Why Do Aliens Want a Person’s “Banana Organ”?

Key Takeaways

• Serpoians need Banana Organs for reproduction, seeking to evolve their species.
• Flatwoods Monster assists the Serpoians in stealing Banana Organs from humans.
• Not all aliens in Dandadan seek reproductive organs.

Warning: The following contains minor spoilers for Dandadan manga plot points not yet in the anime. Dandadan is now streaming on Crunchyroll.

For some weird reason, so far, all the aliens shown in Dandadan as of episode 6 “A Dangerous Woman Arrives” have one goal: to obtain “Banana Organs” from humans. You’d think it would mean something else and that it’s just an obvious innuendo, but no, the aliens literally want to obtain human reproductive organs, even resorting to abductions just to get them. Outrageous, terrifying, and weird, but these aliens really did travel hundreds or thousands of light-years, all for some human baby-makers.

Aliens in other fictional media and pop culture are usually seen as far more advanced than humans. Most of the time, when they come to visit Earth in search of something, that something is resources, a new place to stay, or a person or object they lost on the planet. If they’re so much more advanced than humans, why would they want any of humanity’s less evolved/developed organs?

What Do Dandadan’s Aliens Want with Human Bananas?

Serpians Need Banana Organs for Reproduction

The Serpoians, also called Serpo Aliens, are the first alien species introduced in Dandadan, showing up in episode 1, “That’s How Love Starts, Ya Know!” where they abduct the main character, a high-school gyaru named Momo Ayase, to steal her “Banana Organ”. Yes, that is as wild as you think, but fortunately, Momo escapes using her newfound powers and possessed schoolmate, Ken Takakura.

Now, why were the Serpoians going around stealing Banana Organs in the first place? Aside from the obvious answer that the series creator, Yukinobu Tatsu, thinks it’s funny, the in-lore reason they were hunting for fancy bits was that they needed them for better reproduction. The Serpoian species is composed of only males and cannot reproduce naturally. They can reproduce through cloning technology, but that method apparently doesn’t allow biological evolution to occur. Obtaining female reproductive organs will allow them to reproduce sexually and improve their species in the long run.

Our kind only has males. Thus, we reproduce through clone technology… However, identical units do not instigate biological evolution.

Now, this answer does raise more questions, like “How did the Serpoians reproduce before inventing their cloning technology?”. This might be thinking about it too much at this point, but for anyone actually wanting an answer, maybe the females of their species just died out at one point, and they were lucky enough to be close to developing cloning technology at that time.

The Flatwoods Monster Wants Banana Organs Because It Works for/with the Serpoians

The Serpoians wanted Banana Organs for reproduction, but how about the Flatwoods Monster from Dandadan, episode 2, “That’s a Space Alien, Ain’t It?!”? Does it also have the one-sex species problem that the Serpoian had? In that episode, Momo unknowingly allowed a threat to enter her home and family shrine by removing the protective talisman from the torii gate at the entrance. She did it to protect Okarun (Ken Takakura’s new nickname) since the talisman could detect the evil spirit inside him and burn him upon entry. With the talisman gone though, the shrine became vulnerable to attack, which the Flatwoods Monster quickly took advantage of. To Momo and Okarun’s horrific surprise, this new alien also wanted their Banana Organs.

Unlike the Serpoians, the Flatwoods Monster did not need Banana Organs for reproduction. Instead, its motivation was that it was under orders from the Serpoians to go after Momo and Okarun and steal their organs. The Flatwoods Monster calls the duo bad people for breaking their promise, which must have been the narrative the Serpoians gave him. However, it’s never been explicitly stated what exactly the connection between the two alien species is, whether the Flatwoods Monster was hired by the Serpoians, if it was a slave to them, or if it owed them a favor.

Why Do the Aliens Call Them Banana Organs?

Even When the Organs They’re After Are from the Female Sex

Okay, so the Serpoians are after female reproductive organs to reproduce more efficiently, and they used the Flatwoods Monster to help them steal some. However, that doesn’t explain why they call them “Banana Organs” when human female reproductive organs look anything but.

Because Serpoians are exclusively male, they only have one type of main reproductive organ; and if they call them “Bananas”, then they probably just call the reproductive organ of every other creature the same thing. They might just not understand the concept of how different organs are between the human sexes. Another possibility is that the Serpoians might not just know what a human female’s you-know-what looks like. They might simply assume that every reproductive organ looks like a banana since they only have their own thing to base it on.

Don’t Worry, Dandadan’s Other Aliens Aren’t Banana-Hungry

Good News for Momo, Okarun, and All of Humanity

More alien species other than the Serpoians and Flatwoods Monster will show up in Dandadan, and thankfully, not all of them are as genitalia-starved. Some will seek power, knowledge, and other non-genitalia-related things. Some of the aliens might even come with no evil intentions, so look out for some alien-human friendships in the future of Dandadan.

However, it’s not just aliens that have obsessions over family jewels, as sometimes, the occasional Yokai, like Turbo Granny, will steal them just for fun. And for the anime-only fans who thought the Serpoians were a one-off thing for the pilot episode, you’re sorely mistaken. The Serpoians will be back with a vengeance, so you had better hide your Bananas.

Dandadan is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Netflix, Muse Asia, and several other streaming platforms. The release date for Dandadan, episode 8, is set to be November 21, 2024, at 9:00 AM PT.