What is DanDaDan?

[By GrayMonstr]

So… You’re curious about DanDaDan. What is it? Who created it? Where is it airing? How did it become this cultural phenomenon that is gracing your eyes today? You’ve come to the right place. Where you’ll learn all the little bits of information you’ll need to properly understand the genius behind this quite bizarre Anime, airing now (Autumn 2024 Anime Season), and what led to its popularity.

Simply put, DanDaDan is what happens when you mash the epic Sci-Fantasy elements of Shonen manga into a sweet RomCom based in high school. Following our two Protagonists, Momo Ayase and Ken Takakura, as they venture into the weird worlds the both of them, inadvertently, have introduced to each other. From Turbo Granny’s private disappearing curse to the Serpo Aliens obsession over Banana Organs, it only gets more and more outrageous the deeper our two heroes go. Quite the action packed adventure, don’t you think? It truly has grown into a different but deeply beloved manga which deserves the anticipation and excitement the anime is bringing.

Here’s the thing though… who could’ve come up with this wild and wonderful story? It’s none-other than DanDaDan’s Mangaka (manga illustrator/writer), Yukinobu Tatsu. And yes, you’d be right to not recognise his name that easily. He has kept his personal life quite secretive but you’d be surprised in what he’s worked on and who he’s worked with. DanDaDan isn’t Tatsu’s first manga he created. In fact, it’s his sixth manga that has been published. The first two manga of his creation were “Seigi no Rokugou” and “Fire Ball!” Alas, these two manga were short lived, as Seigi no Rokugou only had 2 Volumes published & Fire Ball! only 5 Volumes published, it still shows an idea on how Tatsu learned and eventually created DanDaDan. This is also present in his 3 other works, “Renai Saibaihou,” “Kamisama no Iru Machi,” and “Yamada Kiki Ippatsu,” all being one-shot manga. Outside his own work, he also worked as an assistant for Tatsuki Fujimoto on Chainsaw Man Part 1, alongside Hell’s Paradise mangaka, Yuji Kaku, when he was also Fujimoto’s assistant too.

Knowing this information, you can start to put the pieces together on how this manga gained traction. The sales proved it too, with over 57,000 sales in Japan in Volume One’s first week on shelves, and over 4 Million copies of the manga in circulation, as of October 2024. Followed by being nominated for the Best Web Manga during the seventh Next Manga Award, in June 2021, coming second out of 50 nominees. Amongst two other nominations in 2022, the 15th Manga Taisho, coming seventh, and the Tsutaya Comic Award, coming fourth.

As for the anime, DanDaDan is animated by Science Saru, known for Devilman Crybaby, and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Airing now on Netflix, and, currently, with over 17 Volumes of the Manga, there is plenty to enjoy. Just like with SugoiiXApparel’s new line of merch, featuring DanDaDan amongst other pop culture icons. Only on www.sugoiixapparel.com and sugoii.xapparel on Instagram.