DAN DA DAN Episode 3 — Granny Makes an Entrance

This week’s episode of DAN DA DAN was yet another interesting foray into the world of the occult, following up on the action packed premiere episode and a lively second episode last week. During last week’s episode, Momo and Okarun went toe to toe (literally) with a Flatwoods Monster as the alien trapped them inside a box and tried to kill them with vicious attacks and poisonous gas.

That episode let us see the continued development of Momo’s psychic powers as well as an awakening of sorts for Okarun, who learned to use a subset of Turbo Granny’s abilities while Momo holds back the curse only on his head. Narratively, it’s purpose was to showcase their abilities, show them getting closer through shared close calls, and confirm that Momo’s grandma, via her warding charms, is the real deal as a spirit medium.

This episode was a bit of a slower one, but not in a bad way. I felt that it led with some strong action, followed up with plenty of comedic moments, and along the way of both sprinkled some valuable characterization and exposition for the world of DAN DA DAN.

Spoilers ahead for DAN DA DAN episode 3.

Granny vs. Granny

As the episode’s title implies, this is definitely a highlight of the episode. Like mentioned above, last week’s episode hinted a bit that Momo’s grandmother Seiko truly had abilities as a medium, while the first episode confirmed that she’d always been telling the truth about spirits existing. I thought that the beginning of the episode, showing her seemingly getting a variety of predictions about some idol wrong, was a good way to reinforce the fact that she’s seen as a fraud and do some characterization for her.

There’s something strong about someone who is confident in their abilities even when the outside world doesn’t have the means to recognize their veracity. Starting off the way the episode did ignited curiosity for me about how exactly Seiko would deal with Turbo Granny.

As for their fight itself, it was fantastic. The anime retained its practice of using warm colors like reds to color spirit and ghost based things, and it was cool to see a version of that applied to a human rather than to an otherworldly being of some kind. The fight was also choreographed well, not requiring any sort of wildly flashy movements but instead making use of dynamic sound, a clean plan of attack, and some good old fashion mid fight trash talking.

A Bonding Duo

The conversations in this episode between and about Momo and Okarun were all incredibly precious and heartwarming. For Momo’s part, her worrying about Okarun, apology to her grandma, and immediate concern for others’ safety betrays her caring and compassionate side, sharply contrasting with the otherwise annoyed tone she otherwise took with Seiko. For Seiko’s part, it was interesting to see her more or less give Momo several “outs,” implicitly testing whether she was willing to endanger herself for another and seeing whether she was ready to be involved in the supernatural.

For Okarun, his fear for having hurt his now only friend and desire to protect her in the future. The music the anime has been reserving for conversations like those really adds plenty to the scene too. And, in classic DAN DA DAN fashion, the anime still managed to switch to comedy, to the serious conversation, and right back to comedy without missing a beat. The toilet saga was a welcome addition to the comedy of the episode.

Looking toward next week’s episode, I’m looking forward to some action heavy sequences as Momo and Okarun race Turbo Granny and try to break Okarun from the spirit’s curse. This anime is starting off strong and I’m sure that it’ll only continue to stay consistent and get even stronger.

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© Yukinobu Tatsu/SHUEISHA/DANDADAN Production Committee