Dandadan

Reeling from her recent breakup, Momo Ayase, a popular high schooler, shows kindness to her socially awkward schoolmate, Ken Takakura, by standing up to his bullies. Takakura misunderstands her intentions, believing he has made a new friend who shares his obsession with aliens and UFOs. However, Momo's own eccentric occult beliefs lie in the supernatural realm; she thinks aliens do not exist. A rivalry quickly brews as each becomes determined to prove the other wrong.

Despite their initial clash over their opposing beliefs, Momo and Takakura form an unexpected but intimate friendship, a bond forged in a series of supernatural battles and bizarre encounters with urban legends and paranormal entities. As both develop unique superhuman abilities, they learn to supplement each other's weaknesses, leading them to wonder if their newfound partnership may be about more than just survival.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ayase, Momo Main

Wakayama, Shion Japanese

Takakura, Ken Main

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Shiratori, Aira Supporting

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Ayase, Seiko Supporting

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Enjouji, Jin Supporting

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Turbo Granny Supporting

Tanaka, Mayumi Japanese

Mr. Mantis Shrimp Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Chiquitita Supporting

Oozora, Naomi Japanese

Acrobatic Silky Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Tarou Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kamei, Hiroshi Producer

Aoi, Hiroyuki Producer

Ishikawa, Tatsuya Producer

Reviews

Mar 31, 2026

TheGOF

Recommended

If I really have to call this a 'shonen', which I rather resent doing, then I'd also have to say it's one of the best modern shonen anime alongside Chainsaw Man (Part 1) and Frieren. All of these so-called shonen anime play the same trick. They manage to be excellent shonens by not really being a part of that genre. Dandadan is actually just a romantic comedy with extra steps. Sure, there are fights, but they're in the Jojo school of fights where the charm comes from the ludicrousness. At the heart of all this is a standard romantic comedy elevated by the sheer wackiness ... of the situations they get thrown into.

If you don't find Dandadan funny, I could imagine this being a chore. Sure, there were some jokes that didn't land and the anime does descend into literal toilet humour a little too often for my taste. But there's also a lot of gags that made me laugh out loud. There's some clever visual humour and even some real wit. The mangaka does a good job of balancing comedy, drama and light horror elements. Apparently Tatsu worked under Fujimoto and you can sense a little of the tonal irreverence from Fujimoto's best work (before Chainsaw Man overstayed its welcome). Overall, I enjoyed season 1 of Dandadan enough to binge it basically in one sitting.

I suspect I would get tired of Dandadan if I had to read one hunderd chapters of it, let's say, but on the merits of the first season, this is an above average anime. For a 'shonen', it's far, far above average.

8/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 31, 2026

SEIK47SU

Mixed Feelings

Dan da Dan is a mixed bag for me. It has very novel ideas, distinct character designs, and a strong identity, but it is also deeply flawed and hindered by regrettable anime stereotypes.

I hate how perverted it is; it ruins the premise for me, not to the point of not wanting to watch it altogether, but it is a pity it doubles down so much on that. The whole paranormal girl/ aliens boy thing is sooo good on paper, but it really doesn't go anywhere in this season. I feel like a lot of the development on that comes to a halt to give way ... to a very annoying love triangle (and at the end a... square?) during the latter half of the season. The plot is a little slow, and the finale felt like it happened at a very random spot. I didn't like it too much, but I really hope the next one builds on the glimpses of promise that were shown now and then.

I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. Giving it the benefit of the doubt for now.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 30, 2026

TheEggMeister13

Not Recommended

The first season of DANDADAN feels like a terribly told joke missing the entire punchline, it resorts to extremely childish humour in what I can hardly see as an attempt to make you laugh. This show is fun but it just genuinely is not worth watching over anything else. The characters are bland, the story is bland, the power system is bland and it took them until season 2 to realise maybe they should lean into it being a joke and that’s when it move from a 4 to a 5 (maybe). There’s no real main antagonist and the monsters/aliens and their abilities are entirely ... unoriginal, otherwise I could probably compare this to Jojo’s if it was made for an extremely young audience that didn’t care about complexity . The intro is fire tho 🤷‍♂️

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Dandadan Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) IzanaSolos - Dec 5, 2024	228 replies	by Safrichh »» May 7, 8:44 PM
	Poll: Dandadan Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Dec 19, 2024	627 replies	by Phenaxs »» May 7, 10:14 AM
	Poll: Dandadan Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) IzanaSolos - Sep 13, 2024	379 replies	by Blazesword »» Apr 28, 9:15 AM
	Poll: Dandadan Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Softhenic03 - Dec 12, 2024	264 replies	by AnimeVoyager2009 »» Apr 28, 6:53 AM
	Poll: Dandadan Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) IzanaSolos - Nov 28, 2024	410 replies	by Safrichh »» Apr 26, 8:00 PM