Anime Food Just Reached Mouthwatering New Heights in ‘Dan Da Dan’

Anime has had a storied relationship with making food look more appealing than in real life. The most prominent example of this is the legendary Studio Ghibli, which has made a career of putting painstaking work into creating its fluid animation of food, practically wafting smoke from behind the screen and beckoning viewers to lean in closer. Dan Da Dan, ever the rebel, has opted for the opposite route in its latest episode by going full live action with its culinary flex.

In the fifth episode of the second season of Dan Da Dan, titled “We Can All Stay There Together,” Okarun, Momo, and their crew continue a tradition made famous by One Piece. After a harrowing battle, they celebrated their hard-earned victory with a feast of delicious foods. This victory involved stopping a raging volcano from setting fire to a nearby village and capturing Evil Eye, who resides in Jiji Enjoji’s body. The otherwise pretty chill episode’s biggest plot development is the discovery that Jiji and Evil Eye switch personalities whenever cold water is poured on him, reminiscent of Ranma 1/2 (which Dan Da Dan references explicitly by having him sing the original anime’s theme song).

However, we’re not here to discuss the plot. We’re here to talk about food. And this episode is chock-full of it in its opening and closing moments. The first is the presentation of a stuffed-to-the-brim bowl of hot pot. Of course, when the characters interact with the communal meal, the live-action food turns into 2D before getting nommed into their mouths. Regardless, Dan Da Dan‘s decision to drop all pretenses and post a photo of food instead of animating it was equal parts hilarious and mesmerizing.

In fact, the feat was so surprising that even manga creator Yukinobu Tatsu voiced his surprise during his live Twitter reaction to the new episode. The episode doubles down on the visual gag with another live-action shot of some food in the episode’s final scene as well, making it exceedingly clear that their inspired gastronomic animation decision was no fluke.

THE REAL LIFE PIC OF THE MARINATED CHICKEN IS SO UNHINGED AND CREEPY WTH pic.twitter.com/KvpcoylUAn

— Hikaru 🖤 Yoshiki (@hikayoshilover) July 12, 2025

Dan Da Dan isn’t the only Netflix anime that has dipped its toe into showcasing live-action food in its episodes as of late. Cyangames Pictures’ anime adaptation of horror manga The Summer Hikaru Died did so as well, though for more shock-horror purposes. Inverse to Dan Da Dan showcasing food so delicious it’ll make you want to open up your food delivery app and make some knee-jerk disposable income decisions, The Summer Hikaru Died showed a jumpscare frame of marinated raw chicken to exaggerate the feeling of sticking one’s hand inside their demonic, puppeteered friend’s body. (Note: If you like Dan Da Dan, take this as a recommendation to watch The Summer Hikaru Died as well.)

ご視聴ありがとうございました！
2話の制作進行を担当させて頂きました！
大迫さんを中心的に最高なカットを沢山作ることが出来て、関わって頂いた方には感謝しきれません！

個人的に実写撮影が初めてでしたので楽しく撮影出来ました！

※鶏肉のカットは唐揚げにしてスタッフで美味しく頂きました！ https://t.co/FRvrDXqfeD pic.twitter.com/WNhY1H0Hrk

— 土屋晶治 (@tsuchi31478044) July 12, 2025

While The Summer Hikaru Died‘s gnarly implementation of live-action anime food succeeded in being unnervingly macabre, the anime’s production crew assured fans that their live-action implementation of food was put to good use when they turned it into chicken karaage after the episode ended and shared it with the staff. Hopefully, the folks over at Science Saru got to dig in on their live-action anime food too once they finalized episode five of Dan Da Dan.

New episodes of Dan Da Dan air every Thursday on Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu.

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