Dandadan – Episode 08 Review

「なんかモヤモヤするじゃんよ」 (Nanka Moyamoya Suru jan yo)
“I’ve Got This Funny Feeling”

“Monsters are after my balls”- if that’s not an incentive to work out, I don’t know what is. Even his friends can’t resist playing around with it- vis a vis an impromptu baseball game in the Ayase household, starring Okarun’s golden member. I found it cute that Okarun was wearing a strike shirt and Momose a baseball and baseball bat shirt. They’re not even officially dating, and they’re already matchy matchy. Such is the kindred spiritship between those two.

The majority of the episode focuses on teenage emotional drama. I’m honestly less interested in Aira, who I find an unwelcome corner in what is now a newly formed triangle between her, Okarun, and Momo. Sure, her misinformation is entertaining, but that arrogance can get old pretty fast.

Unlike Okarun and Momo, while odd ducks for sure but pretty down to earth (when not battling aliens), Aira is a whole other case. A typical teenager, she’s convinced she’s a special snowflake, the gods’ gift to humankind. Which couldn’t be further from the truth. Getting her confession information from porn mags? Hilariously misinformed there. But absolutely no surprise, considering that this is the same girl who is convinced that Momo and Okarun must be demons, even though she’s probably never seen one before and has only just started seeing supernaturals. That she found her trusty sources in Dad’s study makes it even funnier.

“I’m not an amateur, I just don’t know about them” LOL. Aira’s whole exchange with Okarun was a hoot. She’s so clueless but has convinced herself she isn’t. Those are the worst types to deal with, because they’re the ones who see no problems, even as it’s staring them dead straight in the face, and thus refuse to fix it. I’m not sure which is the bigger foe here- the supernaturals and aliens or Aira’s giant ego. At any rate, all 3 of them are after Okarun’s family jewels.

Our creature feature this week is a Godzilla like monster, explosive fire breath included. Well, a cross between Godzilla and the Loch Ness monster, to be more precise. It turns out to be an alien shrimp from science class, which sucked them into an alternate space that is rapidly filling with water. It is endearing that when the spooky hits, Okarun and Momo each immediately think about the other. Aira’s got no chance, really. Aira immediate jumps to the conclusion that the destruction must be the pair trying to frame her is. Yeah, she’s got the chuunibyo pretty bad.

I can genuinely say, as with all of the other bizarre lifeforms in this show, this is the first time I’ve heard of a boxing shrimp singing ABBA. Why ABBA, I don’ know, though I suppose the song does have good rhythm for pulling punches. Or the mangaka just really loves ABBA.

And so, we meet again, Serpoians. That Aira’s response is to pull out her fake crucifix that’s actually a lighter is the cherry on top. In what universe does a crucifix work against aliens? We get an Aira transformation at the end there. It’s ironic that she’s convinced Okarun must be a demon based on his transformation and moves, but it turns out she has a similar ability, thanks to Acrobatic Silky.

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