By: Rey Anthony Ostria | Oct 11, 2024
In “Dandadan,” everything everyone thinks doesn’t exist, exists—alien abductions, a ghost granny who will curse you if she outruns you, and… and… a person who will apologize immediately after realizing they’ve done something wrong.
Don’t worry, those are not spoilers. Aliens and ghosts do appear in the trailer. If you haven’t see the first episode yet, there will be spoilers ahead. I have not read the manga, so this post will be limited to the anime. Let’s Dandadan. (I still don’t know what that means.)
‘Otonoke’ by Creepy Nuts
We shall not have this discussion without first really appreciating that opening theme song from DJ Matsunaga and R-Shitei—the duo known as Creepy Nuts. I have only seen the first trailer for the series, so I was hearing the song for the first time when I finally watched the first episode. (I am determined to memorize this song. Give me a month.)
Creepy Nuts gave us an unskippable opening theme song with culture and pop culture references.
Did you catch the lyrics that says, “Kuwabara, kuwabara, kuwabara”? That is the Japanese equivalent of the Filipino, “Tabi-tabi po,” which is like a “please excuse me” to the spirits. This fits the supernatural theme of the anime.
The song also mentions two names: Sada-chan and Gaya-chan (or Kaya-chan, if we go by the Muse Asia subtitles). I am 100 percent sure Sada-chan is a reference to Sadako Yamamura from the “Ring” books and movies. Gaya-chan or Kaya-chan should be none other than Kayako Saeki of the “Ju-on” and “The Grudge” movies.
The time 4:44 is mentioned in the song. In Japanese culture, this is an ominous time because the number 4 can be read both as よん (yon) andし (shi). The latter pronunciation sounds a lot like 死 (shi), which means death.
Breakdown
Okay, so enough about the theme song. Let’s break down the first episode and let me tell you what I like and don’t like about it.
The first episode starts with the main protagonist Momo Ayase (voice actors: Shion Wakayama, Abby Trott) breaking up with his boyfriend who was coercing her to lend him money. Right away, we see how she can be impulsive, turning 180 degrees instantly in an attempt to high kick his boyfriend. He blocks the kick and answers with a physical attack that should have had landed him in jail. But no, because this is an anime. He breaks up with her and she answers by… calling him seafood.
We are then introduced to Momo’s two friends, who I like because of a short dialogue which I will get to later. The two friends asked Momo why she went for the guy, to which she answered that it was because he looked like Ken Takakura, a real-life Japanese actor and singer whose roles in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s earned him nods in the Japanese equivalence to United States’ Oscars. Momo’s friends told her that Ken Takakura-type boys do not exist anymore.
We then see her walk through the hallways of their school. In one of the classrooms, she sees a guy being bullied by his classmates. Momo sits in front of the guy to make the bullies stop. She succeeds. This scene shows us that Momo is the type of girl who would stand up to bullies. And understand why later on: When she was young, she was also bullied simply because she followed what her grandmother taught her to do to ward off bad luck and sickness.
Momo sees what the bully-victim was reading—a magazine about occultism—and then immediately walks away. This is where it gets really funny, in my opinion. The scene that followed gave me the impression that the writer is a master of misdirection.
Misdirection Number 1: The bully-victim, who we will call Okarun (voice actors: Natsuki Hanae, AJ Beckles) from now on, follows her to the hallway and then says that he knows that she’s interested. At first, we think that Okarun is telling her that he knows she likes him. Kinda like our feeling back in grade school or high school, when we interpret every little detail about our crushes as if they like us. (“I caught her looking at me for a second. She must be in love with me.” “She likes the song I like. She must be in love with me.” “She ordered the same food I ordered. Must be in love with me.” “She checked my paper. She must be in love with me.”) Momo thinks this is the case, too. But nah. Okarun clarifies that he thinks Momo approached and talked to him because she was also interested in the occult.
Okarun tells her all sorts of evidence pointing to UAP or unidentified anomalous phenomena (Muse Asia uses unidentified aerial phenomena in their subtitles, but we know what they mean) and possibilities of future space wars. (Last Week Tonight had a nice episode about this. Watch it here.)
She tells him to get a life. You know—hurtful stuff. She immediately realizes she went overboard and apologizes. You know—like a real human person should. It was at this point that “Dandadan” really caught my attention. Yes, Momo is quick with hurtful action and words, but she backpedals and then says sorry.
Misdirection Number 2: Momo then tells Okarun that she may not believe in aliens, but she believes in ghosts. This is her trying to find a common grounds with Okarun. (Later, when we learn about Momo’s history with being bullied for believing in the supernatural, you get to appreciate this scene when she opens up. It took courage for her to admit something like this to Okarun, even though she hated being laughed at as a kid.) So, they’re friends now, right? We’re all thinking that Okarun will get excited by this. Finally! Someone who shares the same interests! Nah, mate. He laughs. He fucking laughs at this. He tells her that ghosts aren’t real. So they fight.
Momo’s friends, who I said earlier said something that I thought was nice, see the two fighting. They said something like Momo not caring about what people would think if she associates with a nerd, and then added, “I can’t say I hate it,” implying that they’re supportive about it.
Momo and Okarun then dare each other: If one proves to the other that what they believe in is real, then they would be the master. Momo goes to Nagi General Hospital, where UAP sightings are common, while Okarun has to go to an abandoned tunnel where the spirit of an old lady, called Turbo Granny, is said to haunt. (At this point, both are using “UFO” and “UAP” interchangeably so let’s just go with it.) When they were talking about alien abductions over the phone, in the foreground, something moved at the hospital. This was our first sight at what was to come. Okarun mentions regressive hypnosis, which he said was what aliens do to erase their abductees’ memories. At the tunnel, Okarun sings the 1992 song “Too Shy, Shy Boy” to distract himself from how spooky the tunnel is.
Okarun notices that Momo says, “On the internet,” al ot, which gives him the idea that everything she knows about ghosts are not her actual experience. She then tells him that she believes in ghosts because her grandmother is a spirit medium. Momo says that her obachan being a spirit medium makes her special and she hated her classmates—including her crush—for making fun of it.
Momo then asks Okarun why he believes in aliens. We may interpret his answer in two ways. He answers that he does not have to have any reason to like something, which makes sense. Or it may also just be Okarun trying to evade the question.
Turbo Granny (voice actors: Mayumi Tanaka, Barbara Goodson) then appears in front of him and tells him that she will get his weenie. Okarun runs despite Momo warning him not to because the internet says that whoever is outran by the Turbo Granny will be cursed. Okarun, who needs a reason to get the hell out of there (or still not believing in ghosts), says it might just be some regular lewd grandma, not a ghost.
Momo tries to leave the hospital to rescue Okarun, but she was stopped by three aliens—rapey aliens calling themselves Serpoians because they’re from the planet, erm, Serpo. Serpo is actually also mentioned in UFOlogist Len Kasten’s books. He says this is the home planet of the Roswell aliens and that Earth has sent astronauts to Serpo in some kind of an exchange program. If you wanna read Kasten’s book about planet Serpo, I won’t stop you. It goes deep.
Anyway, back to “Dandadan’s” Serpo aliens. They explain to Momo that they will extract her sexual organs (banana organs as they call it) so that their species can reproduce. (In Kasten’s book “Secret Journey to Planet Serpo,” Serpo aliens have the same sexual organs for both male and female. Bruh’s wild.) The aliens then tried to arouse Momo. (This is the first mainstream anime I have ever seen that is close to having a rape scene. Yokinobu Tatsu’s wild.)
The aliens were distracted by the ringing of Momo’s phone. When one of the Serpo aliens tried to pick it up, an entity emerged from it and then bit the alien’s crotch. The entity is actually Okarun, who is now cursed by Turbo Granny. He has limited control over himself. We then get a hero speech from Okarun, who says that throughout his childhood, he dreamt of meeting alien. He thought that when he’d meet them, he’d finally have friends. He had no friends growing up and Momo was the first one to acknowledge his existence. So for Momo, he was willing to give his banana organs to the Serpoians as long as they don’t lay a finger on her. (cue in: “Kunin Mo Na Ang Lahat Saakin”)
While remembering her grandmother, Momo summons her chi and then they defeat the aliens. (And a kick from Momo revealed that the moon that night was actually a UFO. Bruh’s wild.)
Okarun, still controlled by Turbo Granny, then attacks Momo. When she raises her palms up towards Okarun, thought, Turbo Granny leaves his body. However, he is not totally free from the curse since Turbo Granny has his weenie. She then challenges them both to return to the tunnel to get the weenie. (This is so WTF.)
The two then admit that the other person is right. They have proven that both aliens and ghosts are real. They are therefore each other’s gofer.
Okarun then says a Ken Takakura line. Her heart beats like cray-cray. She asks her name. Then he says it’s Ken Takakura. *explosions in the background*
Difference with Manga
In the manga, Ken Takakura was able to go out of the tunnel and even ride his bike. But even if he did, Turbo Granny still went after him and successfully outran him.
The magazine in the manga had United States former president Barack Obama on it.
Overall, I think episode 1 is a great start. I think it’s not for everyone because it’s just too weird to be generally liked. But sans the weirdness—aliens, ghosts, and all—the human side is interesting. I am excited to see how Momo’s relationship with Okarun develops in the next episode.
As I finished writing this, episode 2 dropped on Muse Asia. Time to watch.
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