The work I was most eagerly awaiting an anime adaptation of on Jump+ was this one, Dandadan. Anime and manga fans are a troublesome bunch: the more you're looking forward to a work, the more you fret over whether it'll actually become the visual production you'd hoped for. Ahh, who'll be in charge of the score, which studio is producing it, and so on, fully exploiting our position to say whatever we please, we, or at least I, harbored that "tiresome anticipation" toward this work's adaptation the whole time.
And another troublesome trait of anime and manga fans is skipping the explanation entirely, figuring a work this big surely needs no introduction. Dandadan is an occult/supernatural battle romantic-comedy manga drawn by Yukinobu Tatsu. It's a manga so complex and dense that trying to sum it up in a single phrase ties you in knots, yet its greatest appeal is how its insanely high level of drawing skill and rich expressiveness let you breeze right through it. Even occult tales, which tend to get convoluted, slip easily into your head thanks to the page-turning sense of pace. And it doesn't end up watered down for it (in fact, in "Mu," Japan's most famous occult magazine, Dandadan was praised as a work that occult lovers can't get enough of). Normally there'd be no way to mix in a romantic-comedy element on top of that, yet with utterly convincing presentation, the work's storytelling power pulls readers along forcefully and adorns the narrative without ever falling apart. In the sense of a manga artist who brings conviction to the work through tremendously high drawing skill and can pull off razor-sharp battle scenes, I'd even put him on par with Akira Toriyama.
And the score for Dandadan's anime is, of course, this person! Kensuke Ushio is in charge. When it comes to ordering up a stylish score that fits the worldview snugly, he's second to none. Incidentally, it's been uploaded officially on YouTube ahead of the soundtrack, so please do give it a listen. paranormal funk ("Dandadan" Original Soundtrack) Released 2024/12/18
Take just this track, paranormal funk: on first listen, sound-wise it feels like a rhythm section the disco generation above me would love, but it expresses a modern sense of speed that's a little different from that bygone laid-back feel, making it a score perfect for Dandadan, which is somehow nostalgic yet brand new.
A lot of scores were used even in episode 1 of the anime, but aside from the rhythm tracks and sound effects, I felt many of the tracks foreground the appeal of retro. Only episode 1 has aired so far, but I can't wait to find out what kind of tracks will play from here on.
That abundance of retro appeal within the work isn't something I felt from the score alone. After all, in the anime OP visuals, characters layer over a primary-color background like shadow pictures, evoking the OP of the original Ultraman (1966). And the bit I found especially genius is where the distinctive large pierced earring of one of the protagonists, "Momo Ayase," overlaps with Ultraman's signature big eye and freezes for an instant as it moves. It made me grin in spite of myself. Of course, it doesn't end as mere homage; the unconventional hip-hop and rap groove of Creepy Nuts locks firmly into the animation's movement, making it feel stylish and new. What's more, in the ending song, the mascot-like-looking Turbo Granny (this is a slight spoiler) moves around so adorably in time with the stylish track by ZUTOMAYO. It makes anime fans think "They get it," and makes first-time viewers feel "This looks fun, somehow stylish, new!" Easier said than done. How many anime have flopped aiming for exactly that? The sense of balance that pulls it off properly is wonderful.
The score, the OP and ED songs, the visuals, everything is airtight. As if picking a fight with everyone in every direction, and then coming home having become friends with everyone in every direction. A clean, refreshing satisfaction. This matches perfectly with the particular atmosphere Dandadan possesses. There's no way this anime won't succeed.
