There is a scene in the first episode of Dandadan where a high school boy gets his testicles stolen by an alien. This is not the strangest thing that happens in episode one.
Science SARU's adaptation of Yukinobu Tatsu's manga arrived in the autumn 2024 season like a controlled explosion — a story so densely packed with supernatural chaos, genuine emotional beats, and gonzo visual invention that it demanded the full attention of anyone watching seasonal anime.
If you missed it, you missed the most purely fun anime of last year.
What Is Dandadan, Exactly?
Momo Ayase is a girl who believes in ghosts but dismisses aliens as nonsense. Ken Okarun is a boy who believes in aliens but dismisses ghosts as nonsense. Their argument leads both of them to individually investigate locations associated with their respective disbeliefs — and both of them, simultaneously, encounter the other's supernatural category.
What follows is an escalating chase involving ghost possession, alien abduction, interdimensional entities, and the ongoing project of two teenagers trying to understand their own feelings for each other while the fabric of reality falls apart around them.
It is a romance. It is a horror story. It is a comedy. It is a shonen battle series. It somehow succeeds at all of them simultaneously.
Science SARU's Visual Identity
The studio's work on Dandadan is their most impressive to date. The aesthetic is deliberately maximalist — thick line weights, bold colour fields, action sequences that fill the frame with kinetic energy without ever becoming unclear.
Action direction from Tatsuya Yoshihara is exceptional. Fights have weight and consequence. The camera treats supernatural combat with the kind of geometric precision usually reserved for martial arts choreography — characters occupy three-dimensional space, force travels through scenes with physical logic.
The colour design is particularly notable. Rather than the standard anime palette, Dandadan leans into electric, almost neon contrasts: vivid purples against stark whites, deep blacks broken by bursts of saturated colour. It is a visual style that feels designed specifically for the subject matter — supernatural phenomena that invade and destabilise the natural world.
Momo and Okarun
The romantic core works because both leads are immediately distinct and genuinely likeable. Momo is confident, competent, occasionally terrifying in her directness. Okarun is anxious and somewhat cowardly — except when the safety of people he cares about is at stake, at which point something in him unlocks entirely.
Their dynamic avoids the standard patterns. There is no will-they-won't-they obfuscation. Both characters are aware of their feelings relatively early. What drives the emotional throughline instead is the project of becoming brave enough to act on those feelings — and becoming the versions of themselves worthy of the other person's trust.
This is a much more interesting romantic structure than most shonen series manage.
Turbo Granny
The show's breakout character is a terrifying elderly ghost called Turbo Granny who bonds, against all narrative logic, with Okarun and eventually becomes a recurring ally. She is the funniest character in any series airing in 2024. Her presence transforms every scene she appears in.
The comedy generally operates in this register — absurdist but internally consistent, finding its laughs in the collision of genre conventions rather than conventional punchlines. Okarun's alien-possession transformation giving him a pompadour hairstyle is a visual gag that runs throughout the series and somehow never stops being funny.
The Emotional Underneath
What elevates Dandadan above simple entertainment is the layer of genuine emotional intelligence running beneath the chaos.
Momo's backstory involves a mother who has never been particularly present and a family situation that has left her accustomed to caring for herself. Okarun has spent years being bullied and has constructed protective layers of detachment. The supernatural encounters in the series are not purely plot mechanics — they are the environment in which these characters discover that other people can be relied upon.
The series understands that intimacy is not the absence of fear but the decision to remain present anyway.
Verdict
Dandadan is the freshest thing to arrive in mainstream anime in years. It synthesises disparate genres without the seams showing, delivers action sequences of genuine craft, and grounds everything in a romantic core that earns its emotional payoff.
Science SARU has produced their best work. The manga is still ongoing. The second cour cannot arrive soon enough.
Score: 9/10
Keep Reading: DanDaDan Episode 5 Recap — Chaos, Ghosts & More Romance · Hidden Gem Anime of 2024 That Everyone Slept On · Best Anime of 2024: The Complete Year in Review
