GKIDS Acquires Theatrical & Home Entertainment Rights to
DAN DA DAN
The Highly Anticipated New Series from Studio Science SARU
Based on the Popular Shonen Jump Manga
GKIDS, the Academy Award®-winning producer and distributor of artist-driven and award-winning animation, announced today that it has acquired theatrical, videogram, and digital transactional rights to the highly anticipated new anime series DAN DA DAN. The acquisition serves as GKIDS’ first engagement with a first-run series, following North American distribution of various famed retrospective series work. GKIDS will announce further details in the coming months.
With production from the acclaimed animation studio Science SARU (DEVILMAN crybaby, INU-OH, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, The Colors Within), the series is the directorial debut of studio veteran Fuga Yamashiro (Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, The Heike Story). Composer kensuke ushio (Chainsaw Man, DEVILMAN crybaby, The Colors Within) additionally joins the production for the score. The series is a television adaptation of author Yukinobu Tatsu’s manga of the same name, which is currently serialized in the wildly popular “Shonen Jump Plus” BY SHUEISHA, under the globally beloved Shonen Jump imprint. Yukinobu Tatsu, the author, previously worked as an assistant to Tatsuki Fujimoto on his global hit series “Chainsaw Man” and “Fire Punch,” and Yuji Kaku on “Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku.”
Conceived as a love letter to genre film, B-movies, and retro sci-fi works, DAN DA DAN follows the story of a high school girl named Momo who is from a family of spirit mediums, and Okarun, a high school boy who is an occult freak. As the two compete to disprove the existence of the other’s passion, they get caught up in an encounter of both the spiritual and paranormal, imbuing both teenagers with powers beyond belief.
DAN DA DAN marks GKIDS’ sixth title from visionary studio Science SARU, following local releases of Lu Over the Wall, The Night is Short, Walk On Girl, Ride Your Wave, the Golden Globe®-nominated INU-OH, and GKIDS’ most recent acquisition, The Colors Within.
“After years of championing feature animation and the occasional classic series, GKIDS is thrilled to join in the release of our first-ever new animated series,” said GKIDS’ President David Jesteadt. “We could not think of better partners than MBS and the artist geniuses at Science SARU, who we have had the fortune of working with on many films before. DAN DA DAN has been an office-favorite manga since its beginning, and we look forward to helping fans discover this vital new series later this fall.”
Synopsis
DAN DA DAN follows Momo, a high school girl from a family of spirit mediums, and her classmate Okarun, an occult freak. The two of them start talking after Momo rescues Okarun from getting bullied. However, an argument ensues between them – Momo believes in ghosts but denies aliens, and Okarun believes in aliens but denies ghosts. To make the mutual deniers believe in each other, Momo goes to an abandoned hospital known for its UFO sightings, and Okarun goes to a tunnel that is said to be haunted. In each place, they encounter overwhelming paranormal activity that transcends comprehension. Amid these predicaments, Momo awakens her hidden power and Okarun gains the power of a curse to challenge the paranormal forces! Their fateful love begins as well!?
The story of the occult battle and adolescence starts!
Based on the popular manga by Yukinobu Tatsu, DAN DA DAN is an electrifying, action-packed love letter to sci-fi and horror with the heart of a ruthlessly funny teen rom-com. The directorial debut from Fuga Yamashiro is the latest series from cutting-edge animation studio Science SARU (The Colors Within, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) with pulse-pounding original music from kensuke ushio (Chainsaw Man).