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James Marsh

3/5 stars
The second half of Tomoyuki Kurokawa’s sprawling science fiction extravaganza – which sees life go on in Tokyo despite the alien spacecraft that have hovered over the Japanese city for years – dives right back into the action at the exact cliffhanger moment that closed out Part 1.
A military strike on one of the smaller spaceships triggers a multitude of diminutive extraterrestrials to literally rain down upon the city. As they scatter to its four corners, we are warned that this point marks exactly six months until the end of humanity.
It is the kind of news that would send any normal human running for the hills, but Kadode and Ouran (voiced by J-pop starlets Lilas Ikuta and Ano, respectively) have more pressing matters.


High school is officially over, and they are now free to start university as strong, independent young adults. Disturbingly, that means that Kadode wastes no time in shacking up with her former teacher, Watarase, for a heated and relatively short-lived relationship.
Ouran gets together with Obu (Miyu Irino), a strange young man who resembles a boy- band idol who went missing on August 31 three years earlier – the day the aliens arrived.
He reveals he is actually an invader and, as romance blossoms between them, unveils to Ouran a number of shocking truths about her past, and the tempestuous events she and Kadode experienced in their childhood.

Condensing Inio Asano’s decade-long manga series into four hours of screen time was never going to be easy, so it comes as no surprise that the producers have been working simultaneously on a longer-format animated series.
The sheer scope and ambition of the narrative demands more time and attention, as military plots, alien infighting and vigilante clashes on both sides vie for attention with the adolescent escapades of a group of young women.
Inevitably, this second film stumbles somewhat in its efforts to fully realise the potential of what was proposed by its predecessor.
The introduction of alternate timelines, and characters who shift between them, feels like a layer of narrative convolution too far in an already dense story.
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction is at its best when contemplating how ordinary citizens carry on with life in the face of conflict, prejudice and existential threat – things that have become an all-too-common backdrop to our daily trivialities.

Is it our responsibility to become actively involved, or do we try our best to keep calm and carry on? That these kinds of questions are being raised at all in a medium aimed at younger people is cause for celebration, even if what follows produces more chaos than clarity.
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A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2. Image: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/Dededede Committee.

A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2 (category IIA, Japanese), directed by Tomoyuki Kurokawa and voiced by Lilas Ikuta and Ano. Image: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/Dededede Committee


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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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The aliens have landed and the action is rolling in Part 2, but the protagonists have far more pressing, personal matters to attend to


The end of humanity and an alien invasion vie for attention with the escapades of a group of young women in part two of a story that stumbles in its efforts to fully realise the potential promised in part one.


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Review

Review | Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2 movie review – sci-fi anime ends in chaos

The aliens have landed and the action is rolling in Part 2, but the protagonists have far more pressing, personal matters to attend to