Highlights
- Dan Da Dan, a romcom anime by Science Saru, blends high school romance with paranormal antics, eagerly anticipated this year.
- Science Saru projects prioritize uniqueness, embracing a variety of visual styles, creating open-minded, project-driven anime productions.
- The essence of comedy in Dan Da Dan lies in timing and emotion, using visual contrasts to enhance humor, validating the team’s efforts.
There was a lot to talk about at the return of North America’s biggest anime convention, and one of the biggest projects being discussed on this year’s convention floor was Dan Da Dan, the madcap romance comedy series adapted from Yukinobu Tatsu’s 2021 Shōnen Jump+ web manga. Centered around the unlikely romantic misadventures of a Shinto spirit medium’s boisterous granddaughter and a nerdy alien conspiracist, Dan Da Dan splices the world of high school romcoms with unrestrained, madcap paranormal anomalies. (And, with Dan Da Dan‘s distribution rights being handled for different avenues by two of anime’s biggest titans, Crunchyroll and GKIDS, the series is something of an anomaly itself.)
Produced by Science Saru, one of anime’s most artistically daring prestige studios, Dan Da Dan is one of the most anticipated upcoming anime of the year. Series director Fûga Yamashiro (Dan Da Dan, The Heike Story, Inu-Oh) and producers Kohei Sakita (Dan Da Dan, Star Wars: Visions, 2024’s forthcoming The Colors Within) and Hiroshi Kamei (Dan Da Dan, SSSS.Gridman, Don’t Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro) sat down with anime reporter Kevin Credo for a chat ranging everywhere from the style and production culture of Science Saru, influences from within and beyond the studio, and the artistic process of translating the madcap feel of the manga into fast, stylish anime.
The following interview has been edited for brevity.
Q: Dan Da Dan is one of a number of Science Saru projects that really embrace a unique visual style, sort of taking the iconic works of Masaaki Yuasa as a jumping off point and fostering several original projects in recent years. Especially with Yamashiro-san and Sakita-san whose work has been so involved with Science Saru, how do you go about defining and deciding the artistic choices for these projects, as a studio?
Sakita: There really isn’t one thing that I think of that really makes a Science Saru project. Every time we get an idea, or a project in front of us, we think of it on a project-by-project basis without the preconceived notions of what an anime needs to look like. I think it comes down to a real open-mindedness with the staff on the level of each project, and how that feeling coalesces not only with the director or the producer, but really the whole staff working together to make the most of what they feel is right for each new project.
Yamashiro
: In the way I approach it, I think about the essence of where a project comes from, the atmosphere it gives me when I think of what it should be and how I would want to give that back to the audience. And I think one of the biggest things with Saru is that the culture really gives us the freedom to do what we want with a project. And Saru, actually, a lot of us feel like we’re able to be given opportunities pretty early in our careers. When the studio gives out opportunities, like my chance to be director on
Dan Da Dan
, we really just go for it, and you see that sort of morale and mentality in the finished anime, I’d hope.
Q: A lot of the humor of Dan Da Dan really comes from the reaction shots and the really time-based, visual elements of the humor that take it beyond just the more plot-driven humor you see in a lot of similar romcom anime. How do you develop the humor and the timing during production?
Yamashiro: I really do think that comedy is the essence of Dan Da Dan. The roller coaster of how fast the emotions move is something I devoted so much attention to. And that so much of the comedy does come from the timing, it was really important for this kind of setting and world. We tried to really use the visual timing component to highlight the contrast between the serious character-driven moments and then the comedy, which was the serious part to us. That you and some others who have had a chance to see the opening episodes have brought up that visual aspect of the comedy, I’m really glad that it seems to validate what we were going for.
Q: And of course, speaking of the creativity and the different influences, what is one anime that really kindled your love for the medium and convinced you to pursue work in the industry?
Yamashiro: To take it back to Saru’s founder Yuasa, The Tatami Galaxy! When I saw it, I was amazed at how free the animators could really be to try anything, and that was something that I really admired when I was first getting into animation. Of course, Yuasa as director was able to combine the freedom of his creation with what the plot demanded, and his ability to balance that was something I greatly was impressed with.
Game Rant: And that’s perfect for your work with Saru now!
Sakita: (laughs) On that note, Mind Game was another one that really acquainted me personally to Yuasa-san, and to the feel and expression that would become so much of the core of Saru as a studio. It had so much energy, it’s still one of my favorite films.
Kamei
: I watched many, many anime titles that got me into the medium.
Evangelion
,
Cowboy Bebop
, two ones very popular in the U.S., but also
Martian Successor Nadeisco
was another big one for me, all things I had watched and really enjoyed in high school. I had these influences when I entered the industry, and I definitely have tried to carry that feel on as a producer.
Game Rant: And you’ve worked on Gridman, of course, so there’s the legacy of Eiji Tsubaraya and the big names to carry on and all that.
Kamei: (laughs) Yes, and this, Dan Da Dan, this comedy is another chapter of it all.
Later during the convention, the creators attended a packed premiere screening of the anime’s pilot, with lines to get in wrapping around the JW Marriott Hotel hosting many of Anime Expo’s biggest yearly events. Dan Da Dan is slated for premiere this October, with North American streaming rights being handled by Crunchyroll and physical release rights handled by GKIDS.
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