Summary
Yukinobu Tatsu’sDandadanis becoming synonymous with a brand of shōnen that emphasizes over-the-top ridiculousness while building agenuinely sincere take on the battle shōnen formula. Part of this reputation stems from how the call to action – Okarun and Momo’s desire to prove each other wrong regarding the existence of ghosts and aliens respectively – ended up becoming their quest to find “the golden balls”, which are the family jewels that are attached to a male person’s “banana”.
For some reason, aliens and ghosts inDandadanare on a mission to obtain male genitalia, and unfortunately for Okarun, his curse at the hands of Turbo Granny leaves him without his “golden balls”. When you consider the Japanese phrasing of this predicament, you come across a very silly pun that just screamsDandadan.
The Big Joke
They Are Literally and Figuratively Golden Balls
It’s a very simple pun in Japanese and is the same joke at play in the title “Gintama”. Essentially, the curse that Okarun suffers as a result of losing a race against Turbo Granny in her domain is that she “gobbled” his genitalia. Until he is fit and strong enough to beat Turbo Granny in a foot race, Okarun can forget about getting his banana back. Over the course of the early series, Okarun and Momo manage to remove Turbo Granny from Okarun’s body, binding the evil spirit to amaneki-nekowhich thenserves as the “animal mascot"of theDandadanseries.
This returns his genitals, but only in part because Turbo Granny went and lost the balls, so the banana returned without the “golden orbs”. While the fact that they are now a source of supernatural power that even awakens the uninitiated fits their auspiciousness as orbs of literal gold, but this association is what makes the pun even sillier.
In Japanese, the term “kintama” can be translated directly to “golden ball”, but this is also the informal term used to refer to male genitalia, specifically testicles. This means that the “golden orbs” that Okarun and Momo are searching for; the ones brimming with Turbo Granny’s supernatural energy and a powerful life force, are golden balls because they are literally golden and spherical, but they are also golden balls because they are literally Okarun’s testicles – his kintama.
In the case of “Gintama”, the gold is swapped out for silver, changing a single syllable in a tongue-in-cheek nod at the obvious similarity between the words. The orbs are valuable to yōkai because the immense life force within them (come on) can bring yōkai back to life, while humans gain supernatural abilities and extrasensory perception after making contact with Okarun’s testicles. The “banana” thing was only the first phase ofDandadan’ssilly obsession with genitalia, as the golden orbs become a significant object, inciting incidents across multiple arcs.
The Impact of Okarun’s Golden Orbs
WhileDandadanbegins as a mission to exorcise Turbo Granny from Okarun’s body, the completion of this mission just becomes a precursor to the main mission to find his supernaturally charged testicles before they fall into the possession of a yōkai or alien with nefarious intentions; or potentially the hands of a normal person who winds up being the target of the aforementioned. Very early on, Okarun and Momo’s popular schoolmate, Aira Shiratori, comes into contact with one of the golden orbs, which results in her developing supernatural powers.
Believing herself to be the world’s saviour, Aira thought that the ability to perceive the paranormal was the conscious decision of “the heavens”, who have identified her as a hero specifically because she’s beautiful. In reality, Okarun’skintamasimply reignitedAira’s ability to see spirits, which she had as a young child but lost at some point, and she is just one of many people awakening to the existence of the paranormal. Okarun’s balls are extremely powerful, and later on in the series, a certain alien race wants to use the ball in his possession to provide energy to some high-level technology.
Dandadan
Cast
Based on Yukinobu Tatsu’s popular manga that debuted in 2021 on Shonen Jump+, Dandadan blends action, comedy, romance, and supernatural thrills to create a unique and satisfying adventure. Momo Ayase and Ken Takakura believe in the extraordinary, although the former believes in ghosts and the latter believes in aliens. Determined to confirm their side’s existence, they set out to find their proof.
