The X-Files for Freaks: Punishment Season 1 Review

summary

• Dandadan excels at the balance between chaos and calm, blending supernatural action with teenage romance in a visually stunning way.

• In many ways, this is a show about dichotomy, which is no more evident than in the romance between Momo and Okarun.

• The stellar voice acting and animation elevates Danddan to great heights despite the overwhelming cliffhanger for the (thankfully) upcoming sequel.

It's hard to sum up the quality of a show like this punishment In no way was this already conveyed in the first few minutes of its bombastic, catchy, and well-paced premiere. Of all the delights of 2024 in the realm of anime, there were relatively few shows as full of attitude and heartwarming romance as this new-age shonen, and to no one's surprise, it was a blast.

Animated by Science Saru and directed by Fuga Yamashiro, punishment It is the story of a boy who believes in aliens and not ghosts and a girl who does not believe in ghosts. When they dare each other to go to paranormal hotspots, they realize to their dismay that they are both right and find themselves the targets of organizations beyond their unique beliefs.

Soon, the boy's penis is stolen by a ghost and the girl's psychic powers are unwittingly awakened by pervy aliens, prompting the two to join the battle and save the former's newly hatched knee. It's an absurd premise, but one too inspired and interesting to dismiss, and that's just greed. The hook is a bit deeper.

Realizing the greatest power of punishment

At first glance, this is the type of story that its chaos portrays and is a byproduct of how strangely weird the story is. It's a love letter to the supernatural and – in equal parts – the fascination and skepticism inherent in such subjects. Visually, animation and artwork labor to present these oddities as boldly as possible, a task few studios are better suited to than science fiction. Was that all, however, punishmentThe charm was quickly wearing thin.

The secret to this story's success is its command of pacing and tone, and it's no secret at all. Ask the creative staff behind the anime, as we did, and they'll emphasize it as one of the most important ingredients in adapting writer Yukinobu Tatsu's plots. punishment Busy and bombastic, but it also has to be calm, to sustain the feel of its characters and turn a silly script into something frequently relatable and sometimes very real.

On the contrary, and there is attraction

punishment Everything is about dichotomy. Chaos and calm. Ghosts and Aliens. Supernatural action and teenage romance. A headstrong girl and a stupid boy; Momo Ayase and Okarun. She is a Gyaru who speaks her mind but retains a romantic side, looking for a trustworthy boy who reminds her of her favorite actor, Ken Takakura. On the flip side, Okarun is a shy nerd with magical interests who looks to the sky in search of the company he lacks in his everyday life.

They couldn't be more different and couldn't be more perfect together. It's a realization that may not come to them quickly, but which is clear to everyone else and, most importantly, the audience. punishment Builds off of its first arc, sticking the two together to gain new powers amid run-ins with aliens, ghosts, and Momo's silly spirit medium grandmother, Seiko, to name a few.

Performance is everything

It's such an impressive opening salvo that forces the characters to make sense of power scaling without getting lost in the exposition. If there is a break from the action, the script prefers to use it to bring these characters closer together, be it through banter, fights, or silence pregnant with quickly averted, embarrassed glances. Presentation is one half of the equation – voice acting is the other.

Natsuki Hanae and Shion Wakayama are the heart and soul of the series, and their understanding of the story's tonal flexibility is reflected in their chemistry. Hana's portrayal of Okarun, for example, has a lot of duality. He is at once very shy but can also burst into manic outbursts, which makes his banter with Momo all the more endearing. English artists are also praised. Abby Trott as Momo, AJ Beckles as Okarun, and the iconic Kari Wahlgren as Seko all nailed the assignment. No matter what the dub, you can't go wrong.

Hats off to science

Appreciating the animation punishment Like praising the show is somewhat similar Mob Psycho 100In which the presentation is so consistently impressive that words fail to conjure up new ways to describe it. If anything comes to mind easily, it's that Fuga Yamashiro has done an amazing job. Whatever he does next deserves everyone's attention – be it its next season or something completely different.

Coming from someone who worked closely with Masaki Yuasa on many of his past projects, this shouldn't come as a surprise, but it's exciting nonetheless. In the past, Yamashiro has emphasized the importance of preserving the dramatic rhythm of the source material, and although manga readers will be the best judge of his exact success in this regard, the results speak for themselves.

There is rarely, if ever, a shot that is boring or in which the characters aren't emotive in a striking or simply amusing way. For that matter, the character designs by Takeru Noda and animation director Naoyuki Onda look great and only on occasion do the event director or AD take some liberties to maximize the dramatic presentation. This brings us back to the story, where punishment Went from great to something truly special.

The Heights of Dandadan

Across the board, this season was very strong, balancing action and comedy with brief but powerful notes of deep romance and real drama. However, episode 7 is where the season peaks, and where it sort of plateaus afterwards – not in a bad way, mind you, but simply because it hasn't had time to reach the same heights. This is the kind of episode that makes one realize “Oh, so this is the show really about.”

without further ado, punishment It proved itself past the midway point by showing how raw and real it was to overcome all the silliness that got there. Likewise, it's a microcosm of every aspect of the production that makes this show so addictive… watch. For a deeper appreciation of everything that makes animation “good”, one only has to watch this episode, to see the dynamism of its action setpieces, the life felt in its characters and more.

I was a little disappointed with the finale, but only because it didn't feel like a true season finale. there was A cliffhanger, but it felt oddly weak. It felt like just another episode, which is by no means bad by this show's standards, and thankfully, fans won't have to wait long for a second season. If anything, I recommend that new viewers wait until closer to the release of Season 2 to binge the series.

… There's so much more this series can show us, and that alone is fun to know. Science has outdone itself.

Even with a somewhat weak cliffhanger, though, punishment Was fun through. This review only scratches the surface of artists like Seiko, Turbo Granny, Aira, or Jiji, all of whom are handled with equal subtlety, and all of whom quickly grow into audiences, no matter how antagonistic some of them start out to be. Even without reading the manga, I can say that this series has a lot to show us, and knowing that alone is fun. Science has outdone itself.

punishment Available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix.