Yukinobu Tatsu’s Dan Da Dan introduces us to many mysterious and cult characters that adds more charms to the series. It takes more focus on their positive strength followed by their equally emotional backstory. Today we’re discovering Turbo Granny – the coolest and funkiest yokai in this anime.

Turbo Granny was introduced to us with her eccentric trade-off with Okarun, which kinda gives us a hint that she’s not some ordinary yokai. She’s different! Her character design and backstory are inspired by Japanese folklore and urban legends found in isolated tunnels of Shono city. As a Yokai, she possesses tremendous power, including great speed, shape-shifting, and cursing, and if we include her eccentric nature that gives off punk vibes, we will not be wrong.

The Turbo Granny (Turbo Baachan) is part of a Japanese urban legend that originates near the highways of Mount Rokko in Hyogo Prefecture. Where an old lady wearing straw sandals overtakes the speeding vehicles & scares the driver and disappears in thin air. The story has various variations depending on region and place. Initially, the legend was limited to the Rokkosan mountain road in Kobe City but with the expansion of roads and transports, sightings started to expand even to the highways. With each variation, a unique weakness also appears like the spirit is vulnerable to sharp curves and these further create more variation in the spirit’s appearance as well. It started with Granny Monster to Hopping Granny, Dash Grandma and then to Young Man, a salaryman, a high schooler and finally a non-human-like spirit – Yokai: supernatural entities or creatures that had a supernatural aura.

Yukinobu Tatsu’s representation of Turbo Granny is a blend of all the stories as she’s shown as a brilliant shape-shifter and a master curser as she can curse her target and outrun them in no time. She can use these cursed objects or living beings as her vassals. As Seiko (Momo’s Gran) describe her – in the past she is known as Hundred Kilo Granny, a modern-day monster that wreaked havoc all over the country and is currently the strongest (in their universe) as she somehow fused her with a location-bound spirit. According to Seiko, location-bound spirits dwell in tunnels or remote locations and create a strong attachment to those places, this attachment acts as a strong source of their power making them stronger in their territories and thus no spirit medium can go against them. So, to defeat her, Momo and Okarun had to bring Turbo Granny out of her territory to Kamigoe City, where her Gods in their territory would help to defeat her and lift the curse from Okarun.

This plot also brings attention to the power of Land Gods and respect for spirit in Japan. It also give importance to the fact that how one attachment to a particular place or object can become their source of power. Tubro Granny seems to amplify her power with the help of a location-bound spirit and that explains how she could teleport to the alien’s location through Momo’s phone. Her immense power and spiritual aura channelled through Okarun’s body and made him a fascinating target of alien research and also gave him supernatural powers. The encounter with Granny’s spirit also unlocks Momo’s power, making her the strongest medium. Thus, she plays an important part in Dandadan as she’s the one who taps the potential of many characters in the series.


The series also focuses on her soft side as she appears to comfort the spirits of young girls who faced their untimely demise due to some tragic incidents. She seems to show her sympathy to these spirits and often absorbs their pain and grudge so that these innocent spirits can rest in peace. A side of Yokai spirits that deserve respect for their act of kindness. Showing this in anime adds depth to her characters and shows the viewers that she is not some chaotic monster but a spirit that’s trying to protect.

After her exorcism in the series, she’s got almost vanished but survived thanks to someone’s family jewel. In a very comic turn of events, her consciousness ended up trapped inside a Maneki-Neko and her aura power got shrunken. As a result, she’s ended up becoming an ally to the trio – but we can witness her soft side as the story progresses.
In the anime, Turbo Granny took her entry as a villain but ended up becoming the soul of the anime itself. Her personality and charms bring more realism to the series as no one can expect censored language from a yokai that got exorcised by a trio of high schoolers with a not-so-trad-grandma, and got trapped in a neko doll!