Review of Dan Da Dan

Going into Dandadan, I honestly had ZERO expectations. Ok that’s not actually true. I may have not watched any trailers, but I did see the poster and read a little bit of the synopsis and before then, people were hyping up the name “Dandadan” but other than that, I was pretty much going into it completely blind. On the day of the series premiere, I randomly saw on my super duper top secret anime “buccaneer” website that the series had started airing, so even though I didn’t plan it at all, I thought it would be neat to start watching it and see what itwas all about. And I think that was the right choice for me. Because I remember watching that first episode, and being absolutely blown away.

Now I don't think I could really recommend this series to everyone because of this first episode because…some indecent behavior occurs to put it politely. But with that being said, I still couldn’t believe this anime actually existed. I hadn’t felt this way about an anime in awhile and it also helped that at the time, I was having a pretty rough week personally. So watching that series premiere just completely made my day, which again, I was NOT expecting at all. From the animation, to the characters, to the concept, I was just totally hooked and on board. There was so much energy, creativity, talent and definitely weirdness on full display, and I couldn’t help but embrace the madness of it all. I was dying to see what more insane shit would happen next…

…But I had to wait another week for the next episode :(

And as I watched it weekly, I began to realize how much of an emotional connection I had made with this series and how invested I was in this very…”interesting” story to put it lightly. Like there’s a point in the plot that revolves around the male protagonist, Okarun trying to collect his ballsacks that connect to his third leg. Yes, this is a real plot point in this series and the show doesn’t really take it that seriously. When the show does actually get serious though, it feels appropriate and hits hard because of that. It might be the most pitch-perfect balance of tone that I’ve seen in an anime all year: It knows when to pull on your heartstrings a bit and it knows when to be very silly and ridiculous.

That’s one thing I didn’t really expect from this series: the humor is actually really well executed. I mean it’s not like LMAO funny but there were a lot of moments that made me smile and chuckle a bit. Also I don’t think I need to explain how consistently beautiful the animation is. Science SARU did the animation and GODDAMN it looks so fluent and colorful and vibrant like holy shit they did such a fantastic job fr.

I think the main thing that I really loved about Dandadan for me though was the main relationship between Okarun and Momo. Tbh, ever since I watched InuYasha, I didn’t think I’d ever see a good (although not perfect) romance in a shounen anime ever again and that was gonna be the best this genre had to offer. But I’m so happy to say that we finally got another good romance in a shounen anime. And I’m not even a big romance guy but like thank GOD cause I’m so sick of underdeveloped romances in shounen like c’mon!!! It was just so adorable to see these two protagonists slowly start to become more than just friends in a very natural way.

Now yes, there is a bit of a love triangle (then later a love rectangle with Jin) in this series once Aira shows up, and from what I've heard, some people don’t really like her but honestly, I didn’t really mind her that much. Her romance with Okarun is a lot more comedic compared to Okarun's relationship with Momo which I think was the best approach to do this love triangle. There was also that cat or Turbo Granny who honestly wasn’t as annoying as I thought she would be. She was cute! She had that “mascot of the series that you could easily sell merch with” type energy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the character is likable enough. And Seiko or Momo’s “grandmother” is cool, yeah that’s about it she’s just cool…and kind of a baddie but you didn’t hear that from me hehe.

There’s really just too many amazing moments for me to count that I just did NOT anticipate at all, like when they started playing this remixed version of the William Tell Overture or most famously The Lone Ranger theme in episode 4 and episode 11. Or the surprisingly artsy and tearjerky backstory that’s told in episode 7. I usually don’t talk about this, but the OP also kicks ass. The song in it has like a Jersey Shore bounce to it which is SOO 2020’s but I still like it anyway. And the end song is great as well.

I would read the manga, but honestly I don’t wanna spoil myself right now. Actually scratch that, maybe I will…or maybe I won’t, who knows I’m not exactly sure yet tbh.

So I have officially become a big fan of this series even if this first season ends on a cliffhanger, I still cannot wait to see what happens next in this absolutely insane series that despite how weird it gets, always feels authentic and endearing. Which meant that it was mid af 5/10.