Season 2 of DanDaDan premiered just a few days ago and there’s already a lot to unpack. Between Jiji’s (voiced by Kaito Ishikawa in the original Japanese and by Aleks Le in the English dub) haunted house, Momo’s (Shion Wakayama/Abby Trott) terrible experience in a hot spring and Okarun’s (Natsuki Hanae/A.J. Beckles) newfound rivalry, the debut episode came packed with new info — but one element might have flown past you. The premiere episode, titled “Like, This Is the Legend of the Giant Snake,” included a reference to a major villain of the franchise. But fans who only watch the anime series probably didn’t spot it.
The reason why the reference might have gone unnoticed by most fans is because it’s related to a character that hasn’t even been introduced yet. In the manga series created by Yukinobu Tatsu, one of the villains from the later arcs is someone called Count Saint-Germain, who shares a name with the internationally famous soccer team. In the anime episode, it is established that Jiji is a massive soccer fan, so it makes perfect sense that he’d have a poster from the team in his house.
In the episode, though, not only is the name Saint-Germain shown multiple times, but the poster is important for the episode. On the wall behind it, there is a hole that provides access to an obscure part of the house — the place where Okarun, Jiji, Momo and Turbo Granny (Mayumi Tanaka/Barbara Goodson) discover the new villain Evil Eye and Tsuchinoko, the giant snake from the title of the episode. In the manga series, Count Saint-Germain is only introduced in Chapter 120. This means that the villain will probably be introduced in Season 3 or 4 of the anime series, or maybe by the end of Season 2 if the adaptation is fast-tracked.
Who is Saint-Germain in ‘DanDaDan’?
The DanDaDan villain is a collector whose plan is to steal the powers from all supernatural beings. This means that Saint-Germain is the kind of character who teams up with whoever can help him achieve his goal. So, sometimes he can be an ally and sometimes a foe. One of his targets is Momo, which makes him a dangerous figure to have nearby.
It’s still early to talk about the arrival of Saint-Germain in DanDaDan, but recently the anime series’ co-director Abel Gongora talked about the production team’s approach to adapting the manga and the kind of decisions they make — especially when it comes to action sequences. Gongora also revealed that franchise creator Yukinobu Tatsu is a frequent collaborator of the adaptation, which means that elements like the Saint-Germain poster were probably approved by the author.
You can stream DanDaDan on Netflix, Crunchyroll and Hulu.