The 2024 fall anime season was filled with many remarkable and critically acclaimed anime that garnered praise from hardcore weebs and casual anime watchers. From new seasons of beloved anime like Re:Zero and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War—The Conflict to remakes and continuations of old classics like Dragon Ball Daima and Ranma ½ to new exciting original series like Blue Box and Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, there are plenty of great anime to watch no matter what you’re looking for. However, despite all this goodness, there was one anime I was more excited to see in the fall season than anything: Dandadan.
While I had heard nothing but great things about the manga it’s based on, what intrigued me about this anime was its unique yet straightforward premise. The show follows two major characters: Momo, a popular gyaru who believes in the occult but not aliens, and Ken (who’s referred to as Okarun for Momo to avoid being incredibly flustered since he shares the same name as her celebrity crush), who believes in aliens but no ghosts or spirits. The two initially butt heads, but when they’re thrust into the world of the supernatural and discover that both spirits/ghosts and aliens are indeed real, they use their newfound special abilities to fight these evil creatures while also learning to grow closer and more comfortable with each other. It’s a bizarre premise that I was utterly captivated by. Plus, this anime was being developed by legendary animation studio Science Saru (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Devilman Crybaby, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl), and the manga’s author, Yukinobu Tatsu, was a former assistant for Tatsuki Fujimoto (Chainsaw Man, Fire Punch, Look Back). Therefore, I knew I would be watching something truly special. Fast forward 12 episodes later, and I can confirm that Dandadan is not only the best anime of the 2024 fall season but also 2024 in general.
Dandadan is the exact type of shonen battle action series that I look for as it manages to be an amalgamation of everything I love about this subgenre of anime without any of the pitfalls or irritating clichés that unfortunately come with these types of shows. My main frustration with a lot of modern shonen action like Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, and even last year’s Kaiju No. 8 is that they are filled to the brim with so much mediocrity, repetitiveness, and over-reliance on tropes that it was difficult to find a reason to continue watching when I’ve seen all of this hundreds of times. In comparison, Dandadan stands out because of one key feature, which is that it’s just as much a romance as an action series. While the show is still loaded with impressive set pieces and breathtaking fight scenes you’d come to expect from both a shonen battle action series and a Science Saru anime, these moments feel especially exciting and earned because of the core romance between Okarun and Momo.
The characters feel less like generic, overpowered shonen protagonists and more like awkward tweens who happen to have supernatural abilities that allow them to battle against ghosts and aliens. Therefore, we get a lot of great character moments in which Momo and Okarun grow closer to each other, whether it be bickering back and forth because of a misunderstanding, spending hours of their free time talking about the occult (and yearning for each other’s company whenever they’re in class), eating meals together, or simply just walking home together. While a lot of these moments are goofy and presented with comedic levity, there’s still a core romance that blossoms between these two characters. They clearly like each other, and while the story hasn’t gotten to the point where they confess or are honest about their feelings, there is a clear mutual attraction that neither Momo nor Okarun can deny.
It’s why both characters decide to master their respective abilities and become stronger to protect each other. Momo gets jealous when she sees Okarun on top of Aira, a popular girl at school who believes her cuteness makes her the “main character,” misbelieving that he’s more romantically interested in her when that’s not the case at all. Similarly, Okarun gets jealous when Jiji, Momo’s childhood friend and human goofball, admits his romantic feelings towards Momo. It’s the exact type of relationship chicken you’d expect from awkward high school students. Still, because Momo and Okarun have such great chemistry and express genuine care for each other, these over-the-top rom-com moments feel charming.
The romance between Momo and Okarun helps both characters become more developed. Therefore, when an action set piece happens in which Momo and Okarun need to rely on each other to win, we, as audience members, feel significantly invested because we’ve grown to love these characters and their relationship. It’s what makes action scenes like the final fight against Turbo Granny or when the Serpo aliens return to steal Momo and Okarun’s “bananas” exhilarating. Plus, the payoffs of these fights are incredibly satisfying because the characters ultimately win by completely trusting each other and relying on each other’s strengths to cover their weaknesses, strangely making these moments just as romantic as the actual rom-com scenes.
However, while Dandadan is primarily an action rom-com, it doesn’t shy away from more serious moments if the story demands it. The most notable example of these more dramatic moments is the iconic episode 7, in which Momo and Okarun save Aira from the Acrobatic Silky demon. We get a glimpse into her tragic backstory and how she became such a monster in the first place. It’s a decisive moment because it shows so much without needing many lines of dialogue. Everything about Acrobatic Silky’s past as a former mother is communicated incredibly well through visuals alone, and the result is a heartfelt, emotionally powerful episode that still naturally fits Dandandan’s overall story. Science Saru has been a dependable studio with jaw-dropping animation, trippy imagery, and eye-catching color schemes, so episodes like this allow the team to flex their creative muscles.
Simply put, Dandadan is a piece of art made for me as it has everything I want in an action shonen anime and more. Every aspect of this series is refined and top-notch, including its fight scenes, comedic tone, romance, and character dynamics. I haven’t been this invested in a shonen anime in a very long time, and my only frustration is that it’s only 12 episodes long and ended on a pointless cliffhanger when it should have gotten the 23/24-episode treatment like Frieren or Jujutsu Kaisen season 2. That being said, Dandadan is easily one of the best anime in 2024, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in the second season.
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