Dan Da Dan (2024)

Dandadan (ダンダダン), also written as DAN DA DAN, is a Japanese anime television series produced by Science Saru, based on the manga series Dandadan by Yukinobu Tatsu. The anime series is directed by Fūga Yamashiro and written by Hiroshi Seko, with character designs by Naoyuki Onda and alien and supernatural entity designs by Yoshimichi Kameda. The music is composed by Kensuke Ushio.

The series was broadcast on the Super Animeism Turbo timeslot on MBS, TBS, and their affiliates. The first season aired from October 4 to December 20, 2024, while the second season aired from July 4 to September 19, 2025. Netflix and Crunchyroll licensed the series for worldwide streaming. In the United States, the series also airs English dubbed on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block. A third season was announced in December 2025 during Jump Festa 2026, and is set to premiere in 2027.

The series has received critical acclaim from critics and audiences for its animation, characters, visuals, storytelling, musical score, and voice acting.

Synopsis

Momo Ayase, a high school girl who believes in ghosts, and Ken "Okarun" Takakura, a boy who believes in aliens, make a bet to see who is right. After visiting hotspots for both, they discover that both ghosts and aliens exist. Momo awakens her psychokinetic powers, while Okarun becomes cursed by the Turbo Granny, giving him supernatural speed and transformation abilities. Together, they fight various entities to reclaim Okarun's "spiritual essentials."

Series overview

Cast and characters

Production and release

The Dandadan anime television series adaptation was announced in November 2023. It is produced by Science Saru and directed by Fūga Yamashiro, with series composition and episode screenplays by Hiroshi Seko, character designs by Naoyuki Onda, and alien and supernatural entity designs by Yoshimichi Kameda. It is the directorial debut of Yamashiro. Producer Hiroshi Kamei noted that Yamashiro would often take notes while watching other media for reference. Kamei highlighted the anime's use of "small moments" where the camera lingers on characters' expressions, a technique the staff termed "everyday action" or "everyday direction". This approach was prioritized to convey subtle interactions visually rather than through dialogue. The production also employed "lead scenes," where a specific action foreshadows a later, similar one to illustrate character development. An example cited is Momo handing Okarun his magazine, which is later mirrored when Okarun hands his clothes to Momo, demonstrating the evolution of their relationship through parallel gestures.

The first season aired for 12 episodes from October 4 to December 20, 2024, on the Super Animeism Turbo programming block on all JNN affiliates, including flagship stations MBS and TBS. Prior to the television airing, the English dub of the series premiered at Anime NYC on August 24, 2024. The first three episodes also were collected and released theatrically outside of Japan as Dan Da Dan: First Encounter, with screenings starting in Asia on August 31.

Crunchyroll is streaming the series outside of Asia, including the Middle East and CIS, while Netflix is streaming the series globally alongside Hulu in the United States and Animation Digital Network in several European territories. Muse Communication licensed the series in Asia-Pacific. In June 2024, GKIDS announced that it had acquired the theatrical, videogram, and digital transactional rights to the series. The English dub of the series made its broadcast television premiere in the United States on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on July 27, 2025.

In August 2024, prior to the premiere of the English dub, the first two episodes of the anime were leaked alongside many other anime productions that were localized by Iyuno. Episodes 3–6 were later leaked prior to the anime's premiere.

After the airing of the first-season finale, a second season was announced. It aired for 12 episodes from July 4 to September 19, 2025. Abel Góngora co-directed the season with Yamashiro. Crunchyroll and Netflix announced that they would stream the season worldwide, while Hulu and ADN are streaming it in the United States and several European territories, respectively. The season's first three episodes were released in theaters outside of Japan under the title Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye on May 30 in Asia, June 6 in North America, and on June 7 in Europe.

After the airing of the second-season finale, a third season was announced. It is set to premiere in 2027.

Music

The series's musical score is composed by Kensuke Ushio. The first season's opening theme song is "Otonoke" (オトノケ), performed by Creepy Nuts, while the ending theme song is "Taidada", performed by Zutomayo.

For the second season, the opening theme song is "Kakumei Dōchū" (革命道中; lit. 'On the Way'), performed by Aina the End, while the ending theme song is "Doukashiteru" (どうかしてる; lit. 'Something's Wrong with Them'), performed by WurtS.

Reception

Popularity

The show garnered high streaming viewership: the Japanese platforms Abema TV and Niconico reported that the series ranked as the second and fourth most-watched title during the Fall 2024 and Summer 2025 anime seasons, respectively; the first season ranked as the most-watched anime on Netflix for the second half of 2024, with over 19.6 million views worldwide, while the second season also topped the most-watched animes ranking on the same platform during the second half of 2025, with over 17 million views; additionally, Nielsen revealed that the first season ranked as the most-watched anime series in the United States among viewers aged 18 to 49 from September 2024 to April 2025, garnering over 2.6 million viewers.

The official video for its first opening theme, "Otonoke" by Creepy Nuts, surpassed 74 million views on YouTube as of November 2025, becoming a key factor in the series's viral success prior to its premiere, according to Screen Rant.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of Dandadan holds an approval rating of 100% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Gorgeously animated and bringing a big heart to go along with its bonkers imagination, Dan Da Dan comes roaring out of the gate as an exceptional Shōnen anime." The series premiere was positively received by nearly all the writers of Anime News Network. Caitlin Moore and James Beckett gave it a perfect score; Moore complimented Science Saru's animation, the dynamic between Momo and Okarun, and their voice acting while Beckett praised the studio in bringing the anime to life, noting its romcom tropes combining with horror and science fiction and Okarun's reference name. Richard Eisenbeis acknowledged the animation and story as he was enthusiastic about following the series. In contrast, while Rebecca Silverman agreed that the animation and visuals were great and premise was interesting, she did not enjoy the episode and expressed she was done with the series; she gave her reasons being the use of sudden bright lights and flashing images, a vast majority of the dialogue being "spoken in a scream", and the distasteful handling and depiction of the sexual assault scenes.

Mike Mamon of IGN praised the first three episodes of the anime for its animation, storytelling, visuals, direction, characters, and voice acting, concluding that "Dandadan's first three episodes manage to stick the landing by focusing more on the anime's lovable protagonists and less so on the absurdity of the occult and extraterrestrial world they inhabit." Toussaint Egan of Polygon praised the adaptation for its animation and character designs, while complimenting the studio's decision of elevating the visuals and color design in combining with art direction to the anime's action sequences. Vulture named Dandadan as one of the best anime series of 2024. Kambole Campbell praised the series for its humor, animation, colors, art direction, and Kensuke Ushio's musical score. The anime ranked second in Anime News Network's "Top 10 Anime of 2024". Furthermore, James Beckett applauded the series's premise, humor, action, production values, characters, and the chemistry between Momo and Okarun.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

Dandadan official anime website (in Japanese)

Dandadan official anime website

Dandadan (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia