This recap contains spoilers for the Deca-Dence episode “Driveshaft.”
At some point, I ought to stop being surprised that every single episode of Deca-Dence is so good. Yet, seven weeks in and here I am once again blown away by how simultaneously thoughtful and stylish this show is. There’s more of the former than the latter here, admittedly. But since Deca-Dence is at its very best in Thinker Mode, that’s not a complaint. “Driveshaft” begins almost immediately where “Radiator” left off last week. Kaburagi logs back in to Deca-Dence (the game) for the first time since his incarceration. There, he’s shocked to find that Gadoll attacks have become more numerous and ferocious. Enough so to blow a massive hole in the side of The Tank, the area where the Tankers live and get their name from.
Despite “Driveshaft’s” first half being a “Kaburagi episode” in a nebulous sense, his actual role here is fairly peripheral until the end. He does meet up with his old commander. Here, Deca-Dence adds “population control” to the list of decidedly capitalist evils it condemns. His commander is indifferent to the plight of the Tankers. He argues there are too many of them and the hole in the side of the Tank is a “tactful culling.” Kaburagi isn’t having it, and though the commander betrays no immediate change of heart, he does vow to help Kaburagi however he can. Though not before Kaburagi himself disappears in a puff of smoke.
Drive
The real star here is Natsume. Deca-Dence, it can be easy to forget, is as much her story as it is anything broader or deeper. “Driveshaft,” before it is anything else, is a masterful weaving together of the show’s thematic core and its textual narrative and Natsume is the focus of all of that. She’s obviously improved as a fighter. We get to see her take down a Gadoll in a single shot all by herself here, saving many of her fellow Tankers in the process.
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Natsume gets the idea to try repairing the hole in the wall with Tanker house repair kits, and the episode here pivots into an exploration of the simultaneous necessity and difficulty of collective action. Everywhere she seeks help from, Natsume is met with either hostility, indifference or both. She’s even reunited with Fei here for the first time in several episodes. The two have something of a fight, and it’s only through persistence that she’s able to persuade anyone to help. Later in “Driveshaft,” the two hug it out, in one of Deca-Dence‘s most purely sweet moments.
Milk and Tears
Kaburagi and Natsume reunite in the episode’s final third. Natsume, of course, does not recognize her boss. This makes perfect sense (given that he’s walking around in a new body) but causes some initial awkwardness. After the two (sorta) get used to each other again, they have a talk.
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Here, Natsume has something of a breakdown. She is doing so much, but still feels weak and like she’s not being nearly “useful” enough. (Another lament that will be familiar to those of us used to tying our self-worth to capitalistic “usefulness” as workers.) Seeing his pupil-turned-friend completely break like this is enough to fully and completely galvanize Kaburagi. The episode ends on a drastic momentary art-style shift as he vows to tear the entire system down.
In the postscript, back at the prison, he negotiates with Donatello to launch an attack on the Gadoll factory where the creatures are made and unleashed onto Earth. As it heads into its final arc, Deca-Dence, somehow, just keeps getting better. Without reservation, I think this is one of the best and most vital anime airing right now.
Until next week, Deca-Dence fans.
Catch up on our Deca-Dence recaps here!
- MAGIA RECORD Season Finale Recap: (S02E08) You’re Not Strong - September 25, 2021
- MAGIA RECORD Recap: (S02E07) You Don’t Know Anything - September 11, 2021
- MAGIA RECORD Recap: (S02E06) This Is Something Only I Can Do - September 4, 2021
