The third volume of Dandadan, by Yukinobu Tatsu, manages to be the most action-packed edition yet. It continues with the last volume’s fight against Acrobatic Silky. The beginning of this volume focuses on the resolution of that arc, before delving into another fight heavy arc towards the end of the volume, with some hijinks between focusing on the new addition to the main cast, Aira and her interest in Okarun.

The art style, as ever, continues to be very impressive. This volume, with its higher concentration on action, really shows Tatsu’s ability to draw combat. The panels manage to show a high level of understanding of positioning and choreography, with easy-to-follow fighting moves and an uncanny amount of continuity between each of the moves the characters use against each of the enemies they fight. This is seen most in Aira’s first fight. Tatsu’s creativity with the art is seen in the 2^nd arc in this volume, with the flooded-out school being very well drawn. The part that really impressed me the most was the 2^nd chapter this volume, with how well Tatsu drew the tragic backstory of Acrobatic Silky. This felt like his very best chapter, without even dialogue to distract from the pure visual storytelling.

 The story this volume was good overall, I consider most of the volume to be very standard level with some very funny parts, such as the incorporation of Nessie, but the above-mentioned chapter really showed the high level of storytelling that Tatsu is capable of. The decision to use an entire chapter to show a truly tragic story. This chapter took a massive leap in maturity for this story as well, with focus on themes such as prostitution and poverty. It continued a trend I’ve noticed with what was hinted of Turbo Granny’s backstory, of exceptionally dark issues being told as background to the supernatural villains. I wonder if this may be hinting at potential moment of tonal shifting in the general story in the future. I certainly would not mind it.

Otherwise, I did enjoy the character interactions between Aira, Okarun and Momo. They were well placed as a palate cleanser considering how heavy the previous chapters were. The comedy was good this volume with some of the skits being very entertaining. I like how the character relationships are developing, especially with how Aira’s addition changes the character dynamics.

The manga’s main strength continues to be its art, with the combat being excellent and dynamic. The story of Acrobatic Silky was told very well and really stood out as an individual chapter. The rest of the volume’s story was decent but the level of quality of the stories feels very different, the difference really sticks out. The comedy was done well this volume. 

To conclude, I enjoyed this volume. I’d give it a 4.5/5.

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