How DanDaDan Broke Fans’ Hearts with Episode 7

DanDaDan has taken the anime world by storm with its fresh ideas, hilarious comedy and spectacular animation. But while the series has so far been full of zany supernatural adventures following its two leads, episode seven delivers a hard-hitting, gut-wrenching tragedy explaining a recent enemy’s backstory. Acrobatic Silky’s previous life shows a horrific fate that sadly befalls some people in real life. Episode seven of DanDaDan tells the story of a single mother sex worker whose life meets a heartbreaking end and her suffering continues after death.

To a Kinder World is an episode that is both heartbreaking and absolutely masterful in terms of adaptation. It is a piece of anime that will be enjoyed for many years.

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Okarun and Ayase’s fight against Acrobatic Silky reaches a climax, but the end of the fight is only the beginning of the pain.

To A Kinder World, The Light Within Suffering

A Very Real Tragedy

Acrobatic Silky begins her appearance by viciously attacking Aira Shiratori, who she has been stalking ever since she was a little girl. While continuously claiming to be her mother, Acrobatic Silky kept on hurting and eventually killing the young girl. Despite the efforts of Momo and Okarun, Aira lies dead in front of them following the attack from the vengeful spirit. It is then that Acrobatic Silky has an apparent change of heart and offers to give away her aura to save the girl. Immediately, her demeanor is very different from before, which catches Momo off guard. She at first suspicious of the ghost until she finally agrees to transfer her aura to Aira. When doing this, she establishes a psychic connection with Silky, allowing her to see her past life.

As a human, Silky was a sex worker with a young daughter of about four years old. She balanced this painful work with her endless love and care for her precious daughter. Spending as much time as she can with her child while showering her with gifts. Teaching her how to dance ballet and watching the fireworks together. The episode shows all of this in a long montage with a beautiful piano piece. Going back to back from her beautiful time with her daughter to her torturous time as a sex worker.

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Just like this series has done before, this backstory helps to humanize the otherwise antagonistic spirits, showing how Acrobatic Silky was a courageous and tragic single mother in a cruel world. Often, times media fails to bring a human element into their antagonists, but anime more often than not makes sure to help the audience relate and form a connection with the villains just as much as the heroes. And while Acrobatic Silky was essentially a one-time villain, in this episode she will surely make an everlasting impact on the audience.

DanDaDan has already done a great job at humanizing its supernatural villains and Acrobatic Silky is easily the best example so far. The montage ends by showing her tragic fate. Two men who are assumed to be her employers viciously attack her and steal away her daughter. During the fight, Silky is injured gravely by falling on broken glass. And right after she regains consciousness, she instinctively runs trying to catch up with the two men and recover her daughter, but she fails and passes away in the process. The episode then shows a beautiful, ethereal, and haunting visage of Silky passing away to the afterlife while dancing between the two realms.

• Acrobatic Silky was a single mother sex worker who cherished her little daughter.
• She died when two men attacked her and stole her daughter.
• She danced ballet with her daughter and gifter her a violet dress, explaining her ghost form
• She gave her aura to save Aira’s life, remembering her lost daughter.

As a ghost, Silky is seen by a child Aira, who has just lost her mother, and the little girl mistakenly calls her mom. Silky, who has since forgotten her previous life, becomes attached to Aira mistaking her for her long-lost daughter. Back in the present, right as Silky is fading away, Aida recognizes her and shows her one last bit of love before she disappears. Silky’s story hits so hard for fans because it is simply a fate that befalls real women in the real world. This is one of the ways that anime often intertwines real life with fiction. This is most likely something that DanDaDan author Yukinobu Tatsu learned from his mentor Tatsuki Fujimoto, author of Chainsaw Man.

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The beautiful and somber piano piece that accompanies the whole episode feels like a sign of a tragic event to come and, at the same time, it shows the beauty, love, and light of Silky’s time with her daughter, the only moments of happiness and joy she had. Among all the suffering, pain, and torment she went through, her daughter was the one thing that kept her going and the one thing that brought a smile to her face. Many fans have spoken about how this episode made them embrace their loved ones, especially their children, and this is exactly the effect a good piece of art must have. Art is made to invoke feelings in people and something anime fans often forget is how anime is not just for epic fights or comedy. Anime, like every other art form, is supposed to evoke a very wide range of emotions and within a funny and wild anime like DanDaDan, episode seven serves as that break for extremely powerful emotional storytelling that makes the medium so great.

Release Date

September 13, 2024

Studio

Science Saru

Creator

Yukinobu Tatsu