オープニングテーマの紹介
Because four is the magic number of death in Japanese, and this song has four in it repeated a bunch of times.
We should have explained it. Four is bad.
Yeah, four is bad. Because you can pronounce four as she, which is the same pronunciation for death.
And so, I'm sad that this is only going to be a 30-ish minute episode, as opposed to 44 minutes.
Konnichiwa! I am your host Mayu for 2AM OTTACK!
In this podcast, we talk all about anime, manga, movies, music, and history through our distinct perspectives.
As a born and raised Japanese non-Ottaku, that's me, and an American anime fan, Cisco.
That's me!
We've been watching Dandadan since from the very beginning, and we are not going to talk about it today.
Sort of.
Because we want to focus on the opening.
Okay.
Yeah. Is that okay?
I mean, I don't know how well I'm going to do at not talking about the show at all, but I'm going to try.
I'm going to try to stay focused on the theme.
Well, maybe we can talk a little bit about it, but focus on the song and opening.
Okay.
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So now, 3AM, which is we talk all in Japanese, and 2AM, all in English, just separated.
Oh, okay. They're like two different channels now.
Yes.
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All right.
So we are going to talk about Dandadan's anime opening and its theme song.
Theme song is called Otonoke by Creepy Nuts.
Yet again.
Yeah, Creepy Nuts.
A lot of people probably know their name because Creepy Nuts sounds...
It's so disturbing.
It's such a weird name in English.
It's just the worst.
How weird is it?
For a Japanese person, it doesn't make sense if you don't know.
Yeah.
I think you have to know kind of a lot to understand why it's really inappropriate.
But I think for English people, just the word creepy is already...
No one puts creepy in their name.
That's weird.
And then nuts, of all things, to be like Creepy Nuts.
It's so gross.
You never forget their name.
No.
Yeah.
They're very easy to remember.
Words are by R Shite.
Rated R.
That's his name.
Yeah.
The singer.
And the music by DJ Matsunaga.
Should I explain about them?
Sure.
Tell us more about Creepy Nuts.
Their song, Blim Bam Bam Born, was streamed in total of over 5 million times in three months.
Damn.
That's a lot.
It's a lot.
So they've been doing live in Japan and in foreign countries.
And they're about to have live concert in Tokyo Dome in 2025 February.
Tokyo Dome, right?
Dome.
Okay.
Dome.
It sounds a little bit like you're saying Tokyo Dorm, which would be a dope place to
go if it really existed.
But Tokyo Dome.
Yeah.
Yes.
Cool.
So they did their Otonoke's music video.
We did.
Which is very interesting.
I am not actually sure I would say interesting is the right adjective for that.
I mean, it's very weird.
But like, it's kind of repetitive.
And it's not actually, it's not like it's like a, I think I'm biased or maybe spoiled
by like American music videos, which like often have like a narrative or a story that
go with them.
And like this one was very like, I mean, I guess like the quality was higher than like
the 1980s music video, but like in a way it was like, it was like an earlier music
video, like from like the late 80s, early 90s, like that kind of timeframe where like
it's mostly just the dudes in the band.
And like 99% of the video is like the cool parts of the video are just from like the
editing that they did afterwards.
Like making like infinity, like, you know, reflections of the dudes in the band, like
just singing or like being at a turntable.
Like they're not doing anything.
They almost look like clay.
There is a, like a thing that has like, that looks sort of claymated of like, that looks
like a kind of like a merry-go-round or a carousel or something that's like spinning
around with like their faces on it made out of clay.
That's like the only thing they seem to have like made for the video other than like
filling themselves in like a dark room dancing around.
Yeah.
So you should check it out to see what it's worth watching once.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The song is way better than the music video though.
Let's just be like very upfront about that.
Like the music video is like weird.
The song is dope.
Otonokeの解説
The title, Otonoke, can you guess what is it all about?
Well, to me, it sounds like a combination of Oto for sound and Mononoke, like spirit.
And so Otonoke, like, I don't know.
They just seem like they mashed up those two words to me.
Something like that.
According to an interview with Creepy Nuts from An-An Web, it's a fashion magazine in Japan.
The R-shitei said, there's a scary story called Yamanoke, which was in the thread of Nichan.
Okay.
The thread is about like sharing a scary story.
Really, really scary story thread.
Okay.
So, and there's like a Yamanoke story somebody posted.
Okay.
A girl went to the mountain with like a dad.
They drove up to the mountain.
Sure.
And then all of a sudden, Yamanoke, the...
Mountain spirit?
Yeah, spirit got in the girl's body.
Okay.
And then once the spirit was inside of her, she started saying, haireta, haireta, haireta, haireta.
Oh, I see.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, I think I know this story.
Yeah?
Where it shows up in like a lot of other different things too.
Like it's not just, I don't think it was in Dark Gathering, but like, I feel like I've
seen this idea before or like read this story or been told this story.
Uh-huh.
I don't know why, but yeah, like go to the mountains.
You're in the car.
It's like nighttime and like a spirit gets in you.
Yes.
Yeah.
So like for Arashide, for him, it feels like, like a really presence of the spirit in her
and that story inspired him.
And then like for him, it's not Yamanoke, but Otonoke.
Like he wants, like send the music to people.
Even after he dies, somebody keep listening his music and then like go into those listeners'
body.
Yeah, that's an interesting idea.
Yeah.
The music video doesn't communicate this at all, by the way, but it is a cool, yeah, I
like that as an idea.
ニーチャンの説明
Shall we explain about Nichan?
Okay.
Yeah, that's like a detour, but let's do it.
Yeah, please do.
Oh, me?
Okay.
So I don't actually know if this is all right, but this is sort of like, I don't know, my
like general knowledge about Nichan is that it was a message board from like a long time
ago, right?
Mm-hmm.
I mean, it's still going.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, but I mean like, I think, I think Nichan probably started in like the nineties.
I think so.
Right?
Like it's, it's like deep internet.
Like it goes, it has like very, very, very long roots.
And it's, it's kind of like, it was one of the first like bulletin boards that became
really popular among like terminally online people and like otaku and stuff.
And I think like the, the problem with me for trying to explain Nichan is like, there
are lots of American spinoffs of this in America.
You got like, uh, whatever, eight, like eight kun or whatever, super trolly because America
is like terrible compared to Japan.
But like the, the like versions of what Nichan is that exist in America are like the worst,
most like disgusting corners of the internet.
And I don't really know if like, I don't, my impression is that like Nichan is not
that bad, that like Nichan was mostly just like dorky internet people like talking about
anime all the time, which is like, I don't have any problem with that.
Otonokeの音楽と影響
But that like, when it came to America, it got like mixed up with like all these other
like much more like problematic subcultures.
So there's a Nichan reference in Steins Gate.
Yes.
The at channel that they're constantly like on is a reference to Nichan.
Right.
So I've, I don't think I've ever used it.
I don't even know how to use it, but it's a popular thread.
I mean, I think, I think my guess also is that like Reddit is basically like an attempt
to be Nichan, but like with many different threads.
And so that it like, it sort of like drew its inspiration from what Nichan was originally.
Okay.
So the title Otonoke comes from Yamanoke.
Cool.
Well, I mean, scary actually, but yeah.
Also cool.
And you mentioned about Reddit, but according to Wikipedia, a month after the release, a
user on the website, Reddit, discovered that the song had artifacts of sampling from a
sped and the pitched up expert of the 1915 song.
I've been floating down the old green river performed by American singer, Billy Murray.
So somebody found us.
I saw the person's YouTube.
They're like some sampling, like the song itself doesn't sound at all like the music
in Otonoke.
But like, if you speed up one, like one phrase to a different one, like it's exactly the
same.
Okay.
Yeah.
Is that story going somewhere?
Like, is he also like a possessed by a, like a mountain demon or something?
Like no, just a random song?
Just in case like somebody is like wondering about what the sound like.
A lot of people thought the sound is from Pygmy or something.
It's from what?
Pygmy.
Pikmin.
Yeah.
Oh, because it sounds like a Pikmin sound, but it's actually like a sped up sample from
like some other random thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
There's like a lot of that in the music world.
Like I have a friend who was like, you know, spent some time as a composer and a music producer
and stuff.
And like, yeah, for sure.
Like, like he, he got like really into that being like, where's this like artifact in
this, like one song, like from, you know, where did this person like pull this like sound
effect from?
And like, it's always something that's like so unbelievably random that you're like, did
they pick it for a reason?
And the answer is like, no, they just thought it sounded cool.
Like, what?
Like why?
How?
I don't get it.
Okay.
It's, I think it's like an Easter egg for people who are curious.
Okay.
But is there like meaning behind it?
Like did they choose that particular artist or song for a reason?
I doubt it.
See, that to me is like kind of like at the minimum, like a wasted opportunity.
You know, you could have like had an Easter egg that was like, oh yes.
Like the person who made this song also had in their life, like an instance of like spiritual
abduction.
You know, I don't know.
Like there could be like a cool story there.
And instead it's like, nope.
Why'd we pick this guy from 1960?
I don't know.
We'll just have the sample lying around like boring.
Okay.
Next.
Okay.
ホラーキャラクターの考察
So in the lyrics, there are like lots of stuff in the lyrics that I can kind of figure out
from reading Japanese lyrics.
But like the one part you mentioned, Sada-chan, Kaya-chan, Wansaka, Yomi no Kuni, Wonderland.
Sada-chan is from Reng.
Yep.
That's Sadako.
Yeah.
Japanese horror movie.
And I didn't know Kaya-chan.
She's from The Grudge, right?
Eh?
Ju-on?
Ju-on?
Yeah.
Ju-on The Grudge is what it's called in English for some reason.
I didn't remember.
I watched both of them, but I didn't remember Kaya-chan.
I didn't remember her name either.
Cause it was like, her name isn't important, but.
Yeah.
Those are scary.
Like, I don't know how many.
What?
Yeah.
That's the point.
日本のホラーの議論
They're scary.
They're scary.
I don't know how many people have watched this.
Like, our generation.
Yeah.
We're like in the early 40s, but have seen it and it's terrifying.
Yeah.
For my money, Ju-on is scarier than The Ring.
But yes, they were both scary.
Japanese horrors are scary.
I agree that Japanese horror is scary.
Like, not all of it.
Some of it's so weird that you can't even understand it.
And I actually wouldn't put like either The Ring or Ju-on in like.
Well, Ju-on a little bit.
But like, I think there are scarier ones out there.
Like, I thought Kaido was like much scarier than either of those two movies.
I think Japanese ghosts are like very often capable of like, either like
spiritual takeovers of people in a possession sort of way that like, you
know, that like exists in American horror too, like The Exorcist and things.
Or like are capable of like interacting with the real world in ways that like
ghosts in America, like poltergeists, I suppose, are like supposed to be
capable of this, but like in ways that American ghosts like often aren't.
And I think that makes them like scarier.
I've seen a ghost before, supposedly.
When you were a kid?
When I was a kid.
Maybe we can talk about it when we actually talk about Dun Dun Dun.
Do you want to save it?
Yeah.
Why not?
That's like.
Okay.
I'm trying to like put people on the cliffhanger and be like.
Yes.
Coming back for the next episode.
Yes.
Okay, cool.
We'll hear about the ghost you saw next time, I guess.
Yeah.
It's not that scary.
I don't have any memory.
Like my mom told me much later.
Okay.
But yeah.
Anyway.
アニメのリファレンス
So yeah, there's like a Sada-chan, Kaya-chan, and like some lyrics are
like indicating Shonen Jump manga or anime.
Yeah.
The second verse is like all shout outs to like other anime.
How do you know that?
Oh, I know it because I also looked at the same like lyrics websites that
you had that have like little like pop ups being like, this is about
Chainsaw Man.
I mean, it says chainsaw.
Yeah.
The lyrical Chainsaw Massacre.
Like, yes.
I mean, Onito Chambara, I think is actually from Demon Slayer.
No.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Could be.
I think there's also like a there's like a game in Japan called like
the Chambara or something where it's like two hot girls in bikinis
killing zombies or something.
Never heard of it.
Yeah.
No, I don't think it came to America, but I remember seeing it in Japan
and being like, whoa, like, what is this?
Because it's like the type of game that does not come overseas.
Why?
Why doesn't it come overseas?
Yeah.
I think because one, it's like very cheaply made.
It's not like a good game.
And two, because like, I think even the Japanese publisher was like
American audiences are not going to buy this and are also going to
like have a big problem with it.
Okay.
Got it.
But I thought it might be a reference to that.
They say, yeah, that it's like a Demon Slayer reference, which it
certainly could be.
Onito Chambara does describe Demon Slayer pretty well.
Yeah.
Wataru Onabara, One Piece.
I mean, yeah, you know.
Big Ocean.
I think Shalala is a lyric in like one of the One Piece opening
or closings that I've never seen.
And so it's like referencing the lyrics of the song as they like
sail across a big ocean.
I mean, like otherwise, like what the hell is going on in this verse?
Like it doesn't make any sense unless it's a bunch of call outs in a row.
So like if you're interested in like how people like take the lyrics,
you can Google, but I'm not going to tell here.
Okay.
That was a little bit of a tease, but like, all right.
Yeah.
Because I want to move on.
Okay.
So when I first watched the Dandan opening, I kind of felt nostalgia.
ウルトラマンの影響
Oh, okay.
Unknown nostalgia.
You were like, why does this seem familiar?
Like a sense of deja vu?
Yes.
And I couldn't figure it out until after I watched like a couple
of times, maybe six episodes or even five.
And I was like, oh, this is exactly like first Ultraman opening.
Yeah.
Like first, I mean like 1960s opening.
This is a deep cut.
Yeah.
Because if you go YouTube and then compare, you understand.
You won't understand, but you will be like, holy crap.
The openings of like Sentai in the 1960s were weird.
That's what you'll be like.
Not to me because I actually watched those when I was a kid.
And it shows the shadow of monsters.
Monsters?
Kaiju?
Sorry.
Yeah.
Kaiju.
And then like in the Kaiju shadow is just like, you know, staff members,
names and this stuff.
Right.
It's a background of like very colorful color.
Yeah.
So I was like, oh, this is it.
And then when I looked back, the opening, it's like exactly the same.
Like all the like Kaiju from Ultraman.
Like I don't know how to say those Kaiju in English.
Like Baltan Seijin or Pigmon or Dada.
Yeah.
I don't know what any of these are either, but I didn't really watch Ultraman.
You know what?
Like during I'm doing this process, what I most surprised was, why do I know this?
Yes.
That was my reaction too.
How do you know this?
You weren't alive for like 20 years after the show was on TV.
I wasn't born yet.
Yeah.
But like when I was a kid, I watched a great amount of...
1960s Sentai shows?
Yeah.
Because I have a brother.
I mean, look, it's Ultraman, right?
That's like a hugely iconic Japanese like character and property.
Like I think a lot of people, even in America,
are like sort of familiar with Ultraman for some reason,
because he's like such a...
I mean, there's been like, you know,
it's been rebooted like all the time forever, right?
So, you know, I mean,
I think I've probably seen an episode of Ultraman at some point, right?
Like even on like Japanese TV in the one year that I lived in Japan,
like it was just on sometimes.
And like,
I have memories of having seen similar types of things from American TV as a
kid, right?
Like I've definitely watched episodes of like the original Batman TV show.
And I think so have like probably other Americans to a degree.
So I think like there's,
it's not totally weird that you know stuff from the 1960s, but yeah,
I was,
after going back and watching the original Ultraman opening with you,
I was stunned by how many different things it has obviously influenced in
Japanese culture.
Like I was not,
I did not appreciate how many different openings are explicitly drawing on
the original Ultraman opening as like part of their style and their sort of
like visual,
you know,
dictionary.
So I agree that it's not only informing Dandaran's opening,
it's like lots of anime and just TV shows in general are pulling from that as
like a source.
Particularly one scene when Momo comes in,
it looks like she's kicking in the shadow,
like her earring,
green like oval earring,
like flips and it go like sideways.
And to me,
it looks like Ultraman's eye.
Yeah,
yeah,
yeah.
I think that's right.
I started like building like more possibilities.
Oh,
this like is very influenced by Ultraman.
Then I started listening to a Dandanan anime podcast called Dandanan
washitsu.
And then there's like a director's explanation about like one episode about
the alien,
like small wrestler looking alien comes in,
like whole thing was black and white.
Right.
And I was wondering too,
like,
why is it like a black and white?
Like,
like they don't have budget.
Right.
Oh,
no,
there's no way.
But like,
I was wondering,
Dandadanの影響
it's because when Ultraman started,
it was black and white.
And then,
but like they showed red color of Okaru when he was turning into
Turbo Granny.
Red is showing Ultraman.
Oh,
okay.
So I was like,
yeah,
this is like so influenced by Ultraman.
After that,
I Googled about manga artist.
Okay.
Wikipedia.
And he said his favorite thing is Narita Toru.
Narita Toru is like an artist and he made the design of Ultraman.
Okay.
Okay.
So it's obviously Ultraman inspired.
So,
yeah.
And then,
like,
do you remember?
Yeah.
The guys from the first one.
They are inspired by Narita's like design of like Kaiju.
Okay.
I think so.
Yeah.
That's why they're weird.
That's what they kind of look like one of those,
like Kaiju in Ultraman to me too.
Okay.
I was very satisfied finding about this.
And then I was also surprised,
like how much I remembered.
言葉の解説
Let's do word of the day.
All right.
What is today's word of the day?
All right.
So this is,
again,
this is kind of like a intense reference,
but our word of the day is Kuwabara.
It's in.
Yeah.
It's one of the lyrics of the song where they say Kuwabara,
Kuwabara,
Kuwabara.
He says it three times.
Usually when you're using this phrase,
you only say it twice.
Right.
So Kuwabara is a place name.
Actually,
it means mulberry field.
It's used in Japanese as a way to say like knock on wood or as
like a,
a phrase to ward off evil or damage.
It's like,
what's the kind of situation where you would say Kuwabara,
Kuwabara?
I don't know if somebody's fighting over something and I'm not
involved in Kuwabara,
Kuwabara,
I don't know.
Someone's fighting over something?
Something happening,
but just didn't happen to me.
Wouldn't it be like more like,
Hey,
like,
you know,
we haven't had an earthquake in like LA for like a really long
time.
Like,
do you think there's,
there's probably going to be a big earthquake soon.
Right.
You'd be like,
Oh,
Kuwabara,
Kuwabara.
Right.
Like,
don't say that it's unlucky,
like preserve us from,
you know,
from the natural disaster.
No,
I don't know.
I'm not an expert,
but I feel like you're the only expert on this podcast.
So you're afraid you're going to have to answer this question.
I've never learned Japanese.
Okay.
Fair enough.
The apparent origin of this as a phrase to ward off danger comes from
like the,
I don't know,
ninth or 10th century or something in Japan,
where a big important guy named Sugawara no Michizane was exiled and
died and was like very,
very angry about having been done wrong by people at the Imperial
court in Kyoto.
So his vengeful spirit persisted after death and became a,
like became able to throw thunderbolts or to like cause lightning to
happen.
Some of his land in life that he'd owned included a territory called
Kuwabara mulberry field.
And thus,
when people heard lightning coming,
they would say,
Kuwabara,
Kuwabara,
to try to like tell the lightning God or Michizane's angry spirit that
they were from his territory of Kuwabara.
And then he wouldn't hit them with lightning.
And also there's this idea that Kuwabara like never got hit by lightning and
was always like protected from natural disasters because he wasn't making it
happen there.
So by saying Kuwabara,
Kuwabara,
like identifying with the place that was supposed to protect you from the
natural disasters,
especially lightning happening to you.
Perfect.
Really?
Studying?
Studying.
He's a really,
really smart guy.
And lightning.
Those things don't go together.
Usually.
I'm just going to say.
So there's like a shrine or something somewhere in Japan and the people go
right before the entrance exam and stuff.
Is it the Kitano shrine?
Well,
whatever.
I don't know.
I don't know who's shrine,
but he's believed to be a God.
Of studying.
Of studying.
And also lightning.
I guess.
Okay.
Why not?
Would you like to add anything?
Otonokeの魅力
Otonoki is a really good song.
I'm trying to learn to sing it.
Sing it.
No,
I'm not there yet.
It's really fast.
It's very difficult.
It's so fast.
But I will say it's much more like melodic than Bling Bung Bung Born
was.
And it's a little bit closer to Nido de.
The best part of it is both that they actually say,
dun,
dun,
dun,
dun,
dun,
dun,
all over,
like again and again and again,
which is like just funny to me.
I think so.
Yeah.
Just why not?
Yeah.
Bling Bung Bung Born.
Well,
Bling Bung Bung Born isn't the name of the anime.
So.
I don't know why.
They don't actually even say Mashalo.
It's so catchy.
Yeah.
But the dun,
dun,
dun part is like pretty interesting.
And I think like,
in a way,
like,
you know,
Ariste is saying he wanted to make a song that would live inside
people.
Like after he died or whenever is funny to me.
Cause it sounds like in a,
in a less complicated way,
he was like,
I just want to make an earworm.
I want to make a big hit that people can't get out of their
heads.
Which is sort of brilliant.
He is doing a great job.
And I don't know,
comparing like a song that you can't get out of your head to a
ghost,
having possessed your body is like,
on the one hand,
like.
Very disturbing.
And at the same time,
like kind of an interesting thought.
Yeah.
But,
uh,
I find it interesting that the hide it,
the hide it,
that part of the song is actually like the nicer,
like kind of more lighthearted,
fun part.
And the rap is like this,
the like.
Scarier sounding apart.
But,
uh,
I don't know.
It's quite good.
I really like it.
Okay.
Well,
カラオケの計画
we have to practice singing more so that we can sing in
karaoke.
Hell yeah.
Yeah.
Next year.
When we go to Japan.
And show off and surprise,
like Japanese people.
Except that we only go to karaoke in Japan with your relatives
who already know I can speak Japanese.
Like,
I need to go to like a bar in order to pull this off and like
be impressive.
Yeah,
bar.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes.
I need to go back to castaways or like,
or even better.
Um,
I think it was called screw.
It's like the bar right above cast is cast away.
I mean,
I guess like a couple of your friends went to karaoke with us
last year.
And I impressed them.
My cousins.
And your cousins.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well,
you know,
it'd be fun.
Yeah.
I would like a bigger audience to impress.
Yeah,
totally.
So we'll see.
I'll work on it.
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.
like this week's episode, please give us
four stars, because four is the magic number of death
in Japanese, and this song has four in it
repeated a bunch of times.
We should have explained it, four is bad.
Yeah, four is bad, because you can pronounce four as she,
which is the same pronunciation for death.
And so I'm sad that this is only gonna be
like a 30-ish minute episode, as opposed to 44 minutes.
Yeah, that's why if we are turning to 42,
like you have to go shrine and then pray
to get rid of the spirit.
Because you're going she-me to death?
Yeah, it's like something happens,
like health-wise, and then.
Yeah, it sure does.
It's true to us.
I got destroyed at 42, so looking forward to New Year's
when I'll be like 43, according to Japanese calendar,
finally my body will start working again.
So four stars.
Four stars.
4.444 repeating stars.
Also, thank you so much for people
who already gave us stars.
Yes, five stars is great, thank you so much.
That's amazing.
Amazing, thank you so much.
See you next time for more 2AMOTAK.
Bye.
