You rated episode 5 of
How is DAN DA DAN? Community score: 4.5
©Yukinobu Tatsu/SHUEISHA, DANDADAN Production Committee
It's gotten to the point where I have to put on my Nitpicky Special Critic hat every week to find flaws in DAN DA DAN could help balance out all the praise I've given each episode. To my dismay, Science SARU has once again stymied my attempts at more constructive criticism by churning out a fifth consecutive, essentially perfect volume. Ultimately, I found only one element of the episode that didn't work for me: The credits cut in the final seconds felt abrupt. This isn't the strongest edit of the series.
Yes, I'm well aware that a minor complaint with a few transition frames is hardly a convincing criticism, but what the hell am I supposed to do at this point? The entire song “Like, Where Are Your Balls!?” very funny, cute, well animated and professionally paced; it's a chapter of the DAN DA DAN story directed with such weapons-grade finesse that even if there were larger elements in the script or the production that failed it would be unrecognizable they. It does what all great entertainment does, keeps your heart so busy punching and cheering at what's on the screen that it impairs your brain's ability to detect and evaluate errors. Friend. It might be the personal Kryptonite of a critic like me, but it makes for a great episode of television.
Right from the start, this episode demonstrates one of DAN DA DAN's greatest strengths, which is that it is able to effectively balance Momo and Okarun's dual protagonist roles in this sci-fi/action/ mashup. This strange and eccentric hybrid romance. The current crisis in the plot is the Case of Okarun's Stolen Profiteers, which means our hapless hero might get a slight advantage in terms of spotlight and screen time. Yet you never get the feeling that we're experiencing the story solely through his eyes. In an almost dreamy montage of Okarun and Momo searching for each other during their lunch break, a scene that feels plucked from the great romantic comedy playbook, we get to explore the melancholy longing of both of them. main character thanks to a clever combination of editing and voice acting.-via. As the pair briefly fall out after their incredibly awkward first kiss, the episode lingers on Momo's conflicted guilt over her bullying of Okarun just as we focus into his confusion and stumbling.
This is the kind of writing that a good romance requires because it allows us to see our leads as their own relatable, flawed individuals, even as we glorify them How lovely as a unit. They are stronger together than they are apart, even if that “strength” has nothing to do with kicking alien and/or ghost butt. This episode is so brilliantly done in establishing its realistic yet wistful approach to young love that you can almost forget that one of our main characters has been a nefarious grandmother from the other world takes hold and that we are bound to get into all sorts of entanglements. spooky shenanigans in an attempt to recover them.
That leads us to the deeper plot action of the episode's final third, in which Okarun and the Ayase clan transfer the remaining Turbo Granny soul into a maneki-neko so they can interrogate the ghost and discover where Okarun's juevos are hidden. Again, the pacing here is phenomenal and the episode never gets so bogged down in all the necessary exposition that it forgets to be interesting. The whole thing is probably worth the price of admission just to admire the excellent Momo Faces as she writhes on the floor and laughs at Okarun's brutal humiliation.
We've got our hands on another five-star episode. Think Science SARU will be able to take an already excellent manga and make everything about it even better. Between these films, Blue Box, The Elusive Samurai and Kaiju No. 8, 2024 has been a tumultuous year for Shonen Jump adaptations.
Rating:
DAN DA DAN is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other popular cultures, which you can also find on Twitterhis blog and podcast.
