Film Review: Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye (English Dub)

Does trauma hold as much power as a ghost?

Dan Da Dan is a Japanese horror manga, anime, and film series involving the world of the supernatural with high school protagonists.  Season one of the anime is available to stream on Netflix, with the second season set to premiere on July 3.  The first film, First Encounter, which is a collection of the first season’s initial three episodes, debuted in 2024. Evil Eye similarly is the first three episodes of the second season. 

IMDb

Some quick backstory on the first season, which the beginning of Evil Eye also covers. High schoolers Momo (Abby Trott), Okarun (AJ Beckles) and an expanding cast of characters populate the show. Momo would normally not be caught together with the nerdy and alien obsessed Okarun in high school society, but a random encounter brings them together and, subsequently, they devise a plan for Momo to investigate an abandoned hospital (reportedly an alien hotspot) and for Okarun to check out an allegedly haunted tunnel. The season plays out with Momo and Okarun questing, surviving supernatural attacks, and being joined by other characters.

Evil Eye picks up with Momo and Okarun joining their friend Jiji (Aleks Le) in his hot springs town to investigate his supposedly haunted house. 

Does Evil Eye feel like three episodes of a show? Yes and no. The film doesn’t hide that it’s for the fans, but it does a good job of leading into the new story.  It does obviously leave off on a cliffhanger but several big budget films have done that recently, namely Dune, Dune: Part 2, and Wicked. In short, fans of the show and casual viewers should both find plenty to like.

But fans of the show should definitely not be disappointed - the animation is as stunning as ever, the English voice work is still charming, and the characters are their compelling usual selves. The horror is on display as well, with creepy visuals, a not-quite-right haunted house (and its landlords) and a downright heartbreaking and disturbing backstory for the titular "Evil Eye" antagonist. 

The antagonist's tragic backstory does a good job of not just representing his own trauma, but that of the town and our heroes. The townsfolk have been complicit in the villain’s suffering, and their misdeeds are quite literally built one on top of one another. So too does the trauma get passed down to the town’s families, eventually affecting Jiji.