Warning: Contains spoilers for episode 6 of Dan Da Dan.Dan-Dan Episode #6 began a new story centered on Aira Shiratori, an eccentric classmate of Momo and Okarun who awakened to spiritual powers after finding one of Okarun’s testicles. Aira believed that she was chosen to be a hero and that a demon had possessed Momo, so she decided to use Okarun’s testicle, a sacred orb in her mind, to try and destroy Momo.
Unfortunately, Aira possessing one of Okarun’s magical testicles meant she would be targeted by the supernatural, and that’s exactly what happened in episode 6. While Aira tried and failed to perform an exorcism, Aira, Momo, and Okarun were attacked by a Yokai called Acrobatic Silky, who claimed that Aira was her daughter and tried to kill everyone in the group. Like previous villains, of course, Dan-DanAcrobatic Silky is based on a real, albeit rather obscure, urban legendand the origins of his legend go a long way toward explaining his actions within the context of the show.
The origin of Dan Da Dan’s new villain explained
Everything to Know About Acrobatic Silk
Dan-DanAcrobatic Silky takes inspiration from Yokai called Akusara. Akusara is a giant woman over two meters tall, wearing a red dress and a wide-brimmed hat, with no eyes and a huge smile from ear to ear. Akusara appears in front of people she likes, and a curse tends to fall on anyone who catches her attention. Just from a single episode, Dan-DanAcrobatic Silky does a perfect job of bringing the disturbing nature of its legend to lifeas has been the case with every other monster that has appeared before him.
Something worth noting about Acrobatic Silky’s real-life origin is its similarities to the Yokai Hasshaku-sama. Hasshaku-sama is also portrayed as a tall woman in a dress and a large hat who curses anyone who catches her attention, but while Akusara is a rather dark person YokaiHasshaku-sama is one of the most recognized Yokai in modern Japanese culture. Akusara is relatively modern by international standards. Yokaiso with how similar she is to Hasshaku-sama, Akusara, and by extension Acrobatic Silky, may be a legend designed to be deliberately derived from Hasshaku-sama and other more notable legends. Yokai.
Acrobatic Silky’s origin makes One Dan Da Dan’s joke even better
Acrobatic Silky being derived from Hasshaku-sama is largely relevant to Dan-Dan because of a joke made in episode #6. When Turbo Granny explained who Acrobatic Silky was to Momo, she ridiculed her as nothing more than a newbie to the point where she needed to do an Internet search on her when she would normally know Yokai by heart, and although this was largely just Turbo Granny being arrogant, Turbo Granny’s lack of knowledge about Acrobatic Silky can be seen as Dan-Dan recognizing how derivative it is from Hasshaku-sama and other more popular Yokai.
That being said, Dan-Dan is already doing a lot to highlight Acrobatic Silky. In addition to his unique fighting style and disturbing behavior, Dan-Dan episode 6 and episode 7 preview hint at a tragic backstory for Acrobatic Silkyso her arc is bound to end with her becoming a much more recognizable person Yokaiat least within the structure of the story. Acrobatic Silky is another registered trademark of Dan-Danthe unique treatment of Yokaiand overall, it will be great to see how her story unfolds.
Dan-Dan releases new episodes on Thursdays on Crunchyroll.
Source: Konbanwa.net.