Dandadan

Reeling from her recent breakup, Momo Ayase, a popular high schooler, shows kindness to her socially awkward schoolmate, Ken Takakura, by standing up to his bullies. Ken misunderstands her intentions, believing he has made a new friend who shares his obsession with aliens and UFOs. However, Momo's own eccentric occult beliefs lie in the supernatural realm; she thinks aliens do not exist. A rivalry quickly brews as each becomes determined to prove the other wrong.

Despite their initial clash over their opposing beliefs, Momo and Ken form an unexpected but intimate friendship, a bond forged in a series of supernatural battles and bizarre encounters with urban legends and paranormal entities. As both develop unique superhuman abilities, they learn to supplement each other's weaknesses, leading them to wonder if their newfound partnership may be about more than just survival.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ayase, Momo Main

Wakayama, Shion Japanese

Takakura, Ken Main

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Shiratori, Aira ing

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Ayase, Seiko ing

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Enjouji, Jin ing

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Turbo Granny ing

Tanaka, Mayumi Japanese

Mr. Mantis Shrimp ing

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Rokuro ing

Nakai, Kazuya Japanese

Chiquitita ing

Oozora, Naomi Japanese

Acrobatic Silky ing

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kamei, Hiroshi Producer

Aoi, Hiroyuki Producer

Ishikawa, Tatsuya Producer

Reviews

Dec 19, 2024

MarlsMarsBars

Recommended

Out of all the anime that was set to air this year, Dan Da Dan was the one I was looking forward to the most… for some reason. I honestly don’t know why that is, but I have said before that I really enjoy when animated projects, especially anime, fully embrace being goofy and allowing itself to go all out creatively. While I like good narratives above everything else, I also like when an anime is just unapologetically bizarre and fun, and that is exactly what Dan Da Dan is. Now, does Dan Da Dan have a good or well-rounded narrative? Not exactly. As a ... fan of this series, I understand and recognize that the overarching storylines revolving around trying to find Okarun’s balls is quite flimsy and shallow, however what really carries the writing are a few aspects: the overall tone of the series, the fun character dynamics, and the over-the-top action sequences.

As someone who is so tired of “hype” battle shonen animanga, Dan Da Dan felt like a huge breath of fresh air to me. The first two episodes of the anime did such an amazing job hooking me into the rest of this series that I decided to pick up the manga and was able to catch myself up with the source material before this season finished airing. The reason why this action anime managed to hook me in ways other battle shonen weren’t able to can be attributed to how this series tonally handles itself. I’m so tired of narratives within the shonen demographic taking themselves more seriously than they really need to be, like Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen, or not understanding which tonality to streamline itself in, like Kaiju No. 8. Dan Da Dan is unapologetically goofy as hell and I love it. Having a series revolving around a bunch of teenagers fighting both yokai spirits and aliens with unconventional abilities is pretty much everything I can ask for in both the action genre of anime and the shonen demographic. While there are other shonen anime that I greatly prefer over Dan Da Dan (i.e., Attack on Titan, The Dangers in My Heart, Frieren, etc.), I really like how this series just accepts how unserious the overall atmosphere is and doesn’t hold back in giving us some fun episodes and chapters that kept me engaged. However, that’s not to say that Dan Da Dan needs to be *all* serious. There are moments throughout this season - and more beyond this season - where we are given a very riveting and emotionally deep subplot related to the backstories of the yokai spirits, which I think is executed really well. Acrobatic Silky’s backstory was already very well executed in the manga, but the anime further elevated that subplot with some creative cinematography coupled with beautiful animation and soundtrack. While these moments are more emotionally driven than what the rest of the series leads on, I don’t mind the tonal shift since it’s very few and far between and it makes sense within the context of how humans who lived tragic lives end up becoming these spirits. This doesn’t take away or make the series tonally inconsistent, but rather adds depth to an otherwise pretty shallow series, and I welcome that.

At its core, Dan Da Dan is essentially an action adventure shonen animanga. “Adventure” in the sense that the characters take us to various locations that elevate the action of this series and help transport us viewers to this strange world of spirits and aliens. However, these adventurous arcs wouldn’t have been as interesting or entertaining to watch if it weren’t for the characters and the goofy dynamic they all share with one another. The main cast of Ken Takakura, aka Okarun, Momo Ayase, Seiko Aayase, Turbo Granny, Aira Shiratori, and Jin Enjoji, aka Jiji, are all massive goofballs in their own right, so when you put them together in chaotic situations like what this series throws at them, you just get an overload of fun in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I find the whole “loud characters” trope in shonen anime and manga to be quite annoying, but I like how it’s utilized in Dan Da Dan because the characters are such goofballs to be taken seriously like in other battle shonen. Are the characters a bit obnoxious? Sure. However, within the tonal context of this series, it works pretty well in of maintaining the overall insanity of this series. With that said, it’s not perfect. The “romance” for lack of a better term between Okarun and Momo is quite shallow and flimsy, but again, I don’t mind it in this context since these two characters are teenage loose cannons who are still trying to figure out their place in the world. Seiko and Turbo Granny are very similar to characters like Dimple from Mob Psycho 100 where they are good ing pieces while having a fun spin to their relationships with the main cast. Aira and Jiji can be seen as annoying at first, however they are given enough room for them to grow or have an interesting dynamic with the main duo, although we will see a truer side to these characters in later seasons.

As mentioned earlier, the narratives in Dan Da Dan are elevated by the stunning animation, and Science SARU has knocked it out of the park for this anime. Not only was the Acrobatic Silky episode - at least in my opinion - a masterpiece in visual storytelling in animation, the over-the-top nature of the fight sequences in Dan Da Dan is further brought to life with the stunning visuals in the anime. Out of all of the action anime to air this year, I truly think Science SARU and Madhouse did it the best with both Dan Da Dan and Frieren respectively. Whenever Okarun uses his Turbo Granny form, it is pretty much guaranteed that the fight scene is going to be a visual spectacle. The directing for this anime adaptation elevates the source material to new heights, so much so that I truly think that this will make Dan Da Dan a household name when it comes to new gen battle shonen anime.

Now, while I really enjoy this series, it isn’t perfect. Easily the worst part of this series has to be the fan service, both in the manga and the anime. I find it a bit uncomfortable when the main characters, who are minors, are being sexualized in a way that is quite suggestive in of the animated frames we are given in the anime. What’s worse is that the fan service is a bit more muted in the source material than it is here for some reason, which is a shame since I don’t see any reason to “enhance” this aspect within the adaptation. It was especially bad in the first episode/chapter, however, a good thing is that the fan service is not only very few and far between, but also non-existent moving forward past this season. If Dan Da Dan does get picked up for more seasons (which I personally hope it does), rest assured that this uncomfortable aspect of the series is not prevalent in the slightest moving forward.

I know other people will complain about the pacing and how short some arcs can be, but I honestly don’t mind the pacing since the more segmented form of storytelling helps keep the series fresh and new every few episodes. I really want Dan Da Dan to get more seasons because as a manga reader, I can assure you it only gets better from here, and the shorter arcs really become a treat as the series keeps us on our tippy-toes with fresh storylines and fun character dynamics to continuously gauge your interest. I understand Dan Da Dan might not be for everyone, but if you want a fun and silly battle shonen anime to watch, then check this anime out.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 19, 2024

topfloorboss45

Mixed Feelings

The most hyped anime of the season has finally wrapped up and in all honestly it's pretty fun, but that's about it.

Even though Dandadan lacks a proper storyline, or fails to really be impactful in any way, in spectacle alone, it certainly delivers.

It's a comparatively well-done comedy/action that often succeeds in it's efforts to appear outlandish and do something different to what most other mediocre recycled battle-shonens appear to be spewing out nowadays.

Being able to go from stupid scenes about retrieving one's balls to a genuinely masterfully animated and emotionally gripping sequence, Dandadan is like a little box of chocolates that'll have an episode ... to amuse almost any viewer.

But that's the thing. Dandadan is a box of mixed chocolates that doesn't even know what brand it is. An inconsistent bunch of episodes that don't know whether to be good, great, or plain mediocre. Many times I've tuned in to just be completely disappointed by the lack of substance in certain episodes, which shouldn't really be happening in a twelve episode production.

The one thing that you can't discredit this show for is it's beautiful animation. Watching DDD, it's made obvious that the animation team poured their heart and soul into producing it. The overall ambiance and aesthetic of the show is something that you don't have to look for. It's right in your face pinching your cheek and always grabbing your attention.
You could say the same for the music and voice acting. The VAs never fail to capture the essence of every character in the show, definitely contributing to their iconic presence on social media.


Overall, Dandadan is a show that isn't one with many major faults, but also isn't one that'll blow your socks off and change your life with its quality, which is completely fine.

Leave your expectations of an objective masterpiece behind when you hop into this show, and I'm sure you'll have a little fun.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 20, 2024

Cyrose

Not Recommended

Welcome to 2024 where there is no such a thing as a bad anime.

Thanks to the fact that anime as a medium has become more mainstream, the Overton window on the perspective of what constitutes a good anime has shifted.

This is because the popular anime of today create a bias for what is expected of the medium. This baseline influences what others think is good.

Dandadan is everything that the current generation seeks. Crazy, colorful, absurd, erotic, and geared towards a low attention span.

It’s perfect.

If viewers of this era would start with any anime from before 2018, they would think it’s boring and slow. As usually ... anime typically handle their settings like this:

Introduction > some conflict > get to know the characters > rising to a climax > action > resolution.

In today’s case Dan Da Dan looks like this:

Intro > //Dan Da Dan Da..// > tiny bit of Introduction > action > more action > nudity > action > nudity > action > more action > end.

It is necessary to understand that the consequences of this aforementioned anime viewing behavior have affected the production quality of anime in general. This has resulted in the mass production of slop anime, that aim to hit the largest possible audience at once.

Regardless that supernatural themes are often hit or miss. The concept about aliens and ghosts are always intriguing and who hates these paranormal concepts anyway?

This statement is only true if it is done right.

The issues with this series started with the plot that progressed way too quickly, making it difficult for me to emotionally connect with the characters and the circumstances. Although I was excited to see the supernatural genre from a fresh angle, it lacked depth and felt like it was just made for cheap entertainment without offering any genuine or valuable storytelling.

So much information is thrown at you in either by a silly conversations or yakety-yak. Not like anything that happens makes a bit of sense anyway.

Shows like this must be funny as the setting is strange and the plot farcically ridiculous. However the jokes and funny moments completely lacked chemistry and since everything else happened so fast, when they tried to squeeze a little funny moment in it, it felt dragged which usually ended up coming off as cringe rather than being funny.

100 romance manga or not, despite the author had to sit through this amount of romance manga to create a strong romantic relationship and story between the two main character. It backfired since they both got along with each other as if they were close friends from the beginning. Not to mention the way Momo falls immediately for Ken just because of his full name and not because of his personality say a lot about the romance of this anime.

The way people are getting emotional after episode seven is the biggest reflection of how low the bar has been settled for standards in this era of anime viewers. I am a type of person that can tear up by just hearing a beautifully composed song or even by listening conversations between 2 characters, but that scene was way too fabricated therefore after six episodes of absolute blather, so it was more funny than weepy for me.

Animation was decent, overall when there wasn’t a lot of movement the art was nice and colorful. However, I can’t say the same to the animation smoothness as often it wasn’t consistent. Although in action scenes you could say it was intentional to be inconsistent to appear quirkier. There were non-action scenes where the animation really lacked and not done on the same level as the opening credits, which tells.

The design of the ghosts is very similar to the Arrancars from Bleach while the UFO’s are just ugly humans who want to rape, actually ghosts also have sexual assault desires. But even fan service became more fake and over exaggerated in modern. The whole “banana scene” and the hot granny.. why does everything and everyone has to be perverted and over-sexualized? Just why?

On last note, I would like to mention the voice actors. As for me personally it was a complete disaster. The two main character’s voice was an absolutely mismatch, didn’t fit to their characters and personalities. Although Hanae Natsuki is one of my favorite VA, he couldn’t make his voice more like an “Okarun” type of person as Ken was. He could have change voices when he turns into a ghost, but he just wasn’t nailing this role unfortunately. Ayase Momo voiced by Wakayama Shion and although she is quite unpopular and this role probably is her first major role, this character just didn’t suit her voice at all. Her voice was way too natural and deep.

Pros and Cons

🔴 Rushed Narrative
🔴 Weak Comedy
🔴 Boring Dialogues
🔴 Shallow Characters
🔴 Predictable Romance
🔴 Unbalanced Story
🔴 No Meaningful or Educational Value
🟠 Decent Background Art
🟠 Opening
🟢 Accessible on Netflix

In conclusion

It is a pity that this new generation of anime can be so highly regarded despite lacking to provide any valuable messaging.

By that means, Dan Da Dan is an absolutely perfect anime for the modern target audience where viewers want a spectacle but don’t care for plot. Unfortunately, it takes more than it gives to those who still have the access to the entire scoring system.

It might work for social media content as it is fictitious and has so many cringe content that some video creators might be able to force out reactions to. However for any normal anime watcher, watching grass grow would bring out more facial expressions out of them than watching this nonsense.

In Summary: For the past few years Anime is on a downfall and it is disheartening to see one of my favorite media in a chaotic dive to decay.

Personally, I prefer meaningful quality content over generic, goofy over-sexualized ones.

Final score: 2/10 ⭐️ Peak cringeworthy.

I’m grateful to you for taking the time to read my review, your is kindly appreciated.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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