Summary
- Yokai in Dandandan are spiritual beings with unique backstories and motivations, posing a threat to humans.
- Yokai interactions are dangerous due to their territorial behavior and powerful abilities, making them a hidden threat.
- Yokai have limitations, including being restricted to certain domains and bound by pacts, giving humans a fighting chance.
Dandandan is one of the most anticipated anime to premiere in early October. The anime hosts a unique world following two protagonists, Takakura Ken and Momo Ayase, who both discover that their world is littered with beings from both the spiritual and extraterrestrial realms. Dandandan is set in a peculiar world where aliens and ghost-like apparitions exist concurrently and are extremely hostile towards humans. This strange premise leads the protagonists to strange misadventures as they spend their high school days exploring their unique interests in these unbelievable beings.
One of the two strange occurrences that the protagonists deal with is that of the Yokai. The Yokai are spiritual apparitions that are particularly hostile toward humans. They are spirits of humans who have unfinished business in the land of the living. They manifest through negativity and grudges and are often warped versions of their once-human selves. These apparitions come in different shapes and sizes and can be identified by their unique characteristics. A Yokai’s notoriety is tied to their strength and the fear humans have of them, making them mostly legends and folktales. Yokai’s powers are extremely powerful and unfathomable, especially in a world where powerful science-based extraterrestrials also exist.
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What Exactly Are The Yokai?
Understanding The Nature Of These Malevolent Spirits
Yokai are ghost-like spiritual apparitions that appear in a multitude of constitutions, taking on the forms of spirits from popular Japanese folklore and legends. They are the spirits of humans that remain on Earth because of negative or traumatic experiences they had when they were alive. In Dandandan, these Yokai appear as spooky and grotesque beings that each have unique personalities and motives for doing what they do. Yokai exist in between the living and the dead, and because of this, they only appear to humans with a strong connection to the supernatural or humans that have some sort of connection with them, such as the main character Takakura Ken.
Yokai often attack humans intending to absorb their life force because they believe that getting enough of it can bring them back to the land of the living. This belief, however, is purely speculatory and has no basis. The combination of the traumatic lives of the Yokai, coupled with their strong yearning for life, causes the Yokai to be hostile and appear inherently evil, however, this is not the case. The Yokai have different classifications based on their strength and power level, with the most powerful classification being Mountain Yokai, who are strong enough to be worshipped as gods.
The Boundaries Between The Yokai And The Human World
How Do The Yokai Interact With Humans? What Is The Implication Of Their Existence With Humans?
The Yokai are not a regular occurrence in Dandadan, and their existence is uncommon enough for them to be considered myths and legends. These apparitions exist in the spiritual plane, which lies between the living and the dead, and cause them to have one-sided interactions with humans because of their invisible nature. Their rare occurrences make them a lesser problem due to the infrequency of their interactions with people, but they are still very dangerous. The sudden appearances of Yokai in the human realm often lead to injuries or fatalities depending on the nature of the Yokai. Due to their aggressive nature, it is usually in the best interest of humans to avoid Yokai domains, as they are very territorial beings.
Yokai’s elusive nature causes them to be both a nuisance and a threat because, although they mainly reside in their domains, some can manifest in whatever place they decide. This unpredictable characteristic of Yokai causes them to be a problem for normal and spiritually inclined humans alike. The interactions between Yokai and humans are largely dangerous to humans, even more so because the majority of humans cannot see, much less interact with them. This one-sided dynamic makes Yokai a hidden force that humans don’t know they are dealing with, but luckily for them, they are an uncommon occurrence.
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The Diversity Of Yokai
What Makes Each Yokai Dangerous
Yokai appear to be dynamic and unpredictable beings and are illustrated as creatures of chaos. Dandadan does an extraordinary job of presenting these eerie apparitions with unique character designs and motivations, each posing a different challenge to the protagonists. Every interaction with a Yokai showcases the backstories and motivations of each creature encountered and the unfortunate circumstances that twisted them into becoming what they are. With no two Yokai being remotely similar, every battle and encounter with them is a new and refreshing experience of unusual beings that significantly contrast their futuristic extraterrestrial counterparts, the aliens.
The first two Yokai interactions that fans will see in the first season are the Turbo Granny Yokai and the Evil Eye Yokai. These powerful spirits depict two frightening and very different spirits with themes of speed and despair. Both of these Yokai pose a significant threat to the protagonist and have exciting arcs that take fans on a rollercoaster of emotions. Turbo Granny is known to be one of the fastest Yokai in existence. Her formidable Monika of 100 km/h granny results from her unrivaled speed in the Yokai world. As the protagonists, Takakura Ken and Momo Ayase, take on daunting spirits like Turbo Granny, they use their ingenuity to tackle the unusual perils that each Yokai poses. The diverse nature of the Yokai, with the inclusion of their design and their distinctive spiritual powers, is intricately tied to the experiences and lives of the Yokai when they were still alive.
Laws Governing Yokai
Conditions, Situational Appearances, And Limitations
Although Yokai are very powerful and influential, they can be restricted or beaten under certain conditions. Contrary to their dynamic and chaotic nature, Yokai have subtle rules that govern them. These rules depend on the Yokai and are the main reason that humans have a fighting chance against them, considering how powerful they can be. One such restriction is the condition of manifestation. Some Yokai can only appear and move freely in certain areas known as their domain. Within these domains, the Yokai are all-powerful and can manifest their full power but may be unable to operate outside the domain or are severely limited.
Another exploitable limitation of Yokai is their adherence to pacts and agreements. Yokai can be limited by verbal agreements made, forcing them to reach their end of the bargain of whatever agreement was made.
Consequently, Yokai, just like humans, can circumvent agreements to benefit their agenda, making them very dangerous. Through the journeys and adventures of the protagonists, they learn and explore the nuances of their interaction with Yokai, using these experiences through the anime as they keep interacting with these spirits.
Dandadan will premiere on October 4, 2024, and will be streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
Dandadan
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2024 - 2025-00-00
Based on Yukinobu Tatsu's popular manga that debuted in 2021 on Shonen Jump+, Dandadan blends action, comedy, romance, and supernatural thrills to create a unique and satisfying adventure. Momo Ayase and Ken Takakura believe in the extraordinary, although the former believes in ghosts and the latter believes in aliens. Determined to confirm their side's existence, they set out to find their proof.
- Studio
- Science Saru
- Creator
- Yukinobu Tatsu
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu
