Apr 23, 2025
It pains me to leave a negative review, as after the first few episodes I thought it would be a 10/10 anime of the year. But closer to the end, I regretted the time I spent on this mess.
It starts very strong as a slice-of-life story coupled with sci-fi elements, somewhat similar to NieA Under 7 or Zettai Shounen, but with more focus on the main character's connection to the UFO that has been floating over Tokyo for a few years by the time the story begins. The two protagonists, Ontan and Kadode, are fun to watch. They feel alive—eccentric, but realistic in many ways.
...
Then there’s an alien roaming around in human form, then we get a flashback about their childhood, a meeting with the alien, and how Kadode decided to become Kira but ended up killing herself—yet she’s alive in the present... All of it is explained in the most underwhelming reveal in all of anime. But at first, it seems like a perfect mystery is being set up, and we’ll have a great time watching it.
Nah, not really. DDDDD tries to be everything and fails at all of it. I could talk about each aspect, because they don’t really come together into a single narrative.
Slice of Life
The slice-of-life aspect is very chaotic. Aside from the backstory, Ontan and Kadode aren’t even involved with the global plot about the UFO—they just live their lives, and it goes nowhere. There are only 17 episodes, yet the anime introduces a bucket of one-line characters that we never see again or care about. Then it spends an entire episode on a side character who is irrelevant for the rest of the show...
Politics
DDDDD isn’t just sci-fi—it’s also social commentary. You can draw parallels to contemporary politics if you want, but the main message is: humanity is evil, the military is comically evil, politicians are comically stupid and evil. Aliens are also comically stupid, but good. There’s no nuance or depth—most humans are just bad because they’re bad. It feels like it was written by a burned-out, nihilistic individual who, however, didn’t have guts to end the story the way it should’ve ended. But more on that later.
Sci-fi
Easily the worst part. No explanation is better than a bad explanation—and boy, this is bad. Nothing makes any sense. The aliens have advanced technology, but they sit inside the UFO and make no attempt to fight back, establish contact, or just fly away from Japan. It’s openly stated that the only problem is the language barrier, but they have auto-translator devices in abundance. They can overtake human bodies, but don’t. They say they’re from Earth, but it’s never explained. There’s time travel, but you lose your memory... but not really. Whatever. What are the pink doom spheres? What are the hands of God? This anime is a bowl of spaghetti made of loose ends and unexplained plot twists. Maybe some of it is explained in the manga, but I’m only rating the anime.
Love Story
Yes, there’s a love story—because why not? Like everything else, it starts out of nowhere and leads nowhere. Nothing else to say about it, really.
Ending
The cherry on top. So the main message of the show, formulated by Ontan’s brother, is: if there’s one person you love, you should do everything to protect them, ignore everyone else, and even if the world ends as a result—it’s not a big deal. Considering the author sees the world as a rather bad place and most humans as garbage, it makes sense. And in episode 16, it seems like it happens: Ontan destroys most of the world but saves her friend. Now it’s time to conclude this philosophy—whatever the conclusion might be.
Nah, we don’t have the balls to do that. Instead, we get the laziest Deus Ex Machina I’ve ever seen. Kadode’s dad, who was absent the entire show, comes back, finds a time machine, goes to the past, and saves the day. No death, no invasion, and everyone is happy. How does he do it? Well, write that part in your head—just like many other parts.
TL;DR
A disappointing anime with a great premise but poor execution. It has some likable characters and nice art but fails as sci-fi and as a story, with a multitude of loose plot lines and a lazy, cowardly conclusion.
Oh yeah, there are also Gundams. Why the hell not?
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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