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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 Demon's Dededede Destruction] #3
Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction #3
Los tokiotas han adaptado su vida diaria a los platillos volantes que sobrevuelan la ciudad, sin preocuparse demasiado por los invasores… e ignorando si algunos ya están entre ellos.
160 pages, Paperback
First published August 28, 2015
27 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Inio Asano
112 books2,685 followersInio Asano (浅野いにお, Asano Inio) is a Japanese cartoonist. He is known for his character-driven stories and his detailed art-style, making him one of the most influential manga author of his generation.
Asano was born in 1980 and produced his first amateur comics as a teenager. His professional debut happened in 2000 in the pages of the magazine Big Comic Spirits. Since then, he has collaborated with most of the major Japanese magazines of seinen manga (comics for a mature audience). Among Asano's internationally acclaimed works are: the psychological horror Nijigahara Holograph (2003-2005); the drama Solanin (2005-2006); the existentialistic slice-of-life Goodnight Punpun (2007-2013); the erotic A Girl on the Shore (2009-2013); the sci-fi Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction (2014-2022).
Asano was born in 1980 and produced his first amateur comics as a teenager. His professional debut happened in 2000 in the pages of the magazine Big Comic Spirits. Since then, he has collaborated with most of the major Japanese magazines of seinen manga (comics for a mature audience). Among Asano's internationally acclaimed works are: the psychological horror Nijigahara Holograph (2003-2005); the drama Solanin (2005-2006); the existentialistic slice-of-life Goodnight Punpun (2007-2013); the erotic A Girl on the Shore (2009-2013); the sci-fi Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction (2014-2022).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
September 30, 2024
Who would have thought that a story about ordinary people living in Tokyo, while an alien mothership hovers above in a seemingly permanent stalemate, could be so captivating?
We still know very little about the invaders, and while they aren't the focus, their presence lingers. There are occasional clashes with Japan's defense forces, but details about these confrontations remain sparse.
A major event occurs at the beginning, though its significance hasn’t fully unfolded yet.
By the end, a fascinating encounter teases the true nature of the aliens, adding to the intrigue.
We still know very little about the invaders, and while they aren't the focus, their presence lingers. There are occasional clashes with Japan's defense forces, but details about these confrontations remain sparse.
A major event occurs at the beginning, though its significance hasn’t fully unfolded yet.
By the end, a fascinating encounter teases the true nature of the aliens, adding to the intrigue.
October 4, 2018
This volume begins and ends with a tragedy, and the final page leaves you with a bitter taste of an upcoming catastrophe. But everything in between is filled with precious, sincere, touching moments of friendship, support and kindness, it's almost a bizarre contrast that nevertheless feels organic. Dededede keeps being a series that is more about the emotion and the feeling, less about the plot and the story. It's wonderful and yet really sad, and I think it perfectly captures all the uncertainty and dread of being an 18-year-old on the cusp of adulthood, at least from how I personally experienced it. The hanging alien ship over Tokyo keeps being more a metaphor than anything concrete, and that only adds to the overall atmosphere of this series. In short, I still love DDDDD, though I am a bit scared of what will happen in the next volume.
August 6, 2019
That got dark.
January 20, 2022
This is even getting better in volume three, and I liked the first two. I said in my recent and (too fast) review of volume two that this series reminded me of the movie Don’t Look Up in that it is a dark satire about the human tendency to play ostrich-head-in-the-sand in the face of possible impending disaster. I still think that, but I think it’s more insightful and complex than that movie.
Hovering over Tokyo is an alien mothership, after more than 100,000 people were killed by the invasion three years ago., This volume came out in 2015, four years after the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, so he surely had this in mind, but you can pick your i pending disaster as a reference: Climate change, the pandemic. In this volume we see the Tokyo Olympics was delayed, but from the aliens, not Covid-19. Eerie, kida.
But I basically called it just dark satire as most people just go on with their lives, and the military ramps up to create a “military solution” to the aliens. It is that, but along the way we do get to care for the main characters as they try to go on with their lives in typical ways; They graduate from high school, they take exams for uni.They go on dates. And they try to figure how they can play a role in dealing with this existential threat.
One reason I like this better than the previous two volumes is that it begins and ends in tragedy; things force the young'uns to take The Real World more seriously.
I do not yet connect deeply with the characters here in a way I have done with his previous work, but I am warming up to them more and more as I see it is in part--in addition to that dark satire and social critique, about being 18, almost a full adult, coming-of-age in the face of an increasingly ominous future.
Hovering over Tokyo is an alien mothership, after more than 100,000 people were killed by the invasion three years ago., This volume came out in 2015, four years after the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, so he surely had this in mind, but you can pick your i pending disaster as a reference: Climate change, the pandemic. In this volume we see the Tokyo Olympics was delayed, but from the aliens, not Covid-19. Eerie, kida.
But I basically called it just dark satire as most people just go on with their lives, and the military ramps up to create a “military solution” to the aliens. It is that, but along the way we do get to care for the main characters as they try to go on with their lives in typical ways; They graduate from high school, they take exams for uni.They go on dates. And they try to figure how they can play a role in dealing with this existential threat.
One reason I like this better than the previous two volumes is that it begins and ends in tragedy; things force the young'uns to take The Real World more seriously.
I do not yet connect deeply with the characters here in a way I have done with his previous work, but I am warming up to them more and more as I see it is in part--in addition to that dark satire and social critique, about being 18, almost a full adult, coming-of-age in the face of an increasingly ominous future.
October 20, 2021
Dead Dead Demon continues to be a interesting ride as we finally deal with loss.
When one of the main character loses their life off screen we have these young group of friends trying to get through that. Ignoring it, playing jokes, screaming at each other, it's all raw and real emotions of dealing with losing someone close to you. We also deal with one of the friends going on a date, and get a glimpse into her life that's...well sad. Then we deal with graduation for the girls and a ending that is...well shit, it got me excited but also depressed a little. Sounds just about right for someone like Inio.
This series is a slow burn and much more about relationships and family and friends. I think the complicated nature of these characters and their emotions really help build this series. The "Dooming" ending is really interesting too and I wonder where we'll go from here.
A 4 out of 5.
When one of the main character loses their life off screen we have these young group of friends trying to get through that. Ignoring it, playing jokes, screaming at each other, it's all raw and real emotions of dealing with losing someone close to you. We also deal with one of the friends going on a date, and get a glimpse into her life that's...well sad. Then we deal with graduation for the girls and a ending that is...well shit, it got me excited but also depressed a little. Sounds just about right for someone like Inio.
This series is a slow burn and much more about relationships and family and friends. I think the complicated nature of these characters and their emotions really help build this series. The "Dooming" ending is really interesting too and I wonder where we'll go from here.
A 4 out of 5.
March 30, 2022
5 stars out of context.
September 22, 2023
“My head is constantly spinning over the future of the capitalist economy, so I burn calories like crazy!!!” - your average 18 yr old
March 7, 2019
The intelligent, sweet, humorous inflections of Asano's slice-of-life tendencies remain here, with even more depth added by the pre(?)-apocalyptic setting and its fluctuating influence on the protagonists lives. It serves as a potent analogue for our times, where frightening world-changing things happen around us all the time and they're so overwhelming we can't see how we're meant to interface with them, much less confront them. Much like when I read Punpun, I'm continually surprised by how much emotional intelligence is in Asano's work, and from angles you're never expecting, which is a big reason those moments end up being so powerful. While this series is far gentler than Punpun, it doesn't pull punches even as it soothes and uplifts. Very excited to see where the story goes from here, particularly the background political elements dealing with nationalism and militarism that sinisterly insinuate themselves into every aspect of the protagonists' lives in obvious (the news stories interspersed throughout the narrative) and less obvious (the multiplayer military video games they play) ways.
December 8, 2025
Ein Panel nach dem anderen... passiert nichts.
Pacing ist eine Kunst, aber dieser Manga ist ein Meditationskurs. Ich habe Seite für Seite und Kapitel für Kapitel durchgeblättert und gehofft, dass die Ouvertüre endlich in die Hauptmelodie übergeht.
Der Zeichenstil mag extravagant sein, aber die Handlung ist ein absolutes Vakuum. Die Charaktere reden, denken und existieren, aber der Plot bewegt sich nicht einmal einen Millimeter.
Vielleicht ist das der Versuch, subtile, langsame Spannung aufzubauen, aber im Moment fühlt es sich nur belanglos an. Man könnte es fast schon philosophisch nennen, wie konsequent hier die Handlung verweigert wird.
Pacing ist eine Kunst, aber dieser Manga ist ein Meditationskurs. Ich habe Seite für Seite und Kapitel für Kapitel durchgeblättert und gehofft, dass die Ouvertüre endlich in die Hauptmelodie übergeht.
Der Zeichenstil mag extravagant sein, aber die Handlung ist ein absolutes Vakuum. Die Charaktere reden, denken und existieren, aber der Plot bewegt sich nicht einmal einen Millimeter.
Vielleicht ist das der Versuch, subtile, langsame Spannung aufzubauen, aber im Moment fühlt es sich nur belanglos an. Man könnte es fast schon philosophisch nennen, wie konsequent hier die Handlung verweigert wird.
November 10, 2017
Es inevitable observar en esa nave alienígena colgando como Damocles sobre el cielo de Tokio la amenaza de los misiles de Korea del Norte, y en el rearme del país para hacerles frente el resurgir del nacionalismo. El contraste entre ese primer contacto sutil y la historia de colegialas al final del bachillerato progresa adecuadamente.
May 7, 2023
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 stars)
Volume 3 gets a bit more serious as the teens face actual devastation. It was a very sad one and without spoiling, the developments seem to be taking a turn towards the worst.
I also like how the mangaka has showed them dealing with the aftermath of the happenings and it was both sad and interesting to see the backstory of one of the minor characters.
Volume 3 gets a bit more serious as the teens face actual devastation. It was a very sad one and without spoiling, the developments seem to be taking a turn towards the worst.
I also like how the mangaka has showed them dealing with the aftermath of the happenings and it was both sad and interesting to see the backstory of one of the minor characters.
January 16, 2023
inio asano is among a handful of artists in any medium who’s art features or is informed by being terminally online yet is not embarrassing at all
October 22, 2023
começou a ficar triste rapido demais, n tava esperando
algumas coisas tem me incomodado, mas ainda sim adorando os personagens
e o FINAL
algumas coisas tem me incomodado, mas ainda sim adorando os personagens
e o FINAL
July 28, 2023
È un racconto molto corale, ma di grandi solitudini.
March 21, 2020
As manga commentators on Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Volume One noted, Asano hasn’t varied his formula much from Goodnight Punpun, with the exception that he’s stacking his preferred tropes early, and falling away from, rather than building towards, Armageddon.
Moreover, as he’s left the spiritualism more or less behind, this is a physical Armageddon, albeit an anticlimactic one. While people die—the heroes’ friend Kiho in this volume—Tokyo’s human melancholy absorbs the inhuman whine of the monolithic alien spaceships which may eclipse the heavens and occupy the future, but are obscured by the indulgent angst of our jaded anti-heroes.
My main problem with Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction is that, despite the alien invasion, there isn’t a single character with the depth or angst of Punpun, whose world was wrecked not by hovering spaceships, but by his unforgettable glimpse into a girl’s eyes. If one character in this manga saw the spaceships and had an internal crash that compared with the soul-wreckage that resulted from Punpun meeting Aiko, I might like it more.
Not that I don’t like it at all, just that my appreciation of it is entirely intellectual, unlike Punpun, which struck many registers of meaning, not just the intellectual, but such a deep emotional level that finishing a volume left me emotionally exhausted.
DDDDD characters pretty much exist on the surface level, not talking and thinking so much as posting, as if they weren’t manga characters, but twitter bots peeping their banal ideas while self-conscious of the limitations of space required by a word balloon or a tweet. Like the talking heads in a Socratic dialogue, there’s the sense that they’re neither fleshed-out characters, nor simple mouthpieces for the author to get on the soapbox of his choice, but a collaborative collective of voices, a render machine which Asano assembled to get at the answer of Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, not unlike the mice’s computer replica of Earth in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Except while we fall to the tedious alien bureaucracy’s bypass in Hitchhiker’s, in DDDDD, the aliens fall to our mind-numbing banality, as if they’ve been bored to death in their hovering saucers. Whether they meant well, like the benevolent overlords of Childhood’s End, or are stocking their larder for their cookbook To Serve Man, it now seems that when they parked their saucers, their brains idled as well.
Not that humanity’s smarts are on display either, with the soldiers stumbling like Keystone Cops through the slums abandoned to the aliens, and killing by their scaredy-catlike reflexes what appears to be either childlike aliens or alien preschoolers. That said, they may very well be humanity’s best and brightest, with our heroes flunking their entrance exams and toying with their hots for teacher, and the human race setting their eyes not on the extraterrestrial war in Tokyo, but on their upcoming bid for the Olympic Games.
While I’ve waxed eloquent on Asano’s art, I don’t mind stopping once again to admire one of the most realistic comic artists currently working, who nonetheless possesses a sense for the Kirbyesque, in that he sees the comedy in raw power, the splendour and vitality of the mundane, the magnificence of ugliness, and the magic of scene.
While Asano’s pages crackle with energy whether they depict spaceships or humans, and while the panels track effortlessly between the real and the surreal, I’ll have to say that I’m enjoying his slant on science fiction material, and looking forward to an extended sequence from the alien point of view. That said, I would like it a little more if the story could impact just one character as hard as Aiko did Punpun.
Moreover, as he’s left the spiritualism more or less behind, this is a physical Armageddon, albeit an anticlimactic one. While people die—the heroes’ friend Kiho in this volume—Tokyo’s human melancholy absorbs the inhuman whine of the monolithic alien spaceships which may eclipse the heavens and occupy the future, but are obscured by the indulgent angst of our jaded anti-heroes.
My main problem with Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction is that, despite the alien invasion, there isn’t a single character with the depth or angst of Punpun, whose world was wrecked not by hovering spaceships, but by his unforgettable glimpse into a girl’s eyes. If one character in this manga saw the spaceships and had an internal crash that compared with the soul-wreckage that resulted from Punpun meeting Aiko, I might like it more.
Not that I don’t like it at all, just that my appreciation of it is entirely intellectual, unlike Punpun, which struck many registers of meaning, not just the intellectual, but such a deep emotional level that finishing a volume left me emotionally exhausted.
DDDDD characters pretty much exist on the surface level, not talking and thinking so much as posting, as if they weren’t manga characters, but twitter bots peeping their banal ideas while self-conscious of the limitations of space required by a word balloon or a tweet. Like the talking heads in a Socratic dialogue, there’s the sense that they’re neither fleshed-out characters, nor simple mouthpieces for the author to get on the soapbox of his choice, but a collaborative collective of voices, a render machine which Asano assembled to get at the answer of Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, not unlike the mice’s computer replica of Earth in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Except while we fall to the tedious alien bureaucracy’s bypass in Hitchhiker’s, in DDDDD, the aliens fall to our mind-numbing banality, as if they’ve been bored to death in their hovering saucers. Whether they meant well, like the benevolent overlords of Childhood’s End, or are stocking their larder for their cookbook To Serve Man, it now seems that when they parked their saucers, their brains idled as well.
Not that humanity’s smarts are on display either, with the soldiers stumbling like Keystone Cops through the slums abandoned to the aliens, and killing by their scaredy-catlike reflexes what appears to be either childlike aliens or alien preschoolers. That said, they may very well be humanity’s best and brightest, with our heroes flunking their entrance exams and toying with their hots for teacher, and the human race setting their eyes not on the extraterrestrial war in Tokyo, but on their upcoming bid for the Olympic Games.
While I’ve waxed eloquent on Asano’s art, I don’t mind stopping once again to admire one of the most realistic comic artists currently working, who nonetheless possesses a sense for the Kirbyesque, in that he sees the comedy in raw power, the splendour and vitality of the mundane, the magnificence of ugliness, and the magic of scene.
While Asano’s pages crackle with energy whether they depict spaceships or humans, and while the panels track effortlessly between the real and the surreal, I’ll have to say that I’m enjoying his slant on science fiction material, and looking forward to an extended sequence from the alien point of view. That said, I would like it a little more if the story could impact just one character as hard as Aiko did Punpun.
August 15, 2021
still no idea what's going on, art still 10/10
September 13, 2019
This a review of the second and third volumes.
The author has established a main plot in the vein of other slice of life series about cute girls doing things, such as "K-On!" (rest in RIP, KyoAni), "A Place Further Than the Universe", that one where the girls go camping, and many other series I can't recall. However, a more serious subplot keeps growing, in which we witness how the post-invasion Japan reacts technologically to "tower defense" their way out of the alien invasion. They are building a bunch of laser shooting robots. Meanwhile, the Japanese citizens divide between those who believe the invaders are intelligent beings and deserve to live, those who believe that they should be killed as soon as possible, and those who just want to be able to live their lives without some gigantic piece of alien debris flattening them.
The stories in the general genre of "cute girls doing things" tend to span a relatively stable period of their lives, but in this series by the end of the third volume the girls are already . In a very interesting twist, this being a "slice of life" story, part of showing the audience how these girls react to mundane stuff gets really dark when (big spoilers) .
There are other recurring characters that I didn't mention in my review of the first volume. One of them is the main character of a fictional series that the main girl is obsessed with. It clearly parodies "Doraemon", but in this case the alternate Doraemon looks suspiciously like a thick penis, and the person he helps is a nasty, cheating, bastardly kid who shouldn't get any alien gadgets to make things go her way. It's an interesting "story within a story", and I'm guessing a "homage" from Asano to the past greats of manga that he doesn't particularly respect. The other recurring character is the young teacher the main girl has a crush on. He's sleazy and unmotivated. He's very aware of the girl's intention to get into some romantic stuff with him, and he makes it clear that although he won't risk his future while she remains his student, she can call him any time for some sexy times after she graduates. That he'll even pay her if she wants to. A time that the girl visited his house with the pretense of getting some books from him and then left when sexy times weren't coming, the guy states that he's going to relieve that tension by himself.
As a deliberate choice we hadn't gotten to see the invaders' true form, or something close to it, until the end of the third volume. When we get to witness one of the cleanup operations the local military engage in, it .
In any case, the pigtailed, conspiracy theorist girl is a constant scene-stealer, and despite some subplots not entirely gelling for now, this series is very entertaining.
The author has established a main plot in the vein of other slice of life series about cute girls doing things, such as "K-On!" (rest in RIP, KyoAni), "A Place Further Than the Universe", that one where the girls go camping, and many other series I can't recall. However, a more serious subplot keeps growing, in which we witness how the post-invasion Japan reacts technologically to "tower defense" their way out of the alien invasion. They are building a bunch of laser shooting robots. Meanwhile, the Japanese citizens divide between those who believe the invaders are intelligent beings and deserve to live, those who believe that they should be killed as soon as possible, and those who just want to be able to live their lives without some gigantic piece of alien debris flattening them.
The stories in the general genre of "cute girls doing things" tend to span a relatively stable period of their lives, but in this series by the end of the third volume the girls are already . In a very interesting twist, this being a "slice of life" story, part of showing the audience how these girls react to mundane stuff gets really dark when (big spoilers) .
There are other recurring characters that I didn't mention in my review of the first volume. One of them is the main character of a fictional series that the main girl is obsessed with. It clearly parodies "Doraemon", but in this case the alternate Doraemon looks suspiciously like a thick penis, and the person he helps is a nasty, cheating, bastardly kid who shouldn't get any alien gadgets to make things go her way. It's an interesting "story within a story", and I'm guessing a "homage" from Asano to the past greats of manga that he doesn't particularly respect. The other recurring character is the young teacher the main girl has a crush on. He's sleazy and unmotivated. He's very aware of the girl's intention to get into some romantic stuff with him, and he makes it clear that although he won't risk his future while she remains his student, she can call him any time for some sexy times after she graduates. That he'll even pay her if she wants to. A time that the girl visited his house with the pretense of getting some books from him and then left when sexy times weren't coming, the guy states that he's going to relieve that tension by himself.
As a deliberate choice we hadn't gotten to see the invaders' true form, or something close to it, until the end of the third volume. When we get to witness one of the cleanup operations the local military engage in, it .
In any case, the pigtailed, conspiracy theorist girl is a constant scene-stealer, and despite some subplots not entirely gelling for now, this series is very entertaining.
February 19, 2019
The "every day life within a chaotic, invaded world" continues with volume 3 of Dededede Destruction 3. We're starting to see some cracks in the facade, that some of our protagonists can't just accept continuing to live like normal in a world that is as unstable as theirs.
One of our heroines dies offscreen in the previous volume (they may have hinted at it, but it becomes clear during a class role call and future conversations). I'm wondering if they're 100% deceased or if maybe the alien Invaders have kidnapped / brought aboard some of the friends + family of the humans. For now, I'll accept their deaths as fact though.
Kadode and Ontan try to get their friends to continue to live the lie of always being together and friendship, while they also try not to forge bonds or think too far ahead about their futures. They have ideas about dream jobs, but we'll see where those go.
The teacher character's girlfriend features quite a bit early, the weapon development employee who can't handle knowing what she's creating (I believe their facility used to make toys). Unfortunately, she too realizes that she and he would be living a lie if they forced a marriage, that they can't expect to see their kids grow up in such an unstable world.
The ending was pretty gross, and shocking. There's also a hint about this going dark (which isn't unexpected, but yeah, it pretty much tells you not to expect most of the characters to still be in Kadode's life by the end of the series). In many ways, it's telling a tale of growing up, entering maturity, and leaving everything you know behind for the unknowns of adulthood, with the frame of an invasion story. It's clear that there's some message about acceptance of others as well, and the character of the human race. The fictional US already looking at Japan's wep development as a source to control other countries nearby is obviously sobering as well. I expect to leave a bit depressed at the end of all this, per usual for Asano works, but we'll see how it goes. Some works leave you feeling full with emotion + a message to take from them and others just empty and drained. I'm expecting it to be the latter.
One of our heroines dies offscreen in the previous volume (they may have hinted at it, but it becomes clear during a class role call and future conversations). I'm wondering if they're 100% deceased or if maybe the alien Invaders have kidnapped / brought aboard some of the friends + family of the humans. For now, I'll accept their deaths as fact though.
Kadode and Ontan try to get their friends to continue to live the lie of always being together and friendship, while they also try not to forge bonds or think too far ahead about their futures. They have ideas about dream jobs, but we'll see where those go.
The teacher character's girlfriend features quite a bit early, the weapon development employee who can't handle knowing what she's creating (I believe their facility used to make toys). Unfortunately, she too realizes that she and he would be living a lie if they forced a marriage, that they can't expect to see their kids grow up in such an unstable world.
The ending was pretty gross, and shocking. There's also a hint about this going dark (which isn't unexpected, but yeah, it pretty much tells you not to expect most of the characters to still be in Kadode's life by the end of the series). In many ways, it's telling a tale of growing up, entering maturity, and leaving everything you know behind for the unknowns of adulthood, with the frame of an invasion story. It's clear that there's some message about acceptance of others as well, and the character of the human race. The fictional US already looking at Japan's wep development as a source to control other countries nearby is obviously sobering as well. I expect to leave a bit depressed at the end of all this, per usual for Asano works, but we'll see how it goes. Some works leave you feeling full with emotion + a message to take from them and others just empty and drained. I'm expecting it to be the latter.
August 10, 2024
Things finally start moving in this volume. The first 2.5 volumes have been slow-moving and relatively uneventful, but in a way that I appreciated. It let us really get to know and love the cast of characters and the world they live in before shit starts to hit the fan.
DDDDD is a mellower mix of FLCL and 20th Century Boys in all the best ways. It has the same weirdo characters as FLCL (I keep reading everything Ontan says in Haruko's voice), with the same malaise felt by Naota as a kid struggling to live in a world being destroyed by adults who don't care. But it also has the grand, sweeping scale as 20th Century Boys, where the story is much broader and character-focused than the immediate plot.
Volume 3 is defined by the first major tragedy experienced by our plucky cast of characters, and the way all of them deal with it brings the tone of the series into sharper focus. Despite everything, the girls still don't care about the conflict with the mother ship and only want to focus on their futures. While the adults gear up for war against an enemy that maybe isn't even dangerous, all they want to do is stay friends as life takes them away from each other. In lieu of war, they think leaving the mother ship alone is the best move forward since, after four years, no real threat has appeared.
And they might be right. Inio Asano is smart with his timing, as the reader is never shown one of the aliens until the very end of this volume, and they're just two helpless kids cowering in fear of the Japanese army as they're shot in the head. "Make sure you leave some alive," one militant says to a new recruit, "that way we can get more funding for weapons." The Japanese economy, once down the toilet after the invasion first happened, is now one of the strongest in the world due to its far more technologically advanced military industrial complex, and as they build stronger weapons to use against aliens that might not even be a threat, the United States contemplates declaring war against Japan as they threaten the American military hegemony.
Volume 3 of Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction is the best so far, and I can imagine things will only get better from here.
DDDDD is a mellower mix of FLCL and 20th Century Boys in all the best ways. It has the same weirdo characters as FLCL (I keep reading everything Ontan says in Haruko's voice), with the same malaise felt by Naota as a kid struggling to live in a world being destroyed by adults who don't care. But it also has the grand, sweeping scale as 20th Century Boys, where the story is much broader and character-focused than the immediate plot.
Volume 3 is defined by the first major tragedy experienced by our plucky cast of characters, and the way all of them deal with it brings the tone of the series into sharper focus. Despite everything, the girls still don't care about the conflict with the mother ship and only want to focus on their futures. While the adults gear up for war against an enemy that maybe isn't even dangerous, all they want to do is stay friends as life takes them away from each other. In lieu of war, they think leaving the mother ship alone is the best move forward since, after four years, no real threat has appeared.
And they might be right. Inio Asano is smart with his timing, as the reader is never shown one of the aliens until the very end of this volume, and they're just two helpless kids cowering in fear of the Japanese army as they're shot in the head. "Make sure you leave some alive," one militant says to a new recruit, "that way we can get more funding for weapons." The Japanese economy, once down the toilet after the invasion first happened, is now one of the strongest in the world due to its far more technologically advanced military industrial complex, and as they build stronger weapons to use against aliens that might not even be a threat, the United States contemplates declaring war against Japan as they threaten the American military hegemony.
Volume 3 of Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction is the best so far, and I can imagine things will only get better from here.
May 10, 2024
Kiho is dead. Killed in the collapse of the ship that was shot down, so the girls continue on as if everything was normal to try and keep their grief under control. It's a downright moving chapter that really drives home the way these girls are forced to keep on moving forward for the potential of crumbling under the grief. It's hefty stuff and is handled with the right amount of care and understanding. Oran's brother has his moment in the spotlight as he goes out to meet someone he was catfishing because he believed they were both alone without friends. Turned out she did have friends, but he still did his best to cheer her up before parting ways. Not terribly crazy about the catfish angle and find it manipulative, even if he did end up offering a little kindness. Ai also goes on a date with a boy, but ultimately decides that she's happy with how her life is with her friends and family and that is where she wants to focus. It's a solid example of the embracing little moments angle the series is taking. The girls then graduate and Oran and Kadode have a superb moment together mourning quietly the loss of Kiho as they move on towards a life she will never get to share. I'm not as sold on the greater intrigue storylines that are setup and glad this volume focused on the smaller ones. The teacher is also still a garbage person that I really wish the series would drop, he's way too gross.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2026
Üçüncü cilt, serinin şimdiye kadar en güçlü ve en politik volume’u. İlk iki ciltte yavaş yavaş kurulan atmosfer burada net bir eleştiriye dönüşüyor. Uzaylı istilası artık sadece bir arka plan değil; insanların krizlere nasıl tepki verdiğini, hatta bu krizleri nasıl tüketime ve estetiğe dönüştürdüğünü gösteren sert bir ayna.
Bu ciltte özellikle dikkatimi çeken şey, “haberlerin” neredeyse tamamen önemsizleşmesi. Küçük puntolarla geçilen, tek sayfaya sığdırılan ama içerik olarak ağır olan bilgiler, felaketin nasıl normalize edildiğini çok etkili biçimde anlatıyor.
Kriz anında ve sonrasında insanların radikal sağa yönelmesi, faşizmin “kaçınılmaz bir sonuç” gibi sunulması rahatsız edici ama dürüst bir yaklaşım. Asano burada çözüm önermekten çok, sonucu olduğu gibi göstermeyi tercih ediyor ve bu cesur bir seçim. Aynı zamanda OHAL, yardım sistemleri, mağduriyet üzerinden kazanç sağlayanlar ve krizin bir “estetik” haline gelmesi de sert ama yerinde eleştiriler.
Seri bu noktada yalnızca bir bilim kurgu olmaktan çıkıp, pandemi sonrası dünyaya yazılmış karanlık bir yorum haline geliyor. Nihilist, yer yer aşağılayıcı ama bir o kadar da tanıdık. Rahatsız ediyor; tam da bu yüzden çok iyi.
Bu ciltte özellikle dikkatimi çeken şey, “haberlerin” neredeyse tamamen önemsizleşmesi. Küçük puntolarla geçilen, tek sayfaya sığdırılan ama içerik olarak ağır olan bilgiler, felaketin nasıl normalize edildiğini çok etkili biçimde anlatıyor.
Kriz anında ve sonrasında insanların radikal sağa yönelmesi, faşizmin “kaçınılmaz bir sonuç” gibi sunulması rahatsız edici ama dürüst bir yaklaşım. Asano burada çözüm önermekten çok, sonucu olduğu gibi göstermeyi tercih ediyor ve bu cesur bir seçim. Aynı zamanda OHAL, yardım sistemleri, mağduriyet üzerinden kazanç sağlayanlar ve krizin bir “estetik” haline gelmesi de sert ama yerinde eleştiriler.
Seri bu noktada yalnızca bir bilim kurgu olmaktan çıkıp, pandemi sonrası dünyaya yazılmış karanlık bir yorum haline geliyor. Nihilist, yer yer aşağılayıcı ama bir o kadar da tanıdık. Rahatsız ediyor; tam da bu yüzden çok iyi.
July 28, 2020
I keep failing to mention how awesome the Viz Signature treatment of this series is. The beautiful French flaps, the glossy, textured covers, and the larger format all enhance the wonderful Inio Asano illustrations. This is, so far, the darkest volume yet. Tragedy puts the invasion front and center for Kadode and her friends as they enter their final days of high school. We also get the first look at the aliens (not disguised as humans) as Japanese military and newly minted private corporate (you know that can only go well) defense forces seek to eradicate wild aliens shipwrecked on land. All the while, tensions between the USA and Japan are on the rise due to the increased militarization of the later nation and the more secretive capture of alien technology. As usual, the art is tremendous there are a few very impressive sequences about 35 pages and in the later chapters and some stunning splash pages—an amazing rooftop scene!
February 1, 2025
Entiendo la búsqueda del personaje en este volumen, así como el contexto y la intención de cara al futuro. Sin embargo, simplemente no me afectó. Es un momento bien construido, comprendo lo que quisieron transmitir, pero no me sorprendió ni me generó un impacto emocional. Fue un acontecimiento más dentro de la historia, relevante para lo que vendrá, pero sin provocar en mí la reacción que quizás sí tuvo en otras personas.
Por otro lado, sigo considerando que todo lo relacionado con los extraterrestres es mucho más interesante que la historia personal de los personajes. El dilema que intentan plantear sobre el significado real de los invasores me resulta muchísimo más atractivo que el desarrollo individual de los protagonistas. En definitiva, si sigo la historia, es porque tengo ganas de descubrir más sobre el misterio que rodea a este aspecto de la trama.
Por otro lado, sigo considerando que todo lo relacionado con los extraterrestres es mucho más interesante que la historia personal de los personajes. El dilema que intentan plantear sobre el significado real de los invasores me resulta muchísimo más atractivo que el desarrollo individual de los protagonistas. En definitiva, si sigo la historia, es porque tengo ganas de descubrir más sobre el misterio que rodea a este aspecto de la trama.
November 18, 2021
This series keeps getting better. The stakes are suddenly much higher. I just can't put these volumes down when I get a new one. Its style is cool, detailed, fun, and infectious. Easily some of the most elaborate and realistic art I've seen in a manga. Also unbelievable how much it relates to Covid and the sharpening cultural divide, all accelerated by technology, despite being written a few years before. These characters are so alive too, and I'm anxious and curious to see their story unfold in the midst of this uncertain disaster.
April 28, 2022
Okay this is where is this story is going from good to great! After spending so much time with the girls, seeing this magnitude of tragedy happen kinda shook me. It was very shocking and affecting the characters and readers alike. Seeing the girls graduate made me very happy. I’m glad that their so hopeful about their future although the author loves to remind us this happiness won’t last long. And the politics is finally gaining my interest and I’m becoming more invested. To finally see more of the aliens would bittersweet to say the least but so looking forward to where is story is going.
October 11, 2024
125×180+½flapDJ BigKana ¦ ai 09/2021 ¦ dl 04/2017 = "2e ed."
Narrative: **
I still cannot figure what he's "getting at" with these invaders and much of the social commentary from the people's reaction. I've officially cut total Asano trust- I won't just jump into any long series works by him because this and Punpun seem like I need to get to 1000 pages before story enjoyment blossoms.
Visual: ****
His art is as usual exacting AND emotive while giving the best respect to the detail of his backgrounds!
Narrative: **
I still cannot figure what he's "getting at" with these invaders and much of the social commentary from the people's reaction. I've officially cut total Asano trust- I won't just jump into any long series works by him because this and Punpun seem like I need to get to 1000 pages before story enjoyment blossoms.
Visual: ****
His art is as usual exacting AND emotive while giving the best respect to the detail of his backgrounds!
June 5, 2025
Small step back, but the previous volume was quite enjoyable, and got me into the whole series enough for this one not to end up being a setback.
We basically get back to the full 'snippet of live' thing, but the ending was exciting enough, with the first show of the actual aliens (no disguise), and those foreboding last couple pages to make up for the kind of slower pace.
School and exams are over. Here comes real life... and it's not going to be pretty? Who knows, given how cutesy is this manga over all.
To be found out...
3.75
We basically get back to the full 'snippet of live' thing, but the ending was exciting enough, with the first show of the actual aliens (no disguise), and those foreboding last couple pages to make up for the kind of slower pace.
School and exams are over. Here comes real life... and it's not going to be pretty? Who knows, given how cutesy is this manga over all.
To be found out...
3.75
August 27, 2018
It's like Philippines.
There are lots of news about death and casualties and the slogan "We are at war", and yet the regular school girl's life goes on --- studying for college, worrying about entrance exams and student loans, childhood idols and sweethearts.
And yet, little did you know that Death hits closer to home. What do you do? Do you pretend to move on or do you grieve about it? How does Kadode cope with such loss..?
There are lots of news about death and casualties and the slogan "We are at war", and yet the regular school girl's life goes on --- studying for college, worrying about entrance exams and student loans, childhood idols and sweethearts.
And yet, little did you know that Death hits closer to home. What do you do? Do you pretend to move on or do you grieve about it? How does Kadode cope with such loss..?
December 31, 2019
Das Schuljahr ist zuende, die Uni-Aufnahmeprüfung geschafft, und das große Raumschiff schwebt weiter über Tokyo. Die Menschen wollen die Außerirdischen immer noch loswerden, auch wenn diese gar nichts Böses machen. Eine Bedrohung ist immer auch eine Bedrohung im eigenen Kopf.
Asano beendet den Band mit einem Cliffhanger par excellence, also muss ich weiterlesen.
Im nächsten Jahr, 2020.
Also morgen.
Asano beendet den Band mit einem Cliffhanger par excellence, also muss ich weiterlesen.
Im nächsten Jahr, 2020.
Also morgen.
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