You're listening to Imaginary Worlds, show about how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief.

I'm Eric Molinsky.

I've been a fan of anime for most of my life, but I'm also a casual fan.

I'm like the equivalent of somebody who says they're into a band or a musician, but they mostly know the greatest hits and not a lot of the deep guts.

Recently, someone recommended to me a show called Dan to Dan.

And when I started watching it, I felt like it was aimed at a younger audience, which is another issue for me.

A lot of anime is aimed at a younger demographic, which I've aged way beyond. But I got hooked

on Dan to Dan immediately. In fact, it actually kind of reminded me of all the conflicted feelings

I used to have as a teenager. The show starts with an argument between a nerdy boy named

Okaroon and a quick-tempered girl named Momo.

He tells her, aliens are real.

The U.S. military admitted UAPs exist and reform their space force.

And now Japan has a aerospace defense force.

Don't you see everyone's gearing up for war? She thinks that he's crazy.

But then she admits,

I don't believe aliens are real, but I believe ghosts are.

There's no such thing as ghosts.

It turns out they're both right.

From that point on, the characters are relentlessly pursued by ghosts and aliens.

The show is completely bonkers and extremely bingeable.

And as you can tell, I'll be playing the English dubbed versions of anime in this episode.

Now, the ghosts in the show are not like the kind of ghosts that I'm used to seeing.

...