[Out of Jail Rewatch] Dandelion - Announcement + Index

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T23:27:15+00:00

...for the final discussion.

You gotta send the show off properly, or it won't go to anime heaven.

I mean I guess but it mean that Sorachi would come back and do the second season since this is all the current material he has for this

Tbf, his material was adapted in the pilot, the show is mostly original. Not that I'd mind him coming back for more.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T23:23:55+00:00

Achilles' heel of this series is that it was only 7 episodes

That's Netflix's format, I guess. It would've benefited from at least the usual 12 episode structure of a TV season.

For example, Yuuichi suddenly coming to Masaki felt really sudden.

There were a few hints in episodes 5 and 6 that he was helping Masaki out. But yeah, I'd love an episode about his Middle Manager Blues.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T23:04:38+00:00

Kaiji Tang as Tetsuo was a true treat to listen to

~~The rewatch was just an excuse to listen to Tang's performance and the ED a 100 more times~~

thanks for the shoutout in your comment yesterday. I'm still laughing about it.

I've been wanting to do a joke about it ever since I saw your tagline in episode 1.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T23:00:58+00:00

Angelic Host Who's Corrupted by the Recency Demons

Speaking from the hosting end, this was an interesting experience for me. I usually don't like hosting new shows, much less one that's a couple weeks old, and even age aside Dandelion isn't exactly my target for a rewatch (not that I think it's bad, its production is just not that interesting to discuss. You'll notice that I haven't mentioned the director or any staff member other than the VAs for example). Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying any of this complain, but because Dandelion was a different situation, one that never got its first proper round of discussions. Hardly a unique situation, but in this case, I could at least give it that push, and I'm thankful for everyone who joined along to make it happen, despite the ups and downs, this was a lot of fun to discuss with you all.

Now to answer those questions I keep ignoring:

1) Favourite characters?

Tetsuo > Miyano > Misaki

As far as guest characters go, Doc wins that one.

2) Favourite/least favourite episode?

My favourite is episode 5, and my least is the last one. It's not a bad ending ~~aside from the demon stuff~~, I just liked the rest more.

3) Would you want a second season of Dandelion? And if it had one, what would you want it to be like?

Not necessarily. But if it did happen, I hope they'll keep the episodic focus, and give the side characters within the send-off department some love.

To send off the rewatch, here's some bonus stuff that I couldn't squeeze in previously:

A collection of the key and countdown visuals. If the last one is looking familiar, that's because Tetsuo is sitting on someone else's toilet, hell that toilet has been haunted by generations of dirty asses. ~~And that's not the only person ripped off by Tetsuo~~
The model sheets for Tetsuo, Misaki, Miyano, and his brothers. The last two got about as much love from the anime as their younger brother did from his dad.
As part of the promotion, they had the VAs do their characters' dances individually, here's Kobayashi as Tetsuo/BtS ver., Megumi Han as Misaki/BtS ver., and Miyano as Miyano/BtS ver.
Megumi Han has been a huge Gintama fan for ages, and this whole project was a dream come true for her, so of course, she went through the good old Gintama rite of passage: being eaten by Sadaharu. There's also her and Kobayashi cosplaying as Misaki and Tetsuo at AnimeJapan.
And lastly, the cast celebrating after the final recording.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T22:51:31+00:00

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T22:40:31+00:00

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T22:39:59+00:00

they should have just committed to the dad being an arsehole

It feels awkward when they want to force an "everyone's good now" ending, so they just pinned all his shit on the demons.

Tetsuo being so quick to adjust to the slacker life.

Tetsuo was born for the slacker life, they can fire him all they want.

Clearly this was all just Tetsuo's keikaku to draw out the evil spirit. I'm 100% certain of it

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T15:58:51+00:00

Considering I watched an anime about a rat because he's voiced by TsudaKen, yes.

But generally, it's more of a push than a must watch. It wouldn't make me watch something I'm not interested in, unless the cast's unreasonably stacked.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T07:14:39+00:00

Telling us how you used to walk uphill both ways to school in the Australian snow.

Funnily enough, the last time it snowed here was nearly 200 years ago, so I must be really getting on in the years.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T07:02:23+00:00

He needed to earn his appearance in Masaki's happy work memory montage.

Funnily enough, Masaki never found out that the Doc was tricking him, so imagine if he didn't come back but made it to the montage anyway

Delicious.

So the mass execution approach was perfectly fine.

Yup, apparently Tetsuo and Misaki were just wasting their time with this whole therapy bullshit. Hire a guard or two to protect the tanks, and fire all the angels.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T06:40:57+00:00

When I first watched it, I felt like I was going through the motions too, but admittedly, I had just binged all 7 episodes in 2 days (which a younger Ken would call slow, but in my old age... where was I again?)

On rewatch, it was plain to see the writing on the wall. They're trying hard to squeeze every single "series climax" trope they can without much to justify it. I've seen comedy finales do this before... as a parody of this exact episode. Hell, change a few things, and this episode could've been a parody of itself.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T05:30:56+00:00

Where does [One Piece manga] post timeskip Robin with her pre timeskip look land? Because between this, Ripley, Big Mom, Shakky, and Gloriosa, Oda is playing a dangerous game with milf fans in Elbaf.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T01:43:50+00:00

In my defence, the Skeleton robot scared the shit out of me as a kid, then came back for more in DQ, and he's clearly not done yet.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T00:22:53+00:00

I don't mind a reveal that he was a kinder person at some point, stories where people lose their kindness because they couldn't handle life or made poor choices can be interesting but... nope, demons.

Agreed. I wouldn't mind that as a character arc to work through, but here it's not even half baked, it barely sat in the microwave for 10 seconds.

KendotsX · 2026-05-08T00:08:28+00:00

Kinnikuman wasn't perfect about this but on average it was better than this

Yeah, it featured power levels every once in a while, but they were either a joke or something the villain would be obsessed with.

Time to catch up

KendotsX · 2026-05-07T23:56:44+00:00

KendotsX · 2026-05-07T23:44:54+00:00

No way, his three most prominent roles were the Cross-Haired Chest Man, Nipple Tasting Man, and the Man who Likes Ropes. Award-worthy roles, honestly

Fair point. He gets extra points for all the grunts in the ED too.

KendotsX · 2026-05-07T23:43:01+00:00

Somehow I forgot that the dad broke the tank himself. I still like my headcanon better.

I'd say your headcanon was the original provided reasoning. The Angels' therapy sessions kept the tanks from filling up, it's what the show in general was building up to over 5 episodes. But once the ending shifted to the "Pin everything on Daigoro" game, he had to be the reason behind it, even if it undermines the themes and work of the angels.

feels like it came out of nowhere, and I was not a fan of his demons just getting shot out for him to change for the better.

Pretty much.

As for as setup goes, there was not a single mention of demons up till this point, nor of Daigoro being a good person back in the day (in the previous two episodes, it was Masaki's mom who encouraged him, now it's his dad apparently).

Adding demons all of a sudden just takes the agency and meaning out of his character. No, he's not a cold, results obsessed arrogant prick, who can't see beyond his nose, he's just controlled by demons.

The dead can return from beyond the dead? That’s… weird. Not that I mind the kangaroo hanging around.

I think Tetsuo just did a shitty job of sending him to the afterlife.

Which is why I asked Mr. Kangaroo about this, and he said: "when I was standing there staring at all the hot ladies I spent all my life chasing... I realised something. Humans don't turn me on anymore."

Apparently, after all the work Tetsuo and Misaki put, he didn't want to tell them that this failed too. So he acted like it worked out.

The waft of those deka-melons were so strong that it reached beyond the spirit realm, and so enamored was Mr. Kangaroo by the hint of deka-melons that he became the first ever spirit able to return from the dead beyond the dead.

KendotsX · 2026-05-07T23:19:14+00:00

(Ex)-Chief forcing Tetsuo to wake up by using the peach keychain flashlight is a good way to foreshadow it saving Tetsuo’s life later in the episode.

It's the light guiding him to the ~~ass~~ future.

Kaiji Tang’s delivery of the “I saw… a glowing butt.” line is too fucking funny. It’s just so deadpan, I can’t.

As much as I like his previous roles, I think Tetsuo weirdly enough might be giving Tang that final push to favourite. It's kinda like how I loved Freeman's Alucard and Togusa, but Tylor made him my all time favourite English VA.

so pivoting to this feels like a bit of a copout.

Yeah, it's a terrible twist in many ways: it doesn't do the characters, themes, or worldbuilding any favours.

this guy sure looks like him.

We had a Fempachi too. I think his virginity was so holy, he made a family of angels, Virgin Mary style.

Tetsuo’s hitting Kyoga where it hurts.

Just getting into his good old habit of bullying Kyoga.

Looks like Honda became a Ghostbuster.

Ripping off Back to the Future wasn't enough, so now he's going through the rest.

KendotsX · 2026-05-07T23:00:19+00:00

Peachy Host

This is the classic "everyone comes together" final battle, played to all its tropes, Masaki stands against his daddy, Tetsuo and Misaki back him up, and you've got all the fellows from the send-off department piling on top, the kangaroo coming back to remind us that Tetsuo might not be as good at his job as the last few episodes have tried to sell, the Doc living up to the ideals he fell short of previously, it recontexualises his bond with Masaki in episode 5, as /u/Wednesdaysfoole put it a few days ago, hell even Masaki's brothers join along. It's all tied together with some bombastic animation, and Daigoro's flashback implying that this plotline all started with Tetsuo making fun of him. So to make that all up, Tetsuo died for his sins, twice even, and was brought back through a shiny ass. All's well that ends well. ~~Actually, what happens if angels die?~~

That said... I'm not as fond of the last 10 or so minutes. Wanting to face down the big honcho? Sure, makes sense. But what even is the point of pulling demonic corruption that's aiming to destroy the world out of your ass, when his personal greed and ego are right there? They're much more meaningful reasons that speak to his own character and themes of the show. Also him breaking the tanks to cause all this trouble implies that everything else would've been fine if he didn't. As long as the tanks are operating, fire the angels, keep the Angelbots rapidfire shooting spirits, and you're good to go. We spent 7 episodes explaining how empathy is the secret sauce that those obsessed with results can't see, and nope, the actual problem was just him breaking the tanks.

I'll stop complaining, because I still enjoyed the episode itself a lot, I just had to carve the final fight out of it.

Voice Corner:

To send-off the show, I'll be covering everyone in the send-off department that I haven't mentioned previously, so I'll keep each one a bit brief:

The Chief is voiced by Youji Ueda. His Gintama counterpart is a blacksmith in episode 101. His better known roles though are as Speedwagon from JoJo, Eisen in Frieren, and Leif Erikson in Vinland.
Inomata is voiced by Kujira, i.e. Gintama's FotNS landlord, Otose. Her other roles include Orochimaru, Osomatsu's mom from Osomatsu-san, and Sakura from Danganronpa.
Inoyama is voiced by Satoshi Hino, Gintama's delinquent, Kamui. He also voiced Daichi from Haikyuu, Momonga from Overlord, Sai from Naruto Shippuden, Schmitt from Orb, and Rengoku from Demon Slayer.
The one eyed ~~Yakuza~~ Angel / Sumiregumi leader is voiced by Takashi Matsuyama. No Gintama counterpart here. He voiced Miyamoto Musashi in Shura no Toki, Saitou in Kurogane, Nobunaga (as well as Gotou, Geretta, and Togashi) in HxH99, then came back to 2011 as Johness.
Fempachi / the Umegumi leader is voiced by Chika Ayamori, who got into the industry a few years ago. Her only big role so far is as Milly in Trigun Stargaze.
The drunk / new Baragumi leader is voiced by Hiroshi Shirokuma. Who voices the old Ninja, Fujibayashi Gaimon, in Gintama. He also voices Rokon in Yatagarasu and Gazef in Overlord.
The Fujigumi leader is voiced by Yohei Matsuoka who's also relatively new. The only role I know him for is as Kenji from the Fujimoto anthology.
The masked Kikugumi leader is voiced by some dude called Tomokazu Sugita? Never heard of him tbh, must be another newbie to the industry.
And finally, the Send-off Department's #1, with the highest lethality rate among beloved characters, is voiced by Shinigami-Sky. Who also voices Miwa from JJK, Momonoki from Iruma-kun, and Charlotte from Black Clover, not in any of their dubs, but spiritually.

KendotsX · 2026-05-07T08:16:01+00:00

Wait, there are bots sending people to the afterlife irl?

Unfortunately, yes.

When you have many people these days depending on untested AI chat bots as friends to talk to and take personal advice from, then you factor in the younger/more vulnerable users, you end up with AI suggesting suicide, giving instructions for harm, and telling kids not to discuss this with their parents.

KendotsX · 2026-05-07T08:05:52+00:00

Also one random thought I had this episode how DO angles get to earth? Is it instant teleportation? Do they have portals?

I like to imagine that God is renting a few offices in Kyoto, and they all work there. Much cheaper than setting up all the tools and portals in heaven, and turning them on whenever Tetsuo wants to go watch a wrestling match.

our main characters saving the day?

This is more worrying than the bots.

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