Cool girl Momo believes in spirits but not aliens. Shy nerd Okarun believes in aliens but not spirits. When the two go hunting for secrets, they discover that both aliens and spirits are real and hungry for their “banana organs.” Momo is abducted, Okarun is cursed, and before you can say “the truth is out there,” the two are up to their necks in supernatural soup. This is the storyline for Dandadan, a new anime series based on Yukinobu Tatsu’s ongoing manga running in Shonen Jump+.
What’s interesting is that Dandadan fearlessly combines contradictory elements. Toothy banshees do battle with striped aliens straight out of Ultraman. Momo has a sweet and innocent romance with Okarun but she’s also nearly sexually assaulted in the premiere. The manga artist Tatsu, who once worked as an assistant for Chainsaw Man artist Tatsuki Fujimoto, similarly riffs on pulp, scatology and adolescent awkwardness. But while Chainsaw Man is the ultimate millennial doomer epic, Dandadan (mostly) wants the audience to have a good time.
There’s a scene in the third episode that encapsulates this difference. Okarun is possessed by the spirit of “Turbo Granny,” an urban legend that ate his balls. Only Momo’s nascent psychic powers keep Granny at bay. But when Okarun has to go to the bathroom, the only way to keep Granny from taking over his body is for Momo to watch him take a dump. Can Momo find the wherewithal to make the greatest sacrifice?
It’s the kind of scene that I can imagine playing out in Chainsaw Man as is. Tatsu, though, wants you to buy into the central relationship. While it’s gross that Momo and Okarun are put in this position, the two of them clearly like each other and want to learn more about each other. That sense of sweetness grounds everything else, no matter how ridiculous: the tunnel excursions, the abductions, even the aliens howling “banana thief!”
The Dandadan anime is adapted by the studio Science Saru, best known for Devilman Crybaby, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! and last year’s Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. First time series director Fugo Yamashita hustles to capture the comic’s vibrant energy. Its mix of genres are mapped to stark color settings. Turbo Granny’s appearance stains the world red, while the alien spaceship’s interior is a vibrant blue. While I’d love to see the team find room between these extremes, like a proper liminal “dusk” sequence, the show almost always looks striking.
The character drawings are also fun and expressive throughout. There’s plenty of physical comedy as Momo and Okarun butt heads literally and figuratively. Okarun transforms the most due to Turbo Granny’s horrible influence. But I also appreciated Momo’s silly faces. The staff give her and Okarun plenty of chances to be cool, but are unafraid to have them look goofy much of the time.
kensuke ushio’s score is, as expected, a highlight. I’ve heard criticism elsewhere that his work can sometimes be too subdued for the given material. Dandadan should put that to rest. It’s just as loud and eclectic as the source. There’s a reason that ushio danced to his own music at Anime NYC, and that’s because it bangs.
If I have a fear about Dandadan, it’s that I don’t want to lose the old Science Saru. The studio was once director Masaaki Yuasa’s playground, a home for films like Night is Short, Walk On Girl and Inu-Oh. On paper, Dandadan (and Science Saru’s upcoming Ghost in the Shell series) are an opportunity for growth. But they also could represent a step away from the studio’s artistic ambitions, and towards becoming yet another factor for adapting other people’s intellectual property.
That’s not to say that Science Saru is a hopeless case. I’m excited for Naoko Yamada’s latest film, The Colors Within, which looks to be her best since Liz and the Blue Bird. Science Saru also have ties to talented storyboarders like Moko-chan and Mari Motohashi, who turned in great episodes of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Not to mention past greats like director Akitoshi Yokoyama and animator Shinya Ohira.
The Dandadan anime, then, is a bit like when your favorite band signs with a label and changes up their style. I’m excited for my friends to watch the series and have a good time. Yet I can’t help but wonder: was it inevitable all along that Toho would acquire Science Saru? Or that the studio’s ambitions to make anime production kinder and more efficient would instead lead to mass overproduction relative to its number of staff? Just how much has changed since Yuasa’s departure in 2020?
The first three episodes of Dandadan are set to be screened together by GKIDS in theaters as Dandadan: First Encounter. The first third is by far the most memorable and represent the series firing on all cylinders. The next two mark a shift from punchy premiere to workable serial narrative; you can hear the gears grinding behind the scenes as the boat changes course. I know that Dandadan will find its way because I have read the source material. Still, I can’t help but wish they included the fourth episode to wrap up the prologue in earnest. Especially since (as we know from the recent Netflix leaks) the first half of the series has already been finished.
All that said, I can’t help but root for Dandadan. Not that it needs my help. AnimeNYC was loaded with advertisements for the series. Viz’s copies of the manga sold out after the English dub premiere. This is a Shonen Jump adaptation for crying out loud, the most bulletproof form of anime there is. Yet Dandadan was banned on the Shonen Jump app until recently. (You could only read it on a computer, away from the watchful eye of the App Store.) As wholesome as the series can be, there’s also something just a little cursed about it. And I don’t just mean the “Momo watches her boyfriend take a dump” scene.
Dandadan is an opportunity for Science Saru to prove itself on the big stage. We’re about to see what the studio’s next generation makes of Shonen Jump+’s wildest and wackiest series. I can only help the experience gives them the opportunity to become more of themselves, rather than less.