Dandadan Season 2 Finale – Japanese Fan Reactions to the Jaishi Arc Conclusion

Season 2 had a stronger narrative spine than Season 1, in my opinion. The Jiji arc as the central axis let them properly develop Okarun and Momo's growth and their romance. Season 1 had more variety, but Season 2 had a real story core.

Aira casually joining the fight without being asked, and Jiji immediately cooperating the moment he regains consciousness without anyone explaining anything — what good people. Yeah they both owe Momo and Okarun for saving them, but it's still really nice to see.

Man that was fun. If they could imagine doing the Choudenji Spin (Gundam reference) they might as well have just done it straight up.

The Jaishi arc as the axis brought in the Kito family, Chikichita, Kinta, the class president, Bamora — there were tons of fun characters showing up.

Coming to this anime late and watching for the first time — I had nothing but a sense of discomfort with Momo's voice and acting. How did you all feel about it at first?

Got used to it, and now I think it's a valid take. Season 2 OP and Season 2 ED visuals are the same as Season 1. But the Season 2 ED song is just bad no matter how you slice it.

Honestly I thought Momo was on-point from the start. Strong-willed and foul-mouthed IS Momo's defining trait. Turbo Granny too — couldn't be anyone but the legendary Mayumi Tanaka. If anything Okarun's voice initially threw me — I'd imagined someone more childish-sounding. Though I do think his transformed voice is perfect.

Yeah, I really think Shion Wakayama is the one who created Momo. With a different actress it would've been a different Momo, and Dandadan itself would have become a different work entirely.

Looking at overseas reactions, it's mostly very positive, but I sometimes see rejection of the harem developments triggered by Kinta and Bamora's introduction. Harem setups have been a default in Japanese manga forever, but I'm feeling that they don't fit the times anymore. It really is a setup that only benefits the male side.

I don't think it's a harem rejection per se — for this particular work, the Okarun-Momo ship is just so dominantly one-strong that the harem elements feel like noise.

I can't spoil here but pretty much every main character introduced from Aira onward gets a rough or heavy backstory arc. Reading the manga I was like "they're really doing this?" every single time. Also: the class president's specific... preferences... fully animated with the actual voice cast — I'm so excited for that I might actually drool.

On Reddit a lot of people are calling Okarun "Nard" (nerd) which, fair — he loves sci-fi, his body type matches, he seems decent at school. Kinta being labeled "otaku boy" though, literally the most on-the-nose nickname possible, that one cracked me up.

The class president's Ombudsman arc wraps up quickly, but the Bamora arc is LONG — depending on how it goes, it might not finish even with an entire Season 3 dedicated to it.

Is the Bamora arc really that long? That's why the "do it as a movie" theory came up. But please, just keep it on TV.

It's 6 chapters in the manga = 2 episodes in the anime, so roughly 40 minutes of pure Bamora backstory.

Since they pulled in Macross with the Daedalus Attack, the tentacle woman might be from Orguss.

In the finale Kinta basically looks like the protagonist — but the fact that ultimately the two girls need to step in keeps the balance right. Okarun and Jaishi were absurdly active last time so them being a bit useless here is whatever, but still kinda wasted. Anyway, the most interesting parts of the manga are up to here. Curious what they'll do for Season 3.

Kinta's first appearance I didn't really like, but somehow by the finale I was thinking "yeah he's actually a pretty good character."

I didn't feel the Jaishi arc was particularly long. If anything they cut a lot compared to the manga — the part after the Kito grannies fall down to the lower level could've been done as-is in the manga and they'd have had plenty of runtime.

For the Jaishi arc, it's less the arc length and more the battle scene length that could be improved. When they go on endlessly it kills the rhythm.

What's actually slow-paced is Sakamoto Days or Kaiju No. 8 — Dandadan's pacing is FINE.

Pacing aside, Sakamoto and Kaiju 8's stories are catastrophically uninteresting. That alone is a huge differentiator vs Dandadan.

Season 2 felt like nothing but battle-action with no real substance. If the source material from here on isn't well-regarded either, then Season 3 doesn't look great...

The Season 3 source material isn't bad, but it's more serious-toned than Season 2. People who started watching with Seasons 1-2 might feel a bit of whiplash.

Dandadan fanart is consistently high-level. https://i.imgur.com/mpuqb0z.jpeg

On the recent Sekai Marumie TV special they did a voice actor narration segment where Momo and Aira showed up and it was the best. If you can catch it on the on-demand replay you absolutely should.