This week brought the final episode of the first season of DAN DA DAN, and it’s been a wonderful ride. This season began with a terrific start, with fans being treated to a three episode theatrical release that perfectly showcased all of the great things about the anime. From its initial premiere months ago at conventions, nearly every episode was emblematic of the genre-mixing and careful direction of the series as it mixed comedy, sci-fi, horror, action, romance, and too many genres to honestly count.
The fourth episode brought an incredibly well animated and choreographed showdown against Turbo Granny and a first place for DAN DA DAN on our weekly polls. The seventh episode immediately acquired the attention and respect of fans and non-fans alike, presenting an emotionally haunting and beautifully executed story. Declaring it the best episode of the season at the time was perhaps premature, but it’d still be my pick. Every episode since and in between has kept the quality consistent and steady. It’s really as much as you can ask for from a first season.
This episode, as a finale, was an interesting place to end the season. Last week’s episode introduced tall bundle of chaotic energy Jiji and his personal brand of humor, to mixed reactions from people both within the show and within the real world. His personality is…unique, to say the least, but I think his presentation is overall a funny one, especially alongside the general wackiness that is DAN DA DAN.
Episode 12 follows Jiji, Momo, and Okarun as they journey to Jiji’s house in order to exorcise whatever appears to be haunting it. In terms of doing additional work to characterize and contextualize Jiji, it did a solid job adding on to the work done in Episode 11. The reason I think it’s an interesting place to end the season is because it’s right in the middle of a new arc. I left the episode thinking that certainly there had to be a 13th coming, because it didn’t feel very finale-ish. Ultimately though, that comes down to the source material and what was reasonable to adapt within 12 episodes, so I don’t blame the anime for that. In all other respects, this episode did its job.
Anatomical Models Need Love Too
The episode began with a quick check-in with the two anatomical models, Taro and Hana. Given Okarun’s invigoration at watching the two of their efforts to be around one another, I take their appearance together on screen as one meant to parallel the kind of yearning Okarun has in his mind for Momo, and the sorts of extents he wishes he was willing and able to put in effort in order to be with her.
On its own though, this section is an amusing one, especially since it features probably the most extreme instance of Okarun’s jealousy to date, with him trying to compete with Jiji over something as simple as getting lint out of Momo’s hair. I actually found myself pausing the show multiple times here out of secondhand embarrassment, so if that was the sort of feeling meant to be conveyed by the scene, it more than succeeded in showing it.
It’s the perfect encapsulation of the sort of raw emotion and sloppy romantic gestures that are typical for teenagers and DAN DA DAN did an excellent job packaging it into a little scene like that.
Beyond that, Taro’s mad dash from the school over to Kamigoe was entertaining, well animated, and funny as always. His voice and screaming is excellent and pairs well with exactly how ridiculous everything happening on screen is. Seeing them finally come together after difficulty literally hit like a truck feels meaningfully metaphorical; it likely speaks to the kinds of trials and impediments that Okarun and Momo might face in the earlier stages of their relationship.
Hopefully none that literally shatter them to pieces, but certainly something hard. All in all a nice way to give commentary on the future of their relationship while also introducing some hijinks and entertainment from wacky characters.
To the Haunted House
The transition from Taro and Hana to the Jiji’s haunting was an appropriately jarring one. I really liked how the anime showcased Jiji’s struggle to sleep, contrasting his earlier jovial attitude with how distressed he clearly is at whatever is haunting his house and potentially him. The ability to enhance serious moments by contrasting them with silliness is something I’ve noticed often with Jiji and I’m glad that the DAN DA DAN anime is taking advantage of those moments to the fullest.
The voice acting here (and onward) from Jiji is also fantastic and easy to appreciate, including a “deez nuts” joke in the English dub. The train ride was yet another moment where I found myself pausing once out of secondhand embarrassment on Okarun’s behalf as he tried his best to outdo Jiji in entertaining Momo and capturing her attention, and the same feelings toward the previous scene carry toward this one. Even more though, I appreciated seeing Okarun make another friend, even if it’s a friendship more than somewhat colored by a mutual romantic interest which is bound to keep creating some tension.
The time within the hot springs district is clearly early, but I appreciate how eerie and creepy the depiction of the townspeople already is. The scene where all their heads move to follow Momo, Jiji, and Okarun all at once was especially creepy and a favorite moment of the episode, as was the subtle detail of their shadows over the front of the house as our ghostbusting trio first entered.
Okarun and Jiji competing and listing off ways they’ve supposedly “won” with Momo was hilarious and definitely one of the funniest parts of the episode. Voice acting went a long way here, and both the sub and the English dub in my opinion did well to capture the energy of the scene and how childishly romantic both boys were being in this moment.
I think the ending of the episode was overall executed fairly well. Okarun and Jiji finding a hidden room in the house was a good way to segue into the next season, especially with the talismans all over the room hinting at some sort of supernatural or occult purpose to it. Momo being in danger of being assaulted by the gators felt like a passable way to demonstrate that there was imminent threat within this town, but I admittedly wish the series didn’t have to have Momo getting nearly assaulted multiple times throughout. I don’t necessarily think it’s always the best way to communicate imminent danger when it’s seen as a sort of brief, transitory thing that doesn’t get revisited or given a lot of gravity, especially when it happens twice. That being said though, in terms of communicating the message of “danger is coming and we don’t know what it is,” the goal was accomplished.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, I think this was a fine way to end the season if not an absolutely spectacular one, but that the season in its entirety does represent something spectacular. DAN DA DAN has delighted me and many others from the very beginning and it’s shown itself to be the kind of anime that can accomplish things a lot of other series try (and fail) to do properly. In some respects many aspects of the plot are absolutely absurd (who would have thought that looking for someone’s missing nut would actively drive a plot for this long) but the execution has been at quite a consistently high level.
I think this season of DAN DA DAN did exactly what a first season should, introducing key characters, developing their interpersonal relationships and individual traits, and ensuring that there was ample tension to drive those things and drive their growth. Even the worst of the episodes were strong, and the strongest episodes stand out as some of the best episodes of anime I’ve ever seen, period. Episode 7 will certainly go down in the history books, but this season should as well.
Season 2 has been announced for July 2025, so we won’t be waiting long for more peak.
You can also vote for DAN DA DAN in our Fall 2024 Anime Awards.
Images via Crunchyroll
© Yukinobu Tatsu/SHUEISHA/DANDADAN Production Committee
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