OP Sequence
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OP: 「革命道中」 (Kakumei Douchuu) by (AiNA THE END)
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「大蛇伝説ってこれじゃんよ」 (Orochi Densetsu tte Korejan yo)
“Like, This Is the Legend of the Giant Snake”
Without further ado, we have the continuation of Dandadan– no recap, just a cold open. (Thank goodness for that- I’m all recapped out after Kuroshitsuji.) The season 1 finale was quite the cliffhanger, to the point where I was ready to fall off the edge of my seat (even though I’d read the manga), so needless to say, I couldn’t wait to press play.
Things pick up exactly where they left off- Momo (Wakayama Shion) trapped in an onsen with a bunch of creepy oji-san closing in on her. Thanks to the teamwork of her spirit powers, Turbo Granny’s (Tanaka Mayumi) surprise appearance (thank goodness the cat let itself out of the bag), and a rickety onsen facility, Momo avoids any number of worst case scenarios. The chamber of commerce chasing the alligator guys for ruining a public building was a funny touch. Momo shakes it off, going for a visit to the local shrine, tended to by an eccentric guy obsessed with striking it big on “Boo-tube”. The shrine advertises it’s god as a tsuchinoko, though that hilariously turns out to be a publicity ploy- which works since it attracted Momo there. In actuality, it memorializes a giant snake deity that supposedly inhabited the village volcano, requiring human sacrifices to keep it dormant. The enshrined snake skin is laughably disappointing– looking more like an umbilical cord than a terrifying snake god. It’s so adorable that Okarun was on Momo’s mind the whole time “I gotta take him here!”.
There’s nothing like kicking back at home or the hotel after a nice onsen soak, but unfortunately, Momo does not get that leisure. The boys are in pretty deep shit- uncovering a secret room covered with talismans and a surprise visit from landlady and the rest of the Kito family. If their gargoyle looks weren’t enough to tip you off, the rest of their behavior, threatening Jin, pulling a rifle out even, screams “bad news”. While physically they can pack a punch (especially the matriarch), I don’t think they’re the sharpest tools in the shed, judging from how the oji-san quizzes Okarun (Hanae Natsuki) on Jin’s (Ishikawa Kaito)favorite soccer team when there’s a soccer poster hanging up in plain view.
The weird family gets down to business- the men changing into loincloths for a sacrificial festival- the key sacrifices being the trio of kids. Turns out the giant human-eating snake is not a myth, and the family has been sacrificing people for 2 centuries to this thing, under the impression that it will keep the village at peace (again, not the sharpest tools in the shed). Momo walks in just as shit is about to go down and ends up in the fighting ring with the matriarch (the granny’s Lopez Anaconda move- LOL). It shows you can’t judge a book by it’s cover- as weird as these guys look, I thought they had to be aliens or something, but according to Turbo Granny, they’re just strong humans.
Momo gets pushed into the talisman room which turns into a sink hole, but not before dragging everyone down with her. When they get to the bottom, they find houses and- a Mongolian Death Worm UMA, which Okarun was conveniently reading about in his conspiracy theory magazine on the train ride. Okarun gets all geeky over it- it’s bigger than was speculated, though not something they want to inspect up close. The Kito family is equally excited, but for different reasons- believing it to be a snake god. I mean- if you’re going to go all out and sacrifice people to something, at least get your deities and UMAs straight lol. That they even had a special pose and dance prepared was hilarious- though it ended pretty much the way I thought it would- as lunch for a hungry worm. They would make good Darwin Awards candidates.
A whole family is not enough to sate this worm’s appetite, sending our trio into hiding in one of the underground houses. As if things couldn’t possibly get worse, Okarun suddenly starts acting up, turning into his alter ego, which looks like bad news for Jin. And we have another cliffhanger- but luckily only a week’s wait.
I’m glad to have the delightful whackiness of Dandadan back on the schedule again. Science Saru knows how to play it to it’s utmost weirdness with the bold, funky art design. This week was actually kind of mellow compared to a typical episode, but that’s just to get our feet wet as we re-enter the waters. I love the work on the OP and ED- beautiful and artsy. I’m very much looking forward to visual treat on top of the entertaining weirdness that we’ll be getting from here on out.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「どうかしてる」 (Doukashiteru) by (WurtS)
Preview
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