This week’s episode of DAN DA DAN brought us a continuation of the fight against Acrobatic Silky, a bevy of hilarious school life scenes, and a new conflict for our growing cast of main characters to tackle and take care of. Last week, DAN DA DAN treated us to what I believe is the best episode thus far of this entire anime season. Every detail was nearly perfect, and directorially it stands in the ranks of perhaps some of the most impressive media I’ve ever seen, anime or otherwise. The episode showcased an extended version of a flashback to Acrobatic Silky’s past as a human before becoming a yokai. That flashback, its touching moments, and the heartbreaking and horrifying implications of its ending were the kinds of things that could bring a tear to anyone’s eye and the episode went viral for its quality and emotional appeal.
This week’s episode was good in its own right but is admittedly a step down from last week. This is perhaps a good thing; I think two heavy hitters like that back-to-back would actually be a bit excessive. Even more, it’d be unreasonable to expect every aspect of the plot to yield 10/10 quality watching experiences. This episode’s high points were similar to the high points of some of the other episodes mostly taking place in the school, and in terms of tone and pace, it felt fairly similar to episode 6. We got plenty of comedy, little hints of budding romance (from more places than one), and a new threat to top it all off.
Spoilers ahead for DAN DA DAN episode 8
Romance & Misconceptions
The episode starts rather unceremoniously when taking into account the way episode 7 ended, which was a bit amusing to begin with. We’re treated to a conversation between Momo, Okarun, Seiko, and Aira as they gather at Momo and Seiko’s house and each somen noodles. This fits the seemingly standard DAN DA DAN habit of ending an arc or mini-arc with a meal that transitions into the next one. This particular summer-y choice of meal, alongside the switch in school uniforms, also signals a bit of a passage of time, which was a nice expository touch. More than anything though, especially as someone who hasn’t read too much of the manga, this return to the Ayase household made me wonder exact what the deal was with Okarun’s parents, who haven’t been mentioned at all thus far. Even Aira’s parents got some time via a flashback so it’s a bit surprising that we haven’t heard anything about his (and that they’re seemingly okay with their kid being gone every evening). That aside though, the real humor here came from Aira’s refusal to grasp the admittedly wild reality of what Momo and crew actually are, considering them all to be demons. It’s clear that they explained at least something to her given that she refers to Acrobatic Silky by name and not just as some generic demon or yokai, but I suppose that explanation didn’t hold. The one place where I will say she’s completely reasonable is not believing that Seiko is old.
The second section of the episode, featuring Okarun’s attempts to work out in secret and Aira’s attempts to confess her love, was just about as funny as the first section. When thinking about Okarun’s performance in the fight against Acrobatic Silky, it feels like he actually did decently well given the circumstances, especially given how long he evaded her for in episode 7. But, given that he also got gobbled up almost right when the fight began and ultimately was not able to stop the yokai from nearly killing them all, it’s understandable that he might be feeling a bit weak. Him choosing to try to get stronger in secret felt like an interesting characterization; he had no problem confessing his frustration at being saved to Momo in the past so this read as him trying to impress her. In general, despite all of Aira’s antics, this episode also did a good job of not pushing the impression that this was a setup for a love triangle. It’s clear that Okarun has eyes for only Momo and Momo eyes for him, letting Aira’s affection be its own thing and even function as a bit of a gag when they make fun of tropes like anime characters tripping and falling into suggestive positions.
Return of the Aliens
While the first half of the episode was good and consistently funny, the second half was a bit more serious and shone in many different ways. We immediately got a switch to the pitch-black space and cool colors that have become emblematic of aliens in DAN DA DAN. The addition of the CGI dinosaur-looking thing, alongside the music that came along with the scene, felt just the right amount of thrilling. After a battle featuring high-speed movement and control over hair, it was cool to see something as stark in contrast as a dinosaur shooting a laser from its mouth and just obliterating a building. This also lent some contrast to the Chiquitita-mumbling boxer monster, whose general movements make me think it’s not an alien at all, especially considering its animation is similar to Okarun in his transformed state.
The return of the Serpoians caps off the episode as they return to try and steal Okarun’s abilities via his body (poor guy can’t catch a break) using their machinery and psychic powers. I found it curious that both the Serpoians and the Chiquitita thing both appeared on screen with the yellow color; normally I’d expect a color like that to be reserved for a ghost or a yokai of some kind while aliens stuck with the grays and blues. Finally, we got the exciting reveal of Aira’s new powers from Acrobatic Silky and a transformation similar to Okarun’s, down to the slight change to her speaking pattern. Both of the transformation scenes in this episode were quite cool and I’m glad we’ll be seeing more of Acrobatic Silky’s fighting style going forward.
Overall, this was a nice episode. It brought forth the classic mixture of genres that this show is great at providing and did some decent characterization for our duo-turned-trio. Now that Aira has revealed some powers, it also means that there’s the potential for some cool teaming up between her, Okarun, and Momo, combining yokai powers with psychic powers against the unique abilities and technology of the Serpoians. I’m looking forward to it. If you enjoyed this week’s episode, don’t forget to vote via our weekly poll.
© Yukinobu Tatsu/SHUEISHA/DANDADAN Production Committee
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