# Dandadan

An episode of [Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1667084472), 6 Oct 2024, 59 min.

Audio: https://op3.dev/e/podcasts.captivate.fm/media/12a01c4b-7f48-4a44-bdd6-f22900f2528a/Hentai-Dandadan.mp3

The latest episode of More Than Hentai has arrived and it's got it's sights set on your weenie!! The salt and pepper senpai, Brendan White is joined in the Sugoi Studio by trust co-host and rival, Mrs. Courtney Smith, to share their thoughts on Yukinobu Tatsu and Science SARU's 2024 sci-fi, romcom hit, Dandadan. As a friendly FYI, this episode will be a full deep dive on episode one, titled "That's How Love Starts, Ya Know!!", so be ready for spoilers. A big thank you and virtual hug also goes out to our Producers - Aaron L, Dan Gee, Duffo, Fruge, Skreemus, Smashfxn and Voidmayonnaise, you're the best 🫶 If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.) • Stay up to date with me on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | Twitter • Join our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like you • Follow my anime Spotify playlist My amazing sponsors: • Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipment • Iced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5) • Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping) Affiliate links: • Captivate.fm - the best podcast hosting platform • Komi.io - the best linkinbio website • Riverside.fm - the best remote video/podcast recording platform Links referenced in this episode: • crunchyroll.com • netflix.com • japancrate.com Companies mentioned in this episode: • Audio Technica • Dashwater • Crunchyroll • Netflix • Science Saru

## Chapters

- 0:01 Intro to More Than Hentai
- 0:29 Meet the Hosts: Brenda and Courtney
- 0:31 Exploring Anime Beyond the Surface
- 3:06 Diving into 'Dandadan' - Episode Overview
- 3:36 Introducing 'Dandadan' and Its Premise
- 5:50 Backstory: Momo and Ken's First Encounter
- 17:11 The Alien vs. Ghost Bet
- 20:31 The Horror and Comedy Blend
- 32:54 The Abduction Scene: Tension Builds
- 36:34 Ken's Bold Rescue
- 44:44 Momo's Power Unleashed
- 45:37 Climactic Showdown and New Stakes
- 59:08 Wrap Up and Future Expectations

## Transcript

[0:01] Kampekina do Ali.
[0:29] Hello and welcome to more than Hentai podcast.
[0:31] Kaiser is here to show that anime is far more than just tentacles
[0:34] and catgirls.
[0:35] There's also stories of love, loss, laughs, hope, horror, and happiness
[0:39] that are just dying to be found.
[0:41] And I, Brenda White, the salt and pepper senpai, am here to help
[0:44] you find them.
[0:45] More than Hentai is proudly powered by audio Technica and dashwater.
[0:49] So go upgrade your audio and hydration games today, preferably
[0:53] after you listen to this absolute banger of an episode of
[0:57] MTH.
[0:57] And joining me in the Segoya studio is my trusted co host and
[1:01] rival who puts the anime into to Animaniac.
[1:05] You can find her on them socials at Cottony sun misses Courtney
[1:10] Smith, you bloody legend.
[1:12] Welcome back to the studio for the second time today.
[1:15] How the bloody hell are you?
[1:17] I am so good.
[1:19] This is so crazy to me because the first time we ever did a podcast
[1:24] together, it was more than Hentai, like last year, and then
[1:27] I came on the show again after that, and then afterwards I was like,
[1:32] we should just do another podcast together.
[1:35] Yeah, you just went, you know what?
[1:37] I'm part of the furniture now.
[1:38] Let's do something here.
[1:40] And then more than headlines was born.
[1:42] Yeah, so Hisashiburi to more than Hentai.
[1:46] But also, I was literally just here 2 seconds ago.
[1:50] Yeah.
[1:51] So, yeah, full spoilers, full disclosure for anyone that isn't
[1:55] checking out our weekly news related anime podcast.
[1:59] More than headlines, first and foremost, why the bloody hell not?
[2:02] It's the best news and reviews podcast anime and manga adjacent
[2:07] in the land.
[2:08] So check it out once you're done listening to this episode, of
[2:10] course.
[2:11] But yeah, we, we record that weekly.
[2:13] And then every couple of weeks, I also do an episode of more
[2:15] than Hentai where we do singular deep dives on, hopefully
[2:19] your new favorite anime.
[2:22] So we're going to be respectful of the listeners, the
[2:25] viewers, the Segui squads, and our time today.
[2:27] Courtney, we're going to do the backstory how you came to be
[2:30] with anime, what you love, what you don't love.
[2:33] You can go back and check out the fantastic darling in the Franks
[2:36] episode we recorded in 2023 to hear Courtney make her debut on this
[2:41] feed in much glory and much critical acclaim.
[2:45] But Courtney, what do you think?
[2:46] Do we just jump right on in here to our title in focus for this
[2:50] week's episode of more than Hentai?
[2:51] What you reckon?
[2:52] Let's do it.
[2:53] Oh, yeah.
[2:54] Okay.
[2:54] So, listeners, viewers, Segui Squad, if this is your first time
[2:58] stopping on, by the way, this podcast works is we are going to
[3:00] be doing a singular deep dive on the first episode only of an anime.
[3:06] And typically this anime is one that either one or both of us
[3:10] who are recording have yet to watch.
[3:12] Before our discussion started to get on the podcast, we unpacked
[3:16] the episode front to back.
[3:18] It's full spoiler.
[3:18] We do not go into spoiling major plot points of the series beyond
[3:22] the first episode, but we are going to do a full deep dive, get
[3:26] right down into the muck, into the grit, into the dirt, and talk
[3:30] about the good, the bad and everything else in between to see
[3:33] if this is an anime that you should be checking out and picking
[3:36] up.
[3:36] And our title in focus for this episode of more than Hentai
[3:41] is the Sci-Fi action romantic comedy Shonen, known as Dander Dun,
[3:47] which is a series written and illustrated by Yukinobu Tatsui, which
[3:51] debuted in April of 2021 and has been collected into 16 tankabon
[3:56] volumes and 168 chapters available at time of recording.
[4:01] We are recording at 05:02 p.m.
[4:04] aEST on the 6 October of 2024 and an anime adaptation written by
[4:11] Hiroshiki Seiko, directed by Fuga Yamashiro and produced by Science
[4:16] Saru.
[4:17] The studio behind such titles as Devilman, Crybaby, keep your hands
[4:20] off Izuzoken, Star Wars, Visions, and ride your wave began
[4:25] airing approximately two days ago on the 4 October of 2024, with
[4:31] the first season currently planned for a twelve episode run.
[4:35] Dun Dun can be found on Crunchyroll and Netflix and currently
[4:38] holds a score of 8.75 on my anime list, and this is based on
[4:43] 15,000 unique user reviews, making it the 49th ranked and the
[4:48] 182nd most popular anime on the website and a series that I am
[4:53] currently scoring a goddamn ten out of ten because I'm a sicko
[4:57] and I love this world.
[4:58] And the story of Dandan is as follows.
[5:01] After being aggressively rejected, Momo Ayase finds herself
[5:04] sulking when she stumbles across Ken Takakura being bullied.
[5:08] Saved by her rash kindness, the alien obsessed boy attempts to
[5:11] speak to her about extraterrestrial interests he believes
[5:14] they both share.
[5:15] Rejecting his claims, Ayase proclaimed that she is instead a
[5:18] believer in ghosts, starting an argument between the two over
[5:21] which is in fact real.
[5:23] In a bet to determine who is correct, the two decide to separately
[5:26] visit locations associated with both the extraterrestrial and
[5:30] the supernatural, Hayace visiting the former and the boy visiting
[5:33] the latter.
[5:34] When the two reach their respective places, it turns out that
[5:37] neither was wrong and that both aliens and ghosts do indeed
[5:40] exist.
[5:41] This marks the beginning of Momo and Ken's adventure as they
[5:44] attempt to fix the surreal, supernatural and extraterrestrial
[5:47] elements around them to return to a normal life.
[5:50] So, Courtney, we're going to be diving deep into episode one,
[5:54] which is titled that's how love starts, you know?
[5:57] I will also quickly share a very brief trigger warning as episode
[6:02] one does deal with themes of sexual assault.
[6:05] I cannot speak for future episodes of the anime, but I'm fully
[6:08] up to date on the manga and can confirm nothing like what happens
[6:12] in episode one happens in future chapters, as of which there
[6:16] is 168 currently available at time of recording.
[6:19] So if you are needing to be, you know, potentially step away from
[6:24] that, it happens about midway through the episode and runs for
[6:26] about five or so minutes.
[6:27] But just be careful because, yeah, there is references and pretty
[6:32] invasive imagery of sexual assault happening in these couple
[6:35] of minutes.
[6:36] Jumping back to general impressions, I wanted to say this
[6:38] is everything that I hoped it would be and more.
[6:41] The horror, the heart, the humor and the horniness all come
[6:44] together to create one of the best, and hopefully soon to be biggest
[6:48] anime of 2024.
[6:49] I'm calling it now also that this is the best opener of the year.
[6:53] Creepy nuts do not miss.
[6:55] And I am so in.
[6:57] I am buying front row seats to this show because I am a card carrying
[7:01] member of the Dunder Dun fan club.
[7:03] And yeah, Courtney, I'm obsessed.
[7:04] What's your general impression of episode one.
[7:05] Of Dander Dun Dun so far as a non manga reader, most importantly.
[7:12] So I kind of lack that background, I guess, for this anime.
[7:16] But so far it's really solid.
[7:19] I am yet to be kind of swept away into this world like you have
[7:25] been, but I'm sure that will come with time.
[7:27] Of course, the first episode is a first episode.
[7:31] We're establishing characters.
[7:33] We're establishing a story.
[7:34] I think as far as establishing goes, it's done a really, really
[7:39] good job and I'm very excited.
[7:41] That makes me feel good.
[7:42] Yeah, I'm out to sea.
[7:43] I need David Hasselhoff with that red Lilo to come running down
[7:47] the beach to save me because I am drowning.
[7:49] I need help.
[7:50] But it's going to be a good death because, yeah, Dunder done
[7:53] is my kind of time.
[7:54] But yeah, I'm happy to know that you're feeling good.
[7:58] You enjoyed this first episode.
[8:00] I do agree with you wherever.
[8:03] Yeah, they do give us a good amount of backstory to sort of sink
[8:06] our teeth into.
[8:07] They explain this world.
[8:08] They give us a very, very quick intro as far as this is the
[8:12] stakes, this is what's happening here.
[8:14] Aliens, the supernatural, all this stuff exists.
[8:17] Here's your two emcees with Ken and Momo.
[8:19] We get some context as far as how they came to be and who they
[8:22] are as people.
[8:23] And it's just a good, strong first episode, I felt.
[8:27] And yeah, I'm so horny for more.
[8:30] I also wanted to touch on the creepynuts opening because they.
[8:35] Ever since I heard them doing the call of the night opening, I
[8:41] can pick up their music, like, after, like a second of listening
[8:45] to an opening song.
[8:46] And every single time, it's fantastic.
[8:50] It's so distinctive amongst the anime openings and closings we
[8:54] see and just, I guess maybe in that type of scene in general, like,
[8:58] it's two dudes that just know the assignment every single time.
[9:03] The lead singer, he's got such a unique vocal delivery and cadence
[9:06] to his voice.
[9:07] And then the guy working the synth and the electronics in the
[9:10] background, some of the noises and just syncopations he has going
[9:13] on, it's just so frenetic, but it just can't make you sort of not
[9:17] do a little bop.
[9:18] Like, with Mashley and with your call the night.
[9:21] And now with Dunder done.
[9:23] Like, it's just banger after banger after banger.
[9:26] And this song, though, combined with the.
[9:30] The visuals of the opener, is just such an immediate tone setter.
[9:34] It felt like.
[9:35] Like this.
[9:36] This anime and this op in particular, like, it is a humper.
[9:40] Like, I love it.
[9:40] It's.
[9:41] And anyone that doesn't know what a hump means, at least for me,
[9:43] it's like, it's great.
[9:44] It's banging.
[9:44] It's hitting hard.
[9:45] It's a good time.
[9:46] And seeing the worlds of dander Dan and creepy nuts just melt
[9:51] together perfectly.
[9:52] It feels like a match made in heaven.
[9:55] And with this opener, we see great shots of the main cast, of
[10:00] which a lot of them we don't get introduced to into this first
[10:03] episode, but we're getting introduced through the.
[10:05] Through the op.
[10:06] Seeing future people we may love, hate, or feel indifferent towards.
[10:11] But we also get this murderer's row of beasts and baddies
[10:16] and just general suspect looking things going on.
[10:19] And then you combine that with this crazy animation style and the
[10:24] color palette that's getting used to perfection by science Saru.
[10:28] Like, it's just double thumbs up for me with this op and just combining
[10:33] all these crazy, frenetic, eclectic scenes and then just these
[10:36] little dance numbers as well.
[10:37] Like, seeing Ken and Momo.
[10:38] Just like seeing Momo doing little hip shuffles and spins.
[10:41] I'm just like, I love these characters.
[10:43] I will die for them already.
[10:45] You're right to do it.
[10:46] So, yeah, the opening, fantastic.
[10:49] If it's a creepy nuts song as the opening of your anime, you know
[10:52] it's going to be good.
[10:54] Yeah, yeah.
[10:55] And then.
[10:55] Yeah.
[10:56] Combining, like, just the art style, like the respect to the art
[11:00] from the manga panels, it is ripped straight from panel to screen.
[11:03] Like, the characters look exactly the same, the world looks
[11:05] exactly the same.
[11:07] Their emotions, their expressions, it is all just panel
[11:10] to screen.
[11:11] Perfect.
[11:11] And, yeah, it's just a good, good, sexy tone setup.
[11:15] I'm actually kind of curious about that because I noticed with
[11:18] this show, I love the art style.
[11:20] I love that it's not afraid to kind of go for that.
[11:24] More like simplistic, kind of like a circle and like two dots in
[11:29] a smiley face.
[11:30] Is that really reflective of the manga as well?
[11:33] Exactly.
[11:34] Yeah.
[11:34] You see a lot of that minimalistic expressionism happening
[11:38] often.
[11:39] And I love those moments too, because even though it is a simple
[11:43] way to animate or to draw when it is thrown in, it's such a stark
[11:47] contrast to what you've been reading or seeing before that.
[11:50] So I think it makes the emotion hit harder in those moments
[11:53] or stand out more for a better term.
[11:55] Yeah, I agree.
[11:56] I really like when an artist isn't afraid to do that.
[12:01] I'm a huge fan of different art styles and things that aren't
[12:06] quite typical, so seeing, yeah, those shifts in expression
[12:11] are really, really interesting to me.
[12:12] It's so, so, so, so good.
[12:17] But, yeah.
[12:17] After this absolute banger and tone setter of an opening, we're
[12:21] then introduced to Momo, who is in the midst of a surprisingly
[12:27] violent breakup with her first boyfriend, who's just a real piece
[12:30] of shit.
[12:31] Like, straight away, I'm not a big fan of this guy, and he's very
[12:34] much equal parts octopuse.
[12:35] Poor squid and tuna.
[12:37] Not in the literal sense.
[12:38] That's just Momo throwing abuse at him as he leaves, which,
[12:41] you know, made me cack a little bit that, you know, that's
[12:44] the strength of her words that she has.
[12:45] Like, out of all the things she could have called him, she calls
[12:48] him creatures from the sea.
[12:50] We then flash forward to Momo, who's mourning in class about the
[12:54] breakup with two of her friends, who are questioning, you
[12:57] know, why she dated him in the first place.
[13:00] And this is where Momo reveals the reason that they dated is that
[13:02] he looks like Ken Takakura, who is actually a real life famous
[13:07] japanese actor who passed away around a decade or so ago at the
[13:10] ripe old age of 83.
[13:12] Very handsome dude right up until his death.
[13:14] Like, he's a good looking rooster.
[13:16] And I get why Momo's a little bit thirsty towards Ken, because,
[13:20] yeah, he's a good looking dude, and he's.
[13:22] He's got some swagger about him, old Ken Takakura.
[13:24] So, okay, I have thoughts, because as a connoisseur of hot old
[13:32] Mendez, he is like the Clint Eastwood of japanese film, essentially.
[13:39] He starred in over 200 different films.
[13:41] And he's so handsome.
[13:42] He aged like a fine wine.
[13:44] And as someone who is very attracted to Clint Eastwood, even
[13:49] now, I'm like, I get it.
[13:51] I get it, girly.
[13:53] Go for your life.
[13:55] I get it.
[13:56] I can respect a good old grizzled silver fox and just someone
[14:01] that's got a bit of that sort of hard swagger from yesteryear.
[14:05] And, yeah, Ken Takakura certainly emits some of that from
[14:08] a bit of the research and some of the clips and the stills that
[14:10] I saw of him.
[14:11] Like, yeah, he's a good looking old stalwart.
[14:14] So, yeah, we're introduced to Momo.
[14:17] We find out that that's her type.
[14:18] She's longing for Ken Takakura.
[14:21] The guy she dated with didn't really look like him at all, and
[14:23] he was just a prick.
[14:24] But luckily, we don't have to deal with him for the rest of this
[14:27] episode at all.
[14:28] But, um, yeah, after this sort of situation, um, yeah, Momo is still
[14:33] very heartbroken and reflective, and she's just aimlessly
[14:35] wandering the school halls, asking the universe for.
[14:38] For Ken Takakura to, uh, you know, be presented to her.
[14:41] You know, that's.
[14:42] That's the love of her life.
[14:43] She just wants Ken.
[14:45] And then she notices a boy getting bullied in one of the classrooms.
[14:48] And it's.
[14:48] It's sad to see, like, he's just there reading his magazine on
[14:51] the occult, trying to ignore these piece of shit kids throwing
[14:54] stuff at him, yelling things at him.
[14:56] He's just doing his little thing behind his magazine and his
[14:59] glasses.
[15:00] And Momo comes in.
[15:01] She breaks it up.
[15:02] She stands in front of the kids who are throwing stuff at him
[15:04] from in front.
[15:05] Love this good little hero moment.
[15:07] Good little sort of middle finger from her.
[15:10] But then she continues on his way.
[15:11] On her way, like, saves him, gets up, keeps going.
[15:14] And then, you know, Ken chases after her, assuming the reason that
[15:19] she defended him is that she's also an alien truther.
[15:22] But we find out, clearly she is nothing.
[15:24] She then snaps at Ken, running him down.
[15:28] Says some pretty harsh things to him about being a nerd, having
[15:31] no friends.
[15:32] And you can see poor little Ken's heartbreak as she's sort of
[15:36] just berating him about this, about being a loser and going to
[15:40] pretty much die alone for lack there a better term.
[15:42] And the magazine drops to the ground as his heart shatters.
[15:46] We then get this moment of silence where Momo attempts to walk
[15:49] away.
[15:50] She then realizes, you know what?
[15:51] What I did was kind of pretty crappy.
[15:53] I need to probably make amends here.
[15:55] She turns around, apologizes, attempts to hand the magazine back
[15:59] to Ken, tells him in this moment that she doesn't in fact,
[16:02] believe in aliens, but she believes in ghosts, which then causes
[16:06] Ken to crack up laughing, telling Momo that ghosts are fake,
[16:09] starting to make fun of her for believing in ghosts.
[16:12] We get some really good back and forth between the two leads here.
[16:15] Momo adds a bit of context as to why she believes in ghosts here,
[16:18] because she says that her grandma is a medium.
[16:21] Ken then does his best to dispute the whole medium sort of
[16:25] career progression and dispute spirits in general about the sort
[16:29] of the story that Momo's sharing about her grandma there.
[16:31] Then we see Momo's two friends from earlier come down the stairs,
[16:34] stumble across this argument.
[16:36] Then they comment about, oh, she gave up on Ken Takakura very
[16:40] quickly here for some creepy little otaku.
[16:42] And it's interesting because she's not even trying to hide her
[16:44] affection.
[16:45] In this moment, we get more back and forth between the two.
[16:48] They then place a bet where they go, where they're like, all
[16:51] right, we're going to go to separate locations that are known
[16:54] for alien and or ghost activity.
[16:56] If Ken or Momo witnesses aliens or ghosts in said location,
[17:00] you know, if the things that they so strongly don't believe in,
[17:03] they are going to become the other person's gopher.
[17:06] So this was a very fun, but full six minutes we get here.
[17:11] We're a quarter of the way through the episode.
[17:13] We get a lot of time with our two main characters.
[17:16] We get some explanation about, okay, there's aliens and ghosts that
[17:20] exist in this world, and the supernatural and the occult.
[17:22] We see that there's some romance folded in here.
[17:25] There's some humor, there's a bit of crassness, but it's just a
[17:28] fun world already where I'm like, I want to go to this school.
[17:30] I want to be friends with these two people.
[17:32] Definitely.
[17:32] I think the first thing I noticed and the thing that really
[17:37] hooked me in, like, at the beginning was the art style shifting,
[17:43] like I mentioned, that kind of shift from, like, really detailed
[17:46] to really simple.
[17:48] And I love a series that isn't afraid to, like, give their characters
[17:53] a silly face.
[17:54] Like the moment when Ken kind of chases her out of the classroom
[17:59] and he's, like, got his magazine and he's, like, gritting
[18:02] his teeth and his head is a square.
[18:04] I'm like, yes, this is.
[18:06] This is a sign of quality.
[18:09] It's such quality from front to back.
[18:12] And these first few minutes and just this episode or this series
[18:15] as a whole, it reminds me of another franchise that I adore in
[18:19] fully Cooley, where it ties into aliens and science fiction and
[18:23] there's a bit of love, and they also lean into those really
[18:27] exaggerated or minimalistic facial animation styles.
[18:30] So we see that sort of world coming together.
[18:32] So it felt, yeah, familiar to me in a way.
[18:35] Watching it here, I'm like, man, I haven't felt this way since
[18:37] I watched something like fully cooley.
[18:38] I did a rewatch of fully Cooley at the start of the year because
[18:41] only six episodes, it's an easy banger to smash through.
[18:44] But, yeah, the vibes are flowing after these first six minutes.
[18:48] And then we flash forward to the evening and we see the two walking
[18:52] through their respective haunted or, you know, alien related
[18:56] situations.
[18:57] They're talking to each other via phone at the moment.
[18:59] So Kenna sent Momo to the decrepit Nagi hospital, which is
[19:03] a known UFO hotspot, which is really super creepy.
[19:06] Like, hospitals in general, even, like, normal ones that are
[19:09] fully functioning, I don't like hospitals.
[19:11] They just always give me the ick.
[19:13] And when it's run down and decrepit like this, it gives me,
[19:15] like, the quadruple ick.
[19:16] So I'm like, man, momo, like, be strong, girl.
[19:19] I would not want to be there.
[19:21] So she's walking around this hospital, and then Ken giving a context
[19:25] about, you know, going to the roof is the best place because that's
[19:28] where you're going to be able to get abducted and experimented
[19:30] on.
[19:31] And so she's like, what?
[19:32] That happened to you?
[19:33] Like, you've actually met an alien before?
[19:35] And he's like, yeah, I think I have.
[19:37] But, like, you know, it's.
[19:37] It's.
[19:38] It's a well known fact that when you get abducted by aliens,
[19:40] they wipe your memory afterwards when they're finished.
[19:42] So he's in this sort of sense of false belief that he has met aliens
[19:47] and they've abducted him and done all kinds of things so he's
[19:50] trying to lead her up to the roof.
[19:52] And then we see that Ken has been sent to this abandoned tunnel
[19:55] in Shono City that is known to be super duper mega haunted as well.
[19:59] And the animation in these scenes here is a real standout for
[20:02] me, where we're seeing this, like, the black and darkness of the
[20:05] tunnel.
[20:06] We're seeing minimal animation in canon, minimal expression, but
[20:09] we're seeing constantly this big yellow moon sort of framing the
[20:14] shots.
[20:14] And it was stunning, but also very eerie.
[20:18] So you're seeing the tone start to shift where it's gone from
[20:21] fun and love and, you know, young, aloof teenagers to, okay,
[20:25] now we're getting darker and scarier and more eerie and a little
[20:29] bit unsettling.
[20:31] And so, you know, it's a little bit like goosebumpy here where
[20:34] you're like, ooh, what's going to happen?
[20:35] Are they both going to be okay and, you know, ignoring what's to
[20:38] come?
[20:38] We'll talk about that in a second.
[20:39] But which location would you have preferred to have been sent
[20:43] to?
[20:43] Would you like to go to the.
[20:44] The creepy ghost tunnel or the creepy, abandoned alien hospital?
[20:49] If I had to go to any, like, if someone's like, you have to go.
[20:54] If you don't go, you're in big trouble.
[20:55] I think I would probably go to the tunnel just because you see a
[21:01] lot of haunted tunnels in anime and japanese media, and I feel
[21:05] like I have enough experience with it that I would have more of
[21:09] an understanding of the situation.
[21:10] I would know what to do if a spirit emerged.
[21:14] I'm with you.
[21:15] Especially because these hospitals would be like a maze, like
[21:19] trying to get in and out of these places, especially if you're
[21:21] getting chased by some type of evil thing.
[21:24] It would be scary.
[21:25] But then even scarier on top because I feel I'd get lost and double
[21:29] back and end up in the same place.
[21:30] Then I'm in big trouble.
[21:31] And I've gone to a few in parentheses haunted tunnels over
[21:35] the years.
[21:36] There's one out near Campbelltown.
[21:39] I can't remember what it's called off the top of my head.
[21:40] I'm blanking on it.
[21:41] But it was.
[21:42] It was really heebie jeebie stuff.
[21:44] And, yeah, it's.
[21:46] It's really unsettling.
[21:46] And I'm a believer in probably both of these things, if I'm being
[21:50] honest.
[21:50] I feel the universe is too big to not have something out there.
[21:52] Me too.
[21:53] And the world is too big to not have something happen once.
[21:56] Once we pass.
[21:57] So I'm firmly in both Momo and Ken's camps here.
[22:00] But, yeah, if I had the choice, I wouldn't go to either,
[22:02] because it's scary stuff.
[22:05] Yeah, I'm too easily scared.
[22:08] I think ghosts are so, so scary.
[22:11] But even in this situation, I feel like aliens, like, they're so
[22:15] unpredictable.
[22:15] Like, a ghost is maybe easier to handle.
[22:19] Yeah.
[22:19] Yeah.
[22:20] There's less chance of some type of abduction and then experimentation
[22:24] where a ghost, you know, depending on which.
[22:27] Which ghost stories you want to follow, it might slime you.
[22:29] It could do other things.
[22:30] Who knows?
[22:30] But, um, yeah, I've got some.
[22:32] Got some ghost stories and things like that that I'll share
[22:35] with you one day for sure.
[22:36] That, yeah, still stay with me to this day, but, yeah, we're sort
[22:40] of back, back in dander darn land now as they continue to explore,
[22:45] and it's nice to see, as they're both walking through these
[22:48] clearly messed up locations and situations, they are casually
[22:52] chatting, and it's nice that you see that they're so comfortable
[22:54] with each other already and they're opening up and sharing, you
[22:58] know, what's happened up to this moment.
[23:00] Like, we're talking to Momo here.
[23:02] And just, like, with Ken, how he's like, I've never actually seen
[23:05] an alien.
[23:06] Momo says that she's never seen a ghost and that her grandmother
[23:09] has raised her since her parents passed away when she was
[23:11] very young.
[23:13] Mama explains how her entire family are in parentheses, weird.
[23:16] And, you know, so if you're going to be hanging out and getting
[23:19] to know me, get ready for some weird and wacky that might come your
[23:22] way.
[23:23] And we get this story where she's saying, when she was young,
[23:26] she had to walk to school holding a ritual pose for safety
[23:29] to keep the bad spirits away.
[23:31] And that was something that her grandmother said that would keep
[23:33] her safe.
[23:34] But as we know, with school and with kids, kids are cruel.
[23:37] So she got to school, and people made fun of her doing this,
[23:40] and the boys she likes started making fun of her.
[23:43] But also, the thing that she hated more than her being made fun
[23:46] of is that her grandma was getting made fun of here.
[23:50] So you can see that she has a very big heart.
[23:53] She cares about the people around her and the people that matter
[23:55] to her more than, I guess, what happens to her.
[23:58] She's more about making sure the people around her are safe and
[24:01] secure and feeling good.
[24:03] And we find out as well, that the reason that momo believes in
[24:06] ghosts is because her grandma does, too.
[24:08] So it was a really, like, nice little heart warmer there.
[24:11] But we also find out the exact opposite of that is, like, Ken doesn't
[24:15] really have a reason why he.
[24:16] He likes the occult.
[24:17] He just does.
[24:18] It's like, you like what you like, and that's fine.
[24:20] And I'm like, you know what?
[24:21] That's very, very accurate.
[24:22] Ken.
[24:23] Like, more people need to realize that.
[24:25] More people need to realize they don't need to justify what they're
[24:28] into and their hobbies and their passions.
[24:31] Like, if you like it, you like it, you own it, and that's a good
[24:33] time.
[24:33] And I think that's something we can all agree with.
[24:35] Gordon.
[24:36] No, totally.
[24:37] I do think, though, he's done a very.
[24:40] His character has written very well in the fact that as a teenage
[24:45] boy, he maybe hasn't really explored deeper the reason that he's
[24:50] into the occult and aliens.
[24:52] And I think just from this watch, it's that way to be connected.
[24:58] Maybe as a bit of a nerd, maybe is a bit of a loner.
[25:02] He's, like, never really had connection.
[25:04] Like, he's always felt alien or alienated.
[25:08] And I think, you know, for him, he's kind of reaching for that
[25:11] connection in a way, which is maybe I'm thinking too hard about
[25:15] it, but that's you.
[25:17] I think you're bang on, because later in the episode, he's
[25:20] talking about literally reaching up with the CB radio, trying
[25:22] to get the aliens to talk to him.
[25:24] So you nailed God, you're good.
[25:27] You're good.
[25:27] You should do podcasts sometimes.
[25:29] But anyway, thanks.
[25:30] Where we're seeing.
[25:31] Yeah, Ken's continuing to explore this tunnel.
[25:34] We then notice that there's some bloody footsteps leading towards
[25:37] him.
[25:37] And I'm like, uh oh, this is.
[25:39] This is not going to be a good time.
[25:41] This is very creepy.
[25:42] And he's got the old, traditional battery powered torch,
[25:44] and he's sort of flicking the light around the pitch black tunnel,
[25:47] trying to see what's going on.
[25:49] Very scary.
[25:51] The heart's sort of starting to beat a little bit more here because
[25:53] you're like, okay.
[25:54] You can hear it in the sound, like the soundtrack starting to dial
[25:57] up and get a little bit eerie at the same time here.
[26:00] Then through the darkness, we're then introduced to a yokai
[26:03] called Turbogranny, who delivers one of the greatest lines
[26:07] in all of Animanga right here, where the first thing she says to
[26:11] Ken is, she goes, I'll let you suckle my teats, boy, if you let
[26:15] me gobble your dong.
[26:17] And you're just like, that's really funny, but also really creepy.
[26:20] And I'm really scared.
[26:21] And, Kent, you better run, son, because this doesn't look like
[26:24] a good time.
[26:26] So this scene is so well done and so reflective of this kind of,
[26:34] like, haunted spot culture in anime, because you see it a lot.
[26:40] First of all, the lion is just insane.
[26:45] Second of all, the thing that made me laugh harder than her lion
[26:48] was the fact that she's called Turbo granny.
[26:52] Because no one will run faster than Turbo Granny.
[26:56] Turbo is in her name for a reason.
[26:59] And third of all, I think the best part of this is that there's
[27:05] always rules with ghosts and haunted spots.
[27:08] There's always rules.
[27:09] And obviously, Momo has not explained the rules to Ken because
[27:14] she says, don't run.
[27:16] Don't run.
[27:18] Like, it will not end well for you.
[27:20] But he's already running.
[27:21] He's so paralyzed with fear.
[27:23] He's running, right?
[27:23] And he's, you know, he's in that fight or flight state, so he's
[27:29] already running.
[27:30] And, you know, it's already going downhill from here.
[27:34] Yeah.
[27:34] And just the character model of Turbogranny as well.
[27:37] Like, the way they animate her.
[27:39] And just like that piercing yellow of the eyes, just like the
[27:43] moons that sort of foreshadowed it just before you see
[27:46] that same yellow.
[27:47] And then just watching the eyes roll around in her head and
[27:49] then focus on Ken, I'm like, you know what?
[27:53] Like, this is funny, but I also feel really uncomfortable right
[27:56] now.
[27:56] And I love when media can sort of tonal shift and genre jump like
[28:01] that, just, like, scene to scene.
[28:03] And, yeah, it just made me really, like, like.
[28:06] But also I'm like, yeah, run, Ken.
[28:07] But then you hear Momo saying, don't run, don't move.
[28:11] Like you said, courtney, there's rules to these things.
[28:14] Just stand your ground.
[28:15] But, yeah, like, anyone would do.
[28:17] Like, I would be.
[28:18] I'd be on the toe straight away.
[28:19] I'd be trying to break for the tunnel.
[28:21] But then you're also hearing here in these moments as the soundtrack
[28:25] starting to really dial up.
[28:27] And the chase scene here, momo's like, whatever you do, then
[28:29] if you're running, don't let her catch you, Ken.
[28:32] Like, because she'll put a curse on you if you get caught.
[28:35] So you're like, oh, shit, there's the stakes.
[28:37] And like you said, courtney, she's got goddamn turbo in her name.
[28:40] So, you know she's not slow unless you hope it's just ironic.
[28:43] And maybe she is actually slow, but we find out very quick
[28:47] that she ain't slow.
[28:49] And the animation and the colors that are used here in this
[28:51] scene.
[28:52] Gorgeous, top notch, high end from science Saru, where we're getting
[28:57] the pitch black nature of the tunnel contrasted by these reds and
[29:01] those beady yellow eyes.
[29:03] And then I love in media, and especially in, like, horrelated stuff,
[29:07] where we get first person perspectives of the bad chasing stuff.
[29:11] And we get that here, in a way, from, what's more, over the
[29:13] shoulder here with turbo granny.
[29:15] And we see her, like, just dial it up and she starts running
[29:18] and she sort of runs up the wall onto the ceiling.
[29:20] And anytime you see a baddie do that, it remind me of, like, the
[29:24] xenomorphs from aliens, where they're up on the roof, on the walls,
[29:27] like, nowhere safe.
[29:28] And turbogranny is coming for Ken, and he's just running these
[29:32] little legs as fast as possible.
[29:34] But then we see her sort of jump from the roof on top of Ken,
[29:37] and we see these giants spirit hands just sort of swallow him up.
[29:41] And it was really creepy, but really cool.
[29:44] And then in this moment, the phone cuts out and you can see that
[29:47] it's clear it's some occult related energy here.
[29:49] The phone's glitching and on the screen, and it goes dead.
[29:53] Momo freaked out.
[29:54] And so she starts trying to exit the hospital, running towards
[29:57] the tunnel to save Ken, because it's clear that, you know,
[30:00] she cares about the people very strongly in her life and she's
[30:04] made a good connection with Ken already.
[30:06] And so she starts running.
[30:07] We get a creepy scene here where all the external lights start
[30:10] switching off one by one in the hospital.
[30:14] And again, like, you know, skin crawl, heart race moments.
[30:18] And as they turn off one by one, it sort of leads our eyes to
[30:23] these three clone triplets down this hallway looking at her,
[30:27] just creepy, creepy characters.
[30:30] And as she tries to escape, she's taken by these three cloned
[30:35] aliens.
[30:35] We'll find out.
[30:36] Minor spoiler, but then it fades to black and it's like, man,
[30:39] Courtney, like, the stakes and the pacing has just gone to eleven,
[30:44] like, within the span of a minute here.
[30:46] And it's like, man, like, I need to catch a breath.
[30:48] There's a lot happening.
[30:49] Yeah, I want to go back to the red coloring of that tunnel.
[30:54] It's so, so good and really just.
[30:58] Yeah.
[30:59] The contrast of Turbogranny's eyes with the red of the tunnel is
[31:04] crazy and so creepy.
[31:06] And then contrasting again with that, the aliens and the hospital,
[31:12] and it's so creepy, but in such a different way.
[31:14] And I feel like when people talk about aliens, you never really
[31:19] think about the fear and the horror and almost, like, the body
[31:24] horror of what comes along with aliens.
[31:28] You know, ghosts are scary.
[31:29] Ghosts are scary in, like, any.
[31:32] Any time, any place.
[31:34] Aliens, though, I think there's a sense of curiosity almost.
[31:37] So I think we kind of, like, accept it in a way.
[31:41] But then, you know, you see in the hospital the lights going off
[31:44] one by one, and, like, that's.
[31:46] That's this, like, signal of aliens.
[31:49] That's how, you know, aliens are there.
[31:51] And it made me think of, um, that horror film.
[31:55] Nope.
[31:56] With the aliens.
[31:57] Yeah.
[31:58] And that, like, the way that, you know, aliens really are scary
[32:02] because you don't know, like, we're curious, but it's so dangerous.
[32:08] And seeing them in that little.
[32:11] Those little creepy human in, like, a suit, shirt and pants, I'm
[32:17] like, ugh, these guys are incels.
[32:19] I think seeing them in a humanoid capacity made them more
[32:23] unsettling than just a typical, you know, gray alien with
[32:27] big eyes and whatever else that we're so used to from.
[32:30] From broader media.
[32:31] But seeing them as these.
[32:32] Yeah, weird sort of human.
[32:35] But no, they're not just based off the shape, but they've got sort
[32:38] of the main beats of what a human should look like.
[32:40] Just.
[32:41] Yeah, made me feel really unsettled.
[32:43] And I like that you use the term incel.
[32:46] It's got a bit of that vibe too, as well.
[32:48] Definitely.
[32:49] Especially when we get to the next scene.
[32:51] Yeah.
[32:51] So the next scene, momo awakens.
[32:54] And this is the sexual assault scene.
[32:57] This is where it all plays out here within the episode.
[33:00] So momo awakens.
[33:01] She's strapped into a chair in nothing more than her underwear because
[33:04] as she's getting grabbed before the scene fades to black,
[33:08] you can see they're, like, grabbing and ripping at her and ripping
[33:10] her to close.
[33:11] So she's there in just her underwear, and these three creepy
[33:14] humanoid sons of guns are standing around her.
[33:18] And we find out that what has captured her are aliens.
[33:21] And they're known as Serpoians from the planet Serpo.
[33:24] So however you want to sort of name them from here on out, we can
[33:27] just go with that.
[33:29] But we find out that, yeah, this species from planet Serpo, they're
[33:34] all male, and they require the use of Momo's banana organs to further
[33:39] evolve, because at the moment, their clone based technology just
[33:42] keeps making exactly what we're seeing here.
[33:44] Three of the same weirdo humanoid looking dudes.
[33:47] Like, they want to continual evolve and continually change.
[33:51] They need to impregnate and experiment on females from other
[33:54] races to their race, I guess, into the ultimate deity or whatever.
[33:59] And then in this moment where we're talking about the banana organs,
[34:02] we see, let's say, serpo number two here, whip out a giant
[34:07] robotic like penis with the plans that he is going to impregnate
[34:11] her and take her uterus.
[34:12] And you're just like, jesus Christ.
[34:15] Like, this is getting very serious, very stressful, and touching
[34:19] on some pretty intense topics.
[34:20] Like, we always talk about alien abductions and anal probes
[34:24] and everything.
[34:24] Like, that's something that's always made light of, but seeing
[34:27] it realized here in real life, in parentheses, you're like, oh,
[34:32] this is fuck.
[34:32] Like, someone saved this girl, because this is messed up.
[34:36] We find out as well that the Sir Poe ins, they can use psychokinesis
[34:40] because they're like, all right, now, lady, we're going to
[34:42] get you stimulated.
[34:43] And they're using their mind bullets to try and turn her on for
[34:47] the impending impregnation.
[34:49] She's like, man, this is intense.
[34:51] And I don't know where it's going to go, but we find out that
[34:55] Momo has really strong spiritual energy, and she's fighting
[34:57] against these psychokinesis based attacks.
[35:01] And it's a really, really, really big fever dream of a scene
[35:04] where they're using their psychokinesis, and we're sort of
[35:07] seeing the three heads, like, kaleidoscope around Momo.
[35:10] Like, it is gorgeously animated, but also creepily animated.
[35:14] And the color palette here with the really muted blue sort of
[35:18] cool color palette they've used, really, I think, contrasts
[35:22] that.
[35:22] The lack of coolness that's going on, because this is a very
[35:25] stressful, uncomfortable scene.
[35:29] But luckily, this scene is then interrupted because Momo's phone
[35:33] rings.
[35:33] But you're like, hang on.
[35:34] What happened?
[35:35] Last we saw, her phone got damaged during the call with Ken
[35:39] in the tunnel.
[35:41] Serpo number three picks up the phone, only to be then kicked
[35:45] in the face through the phone.
[35:47] So you're like, what in God's name is happening right here?
[35:51] We then see a fused Ken and turbogranny climb through the phone,
[35:56] a la the ring girl through the tv, which is also gorgeous animation,
[36:01] but also creepy, but in the right ways.
[36:04] And then Ken Turbogranny swiftly bites off one of the aliens
[36:09] penises and then just slings him into the wall, indisposed him
[36:13] instantaneously, and you're like, holy crap, Courtney, this is.
[36:17] This is going a lot of places very fast.
[36:20] This part, the scene was really hard to watch, and I don't
[36:27] know if that's like, as a woman, it was, like, very.
[36:34] Almost real in a way.
[36:35] It was very, very hard to watch.
[36:37] And the alien's penis tool was like.
[36:42] That was terrifying, right?
[36:45] That was.
[36:45] Yeah, it was like a three foot tall robotic monster thing with spikes
[36:50] and, like, yeah, it would be anything but pleasurable for anybody.
[36:54] And like you said, even though this is an animated show and it's
[36:58] about an alien abduction, the way they handled this scene, it felt
[37:03] real, and it felt unsettling and, like, it was.
[37:08] Yeah, it made people feel something, and I think that's good
[37:11] because, yes, it is silly and whimsical in a lot of ways, this
[37:15] anime and scenes around this, but I think the fact they didn't
[37:19] water this scene down and that you can see the fear in Momo and
[37:23] just the realness as to what was about to happen.
[37:26] I like that.
[37:27] Yes, they're talking about jokes and banana organs and stuff,
[37:31] but in these minutes, it felt really grounded and really respectful.
[37:36] I don't know if respectful is the right word, but they tried to
[37:39] handle this as best they could, and I think.
[37:41] I think they executed that.
[37:43] Yeah, I think so.
[37:44] And then having Ken, like, come and just save her, I felt so
[37:54] relieved.
[37:55] I physically, I was holding my breath, and as soon as he came through,
[38:01] I was like, oh, thank God.
[38:04] That was a really, really hard scene to watch, I think.
[38:07] And going from the comedy of the first quarter of the show and
[38:12] then them kind of walking around on the phone together, it
[38:15] was really nice.
[38:16] And then going to this, such a stark contrast from what we'd seen,
[38:20] I was like, you know, in a way, I had to really kind of come
[38:24] to terms with the fact that it was the same show.
[38:27] Cause it was very, very different.
[38:30] But, Ken, suddenly I'm like, oh, my gosh.
[38:34] This is the coolest guy I've ever seen.
[38:36] Saving her.
[38:37] Yeah, it's nice to see.
[38:39] And I like that.
[38:40] Yes, this scene does go for a couple of minutes, but it didn't
[38:44] overstay its welcome.
[38:45] It didn't get too into the muck and into the atrocities that
[38:50] is sexual assault.
[38:51] And, yeah, it was nice to see Turbo Ken, if we want to call him
[38:55] that, sort of smash through the phone in this crazy scene.
[38:59] But then from there, like, it feels like the madness levels are
[39:03] already at an all time high, but it still somehow dials up even
[39:07] more here because we see the Sepoyans here reveal their true form.
[39:13] So they rip off their humanoid skin, and instead they end up resembling
[39:17] something like, I don't know if you remember, are real monsters.
[39:20] But Abelina from are real monsters.
[39:22] It's pretty much what these aliens look like, where they've got
[39:25] eyes sort of off their.
[39:26] Their head.
[39:27] They're sort of colored in.
[39:29] In sort of like a stripe like pattern, just like Ablina.
[39:31] So I saw that, and I had a bit of a Leo on the couch moment thinking
[39:36] back to Abelina and Icus and crumb and the greatness that was
[39:39] our real monsters.
[39:41] And we see this fight then break down between turbocan and the
[39:45] aliens.
[39:46] And one thing I do appreciate in this moment and then the flow
[39:50] on from here is, yes, Ken came through to save Momo, or at least
[39:58] stop this moment from happening.
[40:00] But ultimately, Momo saves herself.
[40:02] They don't have her as, like, yeah, she's cast here in this scene.
[40:06] She's the damsel in distress.
[40:07] But then a couple minutes later, we're like, no way.
[40:10] She's just a bad bitch who's got psycho powers, and she saves
[40:14] the day.
[40:14] So I like that they gave her her power back from this moment with
[40:18] this potential, you know, sexual assault scene with aliens.
[40:21] And then they show that it's like, no, she.
[40:23] She can save herself and save the world because she's a bad mother.
[40:27] I also like that there's that kind of payoff for her, right?
[40:30] Like, she's bullied for, you know, all of the kind of ghost and
[40:35] spirit stuff that she believed in as a child.
[40:39] And then we.
[40:40] Even her friends.
[40:41] She's friends with the popular girls.
[40:43] She's a gyaru.
[40:44] Her ex boyfriend was a bit of a yankee delinquent.
[40:50] And so we're kind of seeing this background of hers that's maybe
[40:53] a little bit uncool.
[40:56] And she gets bullied for it, but there's a payoff.
[40:59] It's actually really important for her in this moment.
[41:03] Yeah.
[41:03] So I had a bit of a good sort of fist bump hero moment coming up
[41:08] here, but.
[41:08] Yeah.
[41:08] So we see Turbo Ken come in and we think, oh, yeah, he's gonna
[41:12] save the day.
[41:13] But no.
[41:13] Old alien number two uses some psycho mind bullets and, like, finger
[41:19] guns to just blast him into the wall.
[41:21] Cause he's like, I'm gonna.
[41:22] I'm gonna save your mom.
[41:23] And he goes.
[41:24] And then he's like, actually, I think I'm kind of done.
[41:26] And then there's a funny line here where Mum was like, but you
[41:29] didn't even try.
[41:29] Like, what's going on?
[41:31] This is all you got?
[41:33] But we then do get this really, really strong, confident
[41:37] and heartfelt speech monologue here from Ken, who's stuck to the
[41:41] wall here, just smashed to smithereens, half human, half turbo
[41:46] granny.
[41:47] And he's saying that, you know what?
[41:49] I'm going to offer up my banana in place of momo and start
[41:52] sharing memories from his childhood where he's been calling
[41:56] out to aliens since he could pretty much walk.
[41:58] Because like you said, courtney, he's never had friends.
[42:01] He's always felt alien.
[42:03] He's always felt isolated and alone.
[42:05] And he thought, you know what?
[42:06] If anyone's going to appreciate me and be friends with
[42:08] me, it's going to be you aliens.
[42:10] And yet you never came.
[42:12] You never acknowledged me.
[42:13] You never answered.
[42:15] And it's a really powerful speech.
[42:18] And it really shows in this short, like, 30 seconds worth of
[42:21] dialogue who Ken is, but also how much care he has for the people
[42:26] in his life, because he's like, you know what?
[42:29] No one's ever had my back until Momo stood up for me today.
[42:32] And there's this line in here where old turbo can.
[42:36] He dropped some.
[42:37] Some more fire.
[42:38] Like, he's just gospel in here.
[42:39] He's just preaching.
[42:40] And he goes, you know what?
[42:41] If it's for her sake, I'll even become a monster.
[42:44] And you're just like, God damn, this is so great.
[42:47] And I'm all for this, and I'm rooting for this little guy, and
[42:51] I'm rooting for Momo, and I want them to be friends and lovers
[42:55] and whatever else.
[42:55] Like, they're my two people.
[42:57] They're my people, and I'm in their corner.
[42:59] And then we get this flashback here in this moment of Momo getting
[43:03] lessons from her grandma Seiko, who is, you know, minor spoilers
[43:07] that probably the sexiest grandma in anime history.
[43:10] And wait till you meet her in future episodes.
[43:13] But Grandma Seiko is giving her advice about releasing her chi,
[43:17] and that will be able to keep her safe from bad things.
[43:20] And again, in this moment, we get this gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous
[43:24] shot of them near the shrine gate.
[43:27] And we're seeing the sun setting in the background and just
[43:30] the color palette and the framing of this shot like it is cinema.
[43:34] Courtney, it's so, so pretty.
[43:37] And I figured when I saw Momo's grandma with, like, the long
[43:43] white hair, I was like, oh, is that of the sexy grandma that everyone's
[43:48] been talking about?
[43:49] Good to know that I was correct.
[43:52] But, yeah, it's really.
[43:54] It's really sweet.
[43:55] And I think, more than anything, this show is such a don't
[44:00] read a book by its cover coming of age.
[44:03] And, like, you really see that.
[44:04] Like, you know, they end up going through this together, and
[44:11] they couldn't be more different, right.
[44:13] From completely different worlds, like the Luna nerd Ken and
[44:17] the popular cool girl murmur.
[44:19] It's very different worlds, but them coming together is really
[44:22] sweet.
[44:23] Yeah, I'm in complete lockstep with you there.
[44:26] And, yeah, so we get that really gorgeous shot there at the
[44:29] shrine gate.
[44:30] We then flash forward again to current day, where Yemomo are still
[44:34] tied up in these alien shackles.
[44:37] But she's using that memory and that advice from her, from her
[44:40] grandma there to awaken her psychic powers.
[44:44] She breaks the restraints and then delivers one hell of this of
[44:47] a spirit kick to Sir Poe in number one, who's been causing Ken
[44:52] a lot of grief, smashes this guy or alien or.
[44:56] Yeah, he's a guy.
[44:57] Yeah.
[44:57] They don't have females in their race smashing this stupid alien
[45:00] through the wall and actually ends up damaging the spacecraft.
[45:04] And we find out, okay, so they've already been abducted, and
[45:07] this is happening in this spacecraft.
[45:09] It's kind of a cool scene where we see that the spacecraft
[45:12] has been just sitting idle beside the hotel.
[45:15] And it's got, like, a cloak of the hospital.
[45:17] Sorry.
[45:17] It's got a cloaking mechanism, but due to the power of this kick,
[45:20] we're seeing the cloaking ability start to flicker and falter
[45:24] like an electrical fire start to occur.
[45:26] Because, yeah, clearly Momo is just the baddest spiritual girl on
[45:31] the planet right now.
[45:32] Turbo Ken is starting to have Turbo Granny take over him a little
[45:36] bit more here.
[45:37] And attempts to devour momo.
[45:39] Just like earlier, Turbo Granny devoured Ken and put a curse
[45:43] on Ken, but she pretty much just spirit blasts them.
[45:46] In this one moment, just one shot knocks granny out of Ken, but
[45:51] not the curse.
[45:52] So Turbo granny sort of soul, or, I don't know, essence has been
[45:56] knocked out, but the curse that she laid is still in him, telling
[46:00] us that she has his dong, as in she has his penis, or his weenie,
[46:05] as it gets referred to sometimes in the subtrack.
[46:08] And as long as she has it, the curse won't be lifted.
[46:12] And if they want it back, to come and fight her in the haunted
[46:15] tunnel from earlier in the episode.
[46:18] So, man, I don't ever want to get my penis ripped off and taken
[46:23] away by a yokai, that's for sure.
[46:24] So, um, yeah, if that can never happen in my life, I will be
[46:28] a very happy boy.
[46:29] I think as long as you avoid haunted tunnels, you should be fine.
[46:33] Yeah, I've been lucky so far then, because I've been in a couple,
[46:37] but luckily, my banana organs are still there for now.
[46:40] So, uh, yeah, so.
[46:42] So we get the.
[46:43] The future stakes here.
[46:44] The.
[46:44] The future plot set up where, obviously, Ken would want his banana
[46:48] organs back.
[46:48] So they.
[46:49] They want to get back to the tunnel to do battle with, uh, the
[46:52] turbo granny we see.
[46:54] Then the spaceship crash lands.
[46:56] Momo and Ken exit, and they start sort of reflecting on just
[47:00] the sheer craziness of the evening they've just had, admitting
[47:03] that both the occult and the supernatural are real.
[47:06] So, like, you know what?
[47:07] You're right.
[47:08] I was right.
[47:09] Let's all be friends.
[47:09] Good time.
[47:10] But then they're also remembering and realizing that a
[47:13] battle with Turbo granny is inevitable, especially if Ken wants
[47:16] his weenie back.
[47:18] So, Ken, in this moment, he's like, you know what?
[47:20] I'm going to go it alone.
[47:21] He starts taking off his clothes to give to Momo because she's
[47:24] in.
[47:25] Like, I'm guessing it's like a science lab coat or a doctor's lab
[47:28] coat she's found because obviously her clothes got ripped
[47:30] to shreds from the nasty aliens earlier, but starts stripping
[47:34] down, gives her his clothes in a very sweet gesture.
[47:37] You can see how much Ken cares for this girl already from the speech
[47:40] and then this moment.
[47:41] But she then says, you know what?
[47:43] We're in this together.
[47:44] I'm currently the reason that you're alive.
[47:46] Like, I'm using my psychic powers right now to keep your curse
[47:49] at bay.
[47:50] So we're gonna go deal with this crazy female turbo granny Yokai
[47:54] together and get it happening.
[47:56] And then Ken drops the line.
[47:58] Listen, I'm an awkward guy.
[48:01] Which sends Momo's heart racing, because this is a line that
[48:07] Ken Takamura has, you know, spoken in one of his many fantastic
[48:12] films.
[48:13] So her heart's starting to flutter.
[48:15] She doesn't realize what's happening.
[48:17] But she's also like, you know what?
[48:18] I don't actually know your name, because she's been calling
[48:20] Ken a cult kun the whole episode.
[48:23] So she doesn't actually know his name is Ken or Ken Takakura.
[48:27] So she's like, what is your name?
[48:29] And so he goes, my name's Ken.
[48:31] Ken Takakura.
[48:32] And this scene couldn't be animated and timed more perfectly
[48:36] because we've got the spaceship that's been downed in the
[48:39] background, and we see this shot where Momo is standing in front
[48:42] of the spaceship, and as he goes, Ken.
[48:44] Ken Takakura.
[48:45] The spaceship just goes behind her, and it's just such a perfect
[48:51] moment to end this episode.
[48:52] On.
[48:53] Because then we cut to credits and you're like, yes, let's go.
[48:57] I'm in.
[48:58] I love this world.
[48:59] I want episode two through twelve and then beyond.
[49:02] Because Dunder dance just the best.
[49:04] Yeah.
[49:05] So this last scene, I adore seeing, like, she's wearing his jacket,
[49:13] and he, like, starts stripping.
[49:16] He's like, here.
[49:16] Like, here are my clothes.
[49:18] And she's like, no, no, keep your clothes on.
[49:20] Like, we have to go together.
[49:21] Like, it's fine, I'm okay.
[49:23] Like, you know, she gets it.
[49:25] But the fact that he's so sweet and polite to kind of do that
[49:28] for her when we know her shitty ex would never have done anything.
[49:31] Like, her shitty ex was like, give me money or I'm breaking with
[49:35] you.
[49:35] Yeah, put out or give me cash.
[49:37] Like, what a piece of shit.
[49:38] Right?
[49:39] But then this guy that she's just met today is like, you know,
[49:43] getting naked to give her his clothes is, like, so sweet of him
[49:49] in a weird way, but, yeah, then the, I guess the kind of, like,
[49:53] symbolism of him being like, yeah, my name's Ken Takakura.
[49:58] And then her realizing and then the spaceship exploding and
[50:02] that symbolism of her, like, you know, that's her heart, right?
[50:06] Like, beating so fast because she's like, oh, my God.
[50:08] Like, this guy, he's just.
[50:10] I've known him for a day, and he's done everything right.
[50:14] So it's very, very cute.
[50:18] And, yeah, the ending is really fun.
[50:20] I really like the Maneki Neko like, money cat.
[50:24] Dancing and walking is another really cool art style, too.
[50:29] Yeah, the ending, we get a really fun pop track called Tadaida
[50:33] by Azutto Mayo.
[50:34] And the song's really fun.
[50:36] The end sequence is really fun.
[50:38] Yeah, we see, I'm not going to spoil anything because once you work
[50:42] out who or what that money cat is, it's just another great, cool
[50:46] piece of storytelling and a great character that folds into this
[50:49] ensemble cast.
[50:51] But, yeah, seeing this little humanoid money cat just go around
[50:54] living its life, eating food, having a nap, like, we can all relate
[50:57] to that.
[50:57] We all want to be this cat.
[50:59] And it's just a really fun sort of full stop to this first episode
[51:04] because I feel it's one of the stronger first episodes in a while
[51:08] because it's hard to get a lot of storytelling and world building
[51:12] and character development within a 20 minutes window.
[51:14] But I think Dunder done really does well.
[51:16] Like, by the end of it, I'm fully invested in this world.
[51:19] I'm fully believing that aliens and the supernatural are real,
[51:23] and I'm fully behind Momo and Ken.
[51:25] Like, they give us enough backstory to care and understand
[51:29] who they are and where they came from.
[51:31] It's so cute.
[51:32] And I hope there's romance.
[51:34] I'm excited.
[51:35] Obviously, I haven't read the manga, so I'm going in blind.
[51:39] I really hope there's a romance between them because I think
[51:42] they really suit each other.
[51:43] It's really wholesome.
[51:45] I only started the manga earlier this year, but in typical
[51:49] me fashion, I got obsessed very quick and smashed it through.
[51:52] And I'm very, very impatiently waiting for every new chapter to
[51:55] drop.
[51:56] And just where this story goes, like, get ready because it
[52:01] is such a fun, unique rollercoaster ride, and it's quickly
[52:06] becoming one of my favorite stories across any medium.
[52:10] Like, I am so obsessed with this world.
[52:12] And I'm also so happy that, like, we were talking on more than
[52:17] headlines earlier about some of these great anime we're watching,
[52:19] but no one seems to be talking about them.
[52:21] Everybody is talking about Dunder Dunn.
[52:24] Like, it is everywhere.
[52:25] Like, you can't spit without hitting something related to Dunder
[52:28] Dan.
[52:28] At the moment, even my husband, who will very typically
[52:32] only watch one anime a season, he saw that I was watching this.
[52:36] I was sitting down to watch this, and he was like, I want to
[52:38] watch this with you.
[52:39] And I was like, okay, let's watch.
[52:41] That makes me so happy.
[52:43] And from first reports, he enjoyed the first episode, so I'm
[52:46] happy to see that he's along for the ride, too.
[52:48] Yes, he did enjoy it.
[52:50] He loved the banana organ line, so love that for him.
[52:55] And also, like, something else I love with this anime.
[52:58] It's available on Crunchyroll, but it's also available on Netflix,
[53:01] so it's a lot more widely accessible.
[53:03] Day one sub and dub as well.
[53:06] So, like, that is a rarity.
[53:08] And I've watched.
[53:09] I've watched the episode four times now.
[53:10] I've watched it twice in sub, twice in dub.
[53:13] And the voice work in both is, like, top tier.
[53:16] Like, you can't go wrong either way.
[53:19] Yeah, it's so rare to get something that's day one dub.
[53:23] Like, same time dub.
[53:25] It's crazy.
[53:25] And I'm like, even I'm tempted to kind of go and check out the dub,
[53:29] even though I'm, you know, I speak Japanese, so I prefer to watch
[53:33] subbed, but the fact that they're both out and both available
[53:38] and, you know, like, I've.
[53:40] I've watched this episode twice.
[53:42] Even I'm tempted to kind of go and have a watch of the dub because
[53:46] I wouldn't mind a third watch.
[53:48] It's so good.
[53:49] And yeah, like, we've got the episode weekly drop.
[53:52] Episodes dropping weekly.
[53:53] So, you know, every Friday for the next little under three months
[53:56] time, we're going to see this story unfold and go a whole heap
[54:01] of interesting directions.
[54:02] But if you're still on the fence about Dunder Dun but you're
[54:05] a fan of mob, psycho, 100 fooly, Cooley, chainsaw man, and
[54:10] or Murai in love, if you enjoyed any of those four, you will
[54:14] most probably really enjoy Dunder dawn because they are the
[54:17] four most common.
[54:18] If you like that, you're going to love this from my anime list.
[54:21] But Courtney, let's jump into the last word presented by our friends
[54:25] over at Japan Crate.
[54:26] Experience Japan through snacks and knickknacks.
[54:28] Monthly package drops courtesy of japancrate.com.
[54:31] and while you're there, be sure to use code eight bit 15 at
[54:33] checkout to get free posting anywhere in Planet Earth, as well
[54:38] as 15% off your order.
[54:39] But Courtney, what is your last word?
[54:41] Your last words?
[54:41] Your last thoughts on dun dun dun.
[54:44] My last thoughts?
[54:45] I love these characters.
[54:47] I love Ken.
[54:48] I'm so excited to learn more about Ken.
[54:50] Like, I feel like we've had a lot of momo in episode one.
[54:54] I want to know about Ken.
[54:55] He seems, like, so cool.
[54:57] He's like that cool, mysterious guy.
[55:01] Give me Ken.
[55:02] I love Ken.
[55:03] I love Momo.
[55:04] Like, I just love, like, the entire ensemble cast.
[55:06] Like, the people we're going to be introduced to in future episodes,
[55:09] they are all so well written and so memorable for a whole host
[55:13] of reasons.
[55:13] So, yeah, I'm just looking like I'm almost like a proud parent.
[55:17] Like, watching on as people watch these upcoming episodes, knowing
[55:21] what's to come and just seeing them react and get so excited about,
[55:25] whoa, this just happened.
[55:26] Or this character was introduced or what?
[55:28] And I'm like, I know, son, or I know, daughter.
[55:30] Like, I was there too, several months ago.
[55:34] Like, I'm happy you got here eventually.
[55:36] But yeah, it's so, so good.
[55:38] But yeah, Courtney, I wanted to know.
[55:40] So that means you're going to keep watching?
[55:42] Oh, yeah.
[55:42] 100%.
[55:44] I think this will definitely be one of the best anime this season.
[55:51] Just judging from all the hype and the discussion in the first episode,
[55:55] if you're not watching this show, like, start now.
[55:59] Yes, please do.
[56:00] Because, yeah, you can jump in pretty well close to day one.
[56:02] Like, check out episode one.
[56:04] Like, this will be out in the next 24 hours.
[56:06] We're recording.
[56:07] As I said on the 6 October.
[56:08] So we'll have a quick turnaround on this and then you can
[56:11] watch along with us all on Netflix or crunchyroll every Friday
[56:15] evening.
[56:15] You can do Friday night dunder darn watch alongs.
[56:17] Who the heck knows?
[56:18] And then we'll be discussing it in more than headlines.
[56:22] Oh yeah, yeah, we can give you weekly updates episodically on more
[56:25] than headlines, which yeah, we'll be having another episode out
[56:29] around the same time here on the same RSS feed.
[56:31] So once you're done checking this out, head on over to headlines
[56:34] and you'll have a good old time.
[56:36] But Courtney, thank you so much for stopping on by twice this
[56:39] Sunday and sharing your thoughts and awesomeness here in
[56:43] the Sugoi studio.
[56:44] Anything you wanted to mention or shout out before we close this
[56:48] down for another week?
[56:49] Oh my God.
[56:50] I can do it.
[56:52] I have this.
[56:56] For the audio listeners.
[56:58] Explain to them what you're showing right now.
[57:01] It's a sticker book of Chikawa, who is one of my favorite
[57:05] characters.
[57:06] Favorite anime.
[57:07] Chikawa is currently up to episode 120 and it's on YouTube.
[57:12] Anyway, I have a sticker book of Chikawa because I love Chikawa
[57:16] a lot.
[57:18] Shout out to Chikawa.
[57:19] Can't close an episode any better than with a little fantastic
[57:22] sticker book.
[57:23] I'm surprised there's that amount of pages and expressions that
[57:26] little bugger can show, like, he's not a heavily detailed character,
[57:30] but there's a lot of different movements and poses going on there.
[57:35] There's 321 stuff stickers in this book.
[57:39] Look, this is a picture of Usagi.
[57:42] He's laying on the ground going, ha.
[57:46] You're welcome.
[57:48] Thank you for bringing that absolute gold here to the end of
[57:53] more than Hentai.
[57:54] But yeah, you can find Courtney on the socials at Courtney
[57:58] San.
[57:58] You can find me at more than Sempire.
[58:01] You can find the rest of our content holistically over at morethenhentide
[58:06] life.
[58:06] You can get merch over there.
[58:07] You can become official member of the Segoy squad like our fantastic
[58:11] producers Aaron L.
[58:12] Dan G.
[58:12] Duffo, Farouge, Screamus, Smash Function, and Boyd mayonnaise.
[58:17] You're all the very best.
[58:18] So thank you for being card carrying members of the Segoy squad.
[58:23] Be sure to rate, review, subscribe this podcast, as well as
[58:26] all the other podcasts you listen to on the regular.
[58:29] Those ratings and reviews, they take no time, they cost you
[58:32] no money, but they help keep the emotional lights on in these
[58:35] big old hearts and help keep us tracking, keep us relevant.
[58:39] And you know, keep us out there for new people like yourselves
[58:41] to find and hopefully enjoy what we are doing.
[58:44] So if you can do that, that would be fantastic.
[58:46] But Courtney, thank you again for stopping on by.
[58:48] We'll do this all again in roughly seven days time because we
[58:53] are sickos and just can't get enough about talking about anime.
[58:57] But listeners, viewers, Segoya Squad, whether your anime be subbed,
[59:00] dubbed, or still yet to come, enjoy yourself, stay hungry, and
[59:04] much love to all the gorgeous waifus and husbandos out there.
[59:08] Goodbye.
[59:09] Bye.

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