that ties it all back together: the mix between hope and despair.
You may think that the title of this post is just a
At the same time, the girls respond to this world in their own ways while continuing to enjoy their lives. Their interaction is really enjoyable, much more than the average slice of life (and I enjoy the slice of life genre in general so that's saying something), the humor and references are on point and I can't help but feel happy whenever they're happy.
Just like I care more about the characters with each volume, the feeling of dread also increases, and it is pretty clear by volume 3 that the story is not going to have happy ending, at least not in a conventional way.
Regardless, I really really want to see what happens next, and at the end of the day, that's probably how good manga/novels/shows should feel like, right?
 |
| My current デデデデ manga collection and t-shirt. |
Enough rambling for now! I hope you feel like checking it out after reading this, you won't be disappointed! Feel free to let me know what you think about it!
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