“It’s a quick, snappy setup that immediately gives our heroes a sense of personality, passion, and purpose. It takes less than five minutes for both protagonists to get deep into the meat of their stories, which is an absolutely blistering pace for an anime like this. It works thanks to some stellar animation that’s as stylish and speedy as the story it accompanies.
It’s also packed with some very intense scenes. Barely 10 seconds into the opening, Momo is faced with a dirtbag ex-boyfriend who demands she “puts out”, and the aliens she faces later are moments from sexually assaulting her when they’re interrupted. It’s not an anime for the faint of heart, and it doesn’t shy away from these topics or pull its punches in the slightest.” – Mens Journal
“Dan Da Dan is an anime adaptation of the popular manga DanDaDan, with fantastic animation, incredible voice acting, a banger of a theme song, and all things supernatural. As if all that weren’t enough, the show is overflowing with angsty, awkward comedy moments and a truly unique portrayal of adolescent self-discovery. But for many viewers, friends’ recommendations of Dan Da Dan came with one big disclaimer: don’t stop watching after the first episode, it’s worth it.
The first episode was admittedly jarring, with the show hitting the ground running at an absolute sprint with an alien abduction and attempted assault of a high school-aged main character, Momo Ayase. Paired with a main antagonist ghost named “Turbo Granny” whose catch phrase is “let me gobble that weenie,” it might seem like a cesspool of crude immaturity or at times even worse, voyeurism. However, while not without flaws, Dan Da Dan is a rare example of a show that’s given true narrative and thematic value to the horrors it portrays, and even to its particular brand of potty humor.” – ScreenRant
“Director Fūga Yamashiro and scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko keep the momentum perfect in the first three episodes, blending an ideal mix of stunning fight choreography with character exploration and development, and hopefully, this momentum will continue as the story progresses.
One thing I really feel the need to highlight is Science SARU’s use of color, and their choices to not use color. One example is the alien abduction scene which uses terrifying, otherworldly colors to make the Serpoians seem even more alien than they already do. Another highlight is the use of greyscale in one episode, which is finally interrupted by a brutal flash of red, an evocative sequence that would make perfect sense in one of Marvel’s Black, White, & Red anthologies. The animation studio’s skills extend far beyond just the use of color though, into truly profound scene structure and effective transitions.
The series certainly does not shy away from any of the explicit content depicted in the original manga, with the terrifying Turbo Granny still obsessed with “weenies” (don’t judge her…). Major trigger warning for Momo’s abduction by the Serpoian aliens, who begin to sexually assault the young teenager until they are interrupted by Okarun’s demonic transformation, and then the incredible activation of Momo’s psychokinetic abilities.” – AIPT Comics
