Produced by Science Saru and airing in summer 2025, Dandadan continues picks up immediately after what I consider one of the worst and the most abrupt endings to a season I think I've ever seen. While it continues on to deliver on and even eclipse it's mind bending animation, expanding it's colourful cast, it fails to reach the emotional highs it did in the first season

Story - 7.5

The season starts with the climax that season 1 built up towards and it delivers pretty hard, atleast in the action and animation department. I personally didn't really like the evil eye backstory and I didn't really like that other family side story going on. The training arc following this was easily one of the best parts of the season showing dandadan at it's creative peak and science saru being the perfect match to put it on a screen. The way that they used rhythm to showcase. We close out the season with a Kaiju battle, the build up to it was alright to me, but when it came to the fight itself, It was incredible how the crew managed to link up to drive their own kaiju and come on top at the end. Very flashy and a lot of fun., adn i can't wait to watch more with the cliffhanger ti ended the season with

Characters - 8

I really like how the characters we've seen grow into this sort of found family with the gang. Jiji and Aira make for really fun additions into this group and seeing connections strengthening between them and the main duo were really fun to watch. Now i don't really like Kenta's character archetype but the anime did an incredible job into making me enjoy him on screen. Don't really have any thoughts for him other than he's just been there. It'll change once I've seen more of his interactions with the others, but for now - I'm kinda indifferent about him, but lean more towards liking him

Art - 8.5

Easily the best aspect of the anime. Science saru have been doing a stellar job with the animation and art direction with the anime. The colours especially were the biggest point of appreciation for me. the different colour palates for the fights / climax with every major enemy truly sells on how imaginative and experimental the staff can get with the source material presented to them. While having minor inconsistencies spread across the season, they are in no way enough to deter anyone's enjoyment form the final product. The OP and ED visually were also incredible. While one can't really catch lightning in a bottle twice like trying to follow up OP1, this new one is also really good, both sonically and visually. The same goes for the ED, but in this case I like this one more

Sound - 8

Kensuke Ushio absolutely kills it again with the sound track as with everything he touches. The use of classical music and modernizing it with funky elements to make it fit the vibe of dandadan has always been fun to listen to, and this season has more of that. I'd need to listen to the full soundtrack more, but I don't think I remember any of the slower tracks form this part being that memorable.

Final thoughts

It's the new kid on the block with the flashiest drip on while also having a kind heart to it. It's an anime that can handle it's comedic and emotional beats very well and has the animation prowess to showcase all of it beautifully. In my opinion, Dandadan represents a peak in this newer generation of anime as it feels like it's on the path to become the next pillar in shounen action anime. I highly recommend it

Overall: 8/10