Saagar Kote
The anime series ‘Dan Da Dan’ centers around Momo Ayase and Ken “Okarun” Takakura, who embark on an exploration of love, aliens, ghosts, superpowers, myths, and the supernatural. Their adventures come together in an essentially coming-of-age love story between two fascinating individuals. The two find themselves in absurd and dangerous situations as they go on adventures and missions, encountering phenomena that are hard to comprehend. Season 1 ends on a cliffhanger, with Okarun and Jiji fighting about who loves Momo more, but in a twisted ending, finding out that Jiji’s home is no ordinary house and has secrets behind its walls. Meanwhile, at the hot springs, Momo is held captive by three strange men who attempt to drown her in the water. Consequently, as season 2 episode 1 picks up in the immediate aftermath, the lead characters find themselves in dangerous situations. SPOILERS AHEAD.
A Raging Showdown at The Hot Spring
As the episode begins, we see Momo still stuck in the hot spring, with three men attempting to drown her. Just in the nick of time, it seems that her powers start working, and she hurls the offenders away. The men are shocked by her abilities and the whole structure around the hot spring collapses. The stuffed cat figurine, which contains the consciousness of Turbo Granny, appears and reveals that she is protecting Momo. This proves that Momo didn’t overpower the men. Turbo Granny reveals that she followed Momo and the group, hidden in a backpack, to Jiji’s village when she heard Seiko talking about his house. Officers from the Chamber of Commerce attempt to apprehend the men, who are revealed to be members of the Kito family.
The men run to avoid being caught. Momo thanks Turbo Granny for saving her and says she doesn’t feel that there’s anything wrong with Jiji’s house. Meanwhile, Okarun and Jiji continue to investigate the house for anything out of the ordinary. The space behind the walls with the talismans confuses them but doesn’t give them answers. They hear someone knocking on the door, and when they open it, they see five old women standing on the other side. The five women, with a woman named Naki as their evident leader, sit around the table and start eating, after which it is revealed that they are also members of the Kito family.
The family head tells Okarun that they are the owners of the house who took care of Jiji when his parents got sick. Jiji confirms that this is true. Naki threatens the boys and tells them not to do anything dangerous or bring mediums into the house. Shortly afterward, a corrupt cop named Tsuru escorts the Kito men to the house after saving them from the officers of the Chamber of Commerce. Naturally, these ill-intentioned men remain suspicious of Okarun. Nonetheless, by naming Paris Saint-Germain as Jiji’s favorite football team, the teenager proves that he is indeed Jiji’s friend. Still unconvinced, Naki asks Jiji about the girl they came here with. In turn, the latter lies in reply, saying he doesn’t know anything about it.
The Tale of the Giant Snake
Momo arrives at a place that she believes is a Tsuchinoko shrine. A BooTuber who is trying to upload videos of himself online doing headstands greets her and offers to show her the Shrine of the Giant Snake. As Momo walks into the shrine, she sees nothing out of the ordinary other than the dead skin of a small snake. The few documents the shrine still has tell the tale of a dragon rising to heaven to cast a rainbow, after which the wrath of the mountain will engulf the village. In explanation, the BooTuber narrates a popular story about the village, revealing that, in the past, the villagers used to worship a giant snake that they believed resided deep in the volcano.
As the legend goes, whenever the snake gets hungry, the volcano erupts. Since the villagers didn’t want the snake to get calamitously hungry, they offered one of their children as a sacrifice. This offering kept the villagers safe and even blessed them with their notable hot springs. However, the last sacrifice happened 200 years ago. Since then, no volcanic eruptions have happened. These days, instead of human sacrifices, the villagers simply worship the small snake skin, which they believe to be the skin that the Giant Snake left behind after it molted. For now, that seems to be enough to keep any disastrous eruptions at bay. As a result, through the elaborate story, Momo finds out that the Tsuchinoko Shrine of the giant snake is not a real legend but rather just a made-up story to attract tourists.
The House of Horrors and Offerings
Momo goes to the Kito house, believing Jiji and Okarun are there. She is shocked when the strange family greets her and says that with her in their grasp, they are ready to make their sacrificial offerings. As such, while Jiji and Okarun stay lying on the floor, almost unconscious, Momo fights the men. She uses her abilities to fend off their attacks and unwanted, disgusting advances. Turbo Granny remains inside her backpack, keeping the teenager safe from the attacks in her own unique way. Following Turbo Granny’s intervention, the head of the family starts fighting. Consequently, the revelation arrives that she has fighting powers as well. Momo is overpowered and knocked out by Naki, who sends her flying through the wall. The family matriarch believes that the young girl is here to destroy the village that her family has protected for many generations.
In a shocking twist, Naki tells Momo that her family has been making human offerings to the ‘Great Serpent’ for 200 years, and that’s why the volcano is dormant and the village is blessed with hot springs. The teenager is shocked to learn about this as the old lady goes on to divulge that the house is built on the altar of the original sacrifice and has been receiving offerings for 200 years. People are lured into living in the house, only to be sacrificed later. Several houses have existed in the same place for many decades, and all have been altars for sacrifice. Momo deduces that this is what happened to Jiji’s parents, and they were innocent people sacrificed by the evil family. In an escalating moment of danger, the giant snake attacks through quicksand beneath the walls and tries to swallow Momo. The Kito family says it is an offering for the godly figure. Just in the nick of time, Jiji and Okarun wake up and start fighting the demented family.
Everyone falls into the quicksand and finds themselves trapped within the beast. Jiji falls near the mouth of the creature, after which the family starts to worship it desperately. For them, Momo, Jiji, and Okarun are offerings that should please the giant entity. However, upon seeing what the creature actually looks like, Turbo Granny reveals that it is a Kurugari. As such, Okarun realizes that the beast is not a godly serpent or a myth but a Mongolian Death Worm, a giant man-eating earthworm that lives in the Gobi desert. The demented Kito family continues praying to the entity, but the earthworm swallows all of them quickly. In the end, Jiji, Okarun, and Momo realize that they are trapped deep underground. Worse yet, just when all hope seems to be lost, Okarun starts turning into his Turbo Granny form, gearing up to attack his friend.
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