DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1 comes on the heels of that postapocalyptic thriller of a pilot episode. Frankly, it’s everything that I did and did not expect. It basically rewinds time to when the alien spacecraft first appeared, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s everything I did and did not expect after that cliffhanger in the previous episode.

DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1: Details

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When Independence Day meets slice of life anime in the most unexpected ways.

DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1 is the second episode (you can read a review of Ep. 0 here) of this postapocalyptic science fiction slice-of-life anime series. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Inio Asano (Solanin, Goodnight Punpun). Said anime also originally premiered as a pair of anime films on March 22, 2024 and May 24, 2024. Production +h. (The Orbital Children) is the animation studio behind this anime. Crunchyroll is the company licensing this anime for its worldwide debut.

Alas, we don’t know who is behind DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1 as of this writing. However, for the anime as a whole, we do know that Tomoyuki Kurokawa (PSYCHO-PASS) is the director. Reiko Yoshida (Violet Evergarden) is the writer. Takaaki Suzuki (Violet Evergarden series) did the world setting. Nobutake Ito (INU-OH) is the chief animation director and character designer. Satoshi Takezawa (Digimon Adventure) is the color designer. Mika Nishimura (Typhoon Noruda) is the art director. Satoi Inami is the CG director. Takuma Morooka (Moriarty the Patriot) is the cinematographer. Masayuki Kurosawa (Laid-Back Camp) is the editor. Takeshi Takadera ([Oshi no Ko]) is the sound director. Taro Umebayashi (Space Dandy) is the composer responsible for the music.

Speaking of music: “ZeZeZeZettai Seiiki” by ano featuring Lilas Ikuta is the theme song for this anime. In fact, it was the theme song of the anime film too.

Voice Cast

DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1 features the voices of Lilas Ikuta as Kadode Koyama and ano as Oran Nakagawa. Other notable voice roles in this episode include Kenjiro Tsuda as Nobuo Koyama, Atsumi Tanezaki as Kiho Kurihara, Miyuri Shimabukuro as Ai Demoto, and Saeko Oki as Rin Hirama.

When and Where to Watch

DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1 made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on May 30, 2024. You can watch this episode of the anime only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can watch this anime series as a whole only on Crunchyroll as well, due to it being an exclusive there.

DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1: Synopsis

They still don’t explain the sunglasses in this episode.

Alas, DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION is an ongoing anime series. In fact, DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1 only just premiered yesterday as of this writing. Thus, you will all get the official synopsis of this episode from Crunchyroll in place of a spoiler-filled plot summary. You can check out that synopsis below:

A giant ship appeared in Tokyo, and three years have passed. The daily routine seemed to have ended, and the world appeared to be on the brink of destruction. However, the ship did nothing, and life continued as usual.

DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1: The Good

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I have no idea where she got that from, but I kind of want one.

Honestly, everything about the story of DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1 is what makes it one of the best new anime in recent times. If you hadn’t watched that pilot episode, then you would likely be fooled into thinking that this episode is a slice of life anime at first. If you did watch that pilot though, then the sight of the massive alien spacecraft hovering over Tokyo as the camera pans out shouldn’t be a surprise. And yet despite that UFO akin to the Independence Day flying saucers, nothing seems to have changed much for our main characters.

At least, on the surface that seems to be the case. However, the UFO does actually have a subtle effect on the story for our main characters if you pay close attention. It’s that subtlety to the story (all thanks to Inio Asano) that is what makes this story a masterpiece.

However, what’s the story of an anime without the animation? Indeed, Production +h. really did a great job with that animation too. The quality is basically anime film levels of quality, which is quite appropriate given that this anime series originally aired in Japan as an anime film. Two of them, actually, with the second one premiering just last week on May 24. It’s that animation quality that enhances the story. Especially with the food. For an anime that isn’t focused on food, the food animation quality is great. Even better than Astro Note, which is saying something.

DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1: The Bad

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The sound effects manifesting as translucent hiragana are a nice touch too.

Honestly, my only complaint here is that the events…might be a bit out of order here. I feel like the effect of the camera panning out to reveal the UFO might’ve had much more of an effect had this episode been the pilot. I mean, imagine the reaction to the reveal that all the characters had been staring at a massive alien spacecraft hovering over Tokyo when they’d been staring out the windows. That would’ve been epic. Ah well, it is what it is, and what we got is still amazing.

However, if you’re an action junkie, then DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION Ep. 1 isn’t for you. It’s a pretty slow burner of a story, not fit for fans of high-intensity action. If you want that, then you might want to check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, or Kaiju No. 8.