Evil Eye Arc

## Arc Chronology

The **Evil Eye Arc** is the fifth story arc of the *Dandadan* manga series.

Momo, Okarun, and their colleagues are tasked with monitoring Jiji until the Evil Eye within him is somehow put under control.

## Synopsis

### Living With The Evil Eye

Momo meets up with Okarun as they both head to school and lets him know of the plan to hire hayashi for the Evil Eye's next exorcism. Before she could have the chance to ask him for a favor, Momo is met up with her friends Miko and Kei-san who informs her of Mr. Mantis Shrimp's UFO making the news during the Daija Town Incident, which made her wonder if the Tsuchinoko was also mentioned.

At school, Momo gathers together Okarun and Aira, who becomes depressed that her friends and classmates are choosing to ignore her after confessing to the false rumor she previously made up about Momo, to ask them for help in subduing the Evil Eye in the event that Jiji accidently triggers the curse. After feigning disapproval at the thought of sleeping over at her house together, Okarun and Aira agree to her request. At the Ayase house, Jiji is allowed to move around without Taro attached to him after the barrier wears off and is instructed by Seiko to be even more careful around water. Seiko also gives Momo, Okarun, and Aira hot water thermos in case Jiji transforms into the Evil Eye, which later happens during dinner after touching a drop of soy sauce.

Later at night, the Ayase house takes damage from the Evil Eye being let out once again after Jiji accidently washed his hands with cold water, much to Aira's chagrin as she scolds him for his carelessness. Shortly after, the hired Hayashi make their arrival and begin their performance to exorcise the Evil Eye out of Jiji. However, after coming to understand the Evil Eye's suffering in the midst of the exorcism, Jiji begs for his friends to spare the Evil Eye as he promises to have the yokai under control. Seiko complies to Jiji's request to cancel the exorcism and accept the Evil Eye into the "family", however, Aira voices her complaint in that Jiji was acting selfish by not taking into account of the fact that she, Momo, and Okarun have to continue watching over him. In light of this, Okarun states his willingness to keep the Evil Eye in check by improving himself, which then prompts Momo and Aira to do the same. Though everyone is in agreement to spare the Evil Eye, Momo becomes disappointment with the state of her house after the Evil Eye awakens and brings about more damage with its rampage.

While Jiji receives training from Seiko on how to suppress the Evil Eye, Momo decides on finding a job to hopefully repair the damage done to her house and manages to land employment as a cafe waitress at Moe Moe Kikoho. Later, she finds herself having to serve Miko and Kei-san, who also dragged Okarun along with them to tease her at work, much to her embarrassment. After walking back home with Okarun, who came to pick her up from work in light of her refusal to have him stay until she was finished with her shift, Momo becomes confronted by the Evil Eye inside his Cursed House after Jiji accidently gets splashed by Aira's cold drink. Luckily, Momo manages to return Jiji back to normal after spitting out the hot water she was drinking earlier. Jiji apologizes to Momo for the mishap and is pushed aside by Okarun as he rushes over to Momo's side to check on her. After the incident, Okarun and Jiji find it hard to interact with each other, while Aira feels bad for causing the Evil Eye to manifest and putting Momo in danger.

### Finding Your Rhythm

Wanting to become stronger to face the Evil Eye, Okarun seeks help from Mr. Mantis Shrimp on how to throw a punch but is turned down as the alien explains to him that he does not believe in violence. At the Ayase house, Manjiro tries to convince Seiko into rehiring the Hayashi to exorcise the Evil Eye after yesterday's incident, which Seiko feels that she had no choice. Meanwhile, the Turbo-Granny spots Okarun teaching himself on how throw a punch to get stronger and offers to properly train him on how to control her power by taking him to a school. Aira notices the two leaving and decides to follow them to the school until she becomes spotted. At the school, the Turbo-Granny takes Okarun and Aira to a music room where she explains to Okarun, on a piano, that he must learn how to get a sense of his combat rhythm while using her immense speed in a fight. To train him how to execute this, the Turbo-Granny summons the Music Room Portraits after purposedly playing terrible on the piano and has them target Okarun and Aira.

Okarun and Aira find themselves having no choice but to defend themselves from the Music Room Portraits as they cast an illusionary setting on them and try to bombard the two with explosive musical notes. Okarun notices Aira doing well in dodging the musical notes but ends up being distracted in the middle of the battle, resulting in him being hit by a rest symbol that paralyzes him and leaving him open for the explosive musical notes to bombard him as a consequence. The Turbo-Granny hears Okarun becoming disappointment with himself and yells at him to focus on the battle as Aira may not be able to last long dodging the Music Room Portraits' attacks. Okarun is then instructed by her to move to the rhythm of a song he remembers and recalls the music of the Hayashi to save Aira from being hit by the musicals notes and effectively dodge them. After managing to get into close-range thanks to Okarun, Aira uses her Acrobatic Silky hair to grab and eliminate the conductor.

With the conductor taken down, the Music Room Portraits lose their ability to fly and resort to casting an illusionary opera house where they have a chorus army overwhelm Okarun and Aira. After the Turbo-Granny relays to them that the Music Room Portraits are hiding behind four giants, Aira uses her hair to bring her and Okarun up to the top of one of the giants and kicks him towards the musicians after the giants react to their presence by trying to attack them. Though she took a devastating hit from them, Aira manages to remain conscious from recalling the incident between Momo and the Evil Eye and takes down the giants by using her hair. As he closes in on the Music Room Portraits, Okarun is told by the Turbo-Granny that her speed should allow him to hit five notes in one beat and executes this by simultaneously attacking all five musicians that leaves a line-up of five afterimages.

Having knocked out the musicians and returning them back to their normal form, the illusionary opera house becomes dispelled and has Okarun, Aira, and the Turbo-Granny return back to the music room. Okarun checks on Aira to see if she was okay and thanks her for her assistance in battle. Though she figures that she should respond feeling flattered after being complimented, Aira finds herself not doing so for an unknown reason and instead gets into a quarrel with the Turbo-Granny after disagreeing with her on how Okarun should show some gratitude to her for her lesson. Okarun thanks the Turbo-Granny as well but is told by her that he still has a ways to go towards mastering her power. Aira questions what the Music Room Portraits were and is told by the Turbo-Granny that they are tulpas formed from those who are afraid of the music room portraits, which leads to Aira suspecting the Turbo-Granny of scheming and the latter playing along with.

### Okarun vs. The Evil Eye – Second Round

Manjiro tells Jiji that it is not possible for him to keep control of the Evil Eye and that another exorcism must take place tomorrow. Outside, Okarun calls out for Jiji to fight the Evil Eye, explaining to him and everyone that their attempts at accepting the Evil Eye is odd yet praiseworthy and that he refuses to be the only one weak. After hearing him out, Seiko allows Okarun to proceed, while Jiji puts his trust in him before releasing the Evil Eye. With his newfound control over the Turbo-Granny's power, Okarun manages to gain the upper hand in his fight against the Evil Eye as he dodges every one of his grudge ball attacks and land consistent blows to the yokai.

After Okarun's transformation runs out from using an All-Out headbutt as his final attack, Momo and the others worry for him as the Evil Eye remains standing and eager to continue fighting Okarun. Despite this, Okarun tells the others not to get involved and calls out the Evil Eye to be a weak combatant that he refuses to fight. The Evil Eye becomes annoyed by this and ends up being led into making a deal with Okarun where the latter proposes to fight him on a weekly basis if he agrees to not target anyone else. Momo becomes confused by what was happening and is told by the Turbo-Granny that Okarun came up with a plan earlier to become the Evil Eye's "playmate" as a way to keep him under control, having come to realize that the yokai has the mentality of a newborn baby that views fighting as playing. Before he could agree to the terms Okarun set forth, the Evil Eye removes his underwear and gives it to Okarun, explaining to him that they refuse to cooperate, and gives Jiji full control of his body until the next time they fight each other, which he becomes eager to do. After regaining conscious, Jiji becomes reassured by Okarun that he did not hurt anyone while the Evil Eye took control of his body and that he can go back to living a normal life. Meanwhile, Momo, Aira, and Hana look away as Jiji stands naked, while Seiko gives out a humorous comment about his state of undress.

### Construction Work

With the Evil Eye under control, Manjiro departs back to his shrine where he will keep the Evil Eye's underwear safely secured as a cursed object. Jiji prepares to leave with his parents and thanks everyone for looking after him. After Okarun and Aira are the last to leave, Seiko decides on going to a bathhouse with Momo, the Turbo-Granny, and Hana instead of having to worry about house repairs after seeing it completely destroyed. As they walk back home after the bath, Seiko is suggested by Momo in asking their friends for expenses to repair their house but turns down the idea. At the entrance, the two come face-to-face with a mysterious alien and respond by kicking him away due to him trespassing on their property. Momo and Seiko then notice Okarun, who came with Aira, Mr. Mantis Shrimp, and Chiquitita, and are informed by him that the alien named Ludris is here to help repair their house using nanoskin. Seiko initially becomes reluctant to accept their generosity but gives in and allows them to remodel her house.

## Characters Introduced

* Hayashi
* Music Room Portraits