Recap

In the first episode, Dandy finds himself on an alien planet where two aliens have been locked in an eternal conflict over underwear vs. vests. Desperate to get the two to the alien registry, he and Meow get caught up in the war.

In the second, Dandy decides to enter the galactic grand prix, determined to show up Prince, the uncontested racing champion.

Gee’s Thoughts

Compared to the heartwarming anomaly that was episode 5, these two episodes get back into the regular groove of things for our dandy heroes in space. I’m happy to say that the fan service of the earlier episodes seems to finally be dying down, as the stories begin to focus more on the crazy space adventures Dandy and his crew get into and the crazy space people they meet along the way.

The “two sides of a conflict have been fighting for centuries over something really stupid” plot hook is a well worn one, and in some ways, the episode feels a little weak. It starts off strong with the banter between the three members of the Aloha Oe, as Dandy justifies his past as an unparalleled surfer, a trait which he conveniently never brought up. considering the Hawaiin theme of his ship though, it’s not entirely surprising in some ways. The conflict between the aliens themselves feels pretty cheap, and while I love the sheer absurdity of the nature of the conflict, it’s all stuff that’s been done before, and while it’s done in a Dandy way, there’s not much else going for it.

That said, the ending of the episode is probably one of the most impressive bits of animation I’ve seen from Space Dandy since the premier. The surfing just feels right and you can tell the animators had a lot of fun with it. There was a real character to it and the smoke waves were really fun to watch in motion. This episode was a distinct reminder that when Bones is at their best, they really hit it out of the park.

The second episode was definitely a lot stronger, though its similarity to RedLine probably helped. The idea of a ridiculous wacky race through the stars, competing against crazy looking aliens with awesomely designed ships, complete with explosion-based speed boosts only serves to reinforce the comparisons. Once again, nothing in this episode really surprised me except for the psychedelically awesome ending, but compared to the previous one, the execution of this episode really shines. The aliens and their ships all had some distinctive designs the compliment Space Dandy’s wild aesthetic and Dandy himself was great in this episode, recklessly using last resorts left and right.

It feels like Space Dandy is settling into its groove as a show. While it’s certainly not the most original thing on the block, the quality of its execution speaks volumes for it. While some episodes have certainly hit higher points (3 and 5 for example) than others (6), the overall package is a wildly fun show with excellent art direction and an impressive soundtrack worthy of Watanabe’s reputation. With next week’s episode being the requisite “man and his dog” story by the looks of things, I have high hopes for Dandy. It’s shown that not only can it tackle quirky space antics, but some great world building and character moments.