Dandadan (TV series)

Dandadan (ダンダダン), also written as Dan Da Dan, is a Japanese anime television series produced by Science Saru, based on the manga series Dandadan by Yukinobu Tatsu. The series was directed by Fūga Yamashiro from scripts by Hiroshi Seko, with character designs by Naoyuki Onda and alien/supernatural entity designs by Yoshimichi Kameda. The music was composed by Kensuke Ushio.

The series aired on MBS and TBS's Super Animeism TURBO block from October 4, 2024, to September 19, 2025. Netflix and Crunchyroll licensed the series for worldwide streaming. In the United States, the series also airs on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block. A third season was announced on December 21, 2025, during Jump Festa 2026, and is scheduled for a 2027 premiere.

The series received positive reviews from critics for its animation, characters, visuals, storytelling, musical score, and voice acting.

Momo Ayase, a high school girl who believes in ghosts, and Ken "Okarun" Takakura, a boy who believes in aliens, make a bet to see who is right. After visiting hotspots for both, they discover that both ghosts and aliens exist. Momo awakens her psychokinetic powers, while Okarun becomes cursed by the Turbo Granny, giving him supernatural speed and transformation abilities. Together, they fight various entities to reclaim Okarun's "spiritual essentials."

The Dandadan anime television series adaptation was announced in November 2023. It is produced by Science Saru and directed by Fūga Yamashiro, with series composition and episode screenplays by Hiroshi Seko, character designs by Naoyuki Onda, and alien and supernatural entity designs by Yoshimichi Kameda.^[1] It is the directorial debut of Yamashiro. Producer Hiroshi Kamei noted that Yamashiro would often take notes while watching other media for reference. Kamei highlighted the anime's use of "small moments" where the camera lingers on characters' expressions, a technique the staff termed "everyday action" or "everyday direction". This approach was prioritized to convey subtle interactions visually rather than through dialogue. The production also employed "lead scenes," where a specific action foreshadows a later, similar one to illustrate character development. An example cited is Momo handing Okarun his magazine, which is later mirrored when Okarun hands his clothes to Momo, demonstrating the evolution of their relationship through parallel gestures.^[2]

The series aired for 12 episodes from October 4 to December 20, 2024, on the Super Animeism Turbo programming block on all JNN affiliates, including MBS and TBS.^[3][4][5][b] Prior to the television airing, the English dub of the series premiered at Anime NYC on August 24, 2024.^[7] The first three episodes also were collected and released theatrically outside of Japan as Dan Da Dan: First Encounter, with screenings starting in Asia on August 31.^[8][9]

Crunchyroll is streaming the series outside of Asia, including the Middle East and CIS, while Netflix is streaming the series globally alongside Hulu in the United States and Animation Digital Network in several European territories.^[10][11][12] Muse Communication licensed the series in Asia-Pacific.^[13] In June 2024, GKIDS announced that it had acquired the theatrical, videogram, and digital transactional rights to the series.^[14] The English dub of the series made its broadcast television premiere in the United States on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on July 27, 2025.^[15]

In August 2024, prior to the premiere of the English dub, the first two episodes of the anime were leaked alongside many other anime productions that were localized by Iyuno. Episodes 3–6 were later leaked prior to the anime's premiere.^[16]

After the airing of the first-season finale, a second season was announced.^[17] It aired for 12 episodes from July 4 to September 19, 2025.^[18][19][c] Abel Góngora co-directed the season with Yamashiro.^[20] Crunchyroll and Netflix announced that they would stream the season worldwide,^[21][22] while Hulu and ADN are streaming it in the United States and several European territories, respectively.^[23] The season's first three episodes were released in theaters outside of Japan under the title Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye on May 30 in Asia, June 6 in North America, and on June 7 in Europe.^[18]

After the airing of the second-season finale, a third season was announced.^[24][25] It is set to premiere in 2027.^[26]

The series' musical score is composed by Kensuke Ushio.^[1] The first season's opening theme song is "Otonoke" (オトノケ), performed by Creepy Nuts, while the ending theme song is "Taidada", performed by Zutomayo.^[27][5]

For the second season, the opening theme song is "Kakumei Dōchū" (革命道中; lit. 'On the Way'), performed by Aina the End, while the ending theme song is "Doukashiteru" (どうかしてる; lit. 'Something's Wrong with Them'), performed by WurtS.^[28][29]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of Dandadan holds an approval rating of 100% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Gorgeously animated and bringing a big heart to go along with its bonkers imagination, Dan Da Dan comes roaring out of the gate as an exceptional Shōnen anime."^[30] The series premiere was positively received by nearly all the writers of Anime News Network. Caitlin Moore and James Beckett gave it a perfect score; Moore complimented Science Saru's animation, the dynamic between Momo and Okarun, and their voice acting while Beckett praised the studio in bringing the anime to life, noting its romcom tropes combining with horror and science fiction and Okarun's reference name. Richard Eisenbeis acknowledged the animation and story as he was enthusiastic about following the series. In contrast, while Rebecca Silverman agreed that the animation and visuals were great and premise was interesting, she did not enjoy the episode and expressed she was done with the series; she gave her reasons being the use of sudden bright lights and flashing images, a vast majority of the dialogue being "spoken in a scream", and the distasteful handling and depiction of the sexual assault scenes.^[31]

Mike Mamon of IGN praised the first three episodes of the anime for its animation, storytelling, visuals, direction, characters, and voice acting, concluding that "Dandadan's first three episodes manage to stick the landing by focusing more on the anime's lovable protagonists and less so on the absurdity of the occult and extraterrestrial world they inhabit."^[32] Toussaint Egan of Polygon praised the adaptation for its animation and character designs, while complimenting the studio's decision of elevating the visuals and color design in combining with art direction to the anime's action sequences.^[33] Vulture named Dandadan as one of the best anime series of 2024. Kambole Campbell praised the series for its humor, animation, colors, art direction, and Kensuke Ushio's musical score.^[34] The anime ranked second in Anime News Network's "Top 10 Anime of 2024". Furthermore, James Beckett applauded the series' premise, humor, action, production values, characters, and the chemistry between Momo and Okarun.^[35]

• Dandadan official anime website (in Japanese)
• Dandadan official anime website
• Dandadan (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia