‘Dandadan’ has finally made romance anime interesting

Perhaps the best anime of 2024, Dandadan is finally reconstructing romantic subplots in anime and ditching the stereotypes that have caused them to become stale.

While romance anime, or romance in anime, is a mainstay concept, Dandadan has significantly elevated a trope that’s threatened to lose its intrigue as time has worn away at it. While Dandadan prides itself on being a romance anime, it avoids trapping itself into identifying as just a romance anime by steering clear of predictability. For those unfamiliar with the manga before the anime adaptation, Dandadan’s approach to romance, blended with some humor and supernatural themes, is sincerely refreshing.

Who doesn’t love a slow burn?

What’s most intriguing about Dandadan’s yet-to-be romance between Momo Ayase and Ken “Okarun” Takakura is the teasing of the slow burn. The ongoing “will they, won’t they” game unspokenly played between the two contributes to the rich intrigue of their pining. Each is allowed to yearn without Dandadan condensing it to two main protagonists solely existing to be one another’s love interest. Momo and Okarun are tasked with carrying the weight of their narrative arcs while simultaneously exploring the complexities of their true feelings.

The teen years are already a challenge for some, and Dandadan is transparent about how awkward romantic feelings are in high school. Momo and Okarun must battle paranormal forces much greater than themselves while simultaneously trying to understand new, unexpected emotions. As they fully unpack these new feelings, their uncertainty and denial play into the exciting back-and-forth of their romance that sits right out of arm’s reach. That emotional appeal of romantic unpredictability makes Momo and Okarun’s dynamic worth investing in.

Jealousy is a spice best used sparingly

The spice of jealousy also contributes to how Dandadan approaches romance in anime. Jealousy is a recurring theme throughout the extent of Dandadan, though it is felt by its main players only when necessary. This emotional beat doesn’t overstay its welcome and the show doesn’t make it feel redundant, either. Instead, that creeping sense of envy is planted throughout Dandadan and lurks beneath the tension of the show’s atmosphere, only surfacing when it has to.

Dandadan introduces the age-old concept of the love triangle following Aira Shiratori’s intensified feelings for Okarun, and it feeds an ongoing rivalry between Momo and Aira without overwhelming their shared screen time. By choosing to allow Momo and Aria to face off for Okarun’s affection and being able to stand alone in their respective storylines, these two female leads are given greater importance in Dandadan while being able to experience romantic attraction (and the unsavory realities of competing for their crush). This actively defeats an ongoing trend of anime writing in prominent female characters with the sole purpose of acting as a romantic roadblock.

There’s more to life than romance

Dandadan doesn’t fully commit to completely identifying as a romance anime, and its ability to evenly explore elements of multiple genres gives the show’s romantic beats a nonconformist yet memorable flair. Not every episode insists that the romantic relationship between Okarun and Momo sits front and center. Instead, Dandadan consciously commits to genuine, quality storytelling that often allows their affection to simmer on the back burner. The romantic subplot is a delectable ingredient of a savory story already bursting with flavor.

Momo and Okarun’s personalities greatly contribute to how Dandadan has made romance anime all the more interesting. Both avoid trapping themselves in typical shonen protagonist archetypes that may stifle their true selves. Instead, they embrace their individuality while navigating their attraction to one another. The insistence on Momo and Okarun being able to retain a sense of self contributes to the depth of how their personalities compare and contrast. Dandadan consciously tries to avoid Momo and Okarun automatically experiencing manufactured, artificial chemistry and compatibility. While other anime that include romance often force their love interests to connect seamlessly and automatically send sparks flying, Dandadan understands that there should be realism in its romance.

Dandadan tests how far it can twist the conventions of romance anime by giving its romantic subplots a more authentic and genuine feel. Outside of Momo and Okarun trying to understand their attraction to one another, denied or otherwise, the anime faces the realities of conflicts in fresh relationships. Allowing Dandadan’s main pair to take on the challenge of working through conflict while seeking a resolution is impressively mature.

Dandadan has committed to taking its romantic arcs seriously and is determined to show every angle without succumbing to fan service. The anime’s effortless means of bypassing fan service to genuinely portray its main romance allows it to bypass an exhausted theme in the romance genre. Dandadan knows that it doesn’t have to rely on fan service to sell its romance, and it shouldn’t have to. Any anime that needs to sell its romance shouldn’t try matchmaking in the first place. Luckily for Dandadan, the romance sells itself.

By overhauling the concept of the traditional romance anime, Dandadan has successfully transformed a time-worn trope into an atypical genre-defying feat that’s still got a bit of sweetness to it.