Dandadan Episode 23: “Hey, It’s a Kaiju”

As the Kaiju barrels after them, Momo, Okarun, and their classmate sprint through the streets in panic. When the sky suddenly darkens, they realize the creature isn’t just a Kaiju—it’s an alien. Meanwhile, Aira discovers she’s trapped inside a pocket dimension, confirming that an alien is nearby. She runs into Jiji, who blames himself for the strange phenomenon, but Aira quickly reassures him it’s not his fault and insists they regroup with Momo.

The two make it just in time to meet Momo, Okarun, and the classmate—right as Momo shouts that the Kaiju is heading straight for them. Aira and Jiji are shocked. In the chaos, the classmate trips and falls, frozen as the Kaiju looms overhead. At the last second, Momo, Aira, and Okarun rush in to save him. Momo tells Jiji to take the classmate to her house for safety while she, Aira, and Okarun prepare to fight. Aira pushes back, declaring herself the team’s leader, but still echoes Momo’s command before charging in.

Aira vs the Kaiju

Aira takes on the kaiju in her Acrobatic Silky form, attacking with her hair, but her strike barely leaves a mark. Momo quickly realizes the kaiju was once an invisible speed type that’s now evolved into a power type, using brute force to boost its strength. Aira wraps her hair around its head to take it down, but the kaiju stays standing and fires an electric beam from its horn. After dodging the blast, Aira fights back by throwing a car at its head. Momo praises her and gets orders to aim for its legs, but Aira insists on being called “leader.” Momo follows the plan but ignores the title, using her psychic powers to launch another car that knocks the kaiju forward. It retaliates with a tail swipe that catches both Momo and Okarun.

Frustrated, Aira scolds Momo and decides to prove herself as the real leader, using her hair to swing a crane at the kaiju. But while showing off, she gets caught and crushed in its grip. Momo fires back with a barrage of billboards, telling Aira to drop the “leader” act and giving her a chance to escape. Aira calls her attacks useless, but Momo pushes her to help. Aira refuses—until Momo questions her teamwork, forcing her to jump back in.

It’s gone invisible

The kaiju starts wrecking nearby buildings, and Okarun notices it seems to be targeting something. When it fires another electric beam, Momo shields herself and Okarun. Okarun theorizes that the kaiju might be a descendant of a dinosaur that adapted to space, explaining its energy attacks and invisibility. With that clue, he tells Momo to go for its light source. Aira distracts it while Momo redirects the kaiju’s own beam back at it, finally taking it down.

Just as Aira prepares to finish the job, she realizes the kaiju hasn’t fled—it’s gone invisible. Momo warns her as heavy footsteps echo around them. Aira dodges the invisible attacks but is too slow to avoid the next electric blast, leaving Momo and Okarun stunned.

As Jiji carries his classmate through the chaos, things start spiraling out of control. Worried that the Evil Eye might resurface, Jiji warns him not to sweat on him. But the classmate takes it the wrong way, thinking Jiji’s just being stuck-up, and touches him on purpose. The contact forces Jiji to drop him, barely keeping the yokai inside contained. Jiji snaps at him not to do that again—but the classmate doesn’t listen. He sprays his sweat on Jiji, and this time the Evil Eye bursts out completely.

The Evil Eye awakens

The Evil Eye, now fully awakened, looks at Jiji in confusion before tossing his backpack aside. The classmate, realizing what just happened, nervously asks if he’s like Okarun, but the Evil Eye ignores him and starts walking off. It’s only when the classmate mentions Momo and their plan to meet her that the Evil Eye stops—his excitement instantly reignited. Taking it as a sign to face Okarun again, he dashes off, leaving the classmate scrambling to keep up.

Okarun goes All-Out to save Aira from another kaiju attack, but the effort drains his energy and he reverts to normal. Momo catches them both midair with her psychic powers and pulls them out of the kaiju’s reach. The kaiju collapses after getting hit by Jiji’s bag, which the Evil Eye had thrown earlier. Momo takes Okarun and an unconscious Aira back to her house. Once there, she finds out Aira was only pretending to be out cold so she could hold onto Okarun. Annoyed, Momo pulls them apart, frustrated she wasted so much effort.

The nanoskin is the key

Before things can calm down, the Evil Eye suddenly shows up, eager to fight. Okarun tells him there’s no battle scheduled for today. Momo suggests getting his help against the kaiju, but Okarun refuses—he reminds her the Evil Eye can only fight him directly and is too unpredictable otherwise. When Momo mentions that Seiko’s away working on a TV gig, she realizes they’re in trouble if it’s just her and Aira left to fight. While she’s trying to think of a way to exploit the kaiju’s weakness, Okarun notices the house’s nanoskin walls glowing. As the kaiju approaches, their classmate panics, and Momo and Aira step up to face it. But Okarun stops them—he’s got a plan to use the nanoskin against the monster.

As the Kaiju draws closer, Okarun quickly lays out a plan for Momo, Aira, the Evil Eye, and their classmate hiding inside the Ayase house. He wants to use the nanoskin material of the house to reshape it into a weapon that can fight back. Trying to imagine something big and powerful, Okarun starts manipulating the nanoskin—but his control slips, and the whole thing nearly collapses on them. That’s when the classmate, who finally introduces himself as Kinta Sakata, steps in. He claims his sci-fi know-how makes him the better choice for this kind of job.

Taking over, Kinta focuses the visualization and manages to transform the house into a huge mechanical Buddha, complete with separate cockpits for everyone. Kinta’s excitement quickly turns to disappointment when he realizes it’s not the cool mecha he pictured. Momo sheepishly admits she was thinking of a giant Buddha at the same time, which probably influenced the design. Still, Kinta can’t help but get hyped—he names their creation “Great Kinta Bodhisattva, Zeta Version,” and gears up to fight the Kaiju. That’s when Momo asks the question no one thought to answer: how are they actually supposed to make this thing move?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.