Recap

Dandy goes back to the 80’s and back to school, sticks it to the jocks and gets the girl in an all-singing, all-dancing musical extravaganza

Zigg’s Thoughts

Given its seeming attempt to cover every genre known to man, it was inevitable that Space Dandy would inevitably land on the high school parody episode. What really makes this different though is  the number of targets the showrunners choose to skewer. So instead of what would have been an amusing-but-rote spoof of standard Japanese school comedies, we instead get a terrifically tongue in cheek pastiche of 80’s American movies, except with added musical flair. The team’s reverence for their source material shines through clearly, from the wonderful opening scene crammed with weird aliens and sweet space cars, to the timeless nerds versus jocks plot line. Perhaps the episode’s highlight is the gloriously eighties training montage, complete with astonishing fashion and pitch-perfect cheesy power pop backing.

Of course, since this is Space Dandy there has to be a spin on even the most broad joke, and anchoring the entire episode around musical numbers is an inspired one. For a start, it provides a terrific meta-joke as the ‘jocks’ are all revealed to be fabulous dancers and singers. And of course, it means we get a truckload of songs, all of them brilliantly funny and on point. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to translate and localise all of this, but rest assured it was worth it. The cast show off some decent musical chops too, and the big finale is amazingly catchy. Even the stinger is heart-warming and funny in exactly the way the movies the episode is spoofing were. Once again, Space Dandy demonstrates its amazing versatility – after last week’s freaky trip, this week is far more ‘conventional’ comedy, but no less inspired for it.

Random Observations

• Though they’re mostly sidelined this issue, Mewo and QT’s appearance as janitors is solid gold.
• I also like how completely out of control their animation becomes during the ending number.
• In an episode full of golden 80’s references, Freckles’s amazing Cyndi Lauper-esque workout leotard might be the best.
• The homage to The Fly where everyone except Dandy has a different animal head might be my favourite gag in the whole episode.

Marlin’s Thoughts

This was definitely one of the most bizarre Dandys to date, and not for the normal reasons. Starting out as a normal lampoon of American high school tropes, already pretty interesting to see from a japanese perspective, it takes a 180 into crazy town by turning into High School Musical of all things. Watching the dub, you could tell Funimation had a lot of fun with this episode. Dandy continues to be just a total ass, but it’s hard not to laugh with him. Watching how he turns the tables on everyone with 80’s groove and his ever-present love of the booty is a master class in ridiculous storytelling that can only come from the freeform storytelling that Space Dandy allows.