Anime Review: DAN DA DAN Episode 8

Storyboard artist: Hiroshi Nishikiori

Episode director: Hiroshi Nishikiori

Scriptwriter: Hiroshi Seko

Assistant episode director: Takuya Fujikura

Assistant episode director Hiromi Nishiyama

After last week’s priority episode, I expected DAN DA DAN Episode 8 to be a still-enjoyable but much less remarkable liminal episode, one that’d mainly provide some relationship progression for the teenage characters before the next big yokai/alien confrontation. It’s definitely not a “big” episode, but the storyboards offer some good material as early as the avan. 

Episode 8 opens with the series’ second post-yokai-battle meal, with Aira as a guest at the Ayases’ table. It doesn’t take long for the episode to begin framing characters with objects like Okarun’s spectacle lenses or — when Momo’s attempts to make peace with Aira sour due to the pink-haired girl’s continued suspicion that Momo (and Okarun) are demons — Aira’s chopsticks. Then, as Aira and Momo hurl threats at each other while their mouths are stuffed with noodles (made all the more bizarre by how Aira intentionally puts noodles in her mouth to mimic Momo), their incomprehensible mumbling is translated into screen-filling text that both characters knock aside with bowling pin sound effects. I love it.

After such visual elements, the presentation of the rest of the episode feels comparatively normal for the most part, though there are some wonderful sections that caught me off-guard. I let out a bark of laughter when the episode cut to live-action footage of a mantis shrimp, and there’s an unbroken cut where the camera closely follows a ripple made by Momo down a partially flooded corridor, before moving up the body of a Godzilla-and-Nessie-like monster that lights up in response to the movement. However, even when the framing doesn’t go above and beyond, the inherent nature of DAN DA DAN means there’s still a lot of wackiness to enjoy, a prime example being how the Ayases and Turbo Granny execute the return of Okarun’s testicle in the manner of a baseball match. Later, as Aira tries to land a kiss on Okarun at school (having fallen in love after he rescued her during the Acrobatic Silky battle), we’re shown a hachimaki-wearing Aira in her dad’s study, perusing adult magazines and videos that are to blame for her questionable knowledge of romance.

That encounter between Aira and Okarun is one of the funniest bits in the episode, especially since the former views Okarun as a Momo-controlled demon who still has the kind heart of a human, but it’s not just there to reaffirm that Aira is a weird but adorable chuunibyou. Before being interrupted by Aira’s appearance, Okarun was committing himself to physical exercise in order to build himself up for the inevitable next battle. In addition to showing Okarun’s resolve, it’s the catalyst for more jealous Momo scenes, as she misconstrues the sight of Okarun being on top of Aira after a fall. The agonized sounds that Shion Wakayama makes when a dazed Momo punches herself cements her as my favourite cast member of the show.

Before there’s any chance of reconciliation (or of Okarun getting more than a few minutes of training), Okarun, Aira, and Momo find themselves in an alternate dimension, reminiscent of the closed space that accompanied the Flatwoods Monster. The Serpoians are back and are now gunning for Okarun’s privates, having mistaken his Turbo Granny curse for an inherent ability. They also have powerful allies on their side — a boxing humanoid foreshadowed by the mantis shrimp scene and the aforementioned monster, the latter of which has an atomic breath-like attack. 

Okarun is quickly subdued, and Momo can’t help on account of her being in another part of the school. His predicament leads to another reveal: Aira has Acrobatic Silky’s powers and, like Okarun, can transform herself. The execution isn’t very energizing, especially when the beautiful closing shots of the last episode are still fresh in my mind, but the development provides a decent enough cliffhanger story-wise. It looks like Episode 9 will be Okarun and Aira versus the Serpoians and the boxing Dover Demon, and Momo versus the water monster. Let’s hope they put on a good show.

Previous DAN DA DAN episode reviews:

• Episode 1-3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7