Review of Dan Da Dan
This was the anime of the year... or so I would say if I were from the sectarian part of the fandom. Dandadan was one of the most anticipated anime of this season, so all the spotlights were on this anime. It's just that the overexposure and popularity made many people overlook the bad creative decisions that were made. I know that many people here will speak wonders and sell you that Dandadan cures cancer. Be careful, I still recommend this work, but still allow me to address the few but important negative aspects of the anime. The biggest problem is the color filters. I understand theidea of representing each yokai with a specific color, but one thing is to design a space where that color predominates and another is to simply put a color filter to avoid coloring. The filters are invasive, they are annoying to the eye, in most you will not be able to appreciate the action because the filters can be harmful to the eye due to how vibrant they can be. The character designs are overshadowed by the filters. Suddenly you have 4 versions of Okarun, one red, one pink, one green and one purple but the scenes where we see his original design are minimal. This is a waste because the original designs are good, they have good color palettes, but the production couldn't care less and preferred to impose their vision as a studio than respect the vision of the work.
Despite how much the work is praised in general, it really doesn't have many memorable moments. The anime will always live on from its seventh chapter. It is a really good chapter, very well done, with a captivating and engaging story. What I find curious is that the best chapter of the work is not related to its protagonists or the main plot. Seeing this makes us see that precisely the story is not the anime's strong point. And the action that supposedly should be is overshadowed by the issue of the aforementioned filters.
People were dazzled by seeing a romance within an action anime. Only when you pay attention to it, it's nothing new. The romance told in Dandadan is the same archetype of romance told in modern romcoms. This romance that talks about communication, expressing yourself and so on. If you're not a fan of the romance genre, I can see how Dandadan can impress you in a good way, but if you're a frequent romance customer, you're going to feel that something is missing. The romance just doesn't feel all that romantic.
Despite this review that may seem negative, it's not that I hate the work itself. Coming from the manga, I knew what to expect and I still recommend this work for someone who is new to anime because of how digestible it is. It's just that people got carried away by the popularity of the anime and started selling it as a miracle product from a Brazilian church of dubious origin.