Dandadan’s Finale Will Leave You Hanging

Summary

• Okarun and Jiji’s relationship development was a highlight, making Jiji more endearing and balancing out his personality.
• The season finale felt anti-climactic, lacking the excitement one would expect.
• Despite the underwhelming finale, Dandadan’s strong storytelling and character development shined throughout the season.

Warning: The following contains minor spoilers for Dandadan, Episode 12, “Let’s Go To The Cursed House”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.

It’s weird when an episode is – by all metrics – pretty good but has the unfortunate curse of being the season finale at a point in the story that isn’t all that exciting (at least not yet). That very predicament is what has the latest episode of Dandadan feeling more than a little underwhelming, which certainly isn’t ideal, especially after an altogether impressive first season.

Last week was a busy one for the gang, between Jiji’s bold and boisterous debut, Okarun’s subsequent despair at the thought of losing Momo’s heart, and the screaming mannequin sprinting about. Having witnessed said sentient mannequin’s devotion to his beloved (also a mannequin), Okarun resolved to be more direct with Momo and stop letting fear get the best of him.

Okarun and Jiji’s Mandatory Team Building

The one thing that this season had to accomplish before it came to a close was to make Jiji feel like a genuine part of the squad and not just an intruder in the cast to give Okarun anxiety. For some, his antics might have been entertaining enough to make him endearing, but for others – and admittedly I’m referring to myself – he was a little much. So it’s a pleasure to say that this finale had me sold.

Frankly, the execution – as it unfolded on an emotional level for me, at least – was pretty spectacular. In Okarun’s eyes, Jiji is this antagonistic third wheel and nothing else, and the viewer is made to see him in a similar light. So the instant that Okarun realized how much fun he had talking about the paranormal with Jiji, it was as if the wool had been ripped away from his eyes. All of a sudden, Jiji is kind of alright, all because they finally talked like regular humans (who could have guessed?).

This Episode Changed The Way I View Jiji

What’s better is that the pair does address the elephant in the room regarding their feelings for Momo, but it’s a lot friendlier and way funnier to boot. With the gang not finding any traces of spiritual activity at Jiji’s house, Momo runs off to the local hot spring and leaves them behind. It turns out to be a conscious choice on her part in the hopes that Okarun will make a new friend, which comes across as super sweet and goes to show yet again how awesome Momo is.

To be perfectly honest, this episode’s greatest accomplishment was making me realize how childishly I wished for Jiji to not be around much in the same way that Okarun was. In a way, it speaks to how magnetic and charming the central romance is and goes to show once again how effective the drama can be once a wrench is tossed into the gears, so to speak.

A Very Anti-Climactic End

As alluded to at the start, this episode is fine, it just doesn’t feel like a season finale. It ends on a cliffhanger but it’s not the kind that one would expect from the last episode before a hiatus, especially from a show with a penchant for captivating storytelling. To its credit, this is a weakness of a lot of manga adaptations. When the episode count ends at a point that’s not quite conducive to a grand finale, the ending will suffer. It didn’t need much, it just needed more.

Of course, now that the episode has been made public, they’ve announced Season 2 for July. Posterity will look upon this as a negligible flaw, abated by the existence of whatever episode will autoplay after it. But still, as a creative whole, it’s a lackluster finale. Okarun and Jiji uncover the first clue to the unsettling truth behind the house’s mysteries all while Momo is accosted by creepy dudes at a hot spring… the latter of which at least weirdly brings the season full circle.

Looking At the Big Picture

One need not harp on this point too much, however. Jiji and Okarun developed the groundwork for an entertaining bond and the depths of Jiji’s supernatural predicament are pretty interesting. It sucks that the interim between seasons will hang on Momo being a target of implied sexual violence again, but… actually, there isn’t much of a bright side to that, it’s just unfortunate.

These past few months have been an emotional rollercoaster, the likes of which director Yamashiro and the team at Science Saru should be very proud of.

Dandadan’s finale was only disappointing in how it closed the book on this season, but it shouldn’t reflect too harshly on the rest of it. These past few months have been an emotional rollercoaster, the likes of which director Yamashiro and the team at Science Saru should be very proud of. Just don’t be surprised if the first words out of your mouth at the end are “That’s it!?”