Considering his reckless plan and traitorous allies, Kaburagi has the odds stacked against him in the coming episodes.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 8 of Deca-Dence, “Turbine,” now streaming on Funimation.
Kaburagi is determined to take down the oppressive video game he’s spent his life within. As he declares in the previous episode, this involves targeting the Gadoll factory, the facility where the Deca-Dence’s monsters are designed and coded. Unfortunately, his plan is lacking in a few key areas, and its success rate is looking very, very low.
The plan is to log into Deca-Dence, infiltrate the factory and somehow put a stop to everything that goes on there. Kaburagi has managed to reclaim his original avatar, which can bypass the invisible barrier that usually keeps players far away from Gadoll production. Natsume will accompany him, as her lack of a chip makes her just about the only other person able to sneak inside and the small army of bugs in Kaburagi’s correctional facility are coming along, too (maybe for moral support, or maybe they have a more substantial role, who knows). The factory probably has security, which can’t be easy to deal with, and it’s going to be crawling with unfinished Gadoll.
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However, a vague plan is the least of his worries. As the latest episode shows that Kaburagi’s real problems may arise not from the factory itself, but from insurgence within his own side.
The problems begin with Turkey, the slimy green guy no one really trusted from the start. Turkey decides that Kaburagi’s plan has no chance of succeeding and so he starts conniving behind the scenes to derail it. He doesn’t buy into the revolutionary spirit fostered by Donatello and Jill, feeling that any plan to overthrow Solid Quake will end in disaster. Admittedly, he’s not wrong to think this way — the plan does appear reckless, and considering Turkey’s history of being disciplined and imprisoned by the Game Police, his cynical attitude adds up.
However, Turkey’s not the type of guy to do anything himself, so he targets the correctional facility’s resident cinnamon roll, Sarkozy. Turkey tries to convince his fellow bug to betray Kaburagi and Donatello, claiming that this would make Sarkozy a hero. Being a dorky, earnest drunkard, Sarkozy is very susceptible to Turkey’s manipulation.
Kaburagi’s second red flag comes from Minato, who he confronts toward the end of the episode. The Deca-Dence commander is a long-time friend of Kaburagi’s, and he proves his loyalty by illegally archiving Kaburagi’s old avatar, which is now an essential part of the factory siege. However, Minato isn’t happy for Kaburagi, and he still struggles to comprehend his friend’s affection for Tankers. Minato’s reason for conserving the avatar was not because he wanted to destroy the video game, but because wanted to play alongside Kaburagi again. This leads to an awkward (and kind of sad) interaction between the two, ending as Minato refuses to meet Kaburagi’s eyes and alludes that he might report back to the Game Police.
It’s possible that Sarkozy and Minato will side with Kaburagi, after all. This doesn’t change the fact that the current plan is way too reckless, and unless Jill injects some much-needed logic into the siege, things are looking bleak. Then again, there’s always the chance that everything will work out fine, and Kaburagi and Natsume will make everything right by stumbling across some magic, Gadoll-destroying button at the heart of it all. Knowing Deca-Dence, that doesn’t seem so unlikely.
