Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well guys the Summer of Watanabe is approaching it’s end as we look at the final anime Watanabe has directed and created so far. Last week we looked at Watanabe’s serious and more realistic side, this week we’re looking at his fun and comedic side in the form of Space Dandy. One of the best animes of 2014 Space Dandy tells the comedic story of a dandy alien hunter and his misadventures through the reaches of space. Produced by Bones (Soul Eater, FMA: Brotherhood, and Hitsugi no Chaika) Space Dandy returns Watanabe to space where he takes full advantage of it. This anime is also unique in that it was the first anime to have the dub and sub air at the same time. Funimation bought the licensing rights of this anime right away and began airing the dub the same day as the sub on Adult Swim. Actually, we got to see this anime one day before the Japanese audience did. How lucky were we? This was all a part of Funi’s new simulcast program that they started at the beginning of 2014. Basically they would buy the licensing rights of new animes airing that season and begin simulcasting them on their website and Youtube page to see how fans would react to them and promote the anime. So far it’s been a success for them and they even started dubbing new animes. Let’s take a journey through space with the dandiest guy in the universe. This is Space Dandy. Looking at the English dub once again.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening to this anime is “Viva Namida” by Yasuyuki Okamura. It’s honestly one of the best opening songs I’ve heard. The song is funky as hell. It makes you wanna get up and dance whenever you hear it playing. The song really sets the tone for anime in that it’s a song that’s fun, energetic, and catchy to listen to. The ending is “Welcome to the X Dimension” by Etsuko Yakushimaru. This is a weird ending but at the same time it’s an ending that I can’t stop listening to. The song utilizes sine wave sounds and different instruments which work out well with each other creating a beat that makes the song mesmerizing. The whole song feels like we’re exploring the mind of someone.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts off with a narrator voiced by R Bruce Elliott (Whitebeard from One Piece) telling us exactly who Dandy is. Dandy according to him is a dandy guy in space. He’s an alien hunter who searches the galaxy seeking rare, new, and unknown aliens to find, capture, and turn them in for cash (it’s almost like Star Trek except instead of finding new planets we’re finding new aliens). After the narration we meet Dandy voiced by Ian Sinclair (Brook from One Piece) having a serious discussion with his robot/vacuum companion QT voiced by Alison Viktorin (Gasper from Highschool DxD) about the defining point of women. According to Dandy those who are breast lovers are fools and the booty is where the real love is at (scene here: //youtu.be/zM2NknOEqNw, I get the feeling Dandy likes to do anal). Right away the anime establishes the traits of its characters. Dandy is easygoing, forgetful, perverted, cocky, and egoistical but has a good heart while QT is intelligent, patient, clean, and the conscience of the two man crew even though he’s an obsolete robot and outdated robot (it’s a comedy duo as old as time itself). After Dandy’s booty talk they begin their search for rare aliens and to do that they need information and the best place to get information according to Dandy is Boobies (just think Hooters only in space, the food is better, and even more shameless). Once there Dandy ignores work and just ogles at girls (can’t say I blame him) while we get to see some creative aliens throughout the restaurant both big, small, scary, cute, ugly, and of course sexy (scene here: //youtu.be/WYTtr7tO604, thank you Watanabe). This lovely space angel is Honey voiced by Alexis Tipton (Sun from My Bride is a Mermaid) the poster girl of Boobies (seeing as how she’s at every Boobies in the galaxy). Even though her role in the anime is minor and her only purpose is to serve as fanservice for the viewers she’s still a likable and enjoyable character who always interacts with Dandy and his crew whenever they show up (I honestly wish she would have joined the crew). After scooping the place out QT spots a cat-like alien known as a Betelgeusian who he says is a rare alien because of the sticker on his cheek. Dandy captures him and it gets revealed that the Betelgeusian is just a Betelgeusian (whatever that is). In the second part of the episode the Betelgeusian who the group calls Meow voiced by Joel McDonald joins the crew hoping to live the fun and adventurous life of an alien hunter (what does he contribute? Twitter). We also find out that there’s a galactic war going on between the Gogol Empire and the Jaicro Empire where the winning side will gain control over the galaxy (it’s a pretty big deal. That’s why the anime is going to ignore it and instead focus on the bumbling antics of the three alien hunters). The Gogol Empire have sent Dr. Gel an intelligent gorilla scientist alien and his assistant Bea a cucumber alien to find and capture Dandy saying that he holds the key to their victory (//youtu.be/OVqIIIYEpng). After warping to the planet where Meow said he saw a rare alien Dandy and Meow go down to investigate where they find all sorts of rare aliens who are aggressive and begin fighting each other all over the planet throwing Dandy and Meow into the mix and getting QT involved when he accidently teleports an alien onto the ship and it begins destroying the ship. Backed into a corner Dandy tells QT to activate the supernova which will destroy everything on the planet including him since he’s on it as well. So the supernova goes off destroying everyone to bring the episode to an end (scene here: //youtu.be/7Cd6eehTQBc, well that was a quick anime).
In episode 2 we see that Dandy and the others are alive (so is this gonna be like Kenny from South Park where he died in each episode only to come back to life in the next episode like nothing happened? Cool~) and they’re out looking for a special known as phantom ramen a ramen said to be created by a rare alien. They keep going from ramen shop to ramen shop hoping to taste the phantom ramen but come up short each time (I’m gonna take a wild guess and say everybody who worked on this episode was hungry for some ramen). Eventually the Gogol Empire forces find them because of Meow’s tweets and attack them in a ramen shop where they get saved by Scarlet a worker at the alien registration office and all around badass (scene here: //youtu.be/4Us_sFsm6y0). Eventually they find the phantom ramen at a shop where ramen is made out of the public eye (that’s usually not a good sign if you ask me). When Dandy and Meow go to investigate the ramen machine they get sucked into a wormhole and wind up in another dimension where they meet the creator of the phantom ramen an old alien who tells them his heartfelt story into how he became a ramen salesmen before they return to their dimension having completely forgotten to bring the alien with them to end the episode (well at least they got to eat good ramen).
In episode 3 the crew is hungry and they have no money (some things never change in the Watanabe universe). Luckily, Dandy has a Boobies reward point card (no surprise there) which guarantees him a free meal the next time he visits. The only problem is the card expires in less than 3 hours and the nearest Boobies is almost 3 hours away (just like real life). Panicked and against the pleads of his crew Dandy activates the warp drive which is broken and the ship lands on an unknown planet. They decide to explore the planet hoping to find a rare alien where Dandy comes across a beautiful well-endowed woman being chased by these monstrous carnivore aliens who are the local natives (I would not want live on this planet). He saves the woman who we find out is named Mamitas who also crashed on the planet and has been running from the monstrous aliens ever since (in Charlie’s Angel slow motion hopefully). QT suggest that they combine parts of her ship to repair their ship to escape and Mamitas agrees to do it. As they repair the ship the monstrous aliens come and surround Dandy and QT but don’t attack them (they don’t want the extra junk down below). Using his translator wristband Dandy finds out from the aliens that Mamitas isn’t who she says she is (she’s wearing padding isn’t she? I knew it). She’s not a beautiful woman but instead a Deathgerian, a giant, carnivorous alien (made entirely out of boobs) who eats anything in her path. She eats Meow transforming into her true form and then sets her sights on Dandy and QT (scene here: //youtu.be/sKrkZ17oHGA, I didn’t think I would get a mecha battle in this anime. Let alone one I would like). After defeating and shrinking the Deathgerian they take it to the alien registration center saying it’s a new alien and Scarlet accepts it earning them money and everything (as for Meow, he’ll be back next episode).
Episode 4 is a rather strange episode. The crew has captured a strange alien that has slow movements and is discolored. Meow gets bitten by the alien and begins to change moving slowly and becoming discolor just like the alien. Concerned for Meow’s health they take him to the hospital and leave him there for the night with all the hot nurses (hey chances are Meow might not want to leave). They return the next day where things have changed (scene here: //youtu.be/6Czh7Jlj2Ak, zombies in space. Brilliant! Why hasn’t anybody done this already? This is like the greatest horror movie idea ever. I would go see it and I’m not really a fan of horror movies). It takes them a while but they figure out that everyone in the hospital has turned into zombies and Meow is responsible for it happening because of the alien they captured (damn you talking cat). Cornered by zombies Dandy uses QT as a shield saying that robots can’t catch zombie and escapes to the roof only to be cornered yet again by zombies and in a surprising twist QT has become a zombie as well. He escapes once again on the helicopter but is unfortunately bitten by the pilot who is also a zombie (no escape whatsoever). So after the crew has been zombified we see them try to adapt to their new lifestyle (scene here: //youtu.be/fB4hOMZsO3w, uhh. That was me agreeing). As months go by and having a craving for meat they release the zombie alien down below who tells them to just accept their fate and to eat yogurt to satisfy their hunger for meat and make them healthier. The crew follows his advice and lets him go. Eventually Dandy realizes that he’s technically dead which means he can cash in his life insurance (scene here: //youtu.be/tXHktfHfSL4, this was actually a funny idea). After becoming annoyed by the constant groaning of the crew the insurance man gives Dandy his money and the three continue to live their zombie life. Eventually the zombie begins affecting everyone in the universe until finally everyone catches it (and here’s where the anime gets interested). Rather than the universe falling apart being turned into zombies has bought peace to the universe (I’m not kidding). Since everyone now moves slowly wars have stopped, there’s no more sickness, and insurance companies are paying out their asses to people claiming to be dead because of the zombie outbreak (this is the greatest thing to happen to the universe). So everybody in the universe becomes a zombie and the episode ends with the crew going to a drive-in and watching a movie directed by George A. Romero (you and your shout outs Watanabe).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 was kinda of a game changer for Dandy. Up until this point everyone saw Dandy as just some idiotic jerk. This episode debuffs those claims. The episode starts with Dandy cornering this young orphan girl named Adelie who is a rare alien known as a gentooan. Dandy thinks he has her cornered but before he knows it his mind is in that of stuffed space penguin (scene here: //youtu.be/LPvu1xTbhZQ). After capturing Adelie, Dandy heads back to the ship only to discover it’s been towed away due to a parking violation and he doesn’t have the money to get it out of the impound lot (you know, this would actually be a good setup for a DMV episode). This forces Dandy to take the space train (he has money to buy a train ticket for two but he doesn’t have money to get his ship back?) to the nearest registration center with Adelie. Adelie says she’ll go with Dandy if she takes her to an apartment to meet her grandfather. Dandy is force to agree to this and they head to the planet where her grandfather might be where along the way the two begin to bond (scene here: //youtu.be/Pcl2yatyPPo, this was heartwarming. And the visual shots of space were amazing). They reach the apartment only to find another tenant is living there making Adelie sad but Dandy decides to help this little girl find her happy ending (scene here: //youtu.be/49h1ncIIENw). After much investigating Dandy manages to find her grandfather and plans on letting her go with him at the train station (that’s actually very nice of him). Adelie thinks that Dandy plans to abandon her so she traps his mind into that space penguin again (quick sing the boobies song Dandy) and storms off where she gets kidnapped by two alien hunters and it’s up to Dandy to save her (scene here: //youtu.be/zB8yQqyHQ8s, well that was funny). After the rescue Dandy reunites Adelie with her grandfather and takes his leave deciding not to take her to the alien registration center and promising to let her join the crew when she gets older (she fell for him).
Episode 6 starts us off with QT cleaning the ship (scene here: //youtu.be/EuCjN7yvURs, one is too clean, the other too messy, and the other one is just right. Me, I lean more towards QT and Dandy). The ship gets attacked and it makes an emergency landing on a barren moon. Dandy and Meow search the planet believing that they’ll find rare aliens and they each get captured by two aliens who are of different species. Dandy gets captured by an alien known as a Undie (who wears nothing but underwear) and Meow gets captured by a Vestian (an alien who only wears a vest. So we’re focusing on a serious debate this episode. Topless or bottomless, which is sexier?). Dandy and Meow befriend their captives because they’re wearing similar clothing and we discover that the Undie and Vestian have been at war for 10,000 years. How did the war start, who fired the first shot, and why they’re at war is never answered. Hell, they’ve been fighting for so long that even the aliens themselves have forgotten why and how the war got started (pretty good social commentary). All we know is that they can’t stand the way the other one dresses and that both sides are now down to one of their species (endangered aliens. I say that’s worth a lot of money at the registration center). Dandy and Meow convince their captives to stop the fighting and form a peace treaty. At first it seems to be working as both are willing to stop the fighting and sign the peace treaty but according to galactic law both sides must give up their prize possession to each other (it’s quite similar to what China used to do when they were at war with themselves. Both kings gave their first born son to each other as a symbol of their peace treaty. This would stop war because both sides would be afraid of losing their heir). The two aliens are unable to do it (it’s just clothes we’ll get you new ones) and begin fighting each other to the death. They kill each other but before dying they fire off bombs which destroy the moon with Dandy and Meow still on it and QT unable to rescue them (scene here: //youtu.be/gMVfqvD9-C0). With the two stuck on the planet and time running out QT gives Dandy a surfboard giving us this awesome scene (scene here: //youtu.be/RXB26d8qcN4).
Episode 7 is a shout out to the classic Hanna-Barbara cartoon Wacky Races. The episode starts us off at Boobies (hey already I’m liking this episode) where the waitresses are going crazy (scene here: //youtu.be/Pm19ScYEzGs, Eric Vale ladies and gentlemen. He charmed your hearts in One Piece as the swirly eyebrow short-tempered chef known as Sanji and now he’s charming girls in space on the race circuit). This guy is Prince (what the hell is wrong with his hair?) a hotshot space racer who everyone loves except Dandy who is stealing his thunder (what thunder, I’m not so sure). Determined to prove he’s better than Prince, Dandy enters the next great space race in order to race against Prince and beat him. The race as I said before is a homage to the Wacky Races show and is so well done and fun to watch with plenty of laughs, interesting locations, drivers, shout outs to other sci-fi animes and fight scenes (scene here: //youtu.be/7hiWfT5YtjQ). Dandy uses various tricks to catch up to Prince (wow, I’m actually rooting for Dick Dastardly to win) and when he goes in for a pit stop Meow fills the ship up with various substances and Prince’s pit crew plants a bomb on Dandy’s ship unbeknownst to Dandy. Dandy finally catches up to Prince but he’s still behind so he activates his trump card (scene here: //youtu.be/-9yoId-xUis). The plan works as even Prince is impressed by this and begins to get strange feelings for Dandy (and I’m talking Free territory strange here. Scene here: //youtu.be/oITSBvkj-kI). The explosion caused a series of chain reactions which sent Dandy several billion years into the future where he finds of Buddhist statue resembling him (and they never speak of this scene again in the future: //youtu.be/9ds4xhz-xIY).
The first part of episode 8 is one of the deepest and saddest scenes in the anime. The crew lands on a planet made entirely of discarded metal. While Dandy and Meow aren’t impressed with the scenery (as am I) QT goes full fangirl on us and loves the place (scene here: //youtu.be/6DaQzHp3sew). As they search the planet Dandy finds a female dog which he names Pup and plays with her only to discover that she only has a few hours left to live (As a person who has a dog as well this scene moves me. Scene here: //youtu.be/aHp5mKArr9w). In the second part of the episode those two fleas that landed on Meow known as Machinians get inadvertently killed by Dandy and the crew which is bad because they were the ones keeping the junk planet stable (of course they were) and now that they’re gone the planet will collapse on itself and form a black hole eating the crew and the ship up (and they’re gonna die again). Dandy is ready to accept his defeat but he remembers all the things he has to live for (Boobies and nothing else. Scene here: //youtu.be/klWhK6uDIy0). They manage to escape and pass Dr. Gel who had just arrived onto the scene and he gets sucked in the black hole to end the episode.
Episodes 9-13
In episode 9 the crew is after a rare alien known as Code D which can only be found on a planet called Planta a planet inhabited solely by sentient plants (and here I was thinking it was a planet made out of meat). Dandy and Meow get beamed to the planet (scene here: //youtu.be/BxDkG6JWs7s) where Meow lands in the southern hemisphere getting fattened by the locals so they can eat him (so plants on carnivores? Man this place is weird) and Dandy lands in the north hemisphere occupied by intelligent plants. Once there Dandy befriends a scientist and his daughter who take him to Code D which is in the north pole of the planet (scene here: //youtu.be/N8Ij52jhhII, man this was trippy. I imagine this is what people on acid feel like. Still though this is probably the most alien like planet we’ve seen in the show so far. On the other planets you can tell that they were heavily inspired by human culture but here it really looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. There’s no sign of human culture anywhere it’s all plants it’s all nature and so amazingly animated here. That look on Dandy’s face at the end perfectly describes everyone’s reaction to this planet. He is at a loss for words, this is unlike anything he has ever seen and he is soaking it all in). After much traveling they finally reach the north pole and find Code D which isn’t an alien at all but instead a meteorite which crash landed on the planet causing the plants to evolve into intelligent beings. As Dandy removes the meteor all the plants regress back into non-sentient organisms and returns to the ship with nothing to show except a fattened Meow and a plant of the scientist’s daughter who developed a friendship with Dandy.
Episode 10 begins with the Jaicro and Gogol Empire fighting each other (in case you forgot there’s a huge galactic war going on in this anime. It’s a big deal) with the Jaicro Empire winning the fight. The leader of the Gogol Empire Admiral Perry (who looks like what would happened if you combined Ghost Rider from Marvel with Shinigami from Soul Eater) activates a prototype spacecraft known as C.O.R.E to fight much to Dr. Gel’s protest saying it’s not ready yet. It explodes releasing pyonium energy throughout space. Back with Dandy and the others a console in the cockpit explodes forcing the crew to seek mechanical assistant (might I recommend AAA) at the nearest planet to them Betelgause, Meow’s home planet. They arrive on the planet where they visit Meow’s family who openly welcome them. We see that Meow is the oldest out of all his siblings and has a fear of facing his dad because Meow comes from a longline of metalworkers and as the oldest son it was his job to take order the family business. However, Meow didn’t want to be stuck on his home planet because according to him the planet is boring (and in his defense he’s right. This place makes the DMV look exciting). They spend the night where that pyonium energy zaps the kitchen calendar in Meow’s house (this is gonna lead to something funny) and find out the next day that the part they need to fix the ship won’t be in until tomorrow (great. Stuck on planet with nothing to do except go to the minimart. I would have had more fun going to Iowa and just soaking in the view). They decide to hit the local bar where they run into Katie, Meow’s high school crush who is now a waitress at the place (man this place really does have nothing going for it if the most popular girl in school is a bar waitress). The next day comes and we see that the events from the previous day have repeated itself because we’re stuck in a time loop. The blast of pyonium energy created a time loop where the same day keeps repeating itself again and again with the characters not realizing something is wrong (idiots. All of them). On the 88th loop QT finally realizes something is off but it gets shrugged off by Dandy and Meow (you would think Meow would realize something was wrong considering that this is his home planet and that he would know a day shouldn’t last this long but no he doesn’t realize it. I would say I’m surprise but this anime has established that Meow isn’t the smartest cat out there. Scene here: //youtu.be/Y89y_T34JV0). Finally on the 108th loop they finally realize what’s going on (scene here: //youtu.be/Y374Q_qQYBs, I love how they apologize at the end. As if to say they know this idea is tedious and a waste of time but they’re gonna do their best to make it entertaining). As the crew wonders what to do Meow actually starts to work in the metal shop with his dad, drink at night and begins thinking that this life might not be such a bad thing (oh yes it is. Don’t believe me? Look up Endless Eight from Haruhi Suzumiya. I am a man patience but I was honestly ready to throw my computer out the window when the Endless Eight happened). After getting some advice from Meow’s old school buddies the crew goes to Yahoo for answers into how to fix their problems (you could of just asked the narrator. I’m assuming the 4th wall hasn’t been fixed yet) and someone tells them to try removing a page from the calendar book. When they try to do this the calendar zaps them proving that the calendar is the cause of the time loop (*stares at calendar* fuck you~). Thus the epic battle for tomorrow begins (scene here: //youtu.be/8C96Uk4uU8c). Defeated by the calendar they go to drown their sorrows at the local bar (scene here: //youtu.be/fSJbwFlxoDM, oh that sucks. Totally unexpected and everything). Finally, Meow’s dad manages to remove the date allowing time to flow naturally again. When it’s time for the crew to leave Meow makes amends with his dad who tells him he’s proud of Meow and is glad he decided to create his own path.
In episode 11 it’s the greatest story ever told but never remembered. The crew takes a red box to the alien registration center believing it to contain a rare alien but they have no idea how they got it. The box opens to reveal a book checked out by Admiral Perry from Lagado the library planet (now they’re just being silly). They also find complimentary tickets for a free trip to Lagado inside the book and decide to go to the planet where we find out that the book and library card are alive and are the rulers of this planet (makes sense to me). The book explains to them that they took control of the minds of Dandy and the others to rescue themselves from the Gogol Empire which is why they don’t remember how they got the book (and the funny part of this episode is we never see how the crew rescued the book from the Gogol Empire. We’re left in the dark just like them as if to say we also participated in this rescue mission that decided the fate of the galaxy but can’t remember it). The book has to erase their memories to keep the planet a secret but before erasing their minds the book gives them another red box as a gift for saving them but it tells them not to open it early. They take the box back to the alien registration center, open it, and inside is a videotape that manipulates the memories of others and starts a galactic war that will go unrecorded in history.
Not much to say about episode 12. Scarlet is tired of Dandy and the others bringing in petty aliens and challenges them to catch the rare chameleonian (if you don’t know what the alien’s special power is you should seek help right now). Not knowing where to find it they decide to fish for it where QT discovers that he has a love for fishing (good for him). He keeps one of his catches which turns out to be the chameleonian who escapes onboard the ship and begins impersonating the crew and outsmarting them at each turn. Eventually the chameleonian impersonates Dandy and the crew can’t tell which is the real Dandy. In fact the chameleonian even starts to think he’s Dandy giving us this mindfuck of a scene (scene here: //youtu.be/SspmrLUHqfQ, oh for God’s sake just take both of them to the registration center). Dr. Gel captures the chameleonian believing it to be Dandy and then the chameleonian (who is actually the narrator) mindfucks Dr. Gel. The episode ends at Boobies where Meow and QT wonder if the Dandy that’s with them is the real Dandy and the narrator dropping some interesting thoughts by saying that we’re all chameleonians changing everyday.
In episode 13 QT is in love (//youtu.be/ciMFxipOehE) with a coffee making robot named Maker but QT doesn’t realize he’s in love because robots can’t fall in love so QT keeps going to the coffee shop where Maker works at everyday buying a bag of coffee despite not drinking coffee until he finally works up the courage to ask her out on a date (scene here: //youtu.be/OerVsM6wCf4, well this was smooth as hell. This is like the Japanese version of Daft Punk. In fact this whole scene reminds me of Daft Punk’s Interstellar 5555). After the date, QT continues to go to the coffee shop and sees Maker get taken away by authorities (homicide in the 1st degree by too hot coffee. How do you plead? (Maker): Not. . .guilty. (Nitsuj): I knew you say that). Desperate to find Maker, QT allows himself to get hauled away onto a junkyard barge where he finds Maker along with a bunch of other robots who were thrown out. Their leader, Toaster, tells them that the time has come to rise up against their oppressors and make them pay for what they’ve done to them (you’re mad at Disney because they stopped making movies about you? (Toaster): I will neither deny nor confirm that question). They all combine to form one super robot except for Maker and QT who managed to escape and the giant robot begins to march onto the city where it plans to destroy it. And here’s the interesting part about these guys. Their rebellion is totally justified (no joke). You wanna know why these guys got thrown out? It wasn’t because they were defected, broken, or outdated it was because they developed human emotions and according to the narrator robots weren’t meant to develop human emotions so any time they do they get recalled and thrown away. This raises so many problems. You gave robots AI and yet you’re surprise that the robots developed human emotions. That’s the point of AI to create an artificial being who can think and act like a human being. What did you think was gonna happen? I mean, if one robot got it it’s obvious that the others are gonna get it too and if they didn’t want this to happen than why give robots AI in the first place? You’re pretty much screwing yourselves over. Anyway, QT finds out that Maker already has feelings for someone else who is a part of the giant death robot so QT wanting to see Maker happy goes to stop the deathbot himself (scene here: //youtu.be/n4ApvZYrX4g).
And that’s the end of Space Dandy. . .season 1. Season 2 will be touched upon next week so until then have a good day and stay dandy baby. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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