Dandadan: That's How Love Starts, Ya Know
October 19, 2024 4:23 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
Momo is a gyaru girl with a spirit medium grandmother, while Ken is a UFO otaku and loner. But when the two clash over whether spirits or aliens are real, the conflict leads to a set of dares to go to known hotspots for the activity they don't believe in - which leads to the two learning that reality is a lot weirder (and dangerous) than they could ever have known... (cw: sexual assault/attempted rape)
And so kicks off Dandadan, a series that does not know any other way to go but to step on the accelerator harder. And while this show has been on a lot of anime fans' radars since it was announced, the content warning in the intro illustrates why this first episode puts the "problematic" in "problematic fave".
While we start off with your traditional Japanese high school setting, it moves quickly to our two protagonists going to locations of paranormal activity - for Ken, this is a tunnel known to be haunted; while Momo heads to an abandoned hospital known for having several alien abductions taking place.
Needless to say, they both quickly realize that both are right - spirits and aliens both exist, and are quite dangerous. Momo winds up abducted by the Serponians, an alien species that reproduces through cloning, and thus needs to conduct..."experiments" to recover reproductive capability via..."banana" organs. Ken runs into the Turbo Granny - a yokai capable of running incredibly fast and who seems to have a fascination with...a certain part of his anatomy. The two clash when a Granny-cursed and Granny-possessed Ken teleports to the Serponian ship via Momo's smartphone, where Granny promptly runs amok before the Serponians subdue Granny/Ken with their psychic powers. However, their use of their powers on Momo has managed to unlock her latent psychic powers, which she proceeds to use to tear the Serponians (and their ship) a new one.
Managing to flee the crashed ship, Momo finds that she can suppress Granny's curse on Ken with her powers, and as they recover and figure out what to do next Momo asks Ken for his name (as she's been calling him Occult-kun up to now.) When he responds with "Ken Takakura", the name of the actor Momo idolizes (and has a crush on), the Serponian ship promptly blows up in the background.
Yeah, Dandadan may be many things, but subtle is not one of those.
Let's be blunt about this - Momo's abduction by the Serponians is really rapey, to the point that I genuinely do not feel comfortable recommending this show to someone I don't know well. The Serponians forcibly tear off her clothes into shreds when they abduct her, their "experiments" are quite bluntly rape, and they forcibly try to arouse Momo with their psychic powers. Worse, the way Momo gets displayed is...it undercuts the horror of the scene with the way the male gaze of the camera looks. It comes across as gross and harms the show, in my opinion.
What really makes this frustrating is that this is genuinely a one-off for the series - this behavior is never seen again, and in fact (minor manga spoilers) the most recent chapter of the series had a scene where a female student is blackmailed over intimate photos she took due to the psychological pressures she was under, and it is treated as the act of abuse it is, as well as Kouki (the student involved) being an outright victim from several angles. Which shows that the series (and its author) can handle this sort of matter properly, which leaves questions as to why it wasn't at the start.
Again, this is a one off, and it's been good so far, but...if this is a deal breaker for you, I completely understand, which is why I'm being upfront about it.
And so kicks off Dandadan, a series that does not know any other way to go but to step on the accelerator harder. And while this show has been on a lot of anime fans' radars since it was announced, the content warning in the intro illustrates why this first episode puts the "problematic" in "problematic fave".
While we start off with your traditional Japanese high school setting, it moves quickly to our two protagonists going to locations of paranormal activity - for Ken, this is a tunnel known to be haunted; while Momo heads to an abandoned hospital known for having several alien abductions taking place.
Needless to say, they both quickly realize that both are right - spirits and aliens both exist, and are quite dangerous. Momo winds up abducted by the Serponians, an alien species that reproduces through cloning, and thus needs to conduct..."experiments" to recover reproductive capability via..."banana" organs. Ken runs into the Turbo Granny - a yokai capable of running incredibly fast and who seems to have a fascination with...a certain part of his anatomy. The two clash when a Granny-cursed and Granny-possessed Ken teleports to the Serponian ship via Momo's smartphone, where Granny promptly runs amok before the Serponians subdue Granny/Ken with their psychic powers. However, their use of their powers on Momo has managed to unlock her latent psychic powers, which she proceeds to use to tear the Serponians (and their ship) a new one.
Managing to flee the crashed ship, Momo finds that she can suppress Granny's curse on Ken with her powers, and as they recover and figure out what to do next Momo asks Ken for his name (as she's been calling him Occult-kun up to now.) When he responds with "Ken Takakura", the name of the actor Momo idolizes (and has a crush on), the Serponian ship promptly blows up in the background.
Yeah, Dandadan may be many things, but subtle is not one of those.
Okay, now let's talk about the content warning elephant in the room... (cw:sexual assault/attempted rape)
Let's be blunt about this - Momo's abduction by the Serponians is really rapey, to the point that I genuinely do not feel comfortable recommending this show to someone I don't know well. The Serponians forcibly tear off her clothes into shreds when they abduct her, their "experiments" are quite bluntly rape, and they forcibly try to arouse Momo with their psychic powers. Worse, the way Momo gets displayed is...it undercuts the horror of the scene with the way the male gaze of the camera looks. It comes across as gross and harms the show, in my opinion.
What really makes this frustrating is that this is genuinely a one-off for the series - this behavior is never seen again, and in fact (minor manga spoilers) the most recent chapter of the series had a scene where a female student is blackmailed over intimate photos she took due to the psychological pressures she was under, and it is treated as the act of abuse it is, as well as Kouki (the student involved) being an outright victim from several angles. Which shows that the series (and its author) can handle this sort of matter properly, which leaves questions as to why it wasn't at the start.
Again, this is a one off, and it's been good so far, but...if this is a deal breaker for you, I completely understand, which is why I'm being upfront about it.
This episode was basically chapter one, and its good and bad terrible aspects were all part of the attention grab. It's interesting how those elements gradually peter out over the next few (dozen?) chapters.
I'm also reminded that Momo's gyaru girlfriends are criminally underused.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:23 AM on October 21 [1 favorite]
I'm also reminded that Momo's gyaru girlfriends are criminally underused.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:23 AM on October 21 [1 favorite]
The alien abduction scene was not great. I dunno if there was some kind of commentary there on the aliens wearing middle age men costumes and lusting after a high school girl. It 100% could have been animated differently unless they were really wanting to go with provoking discomfort.
Beyond that, it wasn't bad. It definitely had a little bit of that manic comedic energy you'll see in shows like Excel Saga or Furi Kuri (I'm dated, argh). On the promise that the show will do less of the bad and more of the good, I'll keep on watching. Outside of this post, I've heard lots of good things about it, too.
posted by Atreides at 11:35 AM on October 21 [1 favorite]
Beyond that, it wasn't bad. It definitely had a little bit of that manic comedic energy you'll see in shows like Excel Saga or Furi Kuri (I'm dated, argh). On the promise that the show will do less of the bad and more of the good, I'll keep on watching. Outside of this post, I've heard lots of good things about it, too.
posted by Atreides at 11:35 AM on October 21 [1 favorite]
This episode was basically chapter one, and its good and bad terrible aspects were all part of the attention grab.
That's not an excuse or justification though, and it speaks to a certain part of anime/manga culture that too often makes feel like I need to go bathe. I'm up to date on the manga, and I know we're going to be getting some amazing arcs that are going blow people's minds - but given how the series starts, I feel very conflicted about telling people they should try it.
If we want more people to feel comfortable with anime, this sort of thing needs to end.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:46 PM on October 21 [2 favorites]
That's not an excuse or justification though, and it speaks to a certain part of anime/manga culture that too often makes feel like I need to go bathe. I'm up to date on the manga, and I know we're going to be getting some amazing arcs that are going blow people's minds - but given how the series starts, I feel very conflicted about telling people they should try it.
If we want more people to feel comfortable with anime, this sort of thing needs to end.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:46 PM on October 21 [2 favorites]
That's not an excuse or justification though
It's an observation.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:48 PM on October 21 [3 favorites]
It's an observation.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:48 PM on October 21 [3 favorites]
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posted by SPrintF at 8:06 PM on October 19