Summer 2021 First Impressions – D_Cide Traumerei the Animation

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Part of a multimedia project.

Episode Summary: One of Ryuhei’s darkest childhood memories is witnessing the death of his brother under mysterious circumstances. Now in high school, he practices boxing and enjoys a relatively normal life. That all changes when, one dark evening, he’s bitten by an animal in an alleyway, and after that has an extremely vivid dream in which his senses and abilities are heightened and he’s pitted toe-to-toe against malevolent creatures.

But this is all just a weird dream, right? Ryuhei believes so until he’s out walking the city streets and hears some strange, yet familiar terminology being spoken aloud by some kids racing into an alley. Following them he finds a strange porthole that no one else seems to be able to see. As he tries to decide whether to follow the gateway or not, the decision is made for him as terrifying, animalistic entities spill out into the real world. His ability to see these things would typically mean he has the power to stop them, but it takes loads of hassling from the two blond-haired youngsters (or are they?) actually fighting the creatures for Ryuhei to truly come into his own power. After he defeats what’s called a “Desaria,” he learns that it’s somehow the product of human corruption. The victim’s body is marked by a strange symbol – the same symbol found near Ryuhei’s late brother’s body many years ago.

Impressions: This series’ most visually-obvious trait is its CG animation, so let’s get talk of that out of the way first – it actually looks pretty darn good! While the character facial animation still suffers from some of the issues inherent to CG anime – primarily that being able to portray characters from any angle opens things up to “strange” angles that wouldn’t typically be expressed in a traditionally-animated production – the action animation is well-realized and fun to watch. There are a few scenes in which the CG characters have some minor interactions with 2D characters and there’s some clever framing and decent compositing that makes this fact a lot less obvious unless you’re paying close attention. Overall I think using CG animation saves this series from having mediocre action animation and looks purposeful.

On the other hand, the actual narrative is about as typical as they come. A teenage boy with tragedy in his past and a special ability that sets him apart from others? If I were forced at gunpoint to create an extremely trope-y anime series of my own, it would probably involve most of those things (possibly also some mecha or an android or two, and definitely a beach episode). Slotting Ryuhei in with so many past anime protagonists might seem dismissive, but if he didn’t have pink hair and a neon jacket, I bet he’d be pretty impossible to tell from the others who came before him. His design screams “protagonist-kun” but his actual characterization could use a little more pizazz.

Uniqueness is not always a virtue and tropes are popular for a reason, as is often pointed out, and I get that. I’ve enjoyed plenty of series that follow their formulas to great success. But there’s always some “spark” of inspiration that sets them apart from the pack for me, that lets me remember them specifically rather than just allowing them to flow into my mind and back out again without leaving an impression. I don’t know that D_Cide has really demonstrated what its special spark is yet.

Pros: Aside from the general visual design and action sequences, I think the episode is just fun to watch. One aspect that I particularly enjoyed was the different abilities and manifestations of power that the characters exhibited. Just for example, the other characters that Ryuji encounters use a cool sword, a giant machine gun, and ice skates to fight their adversaries. It’s cheesy, kind of lowbrow material, but I enjoy that kind of silly stuff.

Cons: The important characters, aside from being fully-rendered when others are not, all seem to have a case of main character-itis, in that it’s obvious by their design and costuming that they’re the important ones. One character who we only see briefly, Rena, has ombre pink hair and wears her school uniform in a particularly goofy way that likely wouldn’t really be allowed. Not that I believe dress codes are that great, but her underwear (bra or whatever undershirt that is, as well as thigh sock garters) is right out there. I’m pretty neutral on this kind of thing for the most part, but when the characters are set against a background rabble that’s so incredibly normal in comparison, it’s difficult not to get whiplash.

I’m also a little confused regarding the mechanism by which the Desaria manifest, though I suppose that’s probably being saved for a future episode. For something so dangerous that appears to be the product of human emotions, we get very little information on the unlucky gamer who falls victim to it during this episode.

Content Warnings: Violence (mostly bloodless). Death (or equivalent).

Would I Watch More? – I liked this episode a lot more than I expected and think the animation looks particularly good for what it is. It’s not high on my list to continue but I may check out another couple of episodes down the line if I have the time.