Anime Review: DAN DA DAN Episode 11

Storyboard artist: Shinsaku Sasaki

Episode director: Toru Hasutani

Scriptwriter: Hiroshi Seko

It feels pretty on-brand for DAN DA DAN that the newly introduced Jiji, despite initial impressions, is actually one incredibly eccentric guy. Ignoring the reused footage of last week’s final shots at the start, it takes mere seconds for his cool and collected visage to melt into a blob of such delightfully exaggerated speech and movement that even Aira (still delusional, in spite of the slight shift in attitude towards Momo last week) is weirded out. DAN DA DAN Episode 11, “First Love,” marks the first time the show’s weaker animation moments started to finally intrude upon my mind, but it’s still easy to brush that aside when there are so many silly and immensely energetic Jiji poses and faces to enjoy.

Unfortunately for Okarun, Jiji is still a looker, and he’s also really good at charming the ladies, thanks to the compliments he effortlessly spews out. Seiko treats him well, most of the girls in Momo’s class (which Jiji transfers to) become smitten instantly, and even Momo’s friend Miko changes her tune about Jiji after a single remark (none of this is enough to stop Momo’s other friend, Muko, from steadfastly defending the Momo x Okarun ship, however). It’s hard to blame Okarun for having his mind stuck on Jiji and Momo during class — as a background gag, his English teacher is talking about the words “jealous,” “beautiful,” and “cool” during this time — and it leads to a cute and creative scene where Okarun’s overthinking is expressed as doodles in his exercise book. 

But for all of Jiji’s silliness, he has very serious reasons for suddenly coming over to the Ayases’ residence. As he explains to Momo, after apologizing for making fun of her sixth sense in the past, Jiji gained the ability to sense the supernatural after his family moved to a house in the mountains. Coincidentally, his new home houses a nasty and dangerous spirit that has an interest in the boy, and has caused Jiji’s parents to fall ill. The portrayal of Jiji’s haunted home and the spirit during the narration isn’t particularly creepy or unnerving, but the visual use of purplish-pink tendrils creeping over parts of a corridor and enveloping Jiji effectively conveys his sense of feeling trapped and rendered helpless by this malevolent entity. Their roots-like look also makes the moment feel like an inversion of Jiji’s comment about liking places where nature has a strong presence.

After the failures of other exorcists in dealing with this spirit — so dangerous that most of the humans ended up offing themselves — Jiji was referred to Seiko. However, since Seiko’s power has regional restrictions, the job gets outsourced to Momo. The established threat of this entity and the haunted house nature of Jiji’s circumstances have me anticipating the upcoming exorcism, but in the meantime, the teens have more immediate issues due to a loud anatomy model running around, and it apparently has Okarun’s other ball on it.

The teens’ pursuit of the anatomy model isn’t bad, and there’s a cut where, unless my eyes are deceiving me, the camera zooms towards oncoming hand-drawn vehicles, which makes for a brief but welcome visual treat. Unfortunately, the scene reuses the “William Tell Overture: Finale” and “Galop Infernal” mashup first featured during the bombastic chase in series assistant director Moko-chan’s Episode 4, and the inevitable comparisons evoked by that music choice don’t benefit it. Rather than this action sequence, it’s the character animation during a much earlier scene where Momo tries to get Okarun to say “See you tomorrow” that feels like the true visual highlight of “First Love” (although Okarun’s doodles and Jiji’s Jijiness are contenders).

Things get weirder at the end of the episode, when it’s revealed that the anatomy model was trying to get to a landfill where a female anatomy model he’s in love with now lies. The anatomy models’ exchange stirs Okarun’s heart as their words remind him of his own romantic situation, and the episode ends with Okarun snapping out of the dejected state he’d been in, his eyes now filled with strength. That final shot serves as a nice contrast with the end of last week’s episode, and I expect it’ll lead to a memorable speech from Okarun and a slight advancement in his relationship with Momo somewhere down the line.

Previous DAN DA DAN episode reviews:

• Episode 1-3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7
• Episode 8
• Episode 9
• Episode 10