‘Dandadan’ Season 2 Episode 2: “The Evil Eye”

The Evil Eye arc continues in Dandadan Season 2 Episode 2, with the yōkai taking the title role. As the midway point for the three-episode block that formed the theatrical release, this episode is more character and story-focused. That’s not a negative, as “The Evil Eye” reveals more about how long the Kito legacy has had a grip on the town and the harm they’ve caused. It also highlights Jiji and showcases what makes him special, both literally in characterization.

Stuck in the underground

Picking up immediately from the previous episode — which of course makes sense given this structure — Jiji is going through it. Okarun is transformed against his will and both he and Momo begin attempting to take their own lives. It turns out that the sandworm that has been growing underground exudes psychic energy that drives people to self harm.

This doesn’t seem to have an effect on Jiji though, so he leverages his athlete’s body to try to find a way out, avoiding the worm and trying to keep the other safe from themselves at the same time. During this sequence, he finally is able to see the Evil Eye itself, realizing that because it too has the ability to influence people like the worm, they can cancel each other out.

Another tragic yokai backstory

Which transitions into Jiji also learning the Evil Eye’s history. Like the Acrobatic Silky, Evil Eye has a tragic history of mistreatment at the hands of others. As a human child, they were used as one of the Kito family’s sacrifices long before the worm even came, to try to stop a volcano. The child survives but is grisly wounded, and the people respond by locking them away and leaving them for dead.

Eventually the child becomes a spirit that can only be seen by children, which doesn’t help as their parents continue to die thanks to the worm’s influence. As time goes on, one of the other children is left to be a sacrifice as well, buried alongside his own home. This leads the rage and grief to boil over and the spirits of the two children merge and transform into a yokai. While this backstory is presented in the same limited dialogue ways as the Silky, the music doesn’t really align the same way as that sequence from last season.

Jiji rules.

However, that is partially because the emotional climax isn’t quite here yet. Unlike all the others who have experienced supernatural powers and yokai so far, Jiji sees directly to the core of Evil Eye. He doesn’t see a threat at all, but the child desperately desires freedom to play. It’s so revealing about Jiji’s deeper personality: he may be a little silly but that’s in service to his genuinely kind and friendly persona. That’s the real reason he broke down past Okarun’s jealousy without even noticing that jealousy was even in play.

Jiji embraces the Eye without a hesitation, allowing himself to become a vessel like Aira and Okarun. It’s a risk that he doesn’t fully understand, but also doesn’t care. He senses enough to know there’s commitment — “One lifetime isn’t even enough” hits pretty hard — and his desire to finally set right this injustice shines through. It is very hard to hate a character like this.

Rules of cool.

Once Evil Eye is in control, the action really picks up. Jiji’s soccer skills are put to great use in some really dynamic shots. A soccer ball made of despair is cool as hell too, which is something Dandadan is really good at as a series. This story just keeps pulling out a cool thing every single beat it can, from sandworms to cursed soccer balls, to the last ditch return of Okarun matching Evil Eye’s kick to close out the episode.

The bulk of Dandadan season 2, episode 2 is focusing on building emotion. While the Evil Eye’s backstory doesn’t quite hit that crescendo the same as the Acrobatic Silky’s, that’s also an extremely high bar to clear. Instead, Jiji’s immediate acceptance subverts things, balanced by the Eye immediately breaking bad. It’s a great acceleration to this season introduction that should segue nicely into next episode’s climax.

Dandadan airs weekly on Crunchyroll and Netflix.

Featured image ©Yukinobu Tatsu/SHUEISHA, DANDADAN Production Committee

Travis Hymas

Travis Hymas is a freelance writer and self appointed Pokémon historian out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Known to be regularly obessive over pop culture topics, gaming discourse, and trading card games, he is a published critic featured on sites such as Uppercut and The Young Folks.