Okarun's Turbo Granny form explained

Key recommendations

• Yokai and aliens grant unique powers to the main characters, contradicting their initial beliefs.
• Okarun's Turbo Granny Curse gives him immense speed and power, but comes with a major limitation.
• Turbo Granny has unexpected depth, showing both compassion and deceit, creating conflict in the anime.

Dandandan is a shounen anime about two teenagers, Takakura Ken, also known as Okarun, and Momo Ayase, who, after spending so much time believing in aliens and ghosts, discover that their world is loaded with them. These two unlikely friends bonded over their curiosity for the bizarre and unreal, discussing their opposing beliefs and distrust of each other's hobbies of alien life and ghosts. Shortly after their first meeting, they encounter two of the most popular UATs and sightings that haunt ghosts in their area, where both suddenly gain special abilities. After Takakura Ken's first encounter with Grandma Yokai Turbo, she curses him.

The trouble of Turbo Granny's curse is the definite factor that advances the plot of the rest of the anime. In a harmless competition of ideals between the two main protagonists, each is given powers that contradict their original, staunch beliefs. Momo gains special psychic powers from the aliens who abducted her, while Ken gains access to superhuman speed from his suffering from Turbo Granny. While an initial source of inconvenience and danger to the protagonists due to Ken's lack of control, it becomes a significant source of power as he interacts with the Yokai and aliens he discovers.

The following contains spoilers from the first arc of the series.

The collision of the supernatural and the ordinary

Grandma Turbo's first meeting

After Takakura Ken and Momo Ayase first met through their discussion of the occult and space, they dared each other to go to the most popular sightings of Yokai and UATs around where they lived. After arriving in their respective areas for the test of courage, they both encounter things they didn't think existed. Momo Ayase soon discovers some humanoid-robot hybrid aliens abducting her, and Takakura Ken discovers the 100km/h Grandma Turbo cursing him. This surprise encounter with the bizarre puts both protagonists in danger from beings they still don't understand.

Okarun dared to go into a legendary tunnel to have Turbo Granny inside. Once there, he soon discovers that the legends about her are true and is cursed by her. Meanwhile, Momo Ayase was simultaneously dealing with aliens named Serpo, who wanted to use her body in a quest to obtain human genitalia. In an incredible turn of events, Okarun teleports to the spaceship where Momo is being held and helps her. Okarun, through sheer willpower and luck, manages to use Turbo Granny's abilities to help Momo escape from the spaceship, setting the tone for how Okarun's power will be used for the rest of the anime.

Turbo Granny Transformation

How it works

The full extent of Turbo Granny's curse power is not yet fully understood, but it is extremely powerful and capable of defeating Evil Eye Yokai, a Mountain Class Yokai, which is the strongest classification of Yokai. Okarun now possesses Turbo Granny's abilities as a borrowed power after only her consciousness was sealed from Okarun with her powers still residing within him. This arrangement gives Okarun immense speed, much greater durability, and remarkable bite force with his teeth while using this form. This arrangement is limited as Okarun is forced to shift back after doing everything at his 100km/h speed twice.

Okarun's powerful range of powers makes him something of a blast tank capable of keeping aliens and Yokai at bay, as well as dealing a significant amount of explosive damage with his speed. Many of Okarun and Momo's adventures are fighting aliens in his world Dandadan involve him testing the limits of his transformation and becoming stronger through training. The Turbo Granny form he's been granted serves as a last-ditch solution to the situation rather than a constant one, as Okarun must use his powers carefully so that he's not left helpless against the Yokai and aliens he faces.

The blatant regression of the Turbo Granny curse

A power that must be used wisely

The Turbo Granny Curse empowers Okarun, allowing him to take on even the strongest Yokai and alien threats. During his transformation, he pushes the limits of his humanity, being many times faster and more durable than the average human, but it comes at a cost. The transformation causes him to tire very quickly, and shortly after discovering his powers, he learns that he can only go full speed twice before becoming completely immobile and essentially a sitting duck. This weakness makes him rely heavily on the support that Momo Ayase provides.

The weakness serves as motivation for Okarun to be a very intelligent combatant, as he knows that his ability is essentially a coin. Through Okarun's reliance on Momo to overcome the multitude of threats he constantly faces, he realizes the extent of his powers and learns to use them in a risk-free manner so as not to put himself or Momo in danger. Okarun's ability to handle dangerous situations and his risk assessment are what make him a favorite protagonist of Shounen fans, and his adventures are worth following.

Consequences Beyond the Arc: Setting the Stage for Future Conflict

Turbo Granny, an unlikely source of power and just another person

Grandmother Turbo Malevolent was the first Yokai to show a tragic past and unexpected motives that presented her as something not inherently evil, as most Yokai are assumed to be, but someone who was also human. Turbo Granny, while shown to have a rogue and negative side that fans see when she warps and twists the rules of her game with Okarun, also has a compassionate side. Around the conclusion of her tumultuous arc, it was revealed that she had compassion for young girls and often sought out their dead spirits to comfort them. This personality trait was revealed to be the reason why he teamed up with the Yokai Earthbound Spirit Crab.

The conclusion of the Turbo Granny Arc set the pace for the anime, giving fans a glimpse into the kind of trials and failures Okarun would face following his limited but powerful cursed transformation. Beyond this transformation, the anime tells deeper stories about the Yokai, who have different goals and motivations for their actions through their inevitable battles with Okarun due to their aggressive nature. The Turbo Granny transformation is a power source that perfectly accentuates Okarun's chivalrous and idealistic personality with a flashy design and a supernatural set of abilities.

Dandadan will premiere on October 4, 2024 and will be streamed Crunchyroll and Netflix.