00:01
On that episode, I felt like I got punched in my face, like...
Like, we can do this to you.
Yeah, I think I would say I was punched in the gut rather than in the face, but yes, I agree with you.
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, no otaku, that's me, and an American anime fan, Cisco.
That's me.
We finished watching the last episode of Dandadan in the score.
I was a little bit surprised where it ended.
Yeah, it definitely feels like they just kind of cut it randomly almost, like wherever they happened to be in the story,
and didn't attempt to manipulate the order of the stories or the, you know, the things that had come maybe from the manga,
because it's definitely like in the middle of what might have been...
I guess, no, in the chapters of the manga, I bet there is that.
That's the end of the chapter of the manga to like intentionally leave you on a cliffhanger.
It just feels weird for a series to end a core on that much of a middle-of-the-story moment.
So the second core is already decided. It's coming July 2025.
Wow, that's a long way away.
I mean, I'm still not used to this transition from like 24-episode series that just run consecutively to this idea of a core that's 12 episodes.
It makes you think it's going to come out twice in the year.
And I would sort of understand if there was a fall season and a spring season or something,
and there were, you know, a couple four or five weeks in between where there was nothing,
but only getting 12 episodes a year feels like not very many.
It's a high-quality anime, especially the beginning.
Like some parts, like I kind of couldn't help notice like something happened.
Right, they farmed it out to another studio in order to get it done.
But overall, it's a high-quality, like really in-detailed, great animation.
Yeah.
So it takes time, I guess.
It does. That's fair.
So today we're going to dive into the world of Dundun,
and I personally would love to explain some of the jokes that only people who grew up in Japan during the 80s and the 90s...
Yeah, I think it's even more than that.
Like you grew up in Japan in the 80s and 90s, and you were paying attention to pop culture and comedy and stuff.
I mean, even if you didn't really pay attention, you just absorbed.
Got it.
Like naturally, just by watching TV and this stuff.
Okay.
So I can explain about it.
Hit it.
03:00
Okay, before we start, please click the subscribe button for 2AM Attack
so that you get the latest episode wherever you listen to our podcast.
Sounds good.
Also, we already talked about...
The opening and the opening theme song.
Past episode, it's an archive, so check the episode as well.
Yes.
All right, let's go.
In case you haven't watched Dundun, okay, here's Cisco's summary.
There's a boy who's into the occult and UFOs and things like that,
and there's a girl who believes in ghosts.
And how did they get into the fight in the first episode?
Well, they say, like, I don't believe in ghosts.
I don't believe in occult stuff.
Yeah, but isn't there, like, what even gets them to that?
Oh, she's nice to him.
She's nice to him.
She stops him from getting bullied.
And then he thinks she could be my friend.
He starts geeking out about this stuff to her.
And then she's like, you're stupid, and they get in a fight.
And so they both try to test the other's theory.
She goes to an abandoned hospital and gets abducted by aliens.
He goes to an old tunnel and gets possessed by a ghost.
And then they fight aliens.
That's mostly it?
Yeah, that's how it all started.
Yeah, okay.
And then from there on, they keep getting wrapped up in, like,
occult situations and fighting aliens slash occult beings.
Yukinobu Tatsu, I don't know how old he is.
There's no information about his age.
But I am pretty sure he is our generation person, the guy who wrote the manga.
Okay, so he's the author of the manga.
And he started drawing manga after he's, like, 20 years old.
He had a hard time finding a job, and he was working in a convenience store.
And he was drawing pictures on the back of the receipt.
And the convenience store manager was like, wow, you are good at that.
You should be a manga artist.
And he decided to be a manga artist.
I don't think that's a story most manga artists can tell, so good for him.
Yeah, started learning everything from the scratch.
He was assistant for Tatsuki Fujimoto, and then working on Chainsaw Man.
I feel like you can see some influences there, yeah.
Yeah, also he was assistant for Yuji Kaku, and he was working on Jigokuraku, Hell's Paradise.
Hell's Paradise, yeah.
I don't know that I see as much of a connection between, well, sort of, yeah.
Some of the themes are not super different.
I can kind of see the similarities of Chainsaw Man and, like, Extreme.
A lot of action, yeah.
The sort of bad guys are super overpowered right from the get-go.
06:01
It's not as violent as Chainsaw Man, but that's a really high bar.
That's true.
As a manga anime beginner, I still enjoy this one.
Yeah.
It's because there are many jokes.
Like I said, if you only live in Japan a specific time of period and watch TV, you get it.
There are a couple I can explain, but first of all, the name of Okarun is Ken Takakura.
Immediately, if you know the name, you wonder, like, why is his name Ken Takakura?
Is that an unusual enough name that everybody's like, I know who that guy is?
It's not an unusual name.
Right.
Takakura is, like, a common name.
Ken is a super common name.
Right.
But Ken Takakura is the only person in Japan.
Is the only person?
Ken Takakura, like, if you say Ken Takakura to Japanese people, not young people, like,
I don't know about 20 people in their 20s know him.
Okay.
Probably not for teenagers.
But 30s, 40s, or after that, like, 50s, 60s, they all know Ken Takakura.
Is there, like, an American analog of this actor?
Like, someone who's just about the same amount of well-known and has kind of a generic name like that?
Because I was trying to think of, like...
Tom Hanks.
Oh, okay.
I guess that's fair.
Yeah.
Tom Hanks and Tom are both, like, pretty common names.
But if you're like, hey, do you know Tom Hanks?
You wouldn't be like, oh, you mean, like, the other Tom?
You'd be like, oh, the celebrity.
Right.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
That works.
That's helpful.
The Tom Hanks.
Okay.
Yeah.
So, like, he did a lot of movies, and he's a great actor, and his personality is very, very humble.
Are we talking about Tom Hanks here or Ken Takakura?
Ken Takakura.
Okay.
Or maybe Tom Hanks, too.
I don't know.
I don't know how humble Tom Hanks is, but he's been in a lot of stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then he always calls himself jibun, like myself.
And then he's, like, he's quiet.
He's a quiet person, but, like, very warm-hearted person.
Okay.
That kind of image.
I don't know why Momo likes Ken Takakura.
Like, whenever Okarun says exactly the same phrase, Ken Takakura, the actor, says, Momo gets blushed.
Or, like, even hearing Ken Takakura, the name.
Right.
She gets so excited.
Yeah.
I mean, he's just her celebrity crush for some reason.
Yeah.
Is he good-looking?
I only know when he was, like, a little bit older side, so.
Okay.
I guess.
Okay.
All right.
That's fair enough.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anyways.
Maybe that's the reason why.
But sometimes when Momo appears, the background music sounds very Showa-era.
09:03
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
I noticed, like, it's very, very Showa.
And maybe it's because of Ken Takakura.
Okay.
I think.
Dandan was inspired by Ultraman.
Definitely.
We talked a lot about that in the other episode.
Yeah.
I do see the influence on the kaiju monsters.
Right.
For example, Dover Demon.
Oh, Dover Demon.
Yeah.
That's his real name.
He really reminds me of Kanegon from Ultraman.
Okay.
Who likes money, getting money.
Oh, I see.
Who's, like, a greedy character.
A little bit.
But not, like, big money, like coins and stuff.
I think.
That's what I remember.
Because they're shiny or because they're money?
Maybe both.
Okay.
Got it.
Yeah.
But after he, you know, turned into different form by Seppo Seijin.
Uh-huh.
Remember?
Like, Seppo Seijin.
Turned him into, like, a mantis shrimp or something?
Like, looks like shrimp.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That monster kaiju looks like Barutan Seijin.
Okay.
He started singing this song.
Uh-huh.
Like, if you know this song, like, I did.
Uh-huh.
Like, it's so funny because the song he was singing was from a commercial from 1980s.
Right.
About energy drink.
Which makes you work 24 hours.
Right.
Can you work for 24 hours?
Yeah.
I don't know.
I mean, I sort of understand that Japan is, like, such a workaholic nation.
Yeah.
That the notion of, oh, I can't.
I want to drink this.
It will make me work for 24 hours.
Like, was an appealing advertisement?
That was, like, expectation for people.
Like, businessmen.
That's so insane.
I know.
To be like, oh, hooray, now I can work longer.
Yeah.
Like, Red Bull, which is a similar product, right?
Uh-huh.
It gives you more energy and stuff.
Like, Red Bull's whole thing is, like, Red Bull gives you wings so you can fly away and be free.
And, like, probably most people who are drinking energy drinks in the United States are, like, in the hopefully 18 to, like, 24 age group who are trying to, like, pull an all-nighter to help their Destiny Clan, like, beat a raid or something.
You know what I mean?
Or it really gives the vibe of, like, young men who are staying up all night playing video games.
Like, I don't think 30 or 40-year-olds in the United States, oh, God, I was going to say drink energy drinks in order to stay up, like, longer and work.
But then I realized I've read a lot of articles that are about how people get addicted to methamphetamine.
And a lot of times it starts with, I have to go to my second job that I'm working in order to make ends meet.
And I'm so tired that I need a pick-me-up in order to, like, get me through the shift.
Yeah.
And the answer is, you know, speed or meth.
12:00
And then you become an addict and you're hooked.
And I guess I'm actually sure that, like, long-distance drivers and people working second shifts, et cetera, are totally relying on substances of many different kinds in order to get them through.
They're just not marketed in quite the same way.
I didn't think about anything like that back then.
I was a child.
I was like, oh, that's great, you know?
And I feel like in the Japanese energy drink commercials, they're taking, like, great pride in the fact that they are able to work for so many hours nonstop.
And I feel like in the United States, like, even businessmen wouldn't do that to themselves.
Or they wouldn't be proud of it if they did.
They'd be like, I have a workaholism problem.
Or the reason that I have to work so much is I'm not making enough money.
And then it wouldn't be a thing that you, like, bragged about or, like, thought was awesome to have to do.
It would be, like, a depressing reality as opposed to an exciting badge of pride that you worked that many hours in a row.
Yeah.
Now, like, even for Japanese people, it's like, oh, that was bad, you know?
Finally.
After 30, 40 years.
Your company is exploiting you if they're making you do this.
Yeah.
So anyway, the monster was singing the song, and it was so funny.
And Serpo Seijin.
Like Serposians.
I feel like it's got something like that.
I don't read English subtitles.
Yeah, I did, but I can't remember how they decided to translate it.
Seijin means alien or star person.
But I think it's like Serpoians or something like that.
Okay.
This character also reminds me of one of the characters from Ultraman with stripes, black and white.
There are, like, scenes like one of Momo's friends doing impression of very popular and famous TV drama.
About a detective.
About a detective.
The whole show tells you suspect at the beginning.
Okay.
And mostly the talking between him and the suspect.
Right.
Almost.
They don't go to, like, a different scene or anything.
It almost always happens in one room.
So it was really cheap to film it.
Probably.
Yeah.
But it's so interesting how the detective figured out the crime and how the suspect committed the crime.
Man, good for the network that made this.
Yeah, it was amazing.
I really liked it.
Cool.
Also, there's a phrase, like, an old-time phrase, like,
Nobody says anymore in Japan.
Yeah, no kidding.
Yeah.
So, like, little things.
Or, like, at the very last episode of Dan Dan Dan, in the first score, like,
Wait, I get confused.
Okarin is from Steins Gate.
Okarin started singing the song, like, around Momo because, you know, he started feeling jealous for Gigi.
15:06
Right, he's trying to be cool.
And he's just singing
And then Gigi started singing, like, different song.
No, no, no, it's the same song.
No, it's not the same song.
Oh, really?
It's not the same song.
It's just another song from Slam Dunk?
Yes, both from Slam Dunk, but, like, I only see you.
Right.
That was so funny.
Yeah, that part was pretty good.
Even though I didn't immediately recognize the Slam Dunk references, I had heard the songs before.
Yeah, yeah.
Somehow.
And it's not new songs.
Yeah, I was like, oh, I feel like I've heard this.
Like, why do I know this?
But knowing it's Slam Dunk actually makes it substantially funnier.
Yeah.
There are lots of jokes, like, here and there I really enjoy.
Also, they have, like, really strong characters.
That's super true.
Yeah, the characters really strike me as not very Japanese, which is maybe, like, not fair, because all of the characters that exist in the show are archetypes of types of people that are in Japan.
And I think they just don't fit the stereotype that most Americans have about Japan.
That's true.
But having lived in Japan, you totally know people who are like that.
Like, Gigi is a sort of quintessential, like, class clown.
Right.
And Okarun is definitely, like, an otaku.
And Momo is a gyaru.
Yeah.
Right.
And then Aida is like...
Chuunibyou.
Right?
Basically.
I was going to say a popular girl.
But yeah, a popular girl who is a chuunibyou on the inside.
And so, yeah, none of those really corresponds to, I think, what, like, Americans expect out of Japanese people.
So it's sort of refreshing to see those types represented.
Quick introduction about voice actors.
Momo Ayase is by Shion Wakayama.
I love Momo so much.
Like, I love her character.
Like, she's not, like, buriko.
Right.
She's not, like, a girly girl.
Girly girl.
I love her.
I think it's because I'm that kind of person.
A little bit of a badass, you mean?
Yeah.
She kind of swears often.
Yeah.
And she doesn't behave very prim, proper or ladylike.
Yeah.
I love that.
Ken Takakura is by Natsuki Hanae.
Uh-huh.
Tanjiro.
Right.
And a lot of characters.
A lot of characters.
And a very easily identifiable voice that's not being changed at all for this character.
Yeah.
Seiko Ayase, the grandma, is by Nana Mizuki.
Okay.
Aira Shiratori is by Ayane Sakura.
And she's been on a lot of stuff, like Spy Family, Fiona.
Right.
Jin Enjoji is from Kaito Ishikawa.
18:00
Tabo Baba is by Mayumi Tanaka, Luffy.
Right.
I still, I know that that's true.
And I can hear it when I listen really hard.
But it doesn't ever fail to sort of surprise me.
She was the first voice actor who got the gig in Dandan Dan.
Really?
Yeah.
She was the first one.
I mean, I guess you probably got to pay top dollar for that voice actor, but still.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's so cool.
Seruppo Seijin is by Kazuya Nakai.
Okay.
That's Zoro.
I can't, I still, just even now, I can't really believe that.
They sound so different.
I mean, they're using like a voice changer on that, right?
A little bit, I think so.
Okay.
But like, there are different, like Seruppo Seijin in there.
Right, right.
And they are all different.
They are not the same.
Yeah, no, I get that.
But they're voiced by the same actor?
All three of them?
Yeah, so he changes voices, and then he does all.
Very impressive.
Okay.
Yeah.
And Acrobatic Sarasara is by Kikuko Inoue.
Uh-huh.
What's her name?
Kasumi from Ranba.
Right.
Half.
And Yoba Demon is by Tomokazu Seki.
Right.
He's Daru from Steins Gate.
I want to shout out Taro.
Oh, the anatomical model.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
That's by Tomokazu Sugita.
He did a voice for JoJo's.
Bizarre Adventure.
Bizarre Adventure.
Joseph Joestar.
Yeah.
The original Jo.
Yeah.
JoJo.
Also, he did Tatewaki Kuno from Ranba Half.
Right, yeah.
Also, he did a voice for 2.5 Dimensional Seduction as Ogino.
The senpai guy.
Whatever, the main guy is like photographer senpai.
Yeah, okay.
And he's doing Taro Sakamoto.
It's the same Taro.
Taro Sakamoto in Sakamoto Days.
That's going to be weird, yeah.
I don't know how that's going to sound somehow.
I don't know anything about Sakamoto Days, yeah.
I'm excited for Sakamoto Days.
I'm looking forward to the anime adaptation.
Okay.
And lastly, Hana, the girlfriend.
Right, the anatomical girlfriend.
Yeah.
Okay.
Is by Fumi Hirano, and she did a voice for Lum from Urusei Yatsura.
The new one, right?
No, old one.
The old one?
Is the old one and the new—are the old and new Lum voices the same?
No, different.
But this is the old Lum.
Old Lum, the original Lum.
Wow, that's nuts.
And she did a voice in the new Urusei Yatsura 2, but as a mother of somebody?
Lum?
Lum's mom?
Yeah.
Wow, that's—I didn't know that, and that blows my mind a little bit.
Okay.
Okay, yeah.
So they have great voice actors.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Also, we can talk about Danda Dan's opening and ending theme songs.
So the opening is by Creepy Nuts, Otonoke.
Yeah.
21:00
And the ending song is Taida Da by Zutto Mayonaka de Ii Noni.
I think their English name is Zutto Mayo, that's it.
Oh, really?
That's smart.
I think.
Because like, Zutto Mayonaka de Ii Noni is such a long name, even for Japanese.
It is a pretty long name, yeah.
Yeah, Zutto Mayo.
People are going to think it's related to mayonnaise because of the mayo, but it's not.
Definitely.
It's definitely midnight, not mayonnaise.
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, so it goes.
So, yeah, both are great.
And we talked about opening anime and the theme song in the past episode, so check it out.
There are many interesting episodes, but for me, I think episode seven was the most impactful
episode because of the Aksara's backstory.
Yeah, I agree that that is far and away the strongest episode of this season, especially
for a show that's been kind of wacky and silly and action-packed to all of a sudden have
an episode that is mostly no dialogue and just like a sort of moving instrumental piano
background.
Some of it shot in the first person of a horrible tragedy is so unexpected that I think it hits
a lot harder than had it been that type of anime all along.
And so, yeah, that one really kind of changed my opinion of what the anime is as a whole
by being like, oh, they can go like this deep when they feel like it.
And to sort of contrast that with a lot of the sort of madcap, like slapstick comedy
that's going on in the rest of the show, it's really kind of surprising that they got that
deep.
Yeah, until then, there are like many jokes and then like keep talking about Kintama and
this stuff.
Nuts.
I think the Kintama stuff all have, oh, yeah, no, I guess that's like started already by
that point.
Yeah.
So like it's silly kind of, but fun.
But like on that episode, I felt like I got punched in my face.
Like, whoa, like we can do this to you.
Yeah, I think I would say I was punched in the gut rather than the face.
But yes, I agree with you.
Yeah.
So, yeah, I was in tears.
Yeah.
I think I'm sure many other watchers did too.
Yeah.
Like, as a mother, like, oh, it's heartbreaking.
A hundred percent.
Oh, my goodness.
And then like mothers do anything to protect their kids.
Yeah.
The idea of like how she became a ghost is so plausible, really, you know, and so sad.
It's so sad.
Even like listening to the music.
Right.
Because like recently Dandanan's soundtrack is available on Spotify.
Oh, okay.
24:00
And I started listening, but like just listening to the piano song, like, oh.
Really brings back that emotion.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So powerful.
Anything, any episode or character you like?
I like all of the characters, but I sort of like how annoying Gigi is.
You like?
Yeah, a little bit, yeah.
Well, again, I think what I like about Gigi is I feel like Japanese comedy is not well-represented outside of Japan very often.
And I feel like this particular character really shows that sort of physical, like, lowbrow, for lack of a better way to put it, sort of like dumb comedy that Japan has a lot of.
That doesn't make it outside Japan very often.
So I like that he's sort of representing some of that, like, over-reliance on, I don't know, like ridiculous voice and physical action and stuff.
That is an important part of what some Japanese comedy is like.
So I appreciate him for doing that.
And I don't know, this series has more sort of body parts humor than I think is strictly necessary.
Yeah.
There's from the very first episode where the aliens are trying to take their bananas to his, like, you know, I guess he loses his chin-chin, right?
His, like, penis is captured by Turbo Baba in also the first episode.
I don't know, like the translations are all really, like, funny because they're trying to talk around it, which I think is happening in Japanese.
So they're good translations, but there's just like much more storyline involving people's genitals than I expected.
Yeah, I didn't expect anything like that.
And I don't hate it.
Like, but it is a it's a choice, you know, just thought I'd like mention that and be like, I think it's, you know, it makes it seem like less appropriate than I think it actually is.
And I think it's sort of a shame that there's probably people who get really turned off by the first episode being like, what is this, who don't make it to, you know, the acrobatic Sarasara episode and be like, whoa, this has actually some some depth to it.
Yeah, even Turbo Baba's story has a meaning, like, you know, it's funny, like when she says, like, what did she say exactly in English?
I think that I think the translation was something like, if you let me gobble your weenie, I'll let you like suck on my teeth or something.
Like, it's like pretty good, right?
If you if especially if you think it's a no offense.
Yeah, I just I mean, it's just like, again, it's like a pretty sexually explicit language.
And that is like what they're actually saying.
27:00
And I think in the moment you think like, is this being played for laughs?
Like, yeah, just like, oh, I can't believe you said those words.
Or is there like, you know, is it just because it's like outrageous and sort of creepy?
Like, why do that?
And then later, there is, in fact, a rational, reasonable explanation for what's happening with that character.
But you have to be like really willing to go along with the show and accept like some moments that feel sort of juvenile and weird in order to get to the rational explanation later.
And I feel like there might be a lot of viewers who aren't willing to go down that journey.
That's fair. That's probably the reason why it's it airs on near like a middle of the night.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah. Yeah. Not like when little kids are wet.
Right. Right.
Yeah. OK, let's do word of the day.
OK, I think we settled on nairuse, which is a line that Okarun says when he is transformed using Turbo Baba's power into the sort of demonic possession version of himself.
And so nairu means to wilt or to droop or sag.
And so you can use it to be like I'm exhausted.
Or I think the Google Translate thing that came up for nairuse was I'm dying.
But importantly, wither does have the, you know, the this image of drooping or sort of sagging or bending down.
Yeah. And so you really were sort of explaining that this could also be applied to like penis.
Yeah. Right. That like nairu is to like droop down.
And so it seems to tie in with that sort of like, you know, genital humor that like the series has more than its fair share of, but can also be interpreted more sort of like generously maybe to just mean he's tired from like having to use this power all the time.
Yeah. Yeah.
I've never heard the phrase in any other anime ever of nairuse.
気持ちがなえるとか?
Yeah, no, I like really, I mean, maybe I've heard it and just didn't understand what it meant when I heard it earlier, but it is not a commonly used word in Japanese.
Yeah. I think when you are discouraged and you feel nairu, like, oh, I can't do this anymore or that kind of feeling.
Yeah.
Like shrinking a little.
Right?
Totally.
It's a good verb, shrinking.
Yeah.
I think that that captures some of like what it's, what the pun is in Japanese too.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
I think, again, it's an unusual word, but it's one that's really important in this anime.
This anime. Yeah.
So nairuse is definitely.
I just don't know why he says that when he becomes Turbo Baba. He's tired because he's like full.
30:01
I think using Turbo Baba's power makes him tired, but it also really, I mean, I think there's definitely an amount of double entendre going on.
But yeah, that he's like kind of like bummed out or like unhappy or like, yeah, like feeling like he's losing his energy by just being in that state.
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.
If you liked this week's episode, please give us five stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or like and leave a comment on YouTube.
Make sure to subscribe and follow 2amOTAK and 3amOTAK.
That covers all the same topics as 2am.
Pretty much the same.
Well, I guess not all the same, but mostly the same.
Mostly the same.
And then we talk all in Japanese.
So if you learn Japanese, like you can listen 2am and 3am and compare it and you can test yourself how much you understand.
And you realize how bad I suck at Japanese.
No, no.
I mean, vice versa, my English sucks.
Yeah, no, your English is definitely better than my Japanese, but you be the judge once you've learned both languages.
Yeah, yeah.
Don't tell us about our language skills.
We are fully aware.
You don't have to tell me.
True.
All right.
Thank you so much again.
And then see you next time for more 2amOTAK.
Peace out.
