What do you think?
Rate this book
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] #12
デッドデッドデーモンズデデデデデストラクション 12
少女達のディストピア青春譜、堂々完結!!
「それでも、私たちは生きてゆく。」
『母艦』爆発後の世界「8・32」で目を覚ました、
門出の父・ノブオ。『母艦』が東京上空を覆った
「8・31」以降、行方不明になっていた彼が
目にする現実とは!? そして、選択する未来は――!?
浅野いにおが8年間描き続けた、少女達のディストピア青春譜。
極限の完結巻。
「それでも、私たちは生きてゆく。」
『母艦』爆発後の世界「8・32」で目を覚ました、
門出の父・ノブオ。『母艦』が東京上空を覆った
「8・31」以降、行方不明になっていた彼が
目にする現実とは!? そして、選択する未来は――!?
浅野いにおが8年間描き続けた、少女達のディストピア青春譜。
極限の完結巻。
213 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2022
10 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Inio Asano
113 books2,707 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).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
November 13, 2024
It's intriguing that the ratings for this final volume on Goodreads dropped so sharply. What I find interesting is that, for me, this volume didn't feel much different from the rest of the series.
When I checked my reviews for each volume, I noticed I’d consistently rated most of them 4 stars, except for the 1st and 4th volumes, which I rated 5 stars. This has always been a series with a clear potential for greatness that never fully materialized. It's a solid series, one I don’t regret reading, but it’s not quite “great.” That potential remained right through to the last volume, yet it never reached a place where everything clicked or gave a sense of purpose to the story.
Inio Asano is, without question, an exceptionally skilled mangaka. His illustrations are outstanding, and the series is filled with memorable moments. That said, it almost seems as though his technical skill could only go so far in sustaining a weaker storyline.
In the end, I loved the art, the characters, and the initial setup. But the series ultimately lacked a more cohesive narrative logic—something that could bring everything together and clarify what it was all meant to convey.
When I checked my reviews for each volume, I noticed I’d consistently rated most of them 4 stars, except for the 1st and 4th volumes, which I rated 5 stars. This has always been a series with a clear potential for greatness that never fully materialized. It's a solid series, one I don’t regret reading, but it’s not quite “great.” That potential remained right through to the last volume, yet it never reached a place where everything clicked or gave a sense of purpose to the story.
Inio Asano is, without question, an exceptionally skilled mangaka. His illustrations are outstanding, and the series is filled with memorable moments. That said, it almost seems as though his technical skill could only go so far in sustaining a weaker storyline.
In the end, I loved the art, the characters, and the initial setup. But the series ultimately lacked a more cohesive narrative logic—something that could bring everything together and clarify what it was all meant to convey.
April 8, 2022
This is a very loose review of the entire series.
I became a fan of Asano because I adored, to put it mildly, his "Oyasumi Punpun". But this is a very different kind of effort; in many ways, the work of man who has become jaded and has ceased to believe in his own work and the medium as a whole. Possibly in the whole of humanity as well.
My main issues with this series are that I didn't feel the supposedly strong connection between plenty of the characters involved (very important in a series with many subplots that have their own protagonists), that the many different subplots felt disconnected with the main slice-of-life plot, and that the time travel element mainly served to undo the heaviest consequences.
I particularly disliked the ending sequence. I don't want to spoil it, but the timeline that we were following at the time had gotten so irreparably screwed that the new protagonist Asano introduced, and who had been "absent" for the last eight years so he was merely a bystander of the current events, only wished to either recover his past or undo the present. During this sequence, Asano reintroduces, in extremely unlikely ways (he meets some of the main characters like hundreds of kilometers away from what had been the previous narrative arena, in the middle of a war zone), different characters from the subplots, but it doesn't go beyond "hey, remember these guys we used to follow?"
Even worse, the last stretch of this series is filled with lame callbacks to stuff that had happened throughout the story, but it made little sense to bring them up at the moment. For example, and this is a spoiler to an interaction between the main two girls in the last volume: .
I'm also jaded myself, but I've enjoyed plenty of other series in the last few years, and this story ended up disappointing me and leaving with a hollow taste, as if Asano had ceased to care long before its end (incidentally, it seems he has taken a long break from creating manga).
I think this story would have improved significantly if we had only followed the main group of girls throughout the whole thing. In the end, mixing an ironic slice-of-life story with a complex plot about an impending apocalypse didn't work well. One of the characters, a manga editor, talks about Kengo Hanazawa often; an inside joke, as both authors are friends. Hanazawa did create a complex plot with tremendously huge stakes in his haunting "I am a Hero", and although he failed to answer like a fuckton of dramatic questions, he took the whole thing seriously, even if some characters had a few screws loose. But "Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction" tried to be both a joke and a serious story about societal decay and the apocalypse, and for me it failed hard. Asano excels at intimate stories that focus on broken characters. Unfortunately, at this stage I don't see him returning to form ever again.
I became a fan of Asano because I adored, to put it mildly, his "Oyasumi Punpun". But this is a very different kind of effort; in many ways, the work of man who has become jaded and has ceased to believe in his own work and the medium as a whole. Possibly in the whole of humanity as well.
My main issues with this series are that I didn't feel the supposedly strong connection between plenty of the characters involved (very important in a series with many subplots that have their own protagonists), that the many different subplots felt disconnected with the main slice-of-life plot, and that the time travel element mainly served to undo the heaviest consequences.
I particularly disliked the ending sequence. I don't want to spoil it, but the timeline that we were following at the time had gotten so irreparably screwed that the new protagonist Asano introduced, and who had been "absent" for the last eight years so he was merely a bystander of the current events, only wished to either recover his past or undo the present. During this sequence, Asano reintroduces, in extremely unlikely ways (he meets some of the main characters like hundreds of kilometers away from what had been the previous narrative arena, in the middle of a war zone), different characters from the subplots, but it doesn't go beyond "hey, remember these guys we used to follow?"
Even worse, the last stretch of this series is filled with lame callbacks to stuff that had happened throughout the story, but it made little sense to bring them up at the moment. For example, and this is a spoiler to an interaction between the main two girls in the last volume: .
I'm also jaded myself, but I've enjoyed plenty of other series in the last few years, and this story ended up disappointing me and leaving with a hollow taste, as if Asano had ceased to care long before its end (incidentally, it seems he has taken a long break from creating manga).
I think this story would have improved significantly if we had only followed the main group of girls throughout the whole thing. In the end, mixing an ironic slice-of-life story with a complex plot about an impending apocalypse didn't work well. One of the characters, a manga editor, talks about Kengo Hanazawa often; an inside joke, as both authors are friends. Hanazawa did create a complex plot with tremendously huge stakes in his haunting "I am a Hero", and although he failed to answer like a fuckton of dramatic questions, he took the whole thing seriously, even if some characters had a few screws loose. But "Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction" tried to be both a joke and a serious story about societal decay and the apocalypse, and for me it failed hard. Asano excels at intimate stories that focus on broken characters. Unfortunately, at this stage I don't see him returning to form ever again.
April 23, 2022
This ending felt really rushed and unsatisfying given the intense, sharp crescendo of a build-up in the prior two volumes. Almost none of the various sub-plots and character arcs felt like they were resolved because of the gaps the reader is left to fill in on their own. It kind of felt like Asano lost interest at the end, which is a shame.
The series on the whole had some really good character studies and interesting societal critiques, which is in line with Asano's other works, but as a story, Dededede had a really long, slow lead-in, gets really interesting in the middle, then fails to deliver on its conclusion. The complex, meandering storytelling just doesn't tie together in the end.
Artwork is solid throughout, though sometimes the heavy reliance on 3d modeling for cityscapes and machinery makes it feel detached and superficial (which may well be the intent, I dunno).
The series on the whole had some really good character studies and interesting societal critiques, which is in line with Asano's other works, but as a story, Dededede had a really long, slow lead-in, gets really interesting in the middle, then fails to deliver on its conclusion. The complex, meandering storytelling just doesn't tie together in the end.
Artwork is solid throughout, though sometimes the heavy reliance on 3d modeling for cityscapes and machinery makes it feel detached and superficial (which may well be the intent, I dunno).
September 28, 2022
I feel really mixed about the ending of Dedede because I enjoyed pretty much the entire series, but this last volume was just so disappointing. It was strange to talk more about characters that didn't really show up and I wish it focused more on the main girls instead of those characters. There were a lot of loose ends leftover but I think that is a part of Asano's writing for endings in general. It also felt rushed and I think it's cause Asano lost steam or was uninterested after a bit, which really sucks because this Dedede was really strong throughout its run. Overall, I really enjoyed Dedede just the last two volumes were pretty weak to me.
March 10, 2024
This feels like the highest effort "easy ending" I've ever seen. The stakes are raised so high, just to be solved completely by a simple solution with seemingly zero repercussions. Also, although I understand why the story went this direction, it is a shame that a series that started with the basic premise of "grand scale sci-fi, but told on the ground level from the perspective of a few random, unimportant teens" ended up just becoming a grand sci-fi where they're all some of the most important people on the planet. I would still call this series good overall, and commend Asano for aiming so high with this, but I don't think stories with a large scope are what most people would consider Asano's strength; the highlights of this series have most definitely been the intimate character moments.
August 29, 2023
Buen final para la serie que, en un requiebro, vuelve a poner a Doraemon en primer plano con una resolución que puede tomarse como escapista, pero también como enmienda a la política contemporánea o a las fantasías masturbatorias de poder. Aunque me quede cursi, me mola cómo la tecnología aquí es una herramienta que permite encontrar a los seres queridos y convivir con ellos cuando todo parecía perdido. Bien por Asano y sus colaboradores.
January 2, 2023
i absolutely loved the series overall, but the ending was a disappointment to me. i felt that it was a cop-out to have kadode's father's consciousness go into a new timeline, with the original kadode and ouran that we knew and loved throughout the story in some other timeline without us knowing what happened to them. i felt it was rushed and almost disrespectful to the readers to make everything that ouran had done to be with kadode pointless.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2022
Does the ending truly deserve 5 stars? Maybe, maybe not. The ending is somewhat vague and there is a lot of food for thought that I will no doubt be pondering for a good while, but the manga as a whole was such an amazing, wild journey, it feels wrong to give it anything less.
March 9, 2024
((czuję się zobowiązana))
July 21, 2022
it was all pretty good. i see a couple people not liking the ending, which i understand. to me it captures a funny feeling in life, where you feel significant but somehow unrelated to anything happening around you. there are many instances of people acting a certain way for the sake of other people, and those people acting a certain way for others, on and on, an interconnected web that makes causation seem completely ephemeral, unreal. maybe if you get fat, the world will end.
not sure what i'm trying to say here. maybe it's really cheap to say "it's a manga about how nothing makes sense".
you change everyone in your life, even if you don't realize it.
for you, i will become a demon
not sure what i'm trying to say here. maybe it's really cheap to say "it's a manga about how nothing makes sense".
you change everyone in your life, even if you don't realize it.
for you, i will become a demon
August 21, 2023
Holy f***, what a series. The best thing I’ve read from Inio Asano, definitely. I’m sad it’s over.
September 27, 2024
definitely not the ending i expected or wanted, but it’s the ending that was supposed to happen.
🎶 i luv you, isobeyan 🎶
🎶 i luv you, isobeyan 🎶
December 31, 2025
Nach dem grandiosen Gute Nacht, Punpun habe ich bei Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction mehr oder weniger blind zugegriffen und die Reihe dann am Stück gelesen. Rein optisch enttäuscht Inio Asano auch hier nicht: Die Zeichnungen sind weiterhin auf einem atemberaubenden Niveau und künstlerisch über jeden Zweifel erhaben. Doch leider kann die Story da nicht mithalten.
Die Geschichte erstickt für mich an absoluter Durchschnittlichkeit. Es fehlen die richtigen Highlights, die Handlung wirkt oft an den Haaren herbeigezogen und das Ende fühlt sich zudem sehr aufgezwungen an. Während mich Punpun tief bewegt hat, werde ich diese Geschichte und ihre Charaktere wahrscheinlich innerhalb weniger Tage wieder vergessen haben. Es ist schade, denn das Ganze ist zwar weit weg davon, wirklich mies zu sein, aber es ist eben auch nur reines Mittelmaß. Ein visuelles Meisterwerk, das inhaltlich leider nicht über den Durchschnitt hinauskommt.
Die Geschichte erstickt für mich an absoluter Durchschnittlichkeit. Es fehlen die richtigen Highlights, die Handlung wirkt oft an den Haaren herbeigezogen und das Ende fühlt sich zudem sehr aufgezwungen an. Während mich Punpun tief bewegt hat, werde ich diese Geschichte und ihre Charaktere wahrscheinlich innerhalb weniger Tage wieder vergessen haben. Es ist schade, denn das Ganze ist zwar weit weg davon, wirklich mies zu sein, aber es ist eben auch nur reines Mittelmaß. Ein visuelles Meisterwerk, das inhaltlich leider nicht über den Durchschnitt hinauskommt.
August 7, 2025
I'm honestly really torn about this last volume, and I do understand why people find it frustratingly underwhelming and somehow disappointing.
It is true Asano resorts to quite a cheap trick to fix things and close the story, and that is a pity; even more when he previously used this resource through the story, and it makes it feel like we didn't get a full closure for our real main characters.
Also, even though this volume centers a lot in other characters, and some times gets a bit confusing with all the new players fighting, it gives us a couple of powerful nostalgic moments here and there, that make up enough for the down parts to give it the four final stars (4.25 possibly?).
All in all, I did enjoy the series a lot, and this is still my favorite Asano's work.
It is true Asano resorts to quite a cheap trick to fix things and close the story, and that is a pity; even more when he previously used this resource through the story, and it makes it feel like we didn't get a full closure for our real main characters.
Also, even though this volume centers a lot in other characters, and some times gets a bit confusing with all the new players fighting, it gives us a couple of powerful nostalgic moments here and there, that make up enough for the down parts to give it the four final stars (4.25 possibly?).
All in all, I did enjoy the series a lot, and this is still my favorite Asano's work.
June 1, 2024
Unfortunately, the story took the easy way out of a difficult place, or at least I think so. The messiness is just whisked away and made alright. I think the author invested the world and characters with too much importance to be fixed in such a simple manner.
July 13, 2025
Je ne me suis jamais autant "transposé" dans une histoire, je vivais vraiment chaque moment avec ce groupe de potes c'est terrible.
Si l'auteur n'avait pas pressé la fin pour faire 100 chapitres tout pile, ce manga aurait été dans mon top 5 et pas cinquième.
Si l'auteur n'avait pas pressé la fin pour faire 100 chapitres tout pile, ce manga aurait été dans mon top 5 et pas cinquième.
March 3, 2024
[[ocena całości]] niee wiem wciąż co myśleć o tych ostatnich dwóch tomach...
August 22, 2025
They should've been gay
December 27, 2023
Part coming-of-age comedy in a dystopia, part existential meditation on the simplicity of getting lost in delusion, alltogether - all the 12 volumes - a wild ride.
May 15, 2025
Otra gran asanada completa en una gran edición argentina.
April 29, 2025
El mejor manga de Asano.
May 12, 2023
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫 (3.5 stars)
Full manga rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.1 (4.1 stars)
Full manga review 👇🏽
When I started reading this manga, I had absolutely no idea what to expect and it remained that way until the very end.
This manga is described as one having cynical humour but with political intrigue and that's definitely an accurate way to describe it. It's very hit or miss, this manga, as the genre is very absurd, a mix of dystopian sci-fi and slice-of-life, with harsh critiques of social and news media, and political policies.
Actually, in a way, this manga takes a cynical view of the world as a whole. I say this because, we begin with a spaceship hovering over the Japanese capital city of Tokyo, while the citizens go through their ordinary life, not caring whether or not the world might be coming to an end.
The manga actually fictionalises and somewhat prophesises the pandemic because the attitude the people of Japan take after three years of living with a spaceship hovering over their capital is similar to the attitude we took after covid had become commonplace, that is, apathy. It showcases how people are given in to apathy even with something as life-threatening as invasion after a while, truly a negative side of our capability of getting used to everything.
Apart from this social critique of humans, the manga also delves into the political sphere, where we get to see the double dealing and corrupted nature of politicians and corporations alike, which is, in turns, both fun and despairing to read since it makes you realise just how much the government and the wealthy are in control. And honestly, it would have made for a very depressing manga if it weren't for our main characters.
In the midst of a country (and several opposing countries) in turmoil, we get to see the ordinary lives of two best friends in high school. For me, this was the most enjoyable part of the manga (which I'm sure proves exactly what the mangaka is saying in this manga lol).
I loved the characters and how complex and flawed they were. Their existence and experiences made the plot as interesting as it is. Though, after the sixth volume and the big plot twist, that enjoyment lessened considerably because we steadily headed towards darker things, where the characters' future looked more and more bleak. In spite of that (or maybe because of that), I got more and more invested in the manga, until I had to finish the last four volumes in one go.
But, this is where things went wrong. The last few volumes build up towards a very promising climax, only for it to fall apart in the last two chapters. I won't spoil but the ending was very rushed. In fact, it felt like the mangaka was simply writing to somehow wrap-up the manga because he'd lost interest in the book. It was sad, really, because this was on the way to become one of my favourite mangas...but, in the end, it couldn't. I was left with a feeling of emptiness and disappointment...
Oh well, I still think it's a pretty good manga and I would like to read it again someday. Though, it's definitely not for everyone, especially not for people who don't like slow build-up or slice-of-life.
Bottom line: Hanyanyafuwah!
P.S. - They did Ai and Rin dirty. Ai had a little character development, where we get her backstory and the romance arc and Rin gets nothing. They were so background, in spite of being around the two fmcs all the time, that I completely forgot about them.
Full manga rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.1 (4.1 stars)
Full manga review 👇🏽
When I started reading this manga, I had absolutely no idea what to expect and it remained that way until the very end.
This manga is described as one having cynical humour but with political intrigue and that's definitely an accurate way to describe it. It's very hit or miss, this manga, as the genre is very absurd, a mix of dystopian sci-fi and slice-of-life, with harsh critiques of social and news media, and political policies.
Actually, in a way, this manga takes a cynical view of the world as a whole. I say this because, we begin with a spaceship hovering over the Japanese capital city of Tokyo, while the citizens go through their ordinary life, not caring whether or not the world might be coming to an end.
The manga actually fictionalises and somewhat prophesises the pandemic because the attitude the people of Japan take after three years of living with a spaceship hovering over their capital is similar to the attitude we took after covid had become commonplace, that is, apathy. It showcases how people are given in to apathy even with something as life-threatening as invasion after a while, truly a negative side of our capability of getting used to everything.
Apart from this social critique of humans, the manga also delves into the political sphere, where we get to see the double dealing and corrupted nature of politicians and corporations alike, which is, in turns, both fun and despairing to read since it makes you realise just how much the government and the wealthy are in control. And honestly, it would have made for a very depressing manga if it weren't for our main characters.
In the midst of a country (and several opposing countries) in turmoil, we get to see the ordinary lives of two best friends in high school. For me, this was the most enjoyable part of the manga (which I'm sure proves exactly what the mangaka is saying in this manga lol).
I loved the characters and how complex and flawed they were. Their existence and experiences made the plot as interesting as it is. Though, after the sixth volume and the big plot twist, that enjoyment lessened considerably because we steadily headed towards darker things, where the characters' future looked more and more bleak. In spite of that (or maybe because of that), I got more and more invested in the manga, until I had to finish the last four volumes in one go.
But, this is where things went wrong. The last few volumes build up towards a very promising climax, only for it to fall apart in the last two chapters. I won't spoil but the ending was very rushed. In fact, it felt like the mangaka was simply writing to somehow wrap-up the manga because he'd lost interest in the book. It was sad, really, because this was on the way to become one of my favourite mangas...but, in the end, it couldn't. I was left with a feeling of emptiness and disappointment...
Oh well, I still think it's a pretty good manga and I would like to read it again someday. Though, it's definitely not for everyone, especially not for people who don't like slow build-up or slice-of-life.
Bottom line: Hanyanyafuwah!
P.S. - They did Ai and Rin dirty. Ai had a little character development, where we get her backstory and the romance arc and Rin gets nothing. They were so background, in spite of being around the two fmcs all the time, that I completely forgot about them.
September 26, 2023
What a wild ride. Who thought a story about a girl trying to help her friend hook up with the teacher by showing their boobs in the shadow of a giant spaceship would end in time-paradoxes, the end of all civilization, and a post-apocalyptic war between the USA, China, and Google? But hey, here we are.
This was a very weird conclusion to the series. It feels unfulfilling, mostly because a huge amount of the last volume is focused on what I would argue on the wrong characters. And because of the nature of the story, focusing on time paradoxes and alternate timelines, a bit of the story feels cheap at times.
But this series was never about any ongoing story. This was an emotional romp. The destination was never goal; it was the journey that counts, and you have to absolutely appreciate the journey you're taken on.
This journey is mature, it's bonding, it's heartfelt, and it's very, very sad. It's also very complicated, and very philosophical, readily wading not only into the idea of what modernity is, but also what post-modernity is. Which, as pretentious as it is to say, I think is something important with this piece of media. It's so disconnected, unflinching, and raw. It doesn't care how it's presented, because it understands that post-modern art shouldn't care about presentation or context. Everything is viral, everything simply exists, so context doesn't matter in the long term.
Instead, it invests all its energy into the context of itself, before reinventing itself, constantly, over and over. It never settles, it's always ready to flip over the table and start from scratch. This is something Asano has done before, but he's really wild about it here. And because of the epic scope of everything, it's hard not to appreciate just how much is going on all at the same time, and how interconnected it all is.
The problem with a story that both is highly contextual and also deliberately robs its own context through paradoxy is that is that, at some point, you're going to get invested into what the story is trying to say, and then the story will stop speaking to you. I went through that feeling perhaps 4 times throughout the series. I constantly felt comfortable, and then the series did something that deliberately was weird or discomforting. Then, predictably, I was lulled back into comfort, before the same process repeated.
That's a very unfun and unpleasant thing to experience and read. But isn't that the whole point of the narrative? To not get tied down by the life presented to you? To live life to the fullest, no matter what it is? And if that life doesn't work, there are infinite other lives and opportunities just out of reach. Is that a nice thing to think? Sort of. But we can get so attached to our conceptions of reality. To have that challenged, even in fiction, can be frustrating and weird.
Is this series good? I think it's very good. The art alone is astounding. Graphic design is Asano's passion, and seeing his title cards always brought joy. Seeing his gorgeous full-spreads always stunned. Seeing his rawness, the powerful art he could put to display, along with what is both one of the most vapid and most serious stories I've ever seen is just a treat. Does this story frustrate me? Yes. But damn, was it ever a good time.
This was a very weird conclusion to the series. It feels unfulfilling, mostly because a huge amount of the last volume is focused on what I would argue on the wrong characters. And because of the nature of the story, focusing on time paradoxes and alternate timelines, a bit of the story feels cheap at times.
But this series was never about any ongoing story. This was an emotional romp. The destination was never goal; it was the journey that counts, and you have to absolutely appreciate the journey you're taken on.
This journey is mature, it's bonding, it's heartfelt, and it's very, very sad. It's also very complicated, and very philosophical, readily wading not only into the idea of what modernity is, but also what post-modernity is. Which, as pretentious as it is to say, I think is something important with this piece of media. It's so disconnected, unflinching, and raw. It doesn't care how it's presented, because it understands that post-modern art shouldn't care about presentation or context. Everything is viral, everything simply exists, so context doesn't matter in the long term.
Instead, it invests all its energy into the context of itself, before reinventing itself, constantly, over and over. It never settles, it's always ready to flip over the table and start from scratch. This is something Asano has done before, but he's really wild about it here. And because of the epic scope of everything, it's hard not to appreciate just how much is going on all at the same time, and how interconnected it all is.
The problem with a story that both is highly contextual and also deliberately robs its own context through paradoxy is that is that, at some point, you're going to get invested into what the story is trying to say, and then the story will stop speaking to you. I went through that feeling perhaps 4 times throughout the series. I constantly felt comfortable, and then the series did something that deliberately was weird or discomforting. Then, predictably, I was lulled back into comfort, before the same process repeated.
That's a very unfun and unpleasant thing to experience and read. But isn't that the whole point of the narrative? To not get tied down by the life presented to you? To live life to the fullest, no matter what it is? And if that life doesn't work, there are infinite other lives and opportunities just out of reach. Is that a nice thing to think? Sort of. But we can get so attached to our conceptions of reality. To have that challenged, even in fiction, can be frustrating and weird.
Is this series good? I think it's very good. The art alone is astounding. Graphic design is Asano's passion, and seeing his title cards always brought joy. Seeing his gorgeous full-spreads always stunned. Seeing his rawness, the powerful art he could put to display, along with what is both one of the most vapid and most serious stories I've ever seen is just a treat. Does this story frustrate me? Yes. But damn, was it ever a good time.
April 29, 2025
Al final del día todos somos mediocres y unos cutres. Podemos tener un Doraemon que nos ayude, pero dependerá de nosotros saber como usar la herramienta. En un mundo inestable y lleno de peligro, la vida sigue siendo nuestra.
May 30, 2024
This volume felt heavily of being a different series and I wasn’t crazy about that because it had the feeling of losing the emotional stakes that had been developed in the pre-end of the world part. First off, we didn’t get to spend anytime with our core cast until the very final chapters…and even then it was a parallel version of them. That’s probably my biggest qualm with the ending, it’s out of left field and not thematically cohesive with the rest of the series. Basically we have Kadode’s dad exploring the post explosion world where there’s a lot of wild action with the robots and basic snapshots of characters we had gotten to know. I really don’t think the whole parallel world option needed to be explored, because it gives the story this cheap escape to a “happy” ending that just felt shoehorned in. I think it’d have made more sense to end the story at the beach, the summer memories made and the world ending at the same time. This volume feels more like an epilogue to the main story than anything.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2023
Extremely dissatisfied with the ending. Asano definitely took the quick and easy way out. I’ve never read a Dead dead demon volume so quickly, which solidifies my feeling that this ending was extremely rushed.
Rushed, pointless moments, and EXTREMELY anticlimactic.. but…
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I will say the ending does make SOME sense if you think back to vol one and the blurb on the back.
“Even impending doom starts to feel ordinary.”
This story goes full circle, back to the idea of life’s mundane events and ordinary occurrences juxtaposed with an alien invasion. Even our most traumatic experiences truly are insignificant in the grand scheme of things and there are alternative universes where there’s peace and “ordinary” life while our lives are in turmoil. This alone is why I gave this ending a 3/5 instead of the 2/5 i felt it deserved.
Rushed, pointless moments, and EXTREMELY anticlimactic.. but…
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I will say the ending does make SOME sense if you think back to vol one and the blurb on the back.
“Even impending doom starts to feel ordinary.”
This story goes full circle, back to the idea of life’s mundane events and ordinary occurrences juxtaposed with an alien invasion. Even our most traumatic experiences truly are insignificant in the grand scheme of things and there are alternative universes where there’s peace and “ordinary” life while our lives are in turmoil. This alone is why I gave this ending a 3/5 instead of the 2/5 i felt it deserved.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2021
so so so so so good
one of my favorites
one of my favorites
June 7, 2025
The world is ending and it's a serious issue, right? Well, it would be, if we cared! lololol!
To me, this is a manga about the absurdity of life, values, and connection.
This was the message that I understood, and it inspires me to think of what is actually important to me. Because at the end of the day, you're all you have.
To me, this is a manga about the absurdity of life, values, and connection.
This was the message that I understood, and it inspires me to think of what is actually important to me. Because at the end of the day, you're all you have.
November 14, 2025
Che Asano è strano forte, si sa da tempo. E ci piace per questo. Per il suo pessimismo, per l'incazzatura nei confronti della società (la giapponese in primis) che ti schiaccia come individuo e che denigra la diversità e la non produttività. Detto ciò Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction non è tra le sue opere quella che ho preferito di più. Nel suo stile, molto stratificata, e piena di metafore di vita
Non lasciatevi ingannare dall'enorme astronave aliena sospesa su Tokyo: l'invasione è solo lo sfondo (l'ansia sociale, i problemi che non si risolvono) che definisce la vera storia.
Il cuore pulsante sono Kadode e Oran, due amiche inseparabili che cercano di sopravvivere all'adolescenza e al passaggio all'età adulta, tra videogiochi, esami e chiacchiere, con il mondo letteralmente in bilico.
Asano esplora il tema della normalizzazione della tragedia e la forza del legame umano come unica vera "arma" contro il caos. È un mix unico di slice of life e fantascienza complessa, con un finale che tocca il metaverso (troppo di moda per lasciarlo scappare) e che porta quindi a riflettere sui concetti di realtà e destino. Finale aperto. Come sempre. Che sia un loop? tutto si ripete, solo con sfumarure diverse?
Non lasciatevi ingannare dall'enorme astronave aliena sospesa su Tokyo: l'invasione è solo lo sfondo (l'ansia sociale, i problemi che non si risolvono) che definisce la vera storia.
Il cuore pulsante sono Kadode e Oran, due amiche inseparabili che cercano di sopravvivere all'adolescenza e al passaggio all'età adulta, tra videogiochi, esami e chiacchiere, con il mondo letteralmente in bilico.
Asano esplora il tema della normalizzazione della tragedia e la forza del legame umano come unica vera "arma" contro il caos. È un mix unico di slice of life e fantascienza complessa, con un finale che tocca il metaverso (troppo di moda per lasciarlo scappare) e che porta quindi a riflettere sui concetti di realtà e destino. Finale aperto. Come sempre. Che sia un loop? tutto si ripete, solo con sfumarure diverse?
January 29, 2026
Everything can and will, find its way back to us. Maybe with a different appearance or intent, but perhaps, it was always meant to be that wayーinterconnection isn't meant to be feared. Inio Asano produces diverging swirls of possibilities and through such system, sprouts us back into a different reality with a bittersweet, albeit, slightly cliche ending. I would've liked to see the outcome or just more of the reality that faced the consequences of the characters more 'terrible' actions, but who knows if that would've made a greater finale in the end. It does feel like we were yanked back and forth, and this indecisiveness for where we should be, made it almost feel like different timelines were utilised as escape routes to deviate from complexity and back into simplicity, rather than for story. Also, if it's not the person in itself that travels to varying times, just their subconscious, what happens to the body in the world that's being left behind by said mind? Mhm... questions. Will need to re-read, I enjoyed the beginning much more despite the equal rating throughout. ^~^
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews