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Dandadan Season 1 Review

Dandadan is a romantic comedy supernatural shonen anime series that premiered its first season in 2024. It’s one of the most purely entertaining and original anime shows in recent years.

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“It’s back! One of my balls is back!“

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It follows two teenagers who team up with each other and their friends to fight spirits and aliens. This series is one giant genre-bender unlike anything else in anime right now. First and foremost, let’s talk about the supernatural elements. The spirits are not just creatively imagined in that typical Japanese style of grotesque and menacing design, but they also serve their purpose plotwise and most got solid arcs through some fine flashbacks.

Those aliens fared worse as they were sillier and less menacing, but I still got what they were going for and I appreciated the originality in their designs and behavior. In particular, their one-liners consistently made me chuckle as they focused heavily on the idea of a Japanese businessman as well as highly disturbing and ridiculous sexual imagery.

That brings me to sexuality, which is quite excessive on this series. It’s hard for me to even think of any other anime that sexualizes its characters as extensively as this one, but I actually appreciated that about it as it led to a more fun and funny show. There is an entire storyline of the main character losing his balls and going on a quest to retrieve them and this type of stuff can only be found in Japanese animation for sure. The hectic action, strong set pieces and consistent mayhem that erupts out of nowhere is what made this one a hugely entertaining watch.

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Okarun is a different than usual protagonist in that he’s good-looking physically, but rather ugly in his facial features. He’s a full-on nerd (otaku), but still one that is brave when needed and rather powerful eventually, which was a potent mix for your main shonen character. Ayase is another standout as his friend at first and love interest later down the line. She’s both cool and realistic while being funny on her own.

Other characters are also a lot of fun, though some worked better than others. Jin for now is not all that interesting to me, but we only got to meet him toward the end of the season, so that just as well may change in the future. Turbo Granny is a very memorable creation that only got more interesting and hilarious when she was put inside a cat figurine. As for the grandmother, I definitely found her to be quite amusing, but she was animated as this very hot young woman in face and body, which made her feel unrealistic and just strange.

Dandadan worked even better as a romantic comedy than as a supernatural action show. That is because the central relationship between Okarun and Ayase is so well established and the two are both realistic and complex. I loved their dynamic. The school setting was also superbly utilized for both romance and action. The series does have some excessive silliness in its action sequences, but they were so imaginative, funny and just fun that I still really liked them.

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The animation is stellar, especially in character designs, but also in strong background work. It’s polished and consistently dazzling. I loved the different colors and lighting used throughout its run and the underwater scenes were a visual delight. The score is another highlight as it utilized both classical and modern tones to create something quite unique. That opening theme is one of my favorite anime openings recently. It’s a rare hip-hop song that is a true banger and one that was so eclectic and authentic in its sound.