also the whole dracula/vampire antagonist would totally make sense since the girl who had the cowabunga spirit is super into vampire so i can def see the two characters interacting and getting into some sort of altercation
There're two major schools of Buddhism, Theravada and Mahayana. Japan and the other far east Asian countries are focused on Mahayana Buddhism. So I'm not sure if this would relate since I'm from the Theravada teachings, but Dandadan could've originated from "Danda dana" which makes sense in Pali. (Pali is the Theravada Buddhist language). "Danda" Means punishment and "Dana" means to give. But the thing is, dana is used in a positive sense. Like giving charity, helping a poor person, giving offerings to monks ect. So Danda dana would be giving punishment, but in a way that's good for the person being punished(?). Like some sort of salvation, which makes a lot of sense for the series.
I'd like to go back and rerecord, this is my new theory. This is EXACTLY the kind of things I wanted to hear so THANK YOU. I'm not sure I ever would have found this since I assumed I need to start looking at it from a Japanese angle, but Buddhism is spread across so many places for thousands of years that finding out what Dandadan is was always gonna be tough. I do honestly think you're onto something here, and probably closer than I was with my theory, lol
Enjoyed your rant about what dandadan means lol. I think some of it will absolutely track with what tatsu is trying to explore, and the fact that he is taking a month off to research stuff tells me he is serious about integrating these ideas into the text and subtext. Im excited for the next phase of the story, because the one thing I think has not been explored fully so far are the symbolic, thematic and cultural motifs underpinning the story. Dandadan obviously foregrounds the spectacle and character writing , and has exceptional composition and choreography, but thematically has been very eclectic. This isnt a bad thing, and works to craft its unique aesthetic, blending genres and tones with its unique bombast and flair. However, I will say anecdotally, I have 4 friends who have all dropped the manga for different reasons, not because they thought it was bad, but because it didnt give them enough in the way of overarching plot hooks and thematic depth to continue past a few arcs. The critiques? Plot wise it is very improvisational,and hinges on a umm...testicular gimmick for too long, and thematically hasnt been particularly subtle or nuanced. I will preface this by saying they enjoy thematically driven stuff and seinen /josei works more, but still it gave me food for thought. The series pretends to be dumber than it is, but it has really interesting things to say, it just exists at the level of character, symbolism, form, tone, and subtext. It almost turns style into substance. Now that this is becoming more of a focus, I told a couple of them about the recent revelations, and they are actually eager to get back into it. I think this is exactly what the series needed. Dandadan has had declining sales for a while, its last volume sold around 70k in a month, (from a peak of 120 k). Still good, and a mostly natural decline for a manga that will likely be boosted by the anime as well. Will be curious to see how the anime does though and if it can get boosted into a more mainstream property. Always thought it deserved even more attention, even though i understand why it isnt more popular at the same time.
Haha, glad you enjoyed it. I thought about uploading it as a separate 15 min video, and I still may. I know he's cooking something, I'd still bet I'm wrong, but I do think that Buddhism has something to do with it all.
I think Dandadan is ok, but your friends ideas are kinda some of the same issues I have with the series. It's kinda creative in some ways sure, but it hangs onto a ton of really tiring tropes and gimmicks, so that creativity seems a bit superficial and wasted.
@@onetimeweeb I wonder what tropes and gimmicks you think aren't well executed in DDD. I don't think anything DDD really does is subversive, so I guess I agree, but tropes aren't inherently bad, and here, they are backed up by good writing, and creating powers and fights, and fun character interactions.
@@weeklymangaPodcast Not all tropes are bad, but there are some that I tend to think are pretty bad, and Dandadan has quite a few of them. And I'm probably a lot lower on the character interactions than others are (as well as the art). Having every new relevant character be introduced as a potential love rival, even though it's very obvious momo and okarun are going to be together (there was that recent chapter though so that trend will end soon probably). And all of this comes with some really eye rolling romance tropes, like okarun falling on top of aira and momo happening to walk by just at that moment, to cause a bit of drama. Sure there are some sweet moments like the two of them in the car and gradually holding each others hands, but there are even more of these played out love rival tropes put in there. Also, some of these characters tend to have certain gags and fit specific archetypes that I just find annoying, even when moving past their initial introduction. Like Jiji is a happy go lucky guy who says stupid stuff with a funny face, which I just find annoying rather than funny. The romcom antics with Aira are just tedious to read. and sometimes the jokes are just really random and feel forced into the story. Like it's kinda funny I guess for them to be playing a sport to end up returning his balls back to him, but it doesn't make any sense why they're doing that aside from the mangaka just wanting to put a joke in there. On the whole, it has a creative aesthetic but very formulaic structure. Just feels like it tries to be quirky and not like other manga, but fails to differentiate itself in more fundamental ways.
@@onetimeweeb I get what you are saying, as I don't think that DDD is fundamentally different structurally from other battle shonen, or even other romances, like I said, it isn't really a series that does subversions in that way. I tend to think that it's a very solid core underneath, with great characters and backstories, awesome action, great style, and now, cool lore, but underneath all that, It's structure is just a normal battle shonen with a romance sideplot. I don't think it's a negative to tell a basic normal story, that's been told before, with a nice shiny new coat of paint, especially when the paint is SO shiny(I think DDD is easily the best battle shonen around RN, maybe outside of One Piece). I think that the new character being introduced as love rivals is a slight misread, they aren't all romantically interested in Momo or Okarun, but because Momo and Okarun are our PoV characters, we see how they react to being jealous there are new male or female friends in the group. It introduces a tension but you're right, the main pair has never been under threat, and I think that's shown in that those minor "threat" feelings don't stay around for long, I think it's more refreshing that there ISN'T a love rival at all, only temporary new people who the lead pair think MIGHT BE, which causes some minor tension. Also, are you saying you dont like the ART in Dandadan??!?!?
also the whole dracula/vampire antagonist would totally make sense since the girl who had the cowabunga spirit is super into vampire so i can def see the two characters interacting and getting into some sort of altercation
There're two major schools of Buddhism, Theravada and Mahayana. Japan and the other far east Asian countries are focused on Mahayana Buddhism. So I'm not sure if this would relate since I'm from the Theravada teachings, but Dandadan could've originated from "Danda dana" which makes sense in Pali. (Pali is the Theravada Buddhist language). "Danda" Means punishment and "Dana" means to give.
But the thing is, dana is used in a positive sense. Like giving charity, helping a poor person, giving offerings to monks ect. So Danda dana would be giving punishment, but in a way that's good for the person being punished(?). Like some sort of salvation, which makes a lot of sense for the series.
I'd like to go back and rerecord, this is my new theory. This is EXACTLY the kind of things I wanted to hear so THANK YOU. I'm not sure I ever would have found this since I assumed I need to start looking at it from a Japanese angle, but Buddhism is spread across so many places for thousands of years that finding out what Dandadan is was always gonna be tough. I do honestly think you're onto something here, and probably closer than I was with my theory, lol
@@weeklymangaPodcast Glad you're convinced lol. Ig we'll see in a month if its true!
THE JUMANJI ARC
I also called it that 🤣
The ZumaUnji Arc
Enjoyed your rant about what dandadan means lol. I think some of it will absolutely track with what tatsu is trying to explore, and the fact that he is taking a month off to research stuff tells me he is serious about integrating these ideas into the text and subtext.
Im excited for the next phase of the story, because the one thing I think has not been explored fully so far are the symbolic, thematic and cultural motifs underpinning the story. Dandadan obviously foregrounds the spectacle and character writing , and has exceptional composition and choreography, but thematically has been very eclectic. This isnt a bad thing, and works to craft its unique aesthetic, blending genres and tones with its unique bombast and flair.
However, I will say anecdotally, I have 4 friends who have all dropped the manga for different reasons, not because they thought it was bad, but because it didnt give them enough in the way of overarching plot hooks and thematic depth to continue past a few arcs. The critiques? Plot wise it is very improvisational,and hinges on a umm...testicular gimmick for too long, and thematically hasnt been particularly subtle or nuanced. I will preface this by saying they enjoy thematically driven stuff and seinen /josei works more, but still it gave me food for thought.
The series pretends to be dumber than it is, but it has really interesting things to say, it just exists at the level of character, symbolism, form, tone, and subtext. It almost turns style into substance. Now that this is becoming more of a focus, I told a couple of them about the recent revelations, and they are actually eager to get back into it. I think this is exactly what the series needed.
Dandadan has had declining sales for a while, its last volume sold around 70k in a month, (from a peak of 120 k). Still good, and a mostly natural decline for a manga that will likely be boosted by the anime as well. Will be curious to see how the anime does though and if it can get boosted into a more mainstream property. Always thought it deserved even more attention, even though i understand why it isnt more popular at the same time.
Haha, glad you enjoyed it. I thought about uploading it as a separate 15 min video, and I still may.
I know he's cooking something, I'd still bet I'm wrong, but I do think that Buddhism has something to do with it all.
I think Dandadan is ok, but your friends ideas are kinda some of the same issues I have with the series. It's kinda creative in some ways sure, but it hangs onto a ton of really tiring tropes and gimmicks, so that creativity seems a bit superficial and wasted.
@@onetimeweeb I wonder what tropes and gimmicks you think aren't well executed in DDD. I don't think anything DDD really does is subversive, so I guess I agree, but tropes aren't inherently bad, and here, they are backed up by good writing, and creating powers and fights, and fun character interactions.
@@weeklymangaPodcast Not all tropes are bad, but there are some that I tend to think are pretty bad, and Dandadan has quite a few of them. And I'm probably a lot lower on the character interactions than others are (as well as the art).
Having every new relevant character be introduced as a potential love rival, even though it's very obvious momo and okarun are going to be together (there was that recent chapter though so that trend will end soon probably). And all of this comes with some really eye rolling romance tropes, like okarun falling on top of aira and momo happening to walk by just at that moment, to cause a bit of drama. Sure there are some sweet moments like the two of them in the car and gradually holding each others hands, but there are even more of these played out love rival tropes put in there.
Also, some of these characters tend to have certain gags and fit specific archetypes that I just find annoying, even when moving past their initial introduction. Like Jiji is a happy go lucky guy who says stupid stuff with a funny face, which I just find annoying rather than funny. The romcom antics with Aira are just tedious to read.
and sometimes the jokes are just really random and feel forced into the story. Like it's kinda funny I guess for them to be playing a sport to end up returning his balls back to him, but it doesn't make any sense why they're doing that aside from the mangaka just wanting to put a joke in there.
On the whole, it has a creative aesthetic but very formulaic structure. Just feels like it tries to be quirky and not like other manga, but fails to differentiate itself in more fundamental ways.
@@onetimeweeb I get what you are saying, as I don't think that DDD is fundamentally different structurally from other battle shonen, or even other romances, like I said, it isn't really a series that does subversions in that way. I tend to think that it's a very solid core underneath, with great characters and backstories, awesome action, great style, and now, cool lore, but underneath all that, It's structure is just a normal battle shonen with a romance sideplot. I don't think it's a negative to tell a basic normal story, that's been told before, with a nice shiny new coat of paint, especially when the paint is SO shiny(I think DDD is easily the best battle shonen around RN, maybe outside of One Piece).
I think that the new character being introduced as love rivals is a slight misread, they aren't all romantically interested in Momo or Okarun, but because Momo and Okarun are our PoV characters, we see how they react to being jealous there are new male or female friends in the group. It introduces a tension but you're right, the main pair has never been under threat, and I think that's shown in that those minor "threat" feelings don't stay around for long, I think it's more refreshing that there ISN'T a love rival at all, only temporary new people who the lead pair think MIGHT BE, which causes some minor tension.
Also, are you saying you dont like the ART in Dandadan??!?!?
Count guy searching for the ultimate power via Buddha's power sounds like a legit theory. Thanks for the insight!
I did my research! Thanks for the comment.