”Don’t suddenly disappear.”
Creative Staff
Story & Art: Inio Asano
Translation: John Werry
What They Say
Three years ago the aliens invaded Tokyo. Nothing was ever the same again. But after a while, even impending doom starts to feel ordinary.
Despite the ongoing menace of WILD INVADERS and A-ray contamination, people are still moving to Tokyo to find opportunities and themselves. After all, the likelihood of getting squashed by a crashing Invader vessel is still extremely low! Meanwhile, Kadode and her friends have started university, where they must face the crisis of choosing which student club to join—a critical decision that will affect the REST OF THEIR LIVES!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Transitioning between arcs tends to be an arduous task for any writer. With the previous “arc” finished, and the new one still gaining its sea legs, there’s a lot of moving pieces to meticulously keep track of all while making sure something is still happening to keep the story moving forward.
And while Dededededestruction volume 4 isn’t immune to this task, it’s still able to do so in a way that pushes everyone’s stories and keeps the flow of the manga going strong.
As the cast transitions from high school to college, we’re introduced to characters Futaba and Makoto. Futaba is your typical overly-eager girl excited to leave her townie lifestyle in favor of something more glamorous. She romanticizes life in Tokyo and puts a bit too much passion into things like student protests not for the sake of “supporting the cause,” but rather to give her own life more meaning. Meanwhile, Makoto is a cross-dresser who seeks a more open-minded crowd to accept their lifestyle, yet is stubborn when it comes to matters concerning the Invaders. The two aren’t the most likeable, but aren’t meant to be, instead balancing out the more neutral-opinioned main cast.
On that topic, it is rather strange to stop and consider that Ontan and co remain so neutral when it comes to their opinions on the Invaders in the first place. You’d think that with as much as has happened at their home town that they’d at least form some solid opinions one way or another on the issue. And yet when pushed into the college scenario where multiple boorish outsiders begin speaking of issues as if it happened to them firsthand, the main cast remains undecided on where they stand on matters. The issue of the Invaders is one that literally hits too close to home for any of the main girls to the point that they never even considered it something worth talking about in the first place.
And yet with the Invaders transitioning from this looming “threat” to something more tangible, the girls are constantly being pushed into making a decision—should the Invaders be treated with hostility or peace? Of interest on this matter especially is Ontan. On the surface, she remains a little internet troll who constantly speaks of owning the normies with her unique brand of dictatorship. But throughout the volume, we’re treated with these brief moments of vulnerability. They’re few and far between, but as Ontan begins to shed her brash persona for something more sincere, we get a better feel for how such matters could affect anyone. Genuine fears are put into the spotlight before immediately disappearing into the background. And it’s in this way her fears are brought to our attention that they’re made that much more realistic.
Beginning college, there’s already this silent understanding that the girls must move away from their childish tendencies in favor of something more mundane and socially acceptable. Most of the main cast takes this challenge head on, and yet Ontan just can’t bring herself to mature. She’s the type of person to connect her brand of bizarre to her core being—to be asked to abandon that brand of bizarre is to ask to abandon who she is as a person. The issue overlaps perfectly with matters involving the Invaders, as we get to spend some time with a select few that have finally landed on Earth from their flying saucer base. Right as Ontan begins to feel the most aimless as she’s ever been, she’s met with a first encounter from one of the Invaders. It’s a solid cliffhanger to leave the volume on that I’m sure will catapult the series into a solid second arc.
In Summary:
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction volume 4 marks the start of a new beginning for the cast. The theme of prioritizing the mundane over an ensuing political nightmare persists, but has begun to shift gears as the cast transitions from high school to college—particularly when it comes to how the Invaders are being framed. What was once an enigma is being shoved into the light, with some serious implications for what’s to come.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Mature
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: January 15, 2019
MSRP: $14.99
