Anime Review: DAN DA DAN Episode 12

Storyboard artist: Hiromi Nishiyama

Episode director: Tetsuya Wakano

Scriptwriter: Hiroshi Seko

As its “Let’s Go To The Cursed House” title says, Episode 12 sends Momo, Okarun, and Jiji to the latter’s haunted house, but not before a lengthy avan focused on the anatomy models we met last week and their effect on Okarun. It’s still not clear how, or if, the models are related to Jiji’s situation, but the episode confirms that the male one isn’t in possession of Okarun’s missing testicle. For now, they’re here to create more funny situations (such as the shot of the male anatomy model riding a packed train while en route to his love, who’s temporarily taken up residence at the Ayases’ home), although the biggest source of those this week is Okarun.

Inspired by the anatomy models’ passionate love, Okarun endeavours to make his presence more pronounced to Momo and to ward off Jiji. This results in the classic type of misunderstandings where neither the romantic interest nor the perceived rival understand what’s really going on, while the audience potentially dies of second-hand embarrassment. I don’t need second-hand embarrassment in my life right now (or at any point of it, really), but the animated motions and the way Jiji easily rolls with Okarun’s actions — most notably, when he joins Okarun for a duet after the latter begins to passionately belt out love song lyrics (Edit: Okarun is singing Slam Dunk‘s first ending theme, while Jiji is singing that anime’s first opening song; I had forgotten how those songs sounded like and never remembered the lyrics) — give these rom-com bits enjoyable zestiness that helped me to overcome it.

Unsurprisingly, Okarun’s efforts start to flounder when he realizes that Jiji really is a nice guy, and potentially his first male friend. My guard dropped too, so I was a bit surprised when a casual football/soccer game between the two turns into a (still friendly) “who likes Momo more” match. Okarun isn’t in a position to completely relax around Jiji now, it seems. That interaction doesn’t lead to anything major within this episode, and it doesn’t paint Jiji as a bad person, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this rivalry rears its head again in some fashion when the spirit plaguing Jiji makes its appearance.

Speaking of spirits, DAN DAN DAN Episode 12 delivers some of the horror atmosphere that I found lacking from last week’s Jiji flashback. The standout is a cut near the end of the avan, which begins with the camera moving towards the narrow gap between two sliding doors and over Jiji’s hunched back, before concluding with an unsettling upside-down look at a fear-consumed Jiji bathed in purple-pink. The prelude-to-the-exorcism nature of the episode means that the atmosphere is not as thick when we reach the hot springs district where Jiji lives (it seems to be, or is modelled after, Gunma’s Ikaho; I recognized the steps thanks to Encouragement of Climb Season 3, though I’d forgotten the location’s name), but its depressing greys and the odd appearance of some of its inhabitants ensure that there’s still a whiff of dread in the air. 

In contrast, Jiji’s house continues to feel mostly normal, but that’s intentional since Momo makes a point to mention how she currently can’t sense any sinister aura. When it’s time for the spirit to make its grand appearance, I hope that the episode will be one of the most memorable experiences of the Summer 2025 anime season (in case you missed it, Season 2 has been announced).

Episode 12 ends with dual cliffhangers — one with the boys discovering a mysterious, newly appeared room that seems to be papered in talismans (even the interior of its wall is stuffed with talismans), the other with Momo in danger — that, even if the second season had not been announced immediately, would’ve all but guaranteed the existence of a continuation. (To begin with, Jiji’s late introduction made it doubtful the DAN DA DAN anime would wrap things up within a single cour.) The benefit of Season 2’s quick reveal is that the “we’re just partway through the series” feeling of this episode — despite it not being part of a consecutive cour season — feels less strange, though it wasn’t very distracting to begin with either.

That’s perhaps thanks to some of the other memorable shots in Episode 12. The sight of the male anatomy model jumping past the night’s crescent moon, the dolly zoom that heralds his belated arrival at the Ayase’s premises, and the low-angle shot of Momo casually reclining on Jiji’s couch with crossed legs provide welcome flourish. While DAN DA DAN’s Ikaho is not as welcoming as Encouragement of Climb’s for obvious reasons, the backgrounds and the composition of several shots still inspire me to visit the place all the same. It’s not a big season finale, but it’s a nice episode, nevertheless.

Looking at this cour of DAN DA DAN as a whole, there were a couple of shortcomings that held the anime back a little. The first is series director Fuga Yamashiro‘s choice to dye scenes in the color of a particular supernatural entity — it packed a punch the first time, but as the series went on, the look of these sections started to feel drab rather than exciting due to the rigidity of the approach. That’s perhaps one of the reasons I didn’t like the action scenes that much — I kept yearning for the more liberating feel of the normal color palette whenever a yokai or alien’s color took over the screen. The stylized colors seemed bold based on the trailers, but felt restrictive in the context of the full show.

Secondly, while DAN DA DAN generally did a good job with its silliness, it felt like there was room for its expression to be even wackier and unhinged. I appreciate what we were given with this production, but I would also love to visit a parallel universe where a DAN DA DAN anime with FLCL’s energy was made. 

Nevertheless, the DAN DA DAN we got is a pretty good production that was entertaining every week. Not everything was on the same level as Episode 7, and I definitely remember the storyboards of some episodes more fondly than others, but every episode had at least one scene that appealed to me. While I was never in love with the action (due to Okarun’s running-based power feeling a little uninteresting after the first couple of fights) or the rom-com elements (the frequent depiction of Momo and Okarun’s awkwardness and mopeyness was cute, but nothing matched the satisfaction of Episode 4’s “See you tomorrow!”) individually, the series struck a good balance between the two. The voice performances, zippy pace, strange alien/yokai designs, and the multiple fun additions to the main cast (Aira!) combined to create a ride I was happy to remain on till the end. 

Previous DAN DA DAN episode reviews:

• Episode 1-3
• Episode 4
• Episode 5
• Episode 6
• Episode 7
• Episode 8
• Episode 9
• Episode 10
• Episode 11