Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction

Episode 2

On its most basic level, this episode is about Kadode. As the end of high school nears, she's feeling increasingly lost. She feels like she has nothing she cares about—nothing to look forward to. So when she sees how happy her friend is at getting a boyfriend, she can't help but envy her. Thus, she decides to (awkwardly) seduce her crush—her teacher, Watarase.

Let's be clear here. From the moment she suggests coming by his house, he knows what's up. More than that, he's okay with it. It's an unwritten rule as a teacher in Japan that you never let a student visit you at home (for this very reason). Her being there, even if it was a purely innocent thing, would be enough to get him fired. Protestations aside, he cares more about having sex with his students than he does his job.

However, before getting down to it, the two actually manage to not only get to the root of her problems but also reveal that things aren't as Kadode perceives them to be. She does have something she cares about that makes her life worth living: Oran. Faced with that realization, Kadode no longer needs Watarase to fill the void in her life—and she heads to where she truly wants to be.

What's doubly interesting is how Oran reacts to the whole thing. She's been ditched by all her friends—some for better reasons than others. It makes sense for her to feel angry. But when it comes to how she feels about Kadode, her anger is not at being left behind; it's being left behind for no reason. If having sex with Watarase is needed to make Kadode happy, then Oran is down to play wingman. However, if Kadode wimped out at the last moment, then what was Oran sacrificing her feelings for?

Luckily, Kadode can, in her own awkward way, get her feelings across. It's not that she ran away from Watarase, it's that she'd rather be with Oran. And as we see throughout the rest of the episode, she's determined to keep Oran in her life by ensuring they both attend the same college.

The rest of the episode is a condemning look at humanity in general—we can't just leave well enough alone. For years, the alien ship has sat in the sky doing nothing beyond sending out a recon craft or two. There have been no attacks or anything similar. With the sense of danger passed, the goal has become to remove the obstruction from the Tokyo sky. So the government simply starts shooting at its recon craft. This is a clear escalation, but the government cares more about the upcoming Tokyo Expo than they do about starting a war with an advanced alien race.

Humanity. We're just incapable of seeing past our shortsighted BS.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• The non-translation of onscreen text in the subtitled version persists and robs viewers of knowing what Oran's brother is responding to on Twitter.

• I'm not sure why Watarase's parting words of “Well, I guess I can just hit up some porn sites.” is translated as “Well, that's gonna complicate things.” Was there some need to try and make it ambiguous that he was scum and was expecting to have sex with her?

• I love teary-eyed, drooling Oran.

• I would be Ai's father, living for years in temporary housing simply because it was paid for by the government.

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Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.