DAN DA DAN Season 2

Episode 17

A sure sign of DAN DA DAN's unwavering quality is the fact that an episode like “We Can All Stay There Together!”, which is essentially just a cool-down tablesetter that ties up any remaining loose ends from the Evil Eye arc, is still so funny and sweet and weird that it feels like it flies by in just a few minutes. If you're an especially plot-minded viewer, you might even argue that nothing much actually “happens” in this episode until the cliffhanger that runs right into the end-credits. Of course, this is a terrible way to evaluate art, and any truly wise watcher will recognize that this episode has the single most earth-shattering story developments that DAN DA DAN has ever seen.

You all know exactly what I'm referring to if you've already watched the episode. On their way to visit Jiji's parents at the hospital with the rest of the gang, Okarun and Momo engage in some of the most obscene, graphic, and - to be frank - irresponsibly intimate hand holding that has ever been allowed to be depicted on broadcast television. Oh, sure, this is a show about magical golden testicles, genital-probing aliens, and characters who are constantly forced into various states of undress, but I never thought that such an otherwise respectable, artistic program would have the gall to spring something so brazen and lewd on its audience without warning.

I'm just lucky that I don't have kids, because what would I have possibly told them if they walked in on me watching this scene? That this achingly human depiction of romantic chemistry puts nearly every other currently airing series' feeble and cheap pablum to shame in a matter of just a few cuts between these kids' slowly entwining fingers and their embarrassed glances out of the car window? That these two characters are just casually expressing one of the most believable and heartmelting romances in anime, for all of the world to see? You'd better watch out, Crunchyroll and Netflix. I'd bet dollars to donuts that Visa and Mastercard will be coming for you, next.

Of course, there's more to talk about than just the mind-altering cuteness of our heroes' clumsy attempts to affirm their feelings for each other. We also get Jiji being somehow even stupider and more likeable as he is trapped inside the prison of a horny, sentient anatomy doll, doomed to avoid cold liquids of any kind for the rest of his life, lest he transform into the deadly Evil Eye spirit again. You have to hand it to the kid for being able to still make all of those goofy faces while still stuck in the thoroughly traumatizing life of a DAN DA DAN supporting character. Between his antics and the way that Aira so effortlessly reinserts herself back into the Ayase house's madness, you can't help but be just as happy as Momo that everyone will be living under the same roof for the time being. It will make for even more wonderful sitcom shenanigans, so long as Aira and Okarun's parents don't have any pressing questions about their plans for the near future.

Wait a minute…does Okarun even have parents?

Also, Science SARU, don't think we didn't catch the bit where Jiji just straight up sings the theme song to Ranma ½ after Seiko explains how his situation is suspiciously similar to the premise of Rumiko Takahashi's classic gender-bender rom-com, and yet still legally distinct enough to avoid the ire of any bloodthirsty lawyers hanging around the Studio DEEN offices. Between this and your insistence on spitting in the face of all puritanical pearl clutching that our financial overlords are trying to shove down our throats, I'm half convinced that DAN DA DAN is just begging to be sued, just so it can clown on all of the haters with more pitch-perfect comic timing.

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James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.

DAN DA DAN Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.