Anime Review: DAN DA DAN Episode 7

Storyboard artist: Shuto Enomoto (also animation director for this episode)

Episode director: Kotaro Matsunaga

Scriptwriter: Hiroshi Seko

DAN DA DAN Episode 7 concludes the Acrobatic Silky conflict and, in the process, gives us what I think is the series’ best episode yet.

The frenetic first-person running scene at the very beginning is an early indicator that this would likely be a pretty well-done and immersive episode, and it definitely lives up to expectations. While the action in the avan (i.e. the pre-opening song section) is relatively brief, it nevertheless serves up a chase that sells the warehouse’s three-dimensionality through its compelling layouts. There are many satisfying shots both during and immediately after the battle, with one of my favorites showing Aira falling and sliding across the floor. The cut ends with her head close to the camera, while the rest of her body is angled forward, and I liked both the perspective drawings themselves and how they make a simple moment memorable. Momo’s off-model comedic expressions also deserve a small shout-out.

The fight ends with Momo and Okarun outsmarting Acrobatic Silky to render her vulnerable to a powerful attack from Okarun. However, there’s no room to celebrate the yokai’s defeat or the retrieval of Okarun’s ball. Up till this point, it seemed that Aira was only unconscious, but Turbo Granny reveals that she’s actually dead — a genuine surprise — as being eaten by a yokai is fatal for a regular human. There seems to be no hope for her until Acrobatic Silky proposes that Momo use her psychic powers to transfer the yokai’s aura, which is likened to a battery for organisms, to Aira.

Momo learns about the yokai when she comes into contact with Acrobatic Silky’s aura, leading to a lengthy flashback that will likely be on viewers’ minds after the episode. Through it, we learn of Acrobatic Silky’s past life as a struggling single mother with a young daughter, and the reason for her current yokai form’s dress and dancing traits. 

The flashback emphasizes weighty character animation, which makes it that much easier to view parent and child as real people and empathize with them, especially when our first look at the daughter’s beaming face is through the mother’s eyes, in first-person. The approach also makes it extra gut-wrenching when we get to the scene of Acrobatic Silky being forcibly separated from her daughter by debt collectors, suffering wounds in the process. This leads to the dash through the 3D neighborhood from the beginning of the episode, but now with context that drives up the feeling of doomed desperation that the blurred vision, constant motion, and groans had already conveyed.

Like the present-day section, there are quite a few shots in the flashback that stand out strongly — DAN DA DAN Episode 7 really does a good job at drawing you into its spaces when it aims for that effect. One standout sequence sees a montage switching from regular cut-based transitions to a continuous shot where the camera rotates and weaves through various moments in the family’s lives, with its apex guiding the viewer through the candles of a birthday cake and seeing the daughter’s face from its surface. 

Another visual showcase is the scene of Acrobatic Silky dancing shortly before her death. Wide shots allow the viewer to take in the spectacle of the starlit sky and its reflection as Acrobatic Silky twirls between them, while the bokeh lights of the city shine in the distance. The animation is already mesmerizing from this distance, but there also close-ups with a moving camera for extra punch. I remember being spellbound by the snippet of this scene that was included in DAN DA DAN’s third PV, and the full sequence satisfied my expectations. I’m more neutral on its (not immediately clear) narrative context, however. In terms of flow, the fall that caps the running scene felt like the more natural final living moment for the character, and I liked the final dance more when I originally misinterpreted the scene due to missing an important “thud” sound on my first watch.

The music that accompanies most of the past-set scenes also deserves some mention. It has the feel of a tragic ballet, which goes well with the dancing aspect of Acrobatic Silky’s backstory.

The end of the flashback reveals that while the separation from her daughter weighed on Acrobatic Silky even after death, she had actually forgotten the details at some point. She only partially recalls her memories when Aira comes into contact with her, as she mistakenly believes Aira to be her real daughter, explaining the level of obsessiveness she carries towards Aira. The resulting sense of protectiveness is also what triggers Acrobatic Silky’s transformation into her current form. 

The more interesting reveal is that Aira’s mother had already passed away at this time, and I’m curious to see if the story will delve further into the effects of that on Aira. We do see young Aira declaring that she will be someone her mother will be proud of, but that alone doesn’t fully explain her current, rather extreme personality. 

Back in the present, Aira awakens to the sight of Acrobatic Silky crumbling away from the loss of her aura. Turbo Granny explains to Okarun and a distraught Momo that the regret-filled nature of the yokai’s end will preclude her from a restful afterlife, but that’s presumably averted when Aira embraces Acrobatic Silky and soothes her worries. Ever since Aira’s introduction, each DAN DA DAN episode has left me wanting to see more of the pink-haired girl so that the story can show more sides of her. After seeing her wish for the happiness of Acrobatic Silky and her daughter and declaring that she’ll never forget the yokai, that desire remains intact and as strong as ever.

From a narrative standpoint, DAN DA DAN Episode 7 confirms that the humanization of the story’s yokai is one of its strengths. From a technical standpoint, it’s a reminder that when placed in the right people’s hands, episodes with emotional story elements, like Tengoku-Daimakyo Episode 8 (Enomoto animated that episode’s “Maru touch” sequence) and Sonny Boy Episode 8, provide viewing experiences that stand out even when the rest of the series is also well-executed. This is apparently Enomoto’s first storyboard credit, and I hope to see more from them.

*This review has been very lightly updated since its original publication. 

Previous DAN DA DAN episode reviews:

• Episode 1-3

• Episode 4

• Episode 5

• Episode 6