It has become no secret that we’re pretty sweet on Dan Da Dan. It’s tough not to be when Science Saru somehow raises the bar every week with the anime’s slow-burn romance, frightening cryptids, and balls-to-the-wall action, and its eighth episode is no exception. While last week’s episode made fans want to bawl their eyes out, this week’s episode will make Godzilla fans jump out of their chairs and pump their fists in the air with raw excitement.
Dan Da Dan‘s eighth episode, “I’ve Got This Funny Feeling,” sees Momo Ayase, Aira Shiratori, and Okarun sequestered in their high school, ankle-deep in a mysterious pool of water. While their classmates and teachers are nowhere to be found, the trio aren’t alone in this liminal space. Much to Momo’s horror, she’s being stalked by the Loch Ness Monster. However, this isn’t the familiar Loch Ness Monster. Much like its manga counterpart, this creature is heavily inspired by Hideaki Anno’s 2016 Shin Godzilla film design.
Much of Momo’s encounter with the Loch Ness Monster goes by as it does in the manga. Ripples of her footsteps clue the beast to her location, leading the creature to respond with a laser beam from its gaping maw. However, Science Saru adapts creator Yukinobu Tatsu’s overt homage to the Neon Genesis Evangelion auteur’s take on the kaiju to the next level by recreating its atomic breath to the letter. Before shooting out its atomic breath beam, we see green neon lights travel up the spine of Dan Da Dan’s Loch Ness Monster before it barfs up a bunch of water, closes its pupils, and shoots out a glorious, highly concentrated green beam of energy down the school hallway. Fortunately, for all the flash, Momo and her friends aren’t harmed in the onslaught of its attack.
Dan Da Dan‘s take on Shin Godzilla is the latest in an extended line of media referencing Anno’s kaiju flick. Video games like Elden Ring and Nier: Automata feature enemies with the same style of beam attack. Seeing as the entire premise of Dan Da Dan was inspired by the mashup of Sadako vs. Kayako, it’s only fitting that Godzilla would be included in the anime gallery of creatures. Thus far, the show has already featured cryptids like acrobatic Sara (Acrobat Silky), the Flatwoods monster, and Turbo Granny, and there’s even more coming down the pipeline.
New episodes of Dan Da Dan drop every Thursday on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix.
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