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James Marsh

4/5 stars
For a tight-knit group of hormonally charged high-school girls, there are far more pressing matters than invading aliens in Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction.
Adapted from a manga series by Inio Asano, this two-part anime epic unfolds in the shadow of a giant spacecraft, which appeared over Tokyo three years earlier.
Since that day, the aliens’ presence has triggered action from the government, polarising political activism and violence and destruction, resulting in a volatile atmosphere around the world.


For best friends Kadode and Ouran (voiced by J-pop starlets Lilas Ikuta and Ano respectively) and their pals, the fate of the world pales in comparison to more immediate issues permeating their adolescent lives.
Kadode’s father disappeared on August 31 – the day the aliens arrived – and her mother has since become a paranoid germaphobe determined to move to the countryside with her new boyfriend.

Kadode is also infatuated with her teacher Watarase, applying to his alma mater and insisting they start dating as soon as she graduates, a proposal Ouran actively supports and even Watarase seems far from averse to.
We learn about the origins of Kadode and Ouran’s friendship through a series of flashbacks, including how the pair came to adopt a stranded alien – which they hid inside a plush toy – and the destructive consequences of their actions.
Try as they might to live ordinary teenage lives, the encroaching threat of Armageddon inevitably takes centre stage, not least when one of their own is killed.
The mastery of Asano’s writing is in how he deftly balances these two seemingly incompatible themes.

Directed by Tomoyuki Kurokawa, the action unfolds across a pair of feature-length animated films that revel in the grand spectacle of its Independence Day-style premise, while populating the drama with fully realised characters, specifically fun-loving schoolgirls teetering on the cusp of womanhood.
The alien invasion alludes to the looming threat of adulthood that awaits our heroines, while also evoking memories of the September 11 attacks and the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, but the invaders do not remain a faceless threat for long.
Just as the military and government are at loggerheads over how to respond, we learn the aliens also fall into feuding factions.

Despite its baffling title, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction emerges as a brilliantly realised hybrid of science fiction and soap opera, as compelling as it is almost impossible to categorise.
The cliffhanger of Part 1, which opens in Hong Kong cinemas on July 11, will leave audiences clamouring for explanations, for which they will have to wait two weeks until Part 2 is released.
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A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction. Photo: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/DeDeDeDe Committee

A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 1 (category: IIB, Japanese), voiced by Lilas Ikuta and Ano. Directed by Tomoyuki Kurokawa. Photo: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/DeDeDeDe Committee.

A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 1. The anime epic unfolds under the shadow of a giant spacecraft as aliens invade Tokyo. Photo: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/DeDeDeDe Committee

A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 1. The main characters Kadode and Ouran are voiced by J-pop starlets Lilas Ikuta and Ano respectively. Photo: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/DeDeDeDe Committee

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J-pop star Ano voices a high-school girl in anime that deftly balances teenage drama with aliens invading Japan. What will Part 2 bring?


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Review

Review | Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 1 movie review: anime mixes teen drama, aliens

J-pop star Ano voices a high-school girl in anime that deftly balances teenage drama with aliens invading Japan. What will Part 2 bring?