DAN DA DAN Episode 10 was equal parts hilarious and touching. This episode focused on the crazy aftermath of Episode 9, which concluded the fight against the Serpoians and landed Momo, Aira, and Okarun naked in the school hallway. That episode was an overall impressive one; while the nudity felt somewhat unneeded and at times a bit gratuitous, the overall choreography, action, and brief moments of budding romantic connection more than made up for it and made the episode a good one.
This episode makes ample use of what felt like fan service as fuel for important characterization of the relationship between our trio of characters. It focuses largely on their reaction to the events, which were obviously worry and despair, but weaves in how they explain the situation to their peers and how they explain their connections to one another.
This was especially important for fostering a connection between Momo and Aira, who otherwise were sort of in a position of permanent friction. Apart from that, there was touching follow-up with the Mantasian and comedy sprinkled throughout. As far as transitional episodes go, this was a great one overall.
Spoilers ahead for DAN DA DAN episode 10
Back to School
The episode starts off with a rather funny scene involving the school nurse, transitioning into some conversation and Okarun providing an interesting theory about why aliens don’t constantly attack Earth despite having the technology and power to do so. I like the sound of this theory, especially since it provides some groundwork for the idea that yokai on Earth are ultimately more of a protective force than they are a harmful one. We already saw that spirits like Turbo Granny were gathering at the sites where young girls were harmed; it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to think that other yokai have similar origins and retain some protective desire over the humans they live alongside.
What was more important about this section though, in terms of touching character moments, was the subsequent conversation between Momo and Okarun after Aira was whisked away by her friends. This conversation wasn’t an overly complex one, but constantly peppered throughout it were small things that really made the scene shine.
I was especially impressed by how effective that little shuddering effect on their eyes was during moments where they couldn’t meet each other’s gaze. It was something so small but it went a long way alongside some terrific (as usual) voice acting that communicated the simultaneous delicacy and jovial energy behind the conversation about Aira and Okarun’s moment outside the school. The fact that Momo cared infinitely more about clearing that up than she cared about being known around school as someone who strips her classmates was telling enough, the remainder of the scene was icing.
Finally in the first half, we have some moments that I think were quite important for Aira. Since the earliest moments of her introduction, we’ve seen a lot of different sides to her, with her cutesy popular side being the one that the majority of students know and respect her for. Finally though, she breaks that illusion, revealing that she was the one that spread rumors about Momo and essentially throwing away her own popularity by not explaining why she was sprinting naked in a hallway.
Personally, I’m glad to think that we’ll be seeing less of the princess personality (it’s a bit annoying, all told). What I’m more glad about is that DAN DA DAN made use of the trio’s naked hallway scene for actual character development, especially to soften the relationship between Momo and Aira. Placing Aira in the shadow of the tree while she battles with what forms of herself to present while Momo sits openly in the sun felt intentional, and the music of the scene felt as transitory as the conversation did. I actually wish this moment had gone on a bit longer, but perhaps that’s just the series’ desire to split their coming closer over multiple sections.
Saving the Shrimp
The second half of the episode was focused primarily on helping the Mantasian / Dover Demon / Mantis Shrimp Man and featured a lot of gags and comedic moments that were easy to appreciate. As far as his position and role in the episode, I felt like the intention was to have him provide a bit more comedy than touching elements.
Despite that, I think DAN DA DAN did a decent job of mixing the two and giving some decent additional context to the world outside of Earth in the series’ universe. Having only seen the Serpoians for the most part, I think the image I had of most aliens were that they were technology rich and not much else. The backstory from the Mantasian expanded on that in a useful way while also showing some nice parallels with Okarun.
Recall that his first real character revelation was in revealing that he spent his whole life hoping to be acknowledged and wanted by aliens, presumably as a surrogate for the kinds of attention and care he wasn’t getting from other people. His second arc, after acquiring a friend and having someone who wants to be around him, is to be stronger for that friend and be able to support her. To then see an alien, a being who he used to have more of a complex about, exhibit the same desire for strength to save those close to him must have hit quite close to home, explaining how strongly he wanted to help out. It overall speaks to a more assertive Okarun, and I thought the strength with which he spoke was appropriate and novel here.
Finally, we get a cow abduction, fulfilling the promise of the episode’s title, a funny impersonation, and the introduction of a new character in Jiji. I won’t pretend that I didn’t have to look up Hiroshi Abe (in the same way I needed to look up Ken Takakura and a few of the other gags in the show so far) but it was amusing enough even without much knowledge of the context.
With the introduction of Jiji though, DAN DA DAN turns the love triangle into a possible square, as at this point it’s unclear whether there are any residual feelings between Momo and Jiji in either direction. Her reaction was definitely telling, as was Okarun’s. I’m actually looking forward to the idea of him having to act on jealousy a bit, perhaps making him a bit more aware of his feelings beyond just thinking Momo is cute. The next episode will surely dive deeper into that.
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© Yukinobu Tatsu/SHUEISHA/DANDADAN Production Committee
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