You Just Witnessed Greatness and We Need a Minute to Process

What makes a villain? If Dandadan has proven anything in these last seven episodes, it is that a villain is based on perspective. Villains aren’t born, they are made. This is a famous saying that many seem to forget. It turns villains into two-dimensional characters that seek revenge or wreak havoc for the sake of it. Giving them backstories would add justification to their deeds or make them more human in the eyes of the audience.

What Yukinobu Tatsu does with his villains is completely different. Turbo Granny was never a villain to the many girls whose souls she protected. Acrobatic Silky was never just a youkai who was thirsting after Aira to accept her existence. The entire episode was just an emotional ride of sadness. From Okarun’s protective streak to Acrobatic Silky’s desperation.

Dandadan Pushed Me to Tears

I’m not usually one to cry in the middle of an anime and more so towards its end. Dandadan proved me wrong in so many ways. Not only was I flabbergasted by how beautiful the episode was, but I was holding back my tears because of how emotional the story was. What angered me was how in the end, we as an audience become exactly what Turbo Granny said would happen to Acrobatic Silky. Not once was her real name told throughout the arc despite diving into the darkest parts of her life.

Her life as a single mother, whose entire world is her little daughter, was something that I found myself relating to the most. I found myself glancing at my own mother time and again, once again holding back my tears as she put on a brave face every day the moment she entered her house. Her child was her world and once she too was snatched away, what more could she do but seek out the only other person who saw her the way her child did?

I cannot stress enough just how visually stunning the episode was. The music, the animation, the ballet sequence, and the story first and foremost; all became the pinnacle of why this episode was so perfect. I have said this before as well, Dandadan is a master at balancing genres and tragedy seems to be another addition to the mix.

Fast-Paced Character Development Done the Right Way

Usually, character development takes a series of events and various chapters to set in. For both the audience and the writer to find a natural pace in the development and growth of a character, it is almost expected for their journey to be evenly paced. This is where the literary criticism of Bildungsroman comes in. What Dandadan does is the opposite of that. It uses smaller instances to make bigger changes without making them seem forced.

For Acrobatic Silky and Aira, it was one flashback so brutal that it singlehandedly established them both as characters deserving of the support of fans. Introduced first as villains, both of them get thrashed. However, as the story progresses, only one episode in this instance, the perspective of the audience also changes. Silky goes from someone seeking to devour Aira’s soul to someone who simply wants her child back.

Her entire world was her daughter, her only source of happiness in an otherwise dull world. Her being turned into a youkai, shifting her appearance and her morals for only one goal: protect the girl she saw as her daughter – Aira. That is exactly how a character becomes more than just the stock labels put on them.

Science Saru went out of its way to adapt the episode beyond what the manga offered. The original sequences only added to how painful Acrobatic Silky’s perspective really was. Seeing that this is only the second arc of the series, it wouldn’t be wrong to expect a lot more pain and sadder moments from the anime. With the way things are going, the animation studio could be exactly what makes Dandadan such a masterpiece beyond the original source.

Rating: 10/10

Dandadan is available to watch on Crunchyroll.

Dandadan Episode 7 Review: You Just Witnessed Greatness and We Need a Minute to Process

Dandadan Episode 7 is a heartbreaking masterpiece that is also visually stunning