Key insights
- Momo loves the famous Japanese actor Ken Takakura and takes him as a role model.
- By coincidence, Okarun has the same name as Ken Takakura.
- Dandadan introduces another “Ken” character and shows a pattern of how Kens is admired in the series.
Warning: The following contains minor spoilers for Dandadan, Episode 3, “It's a Granny vs. Granny Clash!”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Dandadan is full of crazy and mysterious characters, and one of them happens to be a name without a face: “Ken Takakura.” In the final seconds of the pilot episode, the main male character, the UFO-obsessed guy with glasses, reveals that his name is Ken Takakura. The female lead, Momo Ayase, reacts with a look of disbelief as the crashed UFO behind her explodes like fireworks. As you may be able to tell from this interaction, Momo has a very different Ken Takakura in mind. But who?
The end of the first episode isn't the first time the name in question has appeared Dandadanas was already mentioned a few times at the beginning. Momo suggests that her ideal man is one “Ken Takakura” as she mourns never finding someone like him.
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Momo's ideal man, the famous Japanese actor
It's a celebrity crush. Go figure
Dandadan makes it clear that the Ken Takakura that Momo idolizes is not the same person as the otaku conspiracy theorist that viewers have come to know in the series. The Ken Takakura that Momo is in love with is an extremely popular Japanese actor known for his mid-20th century work. It is no exaggeration to say that Ken Takakura, known as Ken-san by his fans, is one of the most famous actors in Japan. He has won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Actor four times, making him the only person to win so many awards.
Momo loves Ken-san so much that the only reason she dated the boy from the beginning of the series is because he somehow resembles Ken-san in appearance. Of course, after realizing that the boy didn't share his personality at all and was a massive idiot, she quickly breaks up with him by giving him a roundhouse kick.
Momo also sees Ken Takakura as a role model and uses him as motivation to do the right thing. In Dandadan In Episode 3, “It's a Granny vs Granny Clash!”, Momo's grandma, Seiko Ayase aka Santa Dodoria, tries to convince Momo to leave Okarun and that they have no chance against Turbo Granny. However, Momo stands firm and says that Ken-san wouldn't back down from a situation like that, so she wouldn't either.
It's no wonder Momo goes into shock when she finds out that the guy she fought aliens and ghosts with is also named Ken Takakura. Afterwards, she immediately insists on giving him a nickname, settling for “Okarun” because he is a fan of the occult. She even goes so far as to completely ban any mention of Okarun's real name.
Why does Okarun have the same name as Ken Takakura?
Believe it or not, maybe there isn't one
The reason why Okarun has the same name seems to be a complete coincidence. As ridiculous as it may sound, Momo's schoolmate happens to have the same first and last name as the actor she idolizes. There were no signs in either the anime or the manga that Okarun is physically related to Japanese superstar Ken Takakura.
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While there may be no recorded reason for this, there may be an intrinsic reason why author Yukinobu Tatsu chose to give Okarun this name. The “Granny Turbo” host may not look like the actor, but they are actually quite similar in personality. Ken Takakura often played the roles of a strong, selfless, quiet type, and here's how Okarun resembles that:
- Okarun shows selflessness in the first episode when he insists on fighting Turbo Granny alone because he doesn't want to put Momo in danger.
- Okarun is also the quiet type, although that comes more from shyness than stoicism.
- Finally, Okarun imitates Ken Takakura's iconic saying: “Bukiyou desukara” (I'm a clumsy guy) near the end of the first episode, which throws Momo off balance and frantically causes her to change the subject, leading to her asking Okarun for his name asks. The phrase originated in a 1980s commercial and became iconic because Ken often had difficulty expressing his emotions properly.
I can't drag you into this anymore, Miss Ayase. I'll use my willpower to make it to the tunnel and then make it work somehow.
However, since the manga is still ongoing, Yukinobu Tatsu may have plans to literally connect the two Ken Takakuras at some point. It's admittedly a bit strange that Okarun hasn't mentioned his namesake appearing on the big screen once. Or perhaps it remains a strange coincidence, stranger things than sharing names have happened and will happen in the world Dandadan.
There is another “Ken” that the Ayase family loves
Loving Kens must run in the family
If you thought the coincidence of having two Ken Takakuras was crazy, then Dandadan has much more in store for you. In Dandadan In episode 3, “It's a Grandma vs. Grandma Battle!”, Santa Dodoria is shown to be a big fan of a show called Shimura Ken no Bakatonosama. This is a real Japanese comedy show where the person who plays the role of the main character of the show is a Japanese comedian named Ken Shimura. Apparently Grandma Ayase's preferences are hereditary.
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Although this has no direct impact on the series, Okarun's Japanese voice actor, Natsuki Hanae, is the same person who voices Ken Kaneki Tokyo ghoulSo there's another character named Ken that he's linked to Dandadan.
Dandadan is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Netflix, Muse Asia, and several other streaming platforms. The release date for the next episode of Dandadan Episode 5 is October 31, 2024 at 9:00 AM PT.
- Release date
- October 3, 2024
- studio
- Science Saru
- Creator
- Yukinobu Tatsu
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.61