Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: DAN DA DAN
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Kiskaloo
 Subscriber Posts: 107 Location: Seattle |
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I am also an anime-only consumer of this property and episode seven deeply affected me in ways I am still dealing with this morning. But kudos to the entire production team for making an absolute statement with the delivery of this episode.
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Thesarum
 SubscriberPosts: 779 |
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Now that is how you make television.
The flashback is a brilliantly worked little character study. There's relatively little dialog, but every action, expression, movement and camera angle carries great big bundles of character and emotion. We don't need any of it explaining to us, because it's all obvious. We also know where it's going the whole time of course. Not the exact ending, but some vague shape of it. That doesn't make it any less emotionally devastating when it arrives. (Some truly disturbing voice work that is just a flood of pain and distress too). I assume both Momo and Aira experienced it alongside us, which leads to their actions afterwards. I don't think we can assume Aira will suddenly grow up and not be a self-obsessed weirdo afterwards, but maybe it's a small step in that direction. And the fight beforehand was of course pretty awesome too. Okarun sure whinges a lot in both his forms, but he gets the job done. Fortunately for him, "the job" is doing whatever Momo says, because she is all of the braincells for this duo. |
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yeehaw
 Posts: 884 |
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They got me, I cried. Great episode
Insane that this is the first time I think I've seen an anime boy do CPR and not freak out because that's like a kiss and instead freak out for the correct reason, that his classmate needs CPR in the first place. My only teeny tiny problems are the yakuza(?) taking away the child to presumably get trafficked, only because I don't think that is how that happens? But then again I don't know much about yakuza sex trafficking. Also the ending was a bit off a tone-breaker this time, I feel like this could have warranted a black endroll with just some BGM. Still, those are not big enough issues for me to give it less than 5 stars
spoiler[I assumed she bled out there on the road due to all the glass in her arm, honestly I kind of prefer that. I feel like if your child was taken away to presumably be trafficked you'd spend you're entire life trying to find and save her, and I don't really see why they would murder her]
That's nothing like Momo? She saw Okarun get bullied, lent a helping hand, they fight and then their fight lead to them both getting in trouble and then receiving powers. Did Okarun not also give Momo new insight into her life? If the whole alien/Turbo babaa situation didn't happen she would still be on bad terms with her grandma. If she's "obsessed" with Okarun then he is too, they both ran around the entire school because they wanted to talk to each other. they both went on an adventure fighting aliens and monsters! They both get powers! It's the same! They are going trough the same things! A manic pixie dream girl does not go trough situations because her job is to get the male hero off his ass and into his personal situations and growth! She's just a cheerleader! She's not a protagonist, she's there for the real protagonists sake but Momo and Okarun are both protagonists it's their story, not his.
Yeah? I don't gaf about aliens, but if I suddenly found out that they exist I would probably also be pretty interested in them. That's not weird |
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Iron Maw
Posts: 549 |
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Absolutely phenomenal!
I can tell you without exaggeration this was the moment was any manga reader was looking forward to seeing this cour. It fully displays a side of story only briefly touch upon with Turbo Granny's motivation. It crystalizes the point while they maybe monstrous & irrational, Yokai have a human origin and their present states are aspect & byproduct of human society as whole. Like Dandadan wacky romcom with battle shonenish trappings, but its also capable of being more than that, weaving emotional resonant and heartbreaking stories that enrich its quirk yet very human characters to display the heartfelt human compassion that is at plot's core. Kudos to Science Saru here, that was "Episode of Year!".
1) That's ridiculous you only think this because downplaying Momo's flaws which I went o er and up Okarun's to insane degree. To begin with a character doesn't need an over top flaw for growth. Hell one point you should have gotten about Okarun isn't as timid as he looks nor does impair him conversing with Momo or risking his life for her. So yes he has social anxiety which something he's working on he's not so much more flawed that only he can grow. 2) First you concept of balance is nonsense and doesn't exist. Second I have no what you mean by monopolizing growth either because Okarun has hardly changed much from episode 1. Any development have very small gradual organic ones facilitated by continued interactions and difficulties between the two which you blindly ignore. Okarun is getting little braver and confident in order to be of better help to Momo while the girl in question finding herself drawn him while at the same is loosing her fixation that the only person for her must be someone just like Ken Takakura something wouldn't possible prior to episode 1. Its not been an either or thing. 3) Said most of her issues with grandma have been fixed and should be obvious by their interaction and neither actually hate each other to point weren't speaking terms. Their disagree one point and Momo admitted she was wrong in order to help Okarun, But that just one of her issues, not her only one! Her other problems are constantly brought by other people around including Okarun like her insensitively, hotheadness, poor judge of men etc She just happens confident, good in a fight and decent head on her shoulders and you go out make her to be some kind of saint who can do no wrong. She never would even gotten out of any of the situations she found herself without Okarun by her side. You just weirdly caricaturing both Okarun and Momo to fit in a odd box in your head.
The chemistry is their back and forth not how she helped him. Their opinions, positions, the flow of their dialogue, the fact Okarun, who supposed timid guy who can't even fight back against he bullies in his class is having this very animated discussion with a very poplar girl on their views on the paranormal which turnout to mirror each other and that was BEFORE they even met aliens and spooks. It something that hasn't happened nobody else he's talked regardless of subject because none of them can bring him out of his shell like she does. Like their interaction from that point on was 16 to 17 minutes of the whole episode and the fact went of voter head says a lot about how much you understand the concept being with. Oh you last point, um neither found any the opposing beliefs were real until the events of episode 1. Now in ep 5 you literally see both of them being very interested in the things scuff at.Its not one sided thing you make out to be. |
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NeverConvex
 Posts: 2690 |
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I was re-watching the episode, and it occurred to me that spoiler[Silky saying "I was Aira's... mommy" at 18:30-ish in the Netflix version probably helped confuse me. Was Silky's daughter also named Aira? Or was the blood scrawled across the face of Silky's daughter in her picture, while she talked about forgetting something important she felt she'd lost, meant to imply that she had confused Aira for her own child, in her distressed/amnesiac state, after passing?] spoiler[Also: I guess her dancing before her death was actually her on a rooftop before leaping off of it? Before reading here I had taken that as metaphorical, and thought the sound at the end of it was a kind of close-up magnified sound of her slumping into the street, as her body gave in, but re-watching, it does seem more consistent with the sound of a fall from a great height.] Definitely teared up on the re-watch. First time around I only found myself wincing and occasionally looking away, but god if this isn't a wrenching 20 minutes. Or, even less, really, since the critical memory sequence is, like, 3-4 minutes long. Before re-watching, those few minutes had imprinted in my brain so deeply that they felt like they were 80% of the episode. |
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ktarf
Posts: 104 |
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I honestly thought this was the weakest episode so far, with the backstory being too cliche to be affecting and the tone shift kind of jarring. It reminded me a bit of Demon Slayer's big flashbacks, though obviously nowhere near as bad, and I don't think the series has yet gotten to a point where it's able to juggle wackiness and seriousness in a very cohesive way like, for example, Chainsaw Man does.
I still love everything else about this and it's my favourite show this season, but so far, I think it works better when it's full on the absurd fun or the two mains' amazing relationship. |
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Amuro1X
Posts: 279 |
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Oh brother, that's a take. Never mind the masterful storyboarding, soundtrack, and direction, the sad backstory is kind of crucial to why Acrobatic Silky, an evil spirit, became such a thing in the first place. It's not an accident that the Japanese horror movie classic is called "The Grudge." And Sadako vs Kayako was a major inspiration for DanDaDan so... Not to mention it goes a long way to humanize Aira and bring her down to Earth a bit. I don't think you'll have to worry about DanDaDan becoming a mellow drama though. So you'll probably like next episode more. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19163 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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DAN DA DAN has been a series I more respect than fully embrace (it's never been my priority view even on its release day), but even so I was mightily impressed by how effectively episode 7 hit its action, visual, and emotional notes. It certainly deserves to be considered among the year's best individual episodes.
As for other matters, I also agree that Momo does not fit the MPDG mold, even if she might seem to in a technical sense. She better fits the delinquent mold, but that's not quite right, either. |
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Dr. Wily
Posts: 872 |
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Ohhhh, that makes sense. I thought she bled out from the many glass cuts and the thud there was just for dramatic effect. |
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1529 Location: Nova Scotia, Canada |
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They really emphasize the glass and blood here, thoughspoiler[(there's no glass at all in the chapter)]. So they may have been trying to make the same ending seem more believable? It's heartbreaking and bleak either way, tbh. |
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Barciad
 Posts: 147 Location: St Andrews |
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That was most beautiful animated montage since the opening scene in 'Up'. There, I've said it.
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Mikan-box Glasses-kun
 Posts: 95 |
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I know all the discussion about "manic pixie dream girls" is being argued in good faith and just trying to find a label for what's being described, but I'd like to remind everyone that Nathan Rabin, the creator of the term, wrote over ten years ago that he feels the label itself is reductive and sexist. It's worth reading that essay in its entirety, though the basics of the situation is that Rabin originally coined it to critique the writing of a single character, but it ended up becoming a cliche description of any quirky, energetic woman in a film, inadvertently blinding people to the nuances of them once they recognized the character as superficially fitting the trope, no matter how much of their own individuality they have. That's the reason Zoe Kazan (and it's mentioned in that essay) earlier called usage of the term "basically misogynist", and a not-so-fun fact is the real life person Zooey Deschanel even got labeled as a manic pixie dream girl, something she obviously has strong feelings about. That's why I feel even certain arguments against a character being one sometimes feel besides the point, because it can end up legitimizing something that's been used to real world harm.
Anyway, back to Dandadan itself, I really, really loved episode 7. It's legitimately one of my favorite single episodes I've seen this year. Everything about the production of that flashback is about as perfect as you can hope for in a weekly anime schedule as tight as this, and it artfully elevates the flashback into some seriously devastating Japanese horror cinema. I often have mixed feelings about shonen action series placing these kinds of scenes right near the end of an arc, when it may not matter anymore, but this episode managed to overcome that hurdle and made it feel natural. Just... geez, it hits hard. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2520 |
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Despite knowing that this series is certainly foreshadowing the idea that it's ghosts can have some tragic story behind them and knowing it's coming, that it can so masterfully hit you in the feels is definitely a case of delightfully (if tearfully) delivering more than you expect! I was on the verge of balling right up to the moment that boppy beat with the cartoon cat and the hairdryer so abruptly interrupts it...
Maybe this episode should've ended with a stretched out credits sequence of Aira hugging the ghost and hopefully sending her to Heaven. That the show doesn't spell out that she succeeded or not is a plus left up to you. Once again, I think the dub is doing good work, particularly highlighting what seems to only have been hinted at in the subs - that the woman seemed she was likely stealing money from the cash register and also pilfering from the amount her pimps were exploiting from her, just so she could buy that dress for her daughter, which is what led to the heavy scene and her tragic end. I wonder if Aira now develops powers from having the ghost's aura passed on to her, like Ken? Maybe she'll make it a point to go looking for the little girl who is now certainly much older than she is. I don't think she's dead. But maybe Aira could have an arc where she looks for her and passes on her mother's feelings and fate to her. Seems like a loose end that I'd want to tie up if I had that ability, though it'd be dangerous and difficult. Anyway, I think the next session will feature some more bonding between these 3, and then finally that guy from the OP, whose story I think will be the opposite of this arc, and I think we'll get some regular bad-guy ghosts/aliens to deal with next. All as the search for Oka-Run's other ball moves forward, which I think was last seen in the Chainsaw-Man OP... 
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Iron Maw
Posts: 549 |
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"This is bad because another show did it worse" is a really weird take really says nothing about DDD itself. Like for starters DDD deals with the spirits of dead who lingering regrets to begin with, so tragedic circumstances being behind their current state isn't strange, they wouldn't exist otherwise. The demons in DS on the otherhand didn't need to have sad backstories associated with them at all and its only present because of story's worldview which part of reason feel much more forced there. This also doesn't come of nowhere is or at odds with narrative at all, because 1) the very first arc established that spirits aren't just mindless monsters who attack the living without a cause. 2) The build up to Silky's backstory was setup with the shock of Aira's death at end of battle midway through the episode so the appropriate mood had already been there. 3) We only see glimpse Silky's past because of soul/mental link Momo makes between Silky, Aira and herself which worked as natural segway into that point. Its not just something randomly dropped on us and more importantly its not just there make us feel bad but to give a clear reason why any of this conflict matters. I personally I can't think of any more pretentious and contrarian than complaining about story providing some conflicts and pathos to itself. Its not DDD was ever a pure comedy anyway because even the plot point about Okarun's balls is taken seriously despite the occasional jokes at his expense. Ultimately Dandadan has been multi-genre story form the getgo and how combines those genres effectively is where one of the aspects of brilliance lies. Last edited by Iron Maw on Sat Nov 16, 2024 8:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 897 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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I didn't see that as an act of pity. I never got the impression she did it for Okarun, but rather she was already pissed off and putting some bullies in their place seemed like a good way to vent some frustration. And that's all before you find out that Momo got picked on for being different too. That provides her and Okarun with a connection that gives their relationship a place to start. |
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