Review of Space Dandy
Note: This is a review for both seasons, not just the first one, as I kind of just consider them one season. Also, it's spoiler-free, since there's not much to be spoiled anyway. This anime does not get enough love, especially since it's made by the creator of Cowboy Bebop. Space Dandy has its own unique twist on the signature Watanabe anthology style, with an overall much more lighthearted tone than Bebop or Champloo, but it still shocks you with a deep and heartfelt episode every once in a while. This show plays out almost like a sitcom. Each episode, the crew of the Aloha'Oi is plottingsome ridiculous, elaborate scheme, or just kind of getting themselves into an intergalactic mess of some sort. The episodes are very inconsistent, and some straight-up end with the characters dying, only for them to miraculously be back in the next episode. The ending song is about multiple timelines, which really makes you think...
Anyway, I think this anime is absolutely hilarious, one of the funniest anime I've seen, on par with One Punch Man and Konosuba. That's saying something, since anime doesn't make me laugh a lot. It's usually a repeat of the same five jokes, and I also just don't like Japanese humor very much. But if you're like me, you will be laughing out loud almost every episode of this one.
I really like the character of Dandy, one of my favorite anime MCs of all time, to be honest. He's an alien hunter who's favorite thing in the world is space Hooters, or Boobies. He's a goofy guy who thinks he's all that, but he has his moments, too. He has an awesome pompadour, and he's really good at surfing and singing, so what's not to like?
The other crewmates, Meow and QT, are quite fun as well. Meow is just kind of a chill Space cat who isn't very bright and argues with Dandy a lot, but they share each other's love for boobies. QT is the straight man of the group, so he doesn't actively contribute to the shenanigans as much, but he balances out the group dynamic, and I like how he's a cute little bean-shaped vacuum cleaner with an autotuned voice. He really shines in one episode in particular.
Unlike the other two shows of the Watanabe trio, Space Dandy has recurring side characters as well. There's Honey the Boobies waitress, Scarlet who works at the alien registration center, and Dr. Gel and Bee (Bea? Be? B? whatever!) of the Gogol empire. Every episode, the Gogol Empire is trying to track down Dandy because for some unexplained reason, he's a very dangerous intergalactic criminal. Yet Dandy and his crew seem to not even know these guys exist, and we don't figure out why for a while.
Space Dandy has an amazing OP, ED, and OST, as expected from Shinichiro Watanabe, always fusing genres with music. Space Dandy in Particular is Disco themed. It works really well for the overall style of the anime, and I particularly love the opening song, Viva Namida. If you're like me, you'll be nodding your head to the beat every episode at the very least. But there are some surreal, beautiful Disco pieces as well, and sometimes it feels like the entire anime stops just so a song can play for a bit and some crazy thing can happen on screen that will get your undivided attention and just kind of make you stare in awe.
I also really like the animation and the art style. Space Dandy's color scheme really pops in almost every scene. It's brighter and more colorful than Cowboy Bebop, and it's pretty cool to see these two drastically different versions of space made by the same creative team.
I should probably also mention the stellar voice acting in Space Dandy. Tje English dub is definitely the way to go. Ian Sinclair does an amazing job as Dandy, and the supporting cast is great as well. It's kind of a shame, because the dub is so much harder to find than the sub, which is pretty average from what I've seen of it.
If I had to say the show's weakest element, it's probably the fact that the one-off episode format doesn't always work. There are a lot of hits, but there are some misses too. I'd say around 10-20% of the anime I just didn't care for. That's not a huge problem though, because the show is set up in a way where you can just skip an episode if you don't like it. I also gave the story a 6/10 though, because there kind of isn't one. Even Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo had an overarching story that resurfaced every few episodes, but Space Dandy kind of just leaves you with a premise, and nothing really comes together until the very end.
Overall though, I really recommend. There are some people on here giving this show fours and sevens, but I absolutely loved this show, and even though there are some weak aspects, the enjoyment factor was very high, and that's what natters the most in the end.
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That's it, so I'll leave you with this: Watanabe never misses, baby!