Dan Da Dan season 2 (ダンダダン) is the continuation of the super natural comedy romance series based on the manga of the same name by Tatsu Yukinobu. This season ran for 12 episodes over the Summer of 2025.
The story picks up right were season one left off...so if you need to, you might want to check that out before cotinuing. Momo and Okarun have been tasked to investigate what's going on with Jiji and his parents by Momo's grandmother. The small village where he's currently living has a dark secret perpetrated by a creepy family. The house Jiji is staying at is the sight of a centuries long sacrificial ceremony perpetrated by the Kito family. They have been sacrificing people to an underground worm god they believe is keeping the volcano outside of the village dormant. Their plan backfires when they attempt to sacrifice Jiji and his friends and everyone falls into the cavernous recesses below the house. They find a history of their crimes in sunken homes that span the decades and their god...a mythical UMA that has gone crazy with its thirst and size.
There is something lurking below however that is a problem, a long forgotten darkness built upon pain and neglect of a tortured child from centuries ago. That pain manifested into a powerful spirit known as Evil Eye and before they can stop him, Jiji merges with the being.Jiji's incredible physical strength and spiritual energy allows Evil Eye to have a powerful vessel for enacting his revenge on the world at large. Momo, Okarun and Turbo Granny struggle to defend themselves and the ensuing battle leads to the eruption of the volcano. As their demise seems to be guaranteed, Momo's grandmother arrives with the cavalry to contain the problem. Evil Eye is contained but Jiji is still possessed so they bring him back to their home to keep and eye on him while they figure out how to proceed...concerned that if it comes out again they wont be able to contain it, let alone defeat it. The series wraps up with a prolonged introduction to the cliffhanger to make everyone thirsty for season 3!
The first season was a tour de force by Science Saru that also came with a concerning amount of fetishization of teenage girls bodies. It ended with what appeared to be an attempted sexual assault on Momo, so those that had only watched the anime were very concerned for how season two would start out and what kind of tone it would set for the continuation of this fantastic series. Those fears were quickly squashed and we were treated to a single episode that has more story, emotion and bad ass fight choreography than some other shows are ever able to squeeze out in 13 episodes. The first half of the story goes hard as our beloved awkward heroes battle for their lives. Then it shifts back to their version of the mundane and we see further development between Momo and Okarun and it was way to cute to handle!
This season was fantastic even though it contained a more connected story that thread through the entire run, as opposed to the first season that seemed more episodic. As with the first, the artwork is top tier with fantastic directing and choreography. But there is something more important and that's heart. These characters are all just normal teenagers, dealing with normal teenage problems who also happen to have to devote way too much of their energy correcting super natural messes they get dragged into. But at the end of the day, they just want to be seen and be loved like everyone else. This season was better than the first with the exception of episode 8, where I feel the story stalls and spends way too much time dealing with a pointless conflict with terrible character designs for the antagonists. Other then that...one of the best anime of the year!
The series is available on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
No comments:
Post a Comment