REVIEW: ‘DanDaDan’ Season 2 Episode 8 – “You Can Do It, Okarun!

“You Can Do It, Okarun!” is brilliant. Demonstrating the boundless possibilities of animation, DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 8 launches past the already established stratospheric bar and somehow surpasses itself. Working at a breakneck speed with peak hilarity and artistry that looks to push past the limitations of the manga, it’s a glorious, relentless explosion of color and vibrancy. Truly, pick your jaw off the floor stuff. 

It’s one of those instances where we’re reminded of just how much the studio fits with the content. Science Saru was the perfect choice for this specific story. DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 8 envelops itself in action, and there are evident touchstones from other series from the studio. A shot of Okarun (Natsuki Hanae) going full throttle against an opponent has the markings of the likes of Inu-Oh and Devilman Crybaby, blending the kinetic animation style that’s synonymous with the studio and the director who co-founded it, Masaaki Yuasa. 

And while there are these obvious cohesive influences in the physicality of the characters, the way Okarun runs, and the zany, off-kilter playfulness of the final presentation, it never feels merely like an echo of something better: a mimicry. Instead, DanDaDan excels by being its own singular experience and, like The Summer Hikaru Died, takes familiar pieces and places them in unusual, unexpected places. 

DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 8 exemplifies the endless possibilities of animation.

That the visual spectacle surrounds itself in the fight against the music room portraits of ghostly famous composers makes the moment soar. Because it’s so silly, so unrepentantly dumb, yet the inherent goofiness does little to undercut the beauty of the sequence. 

In what must be one of the speediest training arcs in shonen, Okarun and Aira (Ayane Sakura) suffer through a crash-course at the hands (paws?) of Turbo Granny (Mayumi Tanaka). She awakens the portraits to train Okarun to better use her powers, namely, her speed. It’s a breathless examination of Okarun’s growth, his dynamic with Aira and Turbo Granny, and the series as a whole as madness consumes each frame, upping the ante scene to scene. One moment they’re in the classroom – stripped of most of its color and thrust into black and white – and the next they’re in some sort of astral plane, fighting the portraits as they duplicate and grow to titanic scale. 

DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 8 once again showcases how anime and the visual medium work to heighten existing stories. Manga is a visual medium, and there are plenty of anime that do their original work a disservice. However, Yukinobu Tatsu’s work begs for this cinematic platform. The manga thrives on big, explosive reveals and jump cuts to otherworldly forces and larger-than-life, universe-spanning threats. The art team at Science Saru captures the essence and amplifies it through clever direction, elastic animation, and a dynamic, sweeping score to transport and dizzy us. 

The battle delivers a relentless barrage of visual splendor. 

The fight between Aira, Okarun, and the portraits demonstrates the strength of the story and its lovable characters, as well as the skilled team of artists. There’s a lot of big laughs, from Okarun having to dodge specific notes mid-battle (getting hit by a major note makes his voice jump an octave), to Aira and Turbo Granny’s ongoing verbal sparring. It’s all emboldened by the sheer magnitude of madness that the fight reaches. By the time the portraits have created titan-scale composers who spill shadow puppets from their gaping mouths to engage in battle, the effect is hilariously spellbinding. 

But it comes back to color. DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 8 doesn’t just offer explosions of color, it siphons it. By the time the bold color stories appear, the effect is shocking. There’s a purposefulness to how they’re used. The black and white shifts when Aira and Okarun transform into their yōkai forms, with their hair touched by their signifying colors–her’s pink and his red. This continues well into the battle, these glimpses of color against the monochromatic backsplashes. 

And then, boom – the scene is dwarfed by the pastel coloring of the composers, with the frames splintering into angular portions, with the colors bleeding into those spaces.  The effect is hypnotic and a way to visualize the music they’re playing onscreen. But it also helps show action progress. As Okarun grows more confident, adapting to the rhythm he’s found for himself,  more color expands into the story. 

The series excels on the simplest necessity – it’s a blast. 

As always, the series’ ability to marry the mayhem with the heartfelt is what makes it such a thrilling experience. Because yes, the fight would’ve been fun regardless of the series it was in, considering the level of craft that went into it. But it works because we care about the characters at the center. Namely, Okarun. He’s such a lovable protagonist, so unassuming until he’s surrounded by people who care about him. It makes him an easy character to root for. 

He and Aira make for a formidable pairing once their fighting styles begin to gel. While Momo and Jiji work with their spiritual prowess and intrinsic skills, Okarun and Aira are left on shakier ground with powers that aren’t their own. It’s an excellent way to divide the current dynamic between the four and allows a subtle shift in the relationship between Turbo Granny and Okarun, even. Because by the end of the episode, she’s working with him to help him get stronger as he faces off against the Evil Eye. 

DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 8 ends on a warranted, eruptive cliffhanger that shows Okarun’s defiance and unquestionable growth. “You Can Do It, Okarun!” is yet another series highlight because it takes all of the pieces of what we’ve come to love about the series and further amplifies the effects. From the enthralling action set pieces to the expansive and richly detailed world that continues to surpass our imaginations to the wonderful character work at its core, the effect is immediate. The series is an absolute blast to watch, and the type of escapism that makes the very best of shonen so addictive. 

DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 8 is available now on Crunchyroll and Netflix.

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