Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2 Anime Film Review

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2 is a film I never want to watch again. However, this is not because it’s bad. Rather, it’s a testament to just how incredible this film is.

The film is full of well-developed and memorable characters—especially its lead trio, Ouran, Kadode, and Ooba. It’s wonderfully animated—combining cartoony character designs with ultra-violence to create something shocking and memorable. To top it off, it has incredibly strong themes conveyed with maximum impact through excellent storytelling.

What makes it hard to watch (or want to rewatch) is the simple fact that it feels too damn real. Despite the aliens, UFOs, super-lasers, and Doraemon-inspired gadgets, this is a film that is bound and determined to drag humanity and modern society into the spotlight—to use sci-fi trappings to put our blemishes on full display.

The central conceit of Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction is the idea that humans can (and will) get used to anything. Even when confronted with a world-changing event—like, say, the existence of alien life or a UFO floating above Tokyo for years—humanity as a whole doesn’t change. Instead, we just go on about our lives as usual. If it doesn’t directly affect us, we put it out of our minds.

This film kicks it up a notch from the first by showing that even things like public genocide are passively accepted by the masses. Even those who feel compelled to act do so with things like peaceful protests—basically doing nothing to directly help those in need, all while convincing themselves that they’re heroes fighting oppression. But then again, what is there that they can do? This film perfectly captures the masses’ self-righteousness and utter helplessness in the face of the apathetic, the powerful, and the government.

The movie is a damningly pessimistic look at humankind as a whole. The world is full of things we can’t control. People driven by their zeal or self-interest will crush the weak underfoot—never noticing or caring about those they’ve destroyed. In such a world, our only hope is to find something we care about and do all we can to protect it. That is the beautiful yet horrible message of this film.

While this story is full of villains and innocents, it’s hard to say there are any true heroes. Oh sure, we may sympathize with Ouran and Ooba, but the two of them ultimately have a body count that surpasses government genocide squads and vigilante alien killers alike. Yet, throughout the film, we root for the pair. If nothing else, we can see that they are working for, if not altruistic reasons, then for human ones that we can understand on a deeply personal level. Love is their driving motivation—even if they’re forced to accept the cost of that love by the time the credits roll.

In the end, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2 is a powerful film that will leave you depressed about the state of the world. It puts the foolishness of humanity on full display and concludes that there is no easy fix—that no force, internal or external, will appear and make everything alright. All we can do is take our happiness where we can get it—and sometimes, we may find ourselves in the right place at the right time to make things just a little bit better.

…Or maybe we’ll die horribly due to events wholly outside of our control.