ダンダダン is funny, gorgeous, and quite possibly epic

I have an anime category on here apparently but haven’t really gotten around to talking about the stuff I’ve loved so far. Surely at some point I can look back at all the anime I’ve watched and loved but for now let me scream about the art in the DANDADAN anime.

Look, this hasn’t wrapped up yet and I have no idea if the latest arc in the manga is anywhere near the endzone and there’s a reason I’m hardly ever current with broadcasted/still-running shows. I think it’s Lost and Game of Thrones that taught me to wait for a series to end and check the general sentiment before investing time in them. It’s not like I’ve watched either toward the end but they did lose (heh) me at some point (and in GOT’s case, really early on, as in I was out after the first major death).

I wasn’t really looking for anything in particular, just that I couldn’t keep up with The Great Anime Catchup nights because I had other stuff to do and Crunchyroll doesn’t have dubs for the episodes I was already on yet. I am Team Subs on the classic subs versus dubs debate for sure for sure, but this isn’t the only thing I’m doing, guys. Your g’s gotta fold the fucking laundry.

I almost always watch things that are recommended to me by people whose tastes are similar to or more elevated than mine. But as to how I discover stuff blind, it’s going to have to be the art style.

What drew me in to DANDADAN was that bonkers of an opening. There was a flurry of color and movement and art that was three degrees off-center. You know it’s anime because the character face patterns run along the same lines, but there’s an odd turn, whether that’s the filter or the haunting yet upbeat music or the grotesquely cute rendering of the main four’s faces or how Creepy Nuts just repeatedly sings DANDADAN DANDADAN DANDADAN until the very end that’s just can’t-look-away captivating.

Consider these different art style splices of just Okarun in the first couple of minutes of the opening (shuffled):

Like, whaaaat, give me all of iiiiit!

And as someone easily hooked in by pretty things, I was all in. Next thing I knew, about 6 minutes into the first episode, I heard Turbo Granny say, “I’ll let you suck my teats, boy,” and that was when I was finally able to take a breath and be like WHAT IN EVER-LOVING CRAZY TOWN IS THIS ANIME.

The second reason it held is Momo, who had more similarities with shounen protagonists (so, boys) than the female characters in any other anime I’ve seen so far (maybe Nami in One Piece). She swaggers like a boy, doesn’t play games, eats like a trash compactor, fights with Okarun over food, and has some pretty cool aura powers.

The third thing that intrigued me was the power system, which was tied closely to the paranormal conceit that had ghosts and aliens and their curses and experiments intruding in and entwining Okarun and Momo’s lives.

The first few big bads were unusual (both in looks and abilities), over-the-top, and reality-bending, not to mention the fight scenes that were thoughtfully rendered (an early encounter shifted art styles to black and white so we can see how cool a character’s big reveal looks like).

There are other things I found incredibly cool, like the other ghosts and aliens themselves, and don’t get me started on Momo’s very sexy grandmother (who’s a medium), or how cursed Okarun is both powerful and emo (“What a drag,” he complains, while whacking enemies), or how there are moments that actually made me laugh out loud.

I’m kind of worried when something hasn’t ended yet and it’s caught my heart, that I’ll encounter something along the way that would turn me off (like Sanji on the island with the okamas), that it won’t pay off the big promises it made (because I’m already expecting a big reveal about how ghosts and aliens are related or versions of each other, or how they’re just in the middle of some bigger fight and they need to work together through Momo and Okarun, etc. etc.).

But I have high hopes, I’ve only seen 10 episodes and they’re definitely riding that sweet spot of great art and great story and an epic premise. And on top of that, DID I MENTION IT’S ABSOLUTELY FUNNY AND FUN?