English Dub Review: Dandadan “Like, Where Are Your Balls?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Momo and Okarun’s ordeal with Turbo Granny has brought them closer, but things remain awkward between them.  Okarun realizes he still has a problem.

Our Take:

Turbo Granny’s defeat should’ve been the end of Momo and Okarun’s bizarre, spiritual adventure and even the start of their odd friendship.  However, as this episode suggested, we haven’t even scratched the surface of what we’re about to experience next in Dandadan.  Since I’ve been enjoying the anime so far, I might as well see how deep this rabbit hole can go.  Long story short, it got much deeper than I anticipated, but in a good way.  While the supernatural elements are only present in the second half, the episode easily compensated with its entertaining exploration of Momo and Okarun’s complex friendship in the first half.  

Following the defeat of Turbo Granny, Momo and Okarun are now eager to speak to each other about ghosts and aliens.  However, when the other students catch eye on the situation, that’s where the complication starts, as they pretend to hate each other to avoid embarrassment, with Momo taking a step too far regarding the situation.  It’s becoming very easy to understand why the young protagonists are the next big thing regarding anime in 2024.  While they possess the usual high school traits, with Okarun being the nerd and Momo the “mean girl“ stereotype, they also embody a sense of humanity in their complexities to make them authentic and lovable.  Of course, the prime example is Momo, who disguises her personal feelings toward Okarun with her mean-spirited attitude.  This makes her approach to dealing with the pink-haired student, who bullied Okarun behind his back, all the more satisfying.

Unfortunately, this also leads to a bigger problem: Okarun’s balls are still missing.  This meant that Turbo Granny was still alive inside Okarun until Momo and Seiko transferred her aura to a maneki-neko doll.  That’s right, folks.  This episode gave us the answer to who or what that doll is that had appeared in the closing credits for the past four episodes, which is Turbo Granny’s aura.  So now it looks like TG will be forming a temporary alliance with Momo and Okarun to find his testicles that she somehow lost, and I’m all in for it.