In any regime there is always something that one should agree with, and in Shades there are quite a few notions that, on the face of it, seem like a good thing – the strict adherence to good manners, the fact that learning a musical instrument is compulsory, as is dancing, performing musicals and an hour’s Useful Work every day in order to properly discharge your duty to society. But a cage is still a cage, irrespective of the nature of its bars.