Dan Da Dan Is Peak Anime Fiction, as the Kids Say

With megapopular shows like My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Demon Slayer nearing their end, the anime industry desperately needs a new flagship bearer for the shonen genre. As if to get ahead of this forthcoming gap, Gkids put their proverbial ten toes down by pushing the hotly-anticipated Dan Da Dan anime adaptation as the next big thing with a limited theatrical screening of its first three episodes weeks before they land on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll. If Dan Da Dan: First Encounter is anything to go on, we might have a dark horse entry for anime of the year.  

Dan Da Dan follows a high school gyaru named Momo Ayase (Shion Wakayama)—fresh off a brutal break up— who believes in ghosts, and an equally friendless and bookish nerd named Okarun (Natsuki Hanae), who believes in aliens. The unlikely pair inevitably fall into each other’s orbit on a dare to disprove the other’s belief in the otherworldly by visiting the most haunted locales in their town. Much to their horror, they’re both right, and must use their wits to survive a flurry of paranormal activity.

Much like its source material, Dan Da Dan—adapted by Scott Pilgrim Takes Off and Devilman Crybaby studio Science Saru—is an anomaly unto itself. On the one hand, Dan Da Dan is an action-adventure series with your typical fair of transforming protagonists squaring up against all-powerful entities. On the other it’s also a bit of a horror series with blood-curdling dread on par with manga auteur Junji Ito’s most frightening page-turns. But at the heart of it all, Dan Da Dan is a rom-com about two teenagers who get on each other’s last nerve.

While the show reads as a Scooby Doo-esque romp, it’s more akin to an anime version of Regular Show with how rapidly its esoteric plot escalates from scene to scene. In one moment, the pair can be having a heart-to-heart over the phone about their troubled childhoods. In the next, they are entrenched in a handicap battle against aliens disguised as white-collar businessmen and a geriatric ghost lady. Both of whom are bizarrely fixated on obtaining human “banana organs” to their mysterious ends.

Dan Da Dan stands out as a unique anime for its bizarre blend of genres and how it seamlessly harmonizes them. What’s more, it accomplishes this without wasting a single animation frame while breathing new life into the manga’s breakneck pace. To make the magic happen, director Fuga Yamashiro employs subtle old-school cinematic techniques to build tension, drawing the viewer into Dan Da Dan‘s unnerving horror rather than relying on cheap jumpscares to startle them. For example, aliens and ghosts will either loom in the darkness or out of the frame (or as an obscured part of the natural framing) of an innocuous scene between the pair, only to have the camera hang on a shot long enough until audiences notice something is amiss.

To that end, Dan Da Dan also masterfully balances the timing shared between horror and comedy by having its tension punctuated or alleviated by how Wakayama and Hanae react to Momo and Okarun’s ensuing peril. Sometimes said reactions are unintelligible, yet oh-so-human guttural “Nuh Uh” yells before hurrying in the opposite direction. Other times, it’s offhanded remarks poking fun at each other while commiserating over having lived another day. After all, they are bratty high schoolers, so having genuine concern expressed as tension-breaking jokes is inspired.©Gkids/Science Saru

And when Dan Da Dan’s action hits, it hits. Science Saru’s adaptation of creator Yukinobu Tatsu’s manga not only perfectly translates his panels and otherworldly character designs into the medium with all the fluid and hard-hitting action choreography anime connoisseurs crave, it also pushes it to grander heights. Each fight scene in Dan Da Dan utilizes both 2D and CG set design and artwork to establish the sheer size of its towering foes, and accentuate the diorama-like action within its various open spaces and claustrophobic scenes. What’s more, Dan Da Dan goes the extra mile in its art direction by having its color designs go off-model, in what can only be described as kaleidoscopic moments where colors pop in vibrant neon lights with every impact frame and emotionally heightened scene.

Even its backstory flashbacks, the ire and momentum-killer of every fast-paced anime that came before it, are framed in a Studio Ghibli-like whimsy and melancholy, with minimalistic camera shots and heart-wrenching monologues that stir the soul just as effectively as its action pumps them up. Dan Da Dan‘s juxtaposition of horror, comedy, romance, and drama is less like a choppy river and more like a steady stream that feedback loops its tension and fun without undermining itself.

The only marks against Dan Da Dan: First Encounter is the fact that the interview featurette between Yukinobu, editor Shihei Lin, Wakayama, Natsuki, and Yamashiro that plays before the film goes on for a while and basically spoils every big reveal in the first episode. It also scoops the movie by having its voice actors spell out their character’s psychology before moviegoers can have an opportunity to arrive at their interpretations; it also has Yukinobu and Yamashiro talk at length about the blocking and staging of the episode’s best scenes. While their insights were undoubtedly illuminating, it would’ve been more effective as a post-film featurette to leave some surprise to folks who haven’t pored over its manga. But that won’t be a problem, considering First Encounter‘s limited theatrical run is pretty much over now, and audiences tuning in in a few weeks at home won’t have that same dissonant experience.

The anime community at large has been hyped for Dan Da Dan as the next big thingm and it seems like its shaping up to be just that. Dan Da Dan: First Encounter is nothing short of an amuse buche of anime greatness yet to come and, hopefully, the show will continue to live up to that legacy when it premieres on Netflix, Crunchyroll, and Hulu on October 3. 

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