Recently a pal without kids asked my why are younger kids more into anime than tradition Marvel/DC superheroes. Having taken my daughter to anime conventions and listened to her for hours discussing her favorite shows (and ones she hates); I felt enough of an authority to render an informed opinion. Japanese anime is more imaginative. It’s not all people in tights and optional capes saving the world. Anime offers more. The diversity in characters means the fans can cosplay at conventions not always wearing a tights and fake muscles. They can almost dress like a normal person and still be cosplaying their favorite characters. Dan Da Dan: Season One is a recent hit that’s about school kids who get involved in UFOs and the occult. The two main characters mainly wear their school uniforms. Why wouldn’t a kid be attracted to a show about high school romance with a witchcraft/extraterrestrial theme with normal looking characters? But not everything is normal as they get too deep into their favorite subjects.
Things aren’t going right for Momo Ayase (Abby Trott/Shion Wakayama). Her boyfriend dumps in a rather harsh way in the school yard. In her heartbreak and confusion, she sees Okarun (AJ Beckles/Natsuki Hanae) getting picked on by his classmates. She defends the nerdy boy who has a magazine about UFOs. She sees him as a fellow outcast except turns out they are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Okarun believes in UFOs and aliens. Momo is all about ghosts and witchcraft. Complicating things, neither believes in the other thing as being real. Momo is from a family of witches and Okarun has a subscription to the UFO magazine. The two rather stubborn kids want to prove each other wrong so they make a strange deal. They will investigate a hot spot for each other’s “false” belief. Momo arrives at an abandoned building that has been a hot bed for alien activity. Okarun goes deep into a tunnel that is supposedly haunted by witch. They stay in contact with their cellphones as they investigate. Both have their belief systems rocked. Momo encounters the alien Serpoians. They don’t want her help to phone home. They attack her and plan to impregnate her. Okarun encounters the Turbo Granny witch inside the tunnel. He fails to escape her clutches. The witch puts a curse on him and also removes certain parts of his body. Okarun and Momo are able to fight back against their unnatural enemies and escape, but neither of them are the same. Momo brings him home to meet her grandmother with the hopes that they can remove the curse and locate his missing body parts. Things develop from their between the two classmates.
Dan Da Dan: Season One is addictive. I ended up watching all 12 episodes in an afternoon. There’s a great kinetic energy coming off the screen and speakers whether it be from cursed undead souls or creepy aliens. Visually the show pops in both the action scenes and even the small moments between the main characters. The nerdy relationship between Momo and Okarun feels realistic. Both of them have their quirks and are awkward and horrible at connecting with each other properly. As the show develops over the episodes, things get even more complicated when other characters are introduced. This adds to the tension between the main duo as they deal with intrusive spirits and aliens. Dan Da Dan: Season One is both charming and exciting. I will be expecting to see cosplayers dressed up as Momo and Okarun at the next convention my kid attends.
The Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer brings out the bursts of animated energy in the show. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0 in Japanese and English tracks. Pick the track you want to hear. The subtitles are English, Spanish, French and Brazilian Portuguese.
Interview with the Filmmakers (10:15) has director Fuga Yamashiro and producer Kohei Sakita discuss the show. Fuga gets into what he felt when reading the original manga. He wanted to capture the energy that came off the page. He wanted it to swap from comedy to action during scenes.
Director Scene Breakdown (11:12) has Fuga Yamashiro go deep on the first scene when Momo meets Okarun. We learn why he avoided giving his glasses wearing characters eyes in this scene. We also learn how he animated the characters to show their nice sides.
Opening Credits (1:33) is the Japanese text on the screen.
Ending Credits (1:32) has the good luck kitty going nuts with just Japanese credits.
Interview with Composer Kensuke Ushio (5:16) takes us into the studio where he still enjoys reel to reel audio tape to create different textures for his music.. Eventually everything gets transferred digitally for the show. He talks about getting musical ideas from older TV shows and movies that dealt with the occult and UFOs. We also get to see some of the Manga pages. He came from creating dance music. He gets into how he works with orchestras when necessary.
Commemorative Interviews (18:19) is from a special advance screening. The Japanese voice actors discuss the film. Shion Wakayama enjoys how it goes from a nerdy romance to action. Natsuki Hanae, the voice of Okarun does wear glasses. Author Yukinobu Tatsu covers his face with a fried egg animation. He talks about how he worked out Dan Da Dan during a time when he couldn’t make a manga work for him. Tatsu gets into how he got into the legend of Turbo Granny.
Teasers & Trailers (9:10) includes 4 trailers, 2 teasers and 3 spots. This includes for the “movie” that was several episodes spliced together.
Shout! Studios and GKIDS present Dan Da Dan: Season One. Directed by Fuga Yamashiro. Screenplay by Hiroshi Seko. Starring Abby Trott, AJ Beckles, Lisa Reimold, Aleks Le, Kari Wahlgren and Barbara Goodson. Boxset Contents: 12 episodes on 2 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: June 10, 2025.
