MANGA TITLE: Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Volume 1
STORY & ART by Inio Asano
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Viz Signature
Released on April 2018
From Inio Asano, the creator of “Solanin” comes “Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction”.
Serialized in Shogakukan’s seinen magazine “Big Comic Spirits” since April 2014, the manga series will now be released in North America courtesy of Viz Media via their imprint, Viz Signature.
The manga series revolves around two friends, Kadode Koyama and Oran “Ontan” Nakagawa during a time when a spaceship has descended into Japan. Many people were blasted by the UFO and many people lost their lives and areas all over Tokyo were destroyed.
But then everything has stopped and while small spaceships are flying around from time to time, life is returning to normal, with no one knowing why the UFO is still above Tokyo and why they just stopped their destruction.
And while Japan and the United States are working with each other to fight back against the aliens, for Kadode and Oran, it’s just another day.
The story fast forwards three years later since 8/31 and Kadode, Oran and friends hang out, have fun while a looming spaceship is right above Tokyo.
I suppose you can say that “Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction” is a fascinating manga series.
Trying to take something banal as high school friends hanging out but adding a huge UFO looming above Tokyo, with adults are at ease, while the teens are just adapting to change and seeing life as normal.
Kadode and Oran are two best friends, both into conspiracy theories and for the most part, girls just having fun.
We don’t know why the UFO is looming above, we don’t know why the UFO stopped attacking Tokyo. It’s just been hovering above Tokyo for three years with a few smaller ships coming out to fly around, while Japan and the USA try to build weapons to destroy the aliens that attacked Earth.
But as Kadode finds herself having a crush on her teacher and Oran worried about her best friend, the manga tends to focus on Kadode and her circle of friends. The things they talk about as if life was like any other day, while the adults are the ones reacting to the change of life because of the alien invaders. And that unease of not knowing when it will attack next, is a bit nerve racking for all of them.
If anything, I look at this first volume as more of an introductory volume to establish the characters and possibly setting things up for something big. Not really sure where the series is going to go but the ending does tease that big things are yet to come.
The manga is wonderfully illustrated by Inio Asano and for the most part, I enjoyed this unusual slice-of-life teen manga but whether it remains consistent or it changes as the story continues on, no doubt has me interested.
A fascinating sci-fi story that blends teenage drama with a sci-fi element, Inio Asano’s “Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction” is recommended!