After Ken rediscovers that never giving up on your future woman is the true ‘CHAD’ action to take, he now must face the jealousy head-on against his love rival in Jin Enjoji, as the strange occurrences in Jiji’s home start to unfold.

Video Review

What Stands Out About This Episode?

End How You Start

There’s nothing more “Dan Da Dan,” than leaving the final episode of season 1 on a cliffhanger of the attempted ASSAULT on our female MC. As the story opens up with alien diddies trying to steal Momo’s “banana,” these village creepers are seemingly trying to do the same.

Once again, Dandadan displays that perfect balance between the romantic slice-of-life charm, with a wacky, yet terrorizing plot.. Coming off an episode where Ken rediscovers that his manhood does exist, but just not in his possession. This episode continues the trend of Ken romantically fighting back the NTR that is continuously happening right in front of his face.. Instead of going FULL NTR, Ken actually fights back his love rival, just as Momo had to fight back Aira for Ken’s affection.

Dan da dan’s “Love Triangle” in action

The obvious payoffs come from the relief of obvious plot points. That obvious plot point? Momo’s awareness of Jiji’s actions—and how they make Ken feel—stands out.. This is where like most romances, perspective is everything and how the story is told helps shroud a lot of what the characters really feel in total mystery. In this case, Momo’s feelings is masked by the story’s perspective of Ken’s jealousy of Momo’s and Jiji’s closeness. This is where the timing of Jiji’s character being introduced in the story matters a lot, because the established romantic feelings between Ken and Momo has to be at its strongest before other perceived love rivals enter to complicate their dynamic.

What I appreciate most from writers is just how emotionally intelligent these people can be. Most people can agree if you are cheering for the co-MC in Ken, that Jiji’s character has done literally every romantically threatening action possible to sway Momo into liking him. It’s not only Ken’s insecurities of Jiji, being ideal for most girls on paper; Ken’s own archetype of the scrawny, weird and the lack of assertiveness—that amplifies the jealousy we all feel for a person in his position. It’s natural for people to cheer for the underdog like Ken. He who becomes someone that girls unconventionally wouldn’t admire, becomes admired? That is the payoff that culminates into a special moment between him and Momo.. And when that moment comes, Ken’s manhood will be coming alright!

This is where the story does these little romantic payoffs that seem very subtle, but mean so much more for the big picture of how we think about this Ken, Momo and Jiji dynamic. While we see Momo get buttered up by Jiji the past couple of episodes, there are specific scenes that bring us back to the reality and perspective of how Momo truly feels.

For example, Momo always considered asking Okarun to go to Jiji’s house to help exorcise whatever was happening there. Then, she would invite Okarun to sit next to her, after Jiji finished with some more light NTR of massaging her shoulders.. The author uses the psychology of the audience against us. We want this payoff and confirmation of their love for each other, but very quickly, Momo gives us the okiedoke and leaves our guy hanging.. While this gives us the hint that Momo clearly has Ken in her heart, there is still building doubt with how much Jiji is just flirting with her non-stop and she isn’t doing anything to subside Ken’s jealousy.

Now, this is where the hot springs part of the episode confirms Momo’s true perspective all along, when the story has been tugging at Ken’s 2/3rds of his junk. Our little fragile jealous hearts get to breathe a sigh-of-relief in many ways because Momo clearly sees Jiji as a way to have Ken make another friend. This tells us just how thoughtful Momo is and just how much of her actions our based in her consideration for her love for Okarun. This is one of the most endearing parts about her character, because we all want to see Ken and Momo show care and affection of each other in someway, as their relationship slowly climbs this crescendo into a confession.

At the same time, there still remains this lack of awareness of Jiji’s intentions, in his romantic pursuit of Momo. This lack of awareness is just as big of a romance trope, as it is in real life. It’s just as frustrating watching it, as it is experiencing it first hand. For most relationships, we all do our very best to consider each other’s feelings and it’s one of the biggest romantic plot point enders. If Ken completely denies Aira and Momo completely denies Enjoji’s romantic advances, say goodbye to one of the biggest compelling plot points in the story. So, while we all know the easy answers to Ken’s and Momo’s jealousy issues, the story does just enough to reel us back home to where Momo’s heart and perspective really lies.

Overall, this episode was a fun setup to end the season and the way it ended, how the season started with some forced banana taking action is one fantastically twisted way to end it. Mystery is a plot’s best friend and so is a girls’ heart in a compelling romance.

What Next After Dandadan?

I’m sure there will be an official announcement for the next season of Dan Da Dan at some point. Best believe I will cover it when it comes back. Also, you can always check out the manga in the meantime. If you guys want to see what I think about the manga with only some light spoilers, check this video out!

I hope you guys liked my additional blog posts for my Dandadan YouTube video reviews! I just don’t have the time to do these like how I have been able to in the past, but I will always try to get a couple important points in, especially if I missed it in my video!

I guess I should tease what I have coming up.. Get ready, as I’m about to go on an EPIC ANIME ROMANCE ARC for 2025!

Check out my other YouTube anime reviews here!