New Scary Anime Just in Time for Halloween!
Surreal Horror, UFO Lore, and Japanese Teen Hormones--again!
Dan Da Dan
Format: Anime Series
Director: Fūga Yamashiro
Manga Creator: Yukinobu Tatsu
Where to watch: Netflix
Dan Da Dan is a new anime that pairs up an unlikely (or not so unlikely?) odd couple: one teenage student who believes in UFO conspiracy theories and another who believes in ghosts. The stylish anime just premiered the first two episodes on Netflix, and based on everything I saw in the ads, I figured a review was apt and necessary for Next Stop Unknown.
I had not read or heard about Dan Da Dan before seeing the anime ads, but I’m a little surprised given how much it seems to be pulling from the high strangeness lore just in the first two episodes. Within that time there are references to a United States cover up of alien technology, aliens abducting humans to take advantage of their reproductive organs, the Flatwoods Monster of West Virginia, and many others. Only all this information is displayed in the more or less classic style of anime/manga: wild character designs, over the top reactions, and a swift undercurrent of teenage sexual frustration.
Did I say undercurrent? Let me rephrase that: a tidal wave of teenage sexual frustration. This show wastes no time letting it’s viewers know we’re here to make not-so-subtle references to sex organs, show teens in their underwear, and make most of the monsters into metaphors for the main characters’ raging hormones.
Not that I have a problem with any of that! In fact, I think it’s appropriate for the story being told. For the target audience, teenagers and young adults dealing with their own sexual feelings and confusion, it’s the kind of subversive satire they need in a format that they need it. I’m just giving you, dear reader, fair warning if you are unfamiliar with anime and just interested in watching a fun cartoon about UFOs and ghosts. This stuff is part of what comes in the bag.
All that out of the way, the show is actually highly entertaining. The humor is heavy handed but not overly annoying as anime sometimes tends to be. This is mostly because the writing does a decent job keeping the characters’ emotions grounded in real world teenage insecurities and empathy. Just when you think they might pull out another ridiculous reaction for laughs, the characters slow down enough to reveal their real feelings and vulnerabilities to each other, and it works.
The art style is a lot of fun also with some wild monsters including a grotesque “turbo-granny” and a sumo-wrestling interpretation of the Flatwoods monster.
We’ll see how the anime develops as new episodes are released, but for now, I recommend giving this one a shot if you want something bizarre, entertaining, and that makes way too many references to aliens wanting to steal your “banana.”
Uzumaki
Format: Anime Series
Manga Creator: Junji Ito
Where to watch: Streaming on Max
If you are unfamiliar with Junji Ito’s work in manga, let me try to describe it: remember those terrifying pictures the social pariah at the back of your homeroom used to draw on his notebook with a ballpoint pen? More specifically, the ones that were frightening scribbles of things only possible on paper with long necks and surreal deformities like extra limbs and needle-like teeth? Even if you don’t, I think you get the idea. Junji Ito’s whole style is bringing pictures like that to life in full blown manga stories that are beyond terrifying. And when they are adapted into anime, they can be downright trauma inducing.
Uzumaki, Ito’s popular graphic novel, has been turned into an anime by Adult Swim, and the first two episodes are now available on Max. The premise of the story revolves--no pun intended--around the namesake of the story’s title which means “spiral” or “vortex.” In a small town in Japan, people start seeing these spirals in everything: nature, strands of hair, pottery, etc. And once they do, they become obsessed with them to the point that, ultimately, they become spirals themselves.
Sound weird? You bet it is! And in the best way possible for horror lovers. So much of what we experience in horror these days runs through the same tired tropes and scare tactics. This is something that expands outside of those tropes and uses the unsettling nature of surrealism to create truly disturbing results. People twisting their bodies into spirals, students transforming into snails, hair betraying and strangling the people it grows on, etc. etc. etc.
While most of the moments do have a shuddering effect, I will admit that some bits slipped a little too far into the absurd and made me chuckle. Regardless, the end results are always soberingly morbid. (I’m particularly referring to a scene that involves hair that I will let you discover on your own.)
If you are looking for a good late night terror to watch during spooky season, this is a great option for fans of anime who want to wake up sweating with nightmares.
Sterling Martin is a writer, artist, and designer living in Chicago, IL. His background includes drawing, writing, theatre, teaching, improv & sketch comedy, and whatever else he can get his hands on to be creative. You can find him on the internet at:
Instagram: @sterfest.art
Website: sterlingmartin.design
Cara: sterfest@sterlingmartin
Threads (well, I’m on it): @sterfest
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