English Dub Review: Deca-Dence “Sprocket”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

In the aftermath of the whale-sized, Gadoll attack where many Gears who fought against them are either dead or wounded, the Tankers & recovery teams are already harvesting Gadoll meat which at least answers another question since I kinda noticed that they had meat in their local markets despite a later scene establishing that they also have livestock such as cows. It is then revealed in what feels like a plot twist that should’ve been saved for a much later episode down the line, that the titular land-fortress isn’t what it seems and the twist itself even played with my expectations…

We also get a flashback to Kaburagi’s past from 7 years ago that delves deep into why he has such a cynical attitude towards the idea of fighting again, but because he was part of a circle of friends who violated some “rules” he’s reduced to living the rest of his days within a dull daily existence. And if that’s not enough of a mind-fuck twist, He also secretly learns something about Natsume that raises his curiosity enough that he decides to take her to visit the opulent Gears level of Deca-Dence where Gears congregate and see what she’s made of…

Our Take

Maybe I’ll reveal this twist in a much later episode when more things start to unravel, but trust me when I say this episode is worth watching. So where do I even begin? because I audibly uttered “what the fuck?” within the first minute. I mean… wow! this has to be the most far-fetched story development I’ve ever seen and feels like a twist like that was revealed a bit too early for anyone to process. But it did answer a few things from the premiere that interested me. Such as how certain characters have different skin colors, the source of their meat-supply, etc. But most of all, what Kaburagi’s shady actions specifically were from the last episode, it all kinda makes sense now. How he’s so skilled in combat, etc. Clearly a twist like this can somewhat keep it from coming across as the amalgamated rip-off of other shows like how the first episode presented itself.

As for the Kaburagi backstory, It was quite effective in terms of giving his character pathos. But for the episode as a whole, while I do like when a show subverts your expectations, I just hope the narrative stays on-track enough to remain both a compelling & cohesive story even after dropping such an absurdly high-concept twist that only M. Night Shyamalan pretentiously wished he conjured up…