Dandadan could be better than Jujutsu Kaisen if it focuses on these aspects

Dandadan is one of the best releases of anime fall season 2024since it brings us a quite terrifying story that stands out for the combination of comedy, action and also a lot of darkness in its episodes. And we accompany Okarun and Momo, two young people who must deal with paranormal threats, such as aliens and evil spirits.

Obviously, Dandadan is not the first work to handle paranormal themes and pit humans against these figures of the extraordinary, since there are many other exponents in Shonen, like Jujutsu Kaisen itself, a work with so much to offerbut it was rushed and had a bittersweet ending. And we consider Dandadan to be a very good title and could be even better than Gege Akutami's manga if it focuses on one important aspect.

Dandadan has everything to be a work as good as Jujutsu Kaisen or even better

Curses in Jujutsu Kaisen were introduced as a resource of horror and terror

Jujutsus Kaisen and Dandadan are works that have some points in common. Obviously, we are not trying to get into direct comparisons, since this is something that should not be done in the industry, since each manga offers resources and a unique story.

But this does not mean that we cannot find similarities between these two workssince they have similar beginnings. And, at first, Jujutsu Kaisen presented us with a combination of terror due to curses and also comic overtones between Yuji and Megumi, for example. And we could see this in Dandadan in its first episodes.

The relationship between Okarun and Momo It has its great hilarious momentsespecially when they met and challenged each other to prove that their paranormal beliefs were correct. This mix of comedy with horror fascinated us and is something that the works share.

The villains in Dandadan are not humanized, but are machines of horror and death

However, Jujutsu Kaisen, as it developed, showed us new facets of curses, especially through Jogo, Hanami, Dagon, and Choso. And at one point in history, These characters were able to gain the empathy of the sorcerers knowing their aspirations and how badly humanity treated them. In fact, they just wanted to have a place where they were respected and existed. And this made a great contrast, because sorcerers like Gojo were even scarier with their terrible power.

Obviously, the development of these curses is a strong point of Jujutsu Kaisen and is not at all easy to carry out, so we must give it credit to Gege Akutami. However, it also implies that, at one point, These curses ceased to be the center of terror and horror.

By humanizing the curses of Jujutsu Kaisen, This fear factor that characterized the series was lost. Therefore, if Dandadan avoids doing this as well, he could maintain the same traumatizing and creepy aura.

Turbo Abuela is presented as a terrifying villain with no ties to humans

For now, the aliens and Spiritual beings are not a game nor have they been humanized.since they continue to present themselves as paranormal creatures without human attachment and who wish to execute their selfish objectives regardless of who they hurt.

The approach that Dandadan has maintained to date suits it very well to maintain terror and horror in the work, something very different from what JUjutsu Kaisen did with humanizing curses, especially those of special category. And basically, the aliens and spirits of Dandadan are creatures that seek to kill, cause harm, and are not humanized in a sympathetic way.

Some good examples of this are the plans of the aliens from the planet Serpo, who sought to procreate and preserve their species by removing women's reproductive organsmurdering them in the process, as was going to happen with Momo. Or the curses and misfortunes that Turbo Abuela causes as well.

In fact, in the third episode of the anime we could see how Turbo Grandma threatens Momo and he hurts his grandmother and Okarun in the process.. These are some details that serve to maintain the terror and not try to humanize these characters.