‘Dan Da Dan’ Just Added Heavy Metal Exorcisms to Its Raucous Anime Medley

Dan Da Dan season 2 has consecutively become the talk of the anime community online, with each passing episode becoming another grand moment in its rise to become the main character of the internet. Its latest anime feat sees the show go full death metal in a raucous exorcism.

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In Dan Da Dan episode 6, titled “We Became A Family,” Okarun, Momo, and crew are quite literally picking up the pieces from Evil Eye’s sudden attack inside the Ayase house. In the previous episode, which featured the anime using live-action shots of food, the crew discovered that Evil Eye’s possession of their resident goofball, Jiji Enjoji (played by Aleks Le), adheres to the rules of the Ranma 1/2 anime. If cold water touches him, he transforms into Evil Eye, and vice versa with hot water. To help circumvent this, Aira and Okarun move into the Ayase household alongside Momo and Seiko to aid in stopping Evil Eye from taking over Jiji entirely.

The last episode climaxed when Okarun accidentally spilled soy sauce on Jiji, prompting him to flip their table of food and transform. However, while the gang managed to diffuse the situation between the opening and closing credits of last episode and this week’s, while the Ayases and their new guests begin arguing among themselves over the incident, a death metal band shows up at their front door.

Turns out, they’re the HAYASii, musicians that were name-dropped in the previous episode, who can help with exorcisms (inspired by Hayashi, musicians used in traditional Japanese theater). In typical Dan Da Dan fashion, their exorcism comes in the form of a live performance. Their musical prowess is strong enough to shake the souls of the dead despite the band not having any spiritual powers. In short, this episode adds another musical dub to Dan Da Dan‘s growing anime resume.

Dan Da Dan has built a career on doing the absolute most it can, and this episode is no exception. The first half of the episode features a free anime concert—one that you can also watch on YouTube, allowing you to join Aira, Okarun, Momo, and Seiko in some collective headbanging.

According to Japanese entertainment site Comic Natalie, HAYASii’s exorcism song, “Hunting Soul,” was written by Nagai Seiichi and produced by Ushio Kensuke. Its vocals were performed by Taniyama Kisho, who was accompanied by guitarist Marty Friedman, with drums by Chargeeeeee (yes, they have that many e’s) and bass by Wakazaemon. Should their music move you to want to add it to your workout playlist, Comic Natalie says the song will be available to download on August 9th. While the song feels like it skirts the line between metal parody and a for-real anthem, vocalist Taniyama hopes fans enjoy it whether it gives them laughs or they take it as a loving homage to the genre.

“I guess you could say it’s a serious joke, but when the person doing an homage or parody does it in a flippant way, the audience senses it and it puts them off,” Taniyama told Comics Natalie. “It’s because we’re doing it seriously that people can laugh, so I think we’re all proud that this song has turned out to be something that feels satisfying in line with our intentions, from the music production to the singing. For now, we’ve done everything I can, so all that’s left is for everyone to enjoy it.”

For those following along with the show’s dub, the official Dan Da Dan English X/Twitter account shared the English version of the raucous anthem, confirming that it was sung by Marc Hudson—yes, DragonForce singer Marc Hudson!—as the English voice of HAYASii’s lead vocalist, Toshiro.

Was your spirit electrified by HAYASii's soul-shaking vocals in #DANDADAN episode 18?!

Please welcome to the stage Marc Hudson (DragonForce) as the English voice of Toshiro, lead singer of HAYASii!