“In a world like this, I want to be sensitive to what’s popular right now.”
This project is an attempt to get on board with the current trend by researching and understanding the words and content of anime, manga, games, etc. that are currently booming mainly on the Internet!
This time, we’ll be talking about “Dandadan,” a popular anime series for fall 2024!
This work is an anime adaptation of the original manga by Yukinobu Tatsu, which is currently being serialized in Jump+. The animation is produced by Science SARU and directed by Fuga Yamashiro. The theme song for Dandadan, “Otonoke,” by the popular artist Creepy Nuts, is currently creating a lot of buzz.
This song by Creepy Nuts, who also garnered attention with “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born,” is the subject of this study. The lyrics of this song are packed with elements of the story of “Dandadan,” the occult, and other Jump works, and the light-hearted rhythm and the OP video, which is also full of homages and parodies, make it a very interesting piece to watch.
In this article, I will discuss the lyrics of this song and introduce the homages and parodies it contains.
“Dandadan” is a story about the protagonist, Takakura Ken, also known as Okarun, who loves the occult, and the heroine, Ayase Momo, who comes from a family of spiritualists, and the protagonist becomes embroiled in various occult incidents involving strange phenomena and aliens. It is a unique work that miraculously balances various elements such as horror, the occult, romance, battle, and comedy, and once you experience it, you will become addicted.
They are a perfect match for Creepy Nuts, who sang the theme song! Both rapper R Shitei and track maker DJ Matsunaga are well versed in a wide range of fields, including not only music but also movies, anime, manga, and literature, and have released many original songs that utilize their knowledge.
In “Dandadan,” Okarun rushes around trying to recover his own testicles, which have been stolen by a monster, and it’s said that the unit name “Creepy Nuts” also has a similar slang meaning…
“Otonoke” was born from a collaboration between a work and an artist that is a perfect match in both name and reality.
“Otonoke” is also praised for its skillful use of themes such as urban legends, strange phenomena, and the occult, which are characteristic of “Dandadan.” The lyrics are peppered with eerie and mysterious expressions that reflect the worldview of the work, drawing listeners in and encouraging many fans to analyze the lyrics.
If you look closely at the lyrics, you will see that they are all connected to supernatural events that have become a hot topic on the Internet. Some famous ones are “Sada-chan (Sadako) from the movie ‘Ring'”, “Kaya-chan (Kayako) from ‘Ju-on'”, “Yonshaku shisun shibun-sama ga (Eight feet Sama)”, “4:44 (from ‘School Stairs’)”, etc.
The lyrics also refer to the ghost stories and strange phenomena collected in the occult thread “Why don’t we collect some scary stories that are not funny at all?” on 2chan (now 5chan), commonly known as “Sakekowai” (scary stories that are not funny at all) (there are strange stories from Sakekowai in the main story of “Dandadan”). The second verse of the song, “Is this what you mean, Shyamalan?”, is a reference to the name of the master of horror movies, director M. Night Shyamalan.
The memorable phrase “Haireta Haireta” comes from an episode about the mountain monster “Yamanoke”. The song title “Otonoke” may be a declaration that Creepy Nuts themselves are Otonoke, the monster of sound…!
One of the things that has been talked about about this song is the rhyming by R Shitei. When you hear the word rap, the first thing that comes to mind is the act of rhyming. Rhyming refers to lining up words that have the same vowel sound (like “barbecue, eat”), and the number of rhymes in this song is what has attracted attention.
The song “Otonoke” is based on the title “Dandadan” (the vowel sound is anaan) and rhymes everywhere. In the opening line, “You guys who don’t give up, even if we band together we can’t beat you,” the rhyme is used four times.
フレーズに「ん（n）」が入っているとより自由度が上がりますし、もはや全編踏みっぱなしなのでは？と思わせるR指定さんの歌い方やノリ、グルーブも相まって心地の良い耳障りになっていますよね！
アニメ・漫画ファンの間で考察されているのは2番の歌詞。他のジャンプ作品からの影響が感じられるのではないかと言われています。『ダンダダン』は、都市伝説やオカルトといった要素を盛り込んだユニークなストーリーですが、同じように超常現象を扱ったジャンプ作品などに敬意を払った表現が取り入れられているのかも！
「鬼とチャンバラ」「チェーンソーの虐殺」「祓いたいのなら」など、近年話題となった『鬼滅の刃』『チェンソーマン』『呪術廻戦』を想起させるようなフレーズや、『ONE PIECE』『NARUTO』『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』などの要素が含まれているのでは？ と深読みするファンの方も。
細かく見ていくと新たな発見がありそうなので気になる方は更に考察してみてください。ちなみに、映像では『ウルトラマン』のオマージュがたっぷり。監督を務める山代氏によると本編中にも、円谷作品から着想を得た演出を多く使用しているとのことなので、まだまだ味わい深くなりそうな予感。
楽曲も原作もアニメーションも、とんでもないパワーを持った作品なのでぜひ最後まで視聴しましょう！
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