Summary
- Weapons and charms designed to combat yokai also work on aliens, hinting at a connection between the two.
- Some yokai might just be misidentified aliens due to similarities in appearance and abilities.
- Yokai are unintentionally keeping aliens from invading Earth due to their supernatural powers.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Dandadan, Episode 10, “Have You Ever Seen A Cattle Mutilation?”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Aside from being weird, abnormal phenomena, yokai (evil spirits) and aliens don’t really have much in common, but in Dandadan, they do. And it’s not just their shared interest in human genitalia either, as these two types of creatures seem more connected than the show is currently putting on. But regardless of their similarities, yokai and aliens are different creatures, and it’s important to know what separates them before trying to figure out what they have in common.
First, yokai are evil spirits from Japanese folklore that have manifested in the world of Dandadan seeking to steal life force from the living to be able to rejoin them. Each yokai’s origin is different, but they were all once humans who died with deep seething regrets or were wronged by someone and couldn’t properly move on to the afterlife. The first yokai in Dandadan is Turbo Granny, a spirit based on a Japanese urban legend of an old lady who chases people near highways. In the show, she merged with another yokai, the Earthbound Spirit Crab, and resided in a tunnel comforting the souls of violently murdered young girls.
On the other hand, aliens are… exactly what they sound like. They are creatures or beings that come from different planets far from Earth. Most, if not all, of the aliens in the show, are technologically advanced, considering they have the technology to move between star systems, and they also have special abilities based on their species. The first alien species in Dandadan are the Serpoians; aliens who are incapable of naturally reproducing and want to obtain human reproductive organs to do so.
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Both characters start with tension and rivalry, with one character initially feeling animosity or jealousy toward the other.
The Similarities Between Them
Weapons and Charms Designed to Combat Yokai Also Work on Aliens
The first instance of an alien-yokai connection is with the Flatwoods Monster in Dandadan episode 2, “That’s a Space Alien, Ain’t It?!”. In the real world, the Flatwoods Monster is a cryptid or Unidentified Mysterious Animal (UMA); but for the purposes of the show, it is instead an alien working for the Serpoians. Now, the Ayase household and shrine are protected by a talisman that will incinerate any yokai trying to enter. And yet, for some reason, that same charm also worked against the Flatwoods Monster, as that was how Momo and Okarun finally managed to beat it.
“There are studies that say people who see spiritual phenomena often see UFOs as well! In other words, there might be something in common between ghosts and aliens!” – Okarun during the fight with the Flatwoods Monster
Additionally, it seems that when aliens generate Empty Spaces, people with yokai in them can still exist on the same plane as the aliens. This implies that there is something inside both aliens and yokai that are fundamentally the same, that allows weapons and tools designed specifically to affect one of them to also affect the other.
Some Yokai Might Just Be Misidentified Aliens
If you just base it on their appearance and abilities, it’s difficult to tell a yokai and an alien apart. Unless you specifically know their origin, it’s not easy to figure out which is which. It’s why Momo’s grandmother, Seiko Ayase, refuses to believe in aliens because she believes that the “aliens” they’re encountering are just yokai. For example, after meeting the alien Mr. Mantis Shrimp in Dandadan episode 10, “Have You Ever Seen A Cattle Mutilation?”, Seiko deduced that he must have been a Kappa, a yokai that looks like a cross between a frog, turtle, and human.
Yokai and aliens aren’t the only creatures being misidentified in the show either. It seems that a lot of cryptids might also just be aliens. As mentioned earlier, the Flatwoods Monster, thought to be a cryptid, turned out to be an alien. As Okarun himself notes, even Mr. Mantis Shrimp resembles a cryptid: the Dover Demon, which is a cryptid originating from Dover, Massachusetts. The only cryptid in the anime that isn’t fully confirmed to be an alien so far is Nessie, a cryptid of the same species as the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland.
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Dandadan: Aira’s Transformation and Powers, Explained
Aira’s powers develop as she confronts her insecurities and begins to embrace her inner strength in the series.
The Yokai Keep the Aliens in Check
They’re Earth’s Coincidental Guardians
This one isn’t really a similarity between the two and is more of just a connection, and one that sort of happened on its own. In Dandadan episode 10, Okarun proposes a theory about why aliens haven’t invaded Earth yet, even when they are evidently more advanced and don’t care much for human life. He said that the yokai and other apparitions all over the planet might just unknowingly be keeping the aliens at bay. The yokai possess supernatural powers that are beyond the understanding of alien science, therefore making an invasion of Earth too risky for them. That’s why the Serpoians gained such a large interest in Okarun after seeing his Turbo Granny powers. They want to capture and study him so they can better understand the yokai and eventually build countermeasures against them, or even harness their powers for themselves.
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Dandadan is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Netflix, Muse Asia, and several other streaming platforms.
- Release Date
- September 13, 2024
- Studio
- Science Saru
- Creator
- Yukinobu Tatsu
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.70