The Importance of Media Literacy Through Dandadan

By Troy Gibson, Grade 12

*this articles contains spoilers for chapters 101-106 of the Dandadan manga 

Media literacy has always been an integral part of indulging in creative works, giving people their own perspectives on social or political issues and encouraging a great amount of critical thinking when consuming certain media. Since all media is created with the intention of either sharing or exploring ideas, the consumer has the responsibility to understand their works, create connections to social/political themes in real life or create their own interpretation of what is being said. To understand a text is to understand the ideas being presented in its natural state, while simultaneously being able to connect these ideas to other works and possibly, other social or political issues present in human society. 

While in an ideal world, we as consumers would be able to follow through with it, there has been a noticeable increase in shallow, surface level interpretations of certain media on the internet. People can freely share how they think, and this certain culture of constant, aggravated opinion based environment even sometimes encourages people to spout false or inaccurate assumptions on media they may dislike. This kind of thinking is rapidly increasing among young media consumers, which brings me to conclude that understanding media in its entirety needs to be a skill to emphasize within online communities. 

A very real and prominent example of a work being often misinterpreted by online communities is the manga/graphic novel Dandadan, written and illustrated by Yukinobu Tatsu. Dandadan follows a typical cryptid action-adventure story, in which our protagonist and deuteragonist, Momo Ayase and Ken Takakura (also known as Okarun), attempt to prove each other wrong on the existence of mythical, cryptid creatures such as Aliens and Yokai, only to find themselves cursed by each respectively. The story then follows the two titular characters as they find themselves in contact with a variety of monsters, cryptids, creatures, and other-worldly beings. The catch? behind each new character introduced comes with a thematically striking narrative that critiques harmful aspects of modern society, whether that be Japan’s rape culture, the mistreatment of single mothers in the workforce, the fine line between ethics and culture, and, for the focus of this article, Imperialism and the treatment of refugees in western nations. 

Amidst the extremely gruesome and realistic portrayal of such horrific aspects of society as a whole, online internet culture often tends to paint Dandadan in two perspectives. The first perspective is that of a casual enjoyer of the series - one in which the abrasive, silly and seemingly lighthearted tone of the manga is what catches the attention of certain people and attracts them to enjoy the series. They enjoy Dandadan’s atmosphere, goofy character dynamics and the many absurd, overly-saturated battle scenes (like when Gundam fought Godzilla using Tokyo Tower as a weapon). While this group of people is indeed a portion of the intended audience Tatsu had in mind while creating Dandadan (I have to admit, I am also partially one of these people), this specific audience often has their attention drawn away from Tatsu’s primary intention when creating the series, which is to highlight the very real societal issues he portrays through the various spirits, monsters, aliens and yokai encountered throughout the series. While this group of people isn't necessarily taking away any of the merit and praise Dandadan receives, it’s the people that only perceive the series as a “shut your brain off and enjoy the show” that I disagree with. With that being said, the more extreme example of the online community that fails to understand the sincerity of Dandadan’s writing and thematic choices is that of people who refuse to interact with the series and continue to mock, attack or bash either the series itself or individuals who happen to enjoy the series. I completely disagree with any alignment towards the mocking of people who enjoy a body of work. Most people who do so in fact, do not even bother to indulge themselves in the series, instead relying on mocking the seemingly shallow, childish tone of the show with the sole intention of receiving the validation of other hateful chuds online. They completely fail to open their perspective and consider deeper thinking and analysis of the work as a whole. 

In order to fully understand the narrative of Dandadan and the depth of the socio-political themes incorporated into the manga, an analysis of the character Vamola is necessary to do so. Arguably the most politically charged metaphor for marginalized groups across society, her individual character and the species she represents explores the most complex and multi-dimensional political narrative out of any other story arc in the series. For some important context, Vamola is an alien born on the planet Sumer. Characterized by their antennas, they share similar physical traits to humans. However, their relatively peaceful society was tragically torn to shreds as Vamola was forced to suffer as the last fertile Sumerian through the imperialist conquest of the Kur empire. A fascist, militaristic organization led through strict social hierarchy and the constant need for expansion to fulfill their pursuit of endless resources and material gain. The native people of Sumer, known as the Sumerians, were unable to properly defend themselves against the aggressive expansionist campaigns of the Kur, leading to the entirety of their male population enslaved by the empire. Their intentions? To utilize the bodies of every enslaved sumerian in order to create advanced military technology, fueling their further ambitions of conquest and absolute authoritarian control. 

Each Sumerian would be lined up, stripped naked and chained, barely moving, in a vegetative state in between living and dying, none of them with the slightest intention of resisting or rebelling against authority. Why? Religion. The Sumerians have had the belief for thousands of years that if their people are ever at risk of annihilation, their God will wake up and fight for the liberation of the Sumerians. In reality, no such god existed, but the Sumerians insisted on praying, staying silent and waiting for a higher power to fight on behalf of the oppressed. These ideas presented by Tatsu DIRECTLY tie into many different political conflicts, where historically, marginalized groups of people refuse to act against authority, rather praying and wishing for the help of a higher power to be involved in the process of liberation. The novel Wild Thorns would be a prominent example of religion being used as a diversion for marginalized groups to escape the obvious call for group action. Usama, a Palestinian, is appalled by the fact that his family is complacent with the Israeli occupation, using religion to avoid the need for rebellious action, just like how the male Sumerians in Dandadan refuse to act against their oppressors due to believing their god would save them, resulting in the women taking control of the wheel. 

Throuought the brutal rule of the Kur, a small group of female resistance fighters stood up and lead campaigns against imperialism and genocide. It seemed as if every step forward they took, the overwhelming strength and numbers of the vastly stronger Kur military would push them 3 steps backwards again. Nonetheless, the last remaining resistance fighters couldn’t care less about their survival. Ensuring the survival of Vamola, the last fertile Sumerian, was the top priority for the remaining sumerian population. The continuation of their species rested on her hands, their culture, their heritage, and most importantly, their hatred towards the Kur placed unbearable pressure on Vamola, still being only 17 years of age.

 The struggle and fight for freedom is portrayed as brutal and relentless - in war, nobody is spared. Tension builds as the rebel faction is slowly eaten by the industrial war complex of the Kur, culminating towards a heartwrenching moment in which Vamola is forced to leave the planet behind, recognizing that her land is too far gone as she abandons everything that made her what she is (including her mother that adopted her as a child), seeking new land to shelter herself from genocide as the last hope for her species.

Vamola would end up on planet Earth, a land inhabited by creatures that genetically resemble Sumerians (that being humans), where she obviously feels like an outsider in a new environment. The culture, language, and setting is all foreign and strange. Sent with the sole duty of saving the Sumerian race (humans are biologically compatible with sumerians), she spends her first few days on the planet searching for people, for a new community to accept her and allow her to live the life she never had. The innocence of Vamola as she searches for anyone to accept her is downright depressing, left all alone, unable to communicate with anyone in a foreign land. 

This lasts until she battles and eventually seeks refuge with our main cast of characters, which immediately causes conflict and tension between them. While Vamola’s threat level to our main cast was initially rather low after proving that she had no ill intent, an incident would cause a big divide within the group. The Kur would invade earth, with Momo and Okarun’s attempt to stop the invasion being futile, resulting in the main cast being heavily injured with only Momo scraping by with no injuries. Momo would immediately go on the offensive, placing the blame on the only other alien affiliated with her - Vamola. Being an alien, Momo accuses her of plotting against the group as a spy, unknowingly blaming her for affiliating herself with the same group that caused her race’s extinction. She is then exiled, marginalized by the same community that welcomed her for simply existing as an alien. To Momo, aliens are seen as a monolith. The actions of one group of Aliens reflect the attitude of all aliens, unknowingly disregarding the underlying societal conflict that caused Vamola to suffer for all her life. 

After Vamola’s exile, the audience sees her perspective on everything. She sees how everything played out, from when she first met Momo and Okarun all the way until she was marginalized entirely by Momo out of fear of being affiliated with the same organization that nearly led to the death of her species entirely. Everything was blank. No one said a word. Vamola couldn't understand human language, but that's what made every scene so powerful. Even without text to compliment the passage, every frame had deep emotional weight to it, as we see a confused, helpless individual lose their only connection in a foreign land, rejected by society once more. 

The implications of fear is very prominent through viewing the inner perspective of Vamola, tying into very real social instances in which Afghani or Syrian refugees are forced to escape terrible societies led by ruthless regimes, facing dehumanization and marginalization under their leadership, only to be met with the same treatment out of fear by a society they see as “safe” and “welcoming”. Not only is this issue relevant to the people that reside in refugee states, but the presence of marginalization is present within the institutions of the refugee nation themselves. For example, in the United States (being one of the largest immigrant/refugee states in the world), first generation immigrant detainees often have higher arrest rates on average, with up to 71% of detainees having no previous criminal convictions. (data shown below) Furthermore, statistics state crimes against people of racial/ethnic minorities and religious groups are the subject of a combined 74% of all hate crimes in the United States, often rooted in fear of the marginalized.

Detainee crime rates in the US 

Hate crimes rates per group of individual

How does this pertain to Dandadan? To conclude, Vamola’s story arc draws a striking politically charged comparison between that of the treatment of marginalized immigrants in the United States fleeing from oppressive regimes in the middle east, seeking refuge in what seems to be a free state, only to be met with a similar form of societal rejection and hostility for simply existing. Vamola shares a similar story, tragically escaping from an imperial war complex only to be met with fear and rejection from the same community that her people promised safety from war. Tatsu’s thematic narrative and ability to connect societal issues to his seemingly lighthearted battle manga shows how surface level interpretation of media can vastly overlook the effort and underlying narrative that many authors put countless hours of work and research into implementing into their stories. 

Sharing ideas using critical thinking would not only be able to improve the general attitude towards creative works as a whole and the broader understanding of societal issues, but also further create positive environments where knowledge is seen as favorable, rather than the toxic, negativity oriented community often seen online. In many cases, having opinions that  slander or misinterpret an idea in many online communities are favored at an unreasonably high extent when compared to positive opinions and reception that favors praise over negativity. Encouraging critical thinking, open mindsets on media and allowing others to voice their opinions rather than having them be drowned out by the loud minority looking for attention can drastically influence the current landscape of online media.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

TRAC Immigration. “Immigration Detention Quick Facts.” Tracreports.org, 2025, tracreports.org/immigration/quickfacts/. 

FACTS, USA. “Hate Crimes in the US: What Does the Data Show?” USAFacts, 14 Dec. 2023, usafacts.org/articles/which-groups-have-experienced-an-increase-in-hate-crimes/.