Dandadan – Episode 07 Review

「優しい世界へ」 (Yasashī Sekai e)
“To a Kinder World”

Momo is really coming into her own with her spiritual powers. The idea of massaging Aira’s heart with her spirit arms is certainly a good, albeit out of the box way to use it. But the one who really comes in and saves the day is AcroSilky, who offers to give her aura to Aira, using Momo as a conduit. Rather an interesting concept, that spiritual auras are akin to charges that run through a jumper cable aka spirit medium to jump start a dead car.

It’s becoming apparent that Momo’s spiritual powers are a blessing and a curse. A blessing in allowing her to save the lives of others and put a stop to harmful spirits. But also a curse, because she becomes privy to personal tragedies, like that of AcroSilky, tragedies which she can do nothing about.

The flashback sequence started off strong with stunningly animated sequences of mother and daughter. Actually, while watching this scene, I couldn’t help but think of the Pixar films I grew up watching. Something in the daughter’s face and reactions was just Pixarish- though whether that’s just me and totally unintentional, I couldn’t say. Whichever it is, the end result has been carried out at a consistently high artistic level, since, well, the premiere. That scene of the woman dancing in the water across the city was absolutely jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

Unfortunately, the story went totally over dramatic with the loan sharks busting in, fatally wounding the woman, and taking her daughter. Though, I don’t know, maybe that’s what loan sharks do- I certainly wouldn’t know. Any emotional effect the backstory could have had on me was ultimately ruined by how over the top it became. In some ways, it almost feels incomplete because we never know what became of the daughter after she was kidnapped. It’s probably for the best I don’t know, because of the handful of scenarios I can picture realistically happening with a situation like that, almost all of them are horrible. As for the acrobatic part of the spirit’s reputation- I gather from the flashback that she must have been a ballerina before her daughter’s birth and presumably had to quit afterwards.

While it’s clear Aira is not her biological daughter, where their paths do cross is in the aftermath of Aira’s mother’s death. For whatever reason, Aira was able to see AcroSilky. In her child’s innocence, rather than run in fear at her gruesome experience, she reaches out to her- reminiscent of the scene in the original 1931 Frankenstein movie where a young girl picks flowers with the Monster. Consequently, the spirit claimed her as her own and has followed her since.

Through AcroSilky, the story explores the complicated love of a parent. Parents who try their best, fully believe and strive for their child’s safety and happiness. But because we’re all only human in the end, on top of the various curveballs life throws at us, parents fall short and the painful reality is, they end up hurting the children they meant to protect. Because of AcroSilky’s obsessive rampage, she ends up killing Aira. Because of her human counterpart’s risky connections (presumably in the underworld) with loan sharks and prostitution, her precious daughter gets kidnapped and her own life stolen. However, that isn’t necessarily the end (though unfortunately, it was for her human counterpart). AcroSilky transfers her aura to Aira in her mother’s love, thereby successfully resuscitating the girl, and managing to save a child she loved in spirit form, though she could not do so in her human life.

In the end, AcroSilky crumbles to pieces, having given away her aura. Not only that, but she is in danger of ceasing to exist in anyone’s memories due to unresolved regrets. Let’s hope that Aira’s final, tender embrace with her helped to put AcroSilky’s spirit at ease. And with that, one ball down, one more to go.

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