Ghosts and UFOs and giant crab monsters collide in "Dandadan"

Creativity is a difficult concept to grasp in the increasingly commercialized world of entertainment. For every Chainsaw Man or Kowloon Generic Romance there are a hundred middling attempts at breaking into the highly competitive shonen market. These tend to muddy the waters and make it hard to sift through what is worth your time and money and what is merely an unremarkable waste. I have lamented the isekai genres influence on anime/manga/light novels ad infinitum in this column and that applies to my little introductory diatribe here as well.

Thus to peruse the shelves of the anime section of the local bookstore as I am wont to do with alarming frequency means I have taken quite a few shots in the dark. Dandadan by Yukinobu Tatsu is one of those rare times it worked out for me.

The simple premise: Momo Ayase is a popular high school girl obsessed with the undead. She sticks up for geeky 'Okarun' who is obsessed with UFOs, which Momo doesn't believe in. Okarun doesn't believe in ghosts. They make a bet and while Momo goes to a UFO hotspot, Okarun goes to a haunted tunnel where he ends up possessed by the peculiar spirit known as Turbo Granny. Meanwhile Momo is abducted by aliens who are obsessed with certain body parts — all of this coming to a head in a over-the-top sequence of telekinetic battle and hasty geriatrics.

DANDADAN © 2021 by Yukinobu Tatsu

Perhaps the fact that Yukinobu Tatsu was an assistant artist on Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch helps inform why this series is as strikingly unique and bizarre as it is. Anchoring the story in two characters who are total opposites (and fall into the trope of the geek getting with the prettiest girl around) allows the reader a chance to invest themselves easily into these heroes thrust into outlandish situations. But it also helps that the humor, mostly R-rated (this is maybe Shonen Jump's most dirty comedy series yet) always hits the mark. It's a confluence of perfection; a great story, laugh-out-loud humor, and characters you can easily relate to and grow to love.

All of this is aided by ridiculously good art. Looking at the cover image I can easily see some of the movement and linework that was present in Chainsaw Man but Tatsu's style is better in many ways than Fujimoto's. The characters in Dandadan are very detailed and their faces have a lot of expression. But the detail also comes through in the backgrounds and explosive action sequences. I don't recall there being a single black or white panel with just text in the entirety of the two volumes of Dandadan currently available in English. It's amazing that a series that releases a new chapter weekly can maintain such a high level of art without ever seeming to cut corners. Thumbing through the pages of the volumes in writing this article is as much a pleasure as it was to sit and read the book.

This column has been covering a lot of Shonen Jump's latest big name series and with Dandadan I've come to realize the manga giant may have entered a second renaissance. Growing up Shonen Jump would release a monthly manga magazine that was one of the best parts of every month and one of my gateways into manga and anime. The magazine was eventually discontinued but that first renaissance was where many my age found ourselves pining for more and investing our time and money into this once-niche medium.

The pandemic has helped boost manga sales and create new fans but it also helps that right now, the biggest manga publisher is releasing some of its best titles ever. Dandadan joins the ranks of Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family and Call of the Night as one of the best currently running manga series. With plenty more volumes on the way and two to sink your teeth into now if my gushing has made you curious, Dandadan is well worth a read.