The new episode of Dandadan still feels weird

summary

• The introduction of Jiji to the story adds new levels of weirdness with the literal aliens that populate the series.
• Once again, the third wheel complicates the central romance, but it's far less entertaining this time.
• The animation style reflects the tone of the episode, with lively and humorous expressions.

Warning: The following contains minor spoilers for Dandadan, Episode 11, “First Love”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.

watching punishment The past several weeks have evoked many emotions, but this may be the first time that an episode has ended and completely surprised me. As a penultimate episode, it's only natural to expect a tantalizing cliffhanger, but everything flies by in the blink of an eye while evoking very strong emotions through sheer force of weirdness.

Earlier, Okarun, Momo, and Era were at school grappling with theories on how to explain their sudden nudity as to why the aliens were so interested in them all. Meanwhile, Okarun and Momo finally put past misunderstandings to rest, just as another one walks through the door in the form of Jiji, Momo's childhood friend and first love.

Jiji is… so much to talk about

Remember how when Aira first arrived fans were saying they would hate her at first? And how after a few episodes, people's opinions immediately changed after some heartbreaking and serious drama? Well, there's only one episode left in the season, and – personally speaking, at least – the task required to pull off a similar PR turnaround for Jiji is quite Herculean. At the risk of sounding crass, the brother is working on a weapons-grade cringe.

Given the difficulty of picking up sarcasm through the written word, let it be known that this is mostly sarcastic, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that it's an intended response. In this case, efficient work. Despite his composed and handsome appearance at first, he quickly breaks facade to reveal that he is a fool. Momo is immediately reminded why she doesn't love him, Okarun is surprised, and – funniest of all – so is Aira.

She's outdone at her own game, which makes it so much fun to get her out of the episode so quickly. There's only room for so much chaos in the Ayase family, but Jiji isn't entirely without a serious side. His parents are in the hospital and he has come to stay with Momo. He reveals that he can now see ghosts, and after apologizing profusely for bullying Momo in his youth, he asks for help dealing with the spirit responsible for his parents' condition.

It's Okarun's turn for a misunderstanding

The most disappointing part of this episode is… well, Jiji, but Second The most frustrating part is that Okarun believes for a second that Momo would choose Jiji over him. And yes, that's a “joke” just like the misunderstanding with Okarun and Era, but it's played out all the more here. It's hard to be too concerned about that, largely because – as hinted at earlier – this episode moves like a bullet.

As soon as Okarun's brain starts to assume the worst, it's as if the universe throws up a new paranormal event to snap him out of it. A lifesize anatomical model of the human body is moving. More than walking – he's running like a man on a mission, and Momo is convinced he has Okarun's second missing ball, which means another high-speed chase, but this time with Jiji.

Is this the most unhinged episode of Dandadan?

descriptively, punishment This week was on a whole other level. It was consistently either funny or surprising or both. Jiji feels at once like a parody of the childhood best friend archetype and more alien than every alien creature ever depicted. The fact that Alex was cast in the English dub may also be luck. As someone who has fully utilized his skills as a voice actor to lean into the memes of practically every character he's ever voiced, he really doesn't hold anything back, and god bless him for it.

Despite that, it's a shame to say that the attraction wore thin quickly. He's just kind of annoying and if this is the way he's going to act a season or two from now, that's a pretty big red flag. What made him largely tolerable was partly the show's track record for character development – ​​fingers crossed – and the animation that matched that chaos.

The animation is appropriately “off”.

This episode is a good example of how punishmentThe animation quality is very deliberate in how it conveys tone. Episode 1 looks very different from Episode 7, which looks very different from this episode, and so on. The nuances of how characters move and emote in ways large and small serve their respective chapters in the story.

When Aira walks out of Momo's house, don't laugh. Something about the unexpected speed with which she storms out of the house, how slightly junky it seems, amplifies the comedy tenfold. As for Jiji, he is so vividly animated that it is impossible to take your eyes off him. Hitting pause is like spinning a roulette wheel. You are bound to find a suitable new expression for the profile picture.

punishmentThe new episode was okay, but nothing amazing, which is a bit disappointing from the second-to-last episode, but not terrible enough to cheapen any faith in the finale. The comedy was strong, the animation was suitably unhinged to match, and it was a brisk adventure overall. Perhaps the strangest thing, then, is how being so conceptually heavy left me feeling a little disoriented.