What To Expect From Dandadan’s Acrobatic Silky Arc

Key Takeaways

• The next arc in Dandadan is named the “Acrobatic Silky Arc”, featuring a tragic yokai with superhuman abilities.
• Acrobatic Silky has tentacle-like hair, superhuman strength, and a tragic backstory involving her lost daughter.
• In the Acrobatic Silky Arc, Okarun and Momo confront Silky, leading to a surprising twist, sacrifice, and redemption.

The following article contains spoilers for the next arc of the Dandadan anime and manga.

The first arc of the hit new anime series Dandadan has come to an end after only five episodes. During this arc, we met our main characters, the anxious otaku Okarun and the strong and confident Momo Ayase. We also watched them gain strange new powers beyond even their own crazy, outlandish beliefs of aliens and spirits… while also running into a few of each. And of course, we watched them defeat Turbo Granny, and trap her inside a maneki-neko doll. But what can we expect next, with half a season left to go?

While we’ve technically already started the next arc, there’s plenty more to come this season. Since the arcs in Dandadan are named after the main antagonist, we have a pretty good idea of what to expect next. While the first arc was called the “Turbo Granny Arc”, this next one has aptly been named the “Acrobatic Silky Arc”, after an antagonist who looms tall and is based on a sad Japanese creepypasta. We’ve only just met her in the most recent episode of the anime, but here’s what to expect from her and her arc going forward:

Who Is Acrobatic Silky?

Japan’s Very Own Slenderman

In real life, her origins come from a college student’s online story in a 2-chan forum in 2008. Her appearance in the anime is fairly accurate to reported sightings between Fukushima and Hiroshima, where she can be seen jumping off buildings but disappearing before touching the ground. She became a popular creepypasta in Japan after the initial forum went viral, with Japanese movies and shows even referencing the story.

When it comes to the anime, they’ve expanded upon her tragic backstory. She was a single mother who worked multiple jobs, including as a prostitute, to provide for her daughter. However, she owed money to a group of dangerous men. These men came to her house, beat her into a bloody mess, and kidnapped her child. By the time she regained enough strength to chase them, they were in the van and sped off with her child before she could make out a license plate. Because she lost her daughter in such a traumatic way, she now has transformed into a yokai spirit without her memories of her past life. All she knows is that she lost something important, and would do anything to get it back.

What Does Acrobatic Silky Do?

Tentacle-Like Hair And Superhuman Feats

Acrobatic Silky, much like Turbo Granny, has superhuman feats of strength and speed in her arsenal of powers. Her jaw can crush entire humans, and she can outrun any human trying to escape her. She was able to launch a human flying a significant distance after a single kick too. And much like her name suggests, she is incredibly agile and able to move in swift, acrobatic ways to maneuver away from enemies, Okarun included.

She also has an ability referred to as Hair Manipulation. Her silky smooth hair can change it’s length and grasp things with incredible strength. They act more like tentacles than hair, allowing her to attack from multiple points at once while keeping her hands free. She is seen using this to navigate difficult terrain, or binding her enemies up to make it easier to do her bidding to them. The weakness to this, as with regular hair, is either it becoming tangled or being burned, which we see happening in the manga.

What Happens In The Acrobatic Silky Arc?

Okarun’s Kintama, A New Friend, And A Surprising Twist

The following is a summary of the Acrobatic Silky Arc in Dandadan. Only a small part of this has happened in the anime so far, and while the first few paragraphs summarize episodes 5 and 6, some of the events below will not have happened yet at the time this article is published. Proceed past this paragraph with caution if you want to avoid spoilers!

Momo and Okarun are attempting to fade into normal life at school with their newfound friendship, and somewhat struggling to. During this time, Okarun realizes his “kintama” is missing. While defeating Turbo Granny apparently returned his “weenie”, the rest of his package doesn’t seem to have been delivered. After Seiko reprimands Okarun for not revealing this sooner despite having been like this since the defeat of Turbo Granny, Seiko notes she “senses” something inside of him. After a chaotic attempt at extracting it, the consciousness of Turbo Granny enters the maneki-neko. Okarun still has Turbo Granny’s powers, however, so she is completely powerless in her maneki-neko form.

Momo and Okarun try to find his kintama, but to no avail. At school, someone mentions an unsavory rumor about Momo to Okarun, and in his anger he accidentally lets his Turbo Granny powers lose for a moment. Momo later talks to a friend about Okarun’s weird behavior, but finds out he stood up for her against someone spreading rumors. Meanwhile, a classmate named Aira is revealed to have one of the kintama, but doesn’t realize what it is. She thinks it’s a sign from the heavens about her greater purpose, and assembles what she needs to carry out her plan. She points out to her friends that she sees a woman in red, but when her friends can’t see the woman, she assumes this woman is a familiar and a part of her holy mission.

Now, we follow Aria and her friends, with Okarun and Momo trying to find them. We soon find out this woman in red is actually Acrobatic Silky, and is after Aria, mistaking her for her long-lost daughter. Okarun tries to save Aria from her, but Acrobatic Silky ends up becoming furious at Aria and swallowing her whole, forgetting about her initial feelings towards the girl. Then Acrobatic Silky swallows Okarun, leaving Momo alone. However, Acrobatic Silky offers to spare Momo if she will pretend to be her long-lost daughter.

When Momo refuses, she is also swallowed by Acrobatic Silky. Silky begins to cry, asking where her child is. This is when Momo realized Silky has swallowed her own hair down with the children in her stomach. Momo sets the hair on fire, which causes her to panic and puke the children out, and Aria having been in there the longest, is unconscious. Okarun carries her unconscious body out while following Momo’s instructions to evade Silky and slowly tangle her hair into the surrounding area. Momo uses her own powers to keep Silky from escaping and allowing Okarun to defeat Silky using his Turbo Granny powers.

Once defeated, Okarun finds his second kintama with Acrobatic Silky, who is unconscious long enough for him to retrieve it. We find out that Aria isn’t just unconscious, but has since died. In a turn of events, Acrobatic Silky returns to consciousness and offers to revive Aria. While the protagonists initially distrust her, Acrobatic Silky rips off her jaw and offers it as proof of her now peaceful intention. She instructs Momo on how to successfully transfer her aura to Aria, who does as she’s told, bring Aria back to life. Acrobatic Silky’s body crumbles away, and we get to see her tragic backstory.

In Silky’s last moments, she apologizes to Aria. Aria hugs her, and tells Acrobatic Silky she loves her like a mother. Hearing those words allowed Silky to finally pass into the afterlife. Momo mentions she hopes that Silky and her daughter can find each other in the afterlife, and the arc ends here.