Dandadan definitely has the cool factor thing down. The manga, and the anime managed to maintain it (which is harder than it seems). Maybe even enhance it, in the way an anime can. There’s no question this series has a real swagger to it, but it’s also peopled by total dorks and that does a lot to make it more approachable. It doesn’t vary its pace as often as I would like, and as such especially in manga form can be a pretty exhausting experience. But when it does slow down, it usually does so very well indeed.

You gotta love Momo and Okarun. I wish their relationship got even more time than it does, but it sure makes the most of what it gets. The whole maid cafe sequence is delightful, as Okarun is so hopelessly at sea with the whole experience and Momo tries to find a rock to crawl under. Indeed, with friends like hers, who needs enemies? Okarun offering to stay until her shift is over was just the sweetest thing, honestly. And then he winds up waiting for her in the cold after she (understandably) refuses his offer. And the whole Chopin thing was one of those anime level-ups I was talking about. Use the tools the medium puts at your disposal.

That said, the Jiji problem isn’t gonna solve itself. Jiji is making progress under Seiko and Manjiro’s tutelage, no question about it. He reaches the point where he can contain Evil Eye – barely – when Seiko spills a drop of soy sauce on him as a test. He’s a spiritual prodigy, she says, and those can do remarkable things. But one drop of room temperature fermented soybean paste is hardly the toughest test. As Aira soon shows, when she carelessly spills half her boba tea on him.

This is a pretty disturbing development. In the first place, Evil Eye manages to erect a spiritual barrier immediately on his release, which prevents anyone from splashing hot water on him. He then proceeds to target Momo, and half rips her sweater off in the process (and that sort of thing happens just a bit too often with her). It’s only because she’s already taken and reserved a swig of hot water (she and Ken had just come in from the cold, not that the wrecked house is much warmer) that disaster is averted. But the takeaway is painfully clear.

This situation is tough on everybody. Seiko knows she’s putting everything at risk by trying to honor Jiji’s wishes. Manjiro practically scolds her for it. But Seiko always wants to do right by the kids, to let them be idealistic and ambitious. And her deep affection for Jiji is plain to see. As for Okarun, he’s somewhat rough with Jiji after it’s all over. And then with himself, for not being able to do enough to protect Momo. He seeks out Peeny Weeny to become his master in teaching the mantis punch, but the alien refuses on the grounds that violence is wrong. That leaves Ken to try and mine wisdom from Hajime no Ippo (which to be fair is the basis for Mr. Mantis Shrimp’s fighting style).

But of course this is tougher on Jiji than anyone else. He has no semblance of a normal life at this point, for starters. But he’s more consumed with the reality of what everyone else is sacrificing – and risking – for him. You can tell Jiji all day long that this isn’t his fault (he didn’t spill that bubble tea on himself). But he’s making what, depending on how you look at it, is a very selfish request. The adults have the power to put an end to all this – to give his (and everyone else’s) life back, and he’s preventing it from happening.

In the end it’s Turbo Granny who takes Okarun under her paw, on the grounds that he’s shaming her powers by being so weak. She takes him to school, literally (and Aira sneaks along). To the music room, where she uses a piano to very artfully demonstrate just how much weaker he is in battle than Evil Eye. And even Acrobatic Silky, who makes her first appearance in a good while. It’s all about rhythm – and his two attacks per beat just can’t keep up. But as any Japanese kid knows, the music room is a scary place at night – it has one of the seven school mysteries, after all. And if it’s an urban legend or famous folklore, you can bet your sweet bippy that in Dandadan, it’s the real deal.