by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $15.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Natsuki Hanae, Morgana Ignis, Mayumi Tanaka
Intro:
… a work of purple-and-gold-tinged nightmare fuel while tantalising audiences with what’s still to come.
A teenage boy who lost his family jewels to evil spirits, and a teenage girl who first tapped into her latent psychic powers after being abducted and nearly probed by aliens – truly, a love story for the ages.
Yes, Dan Da Dan is a joyously buckwild affair that balances cryptids and yokai as steadily as it juggles absurd comedy, tender young romance, and positively heartbreaking tragedy. Oh, and an absolute banger of a credits theme by current reigning OP titans Creepy Nuts; that helps too.
Evil Eye picks things up where the first season left off, with Momo and Okarun led by newcomer Jiji into one of anime’s many cliches: the hot springs arc. However, instead of just being an excuse to show off women in skimpy bathing suits, it leads into a whopper of a haunted house story with the cyclical nature of cruelty and its many justifications at its centre.
Across the three new episodes that open Season 2 (after a surprisingly effective recap of Season 1 and replaying its final episode), co-directors Fūga Yamashiro and Abel Góngora offer a lot of variety in a little over an hour. Plentiful comedy thanks to a resident family cult of kung-fu snake worshippers, bombastic action brought roaring to kinetic life through the animation of Science Saru (Devilman Crybaby), psychological drama as the show once again reveals the emotionally intense backstory for a spook of the week, and character beats that not only build on Momo and Okarun’s blossoming kinship, but also reveal Jiji as a certified legend in his own right. Being a good person is its own superpower in these parts.
This feature also comes packaged with an interview with Yamashiro and Góngora, discussing their international genre cinema influences, choices in colour palette, and passion for sticking as close to the original manga as possible. Not that they need to explain much on that last point, as the show speaks for itself. The creature designs are beautifully twisted, the pacing and fluidity of the bigger set pieces link the source panels together in exciting ways, and the beating heart behind it all fleshes everyone out to the point that, while the threats some pose are nightmarishly evident, it gets particularly difficult to condemn any one person or party for what they commit on-screen. From the most misguided and hazardous of humans, to the awe-inspiring creatures of myth and legend, they all have their reasons.
Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye kicks off Season 2 with a bang, creating a work of purple-and-gold-tinged nightmare fuel while tantalising audiences with what’s still to come. It maintains the bonkers energy that has carried the show to its recent successes, sticking to its gloriously high-concept trappings as it generates massive investment in its many faces… right before setting them on each other for intense throwdowns and chase sequences. Get ready for heart, body, and mind to overflow once again.
