Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction

Episode 7

After the insanely heavy episode we got last week, it's nice to get one that isn't completely soul-crushing—even though it's more than a bit poignant.

This episode follows Ai, one of the other girls of Ouran and Kadode's friend group. Mojiya asks Ai out during her final high school days and they head out on a date. This bus tour not only gives us a wider view of the situation surrounding Tokyo—i.e., that certain areas of the city have been abandoned and the after-effects of the American attack have left a literal cloud hanging over the city—but also gives us insight into Ai.

Ai is the mom of the friend group—a role that's not all that surprising as she is raising her brothers at a relative's house since her parents refuse to move out of refugee housing because the government pays the rent. Yet, despite her self-sacrificing actions, she is ultimately ruled by guilt. A big part of her feels like what she's dealing with is karmic justice. Her parents are exploiting the system (and thus robbing help from those who need it), and she doesn't feel as sad over the death of Kiho as she feels she should.

This guilt is why she rejects the idea of becoming Mojiya's girlfriend. She doesn't feel like she deserves someone as good as him—or that he deserves someone as lacking as her. In a big way, she is sabotaging her own happiness. After all, it's clear the two like each other. However, it's also evident that she has more than enough on her plate—to the point that she likely wouldn't have time for Mojiya even if they tried to make things work.

Yet, even while dealing with her heartbreak, Ai gets hit with a major revelation. We know that Ai and Rin are best buds—and this episode even tells us that Rin switched schools to stay with Ai after her home was destroyed. However, Rin is not the end-all-be-all of Ai's support network. Just because Ouran and Kadode are each other's "absolute" doesn't mean they care nothing for others. Without even being asked by Ai, they spend an entire night chaperoning her little brother so he can play in an arcade tournament.

This causes Ai to realize that while, yes, her parents and the aliens caused her to miss out on things like dating, her life isn't half bad. She has people that love and care for her. She's content with where her life is at the moment—and I think that's a level of acceptance many of us long for.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• A good 95% of this episode wasn't in the theatrical cut.

• Fun note: The aliens don't get subtitles in the theatrical version.

• Are that subtitles for on-screen text I see? Great! Now, only the dubtitle issues remain. By the end of the show, we might have an anime localization that lives up to the baseline standards set decades ago!

• Can I say that I love how the subtitles don't match the native English spoken by the American tourists?

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