Dandy, also known as Space Dandy, is the main titular character of Space Dandy. His main profession is being an alien hunter, although he is not very good at it. He is a charismatic, but sometimes dimwitted, individual who has made it his dream in life to own the BooBies restaurant chain. He generally goes with the flow of life, not stressing too much about where his adventures with QT and Meow take him. He owns two ships, the Aloha Oe and the Little Aloha, the latter of which is capable of turning into the Hawaii Yankee, a robot capable of fighting. Dandy is considered the leader of the Aloha Oe crew.
Appearance[]
Dandy is a tall man with a somewhat lanky yet athletic build (in the episode We're All Fools, So Let's All Dance, Baby, he was shown to be muscular underneath his shirt and jacket). He has jet-black hair, messy sideburns, brown eyes, black eyebrows, a slender nose, an angular face, and an X-shaped mark on his chin. His hair is styled into a Regent pompadour, which is his most striking feature as well as his pride and joy.
Dandy sports a red shirt under a grey-blue and white sukajan jacket with navy blue dress pants, a black belt with a triangular golden buckle, and a gold communicator bracelet on his left wrist. Around his neck is a talisman that reads 成田山 . He also has large brown boots with metal soles. His jacket has a large gold star on his upper back and a smaller one on the left side of his chest.
When hunting aliens, Dandy wears a white full body suit, with blue rings around the shoulders and a blue line down the middle of the torso. This suit also has white gloves, and white boots.
Dandy is usually seen standing with a slouch with his hands in his pockets.
Personality[]
Dandy is the anti-hero protagonist of the series and has a matching personality to go along with his looks; a delinquent and a dimwitted alien-hunting amateur. Dandy is not above shoving menial tasks to QT like cooking and cleaning up his Aloha Oe and grumbling how useless Meow is, and often neglects their thoughts and opinions.
Dandy is also shown to be a callous man and does not hesitate to sacrifice his crew for his own life, like abandoning Meow to the Deathgerian. Despite his boorish attitude and lax exterior, Dandy has a big heart, ready to help any female in need, though occasionally he does help males, within his interests. Examples include assisting Adélie in searching for her remaining relatives and helping Dr. H in locating Code D. He also comforts Ukuleleman as he is about to die, even though he was his enemy.
Dandy is superficial and he tends to contradict himself. In one episode, he claims to not like porn, yet in the first episode, he was seen reading an erotic magazine full of scantily-clad women. Whenever someone brings this up (usually Meow or QT), Dandy will either ignore it or blame it on something (either his poor memory, his teammates, or some other external factor).
Relationships[]
Meow[]
In the first episode "Live with the Flow, Baby", Dandy mistook Meow for an unregistered alien during a stay at Boobies due to a strange mark on the latter's face, despite Meow being from a registered alien race, the Betelgeusians. Due to a combination of Meow covertly taking erotic photos of Boobies' waitresses and Dandy's sudden interest in him, Meow thought he was going to be punished for his voyeur behavior, unaware that Dandy actually intended to capture him so he can take Meow to the Alien Registration Center for a hefty reward.
Over the course of the series, Dandy's relationship with Meow is vitriolic. Dandy is frequently annoyed by Meow's freeloading behavior, and only keeps the Betelgeusian around for his "knowledge" of unregistered aliens. Dandy also subjects Meow to harmful situations and blames him whenever something goes wrong. In one episode, he abandoned Meow to be devoured by a monstrous alien, and only came back for him because Meow was holding their nearly expired Boobies point card.
However, Dandy does care for Meow in his own way. When Meow and QT were kidnapped and turned into statues by the Ukeleleman, he rushed to save them. Also starting from "There's Always Tomorrow, Baby" onwards, Dandy has grown to appreciate Meow more and the chemistry between the two is much friendlier than when it started.
QT[]
QT is Dandy's constant robot companion, serving as his pilot, engineer, and (unwilling) sidekick. Although Dandy sometimes mistreats QT, usually either by ignoring his opinions and advice or poking fun at the fact that QT is an old robot with an obsolete model, it is not to the same extent of his treatment of Meow. Despite the fact that QT is self-aware, which in episode "Even a Vacuum Cleaner Can Love, Baby" typically results in a robot being treated as faulty and discarded, Dandy never abandons QT and often treats him like he usually would with a regular human (or alien). In fact, he actually treats QT significantly better than most people, who would've thrown QT away in an instant.
Scarlet[]
Dandy knows Scarlet as he frequently brings captured aliens thought to be unregistered over to the Alien Registration Center. Due to Dandy's womanizing tendencies, he often flirts with her, though in every instance he never goes farther beyond that. Although Dandy has a soft spot for Scarlet, there are times depending on the situation where Dandy has a dislike for her as a woman who is not memorable for him over other girls he would never get to see before he's about to die. Every time he is at the ARC, Dandy often tries to curry a reward out of her with his finds, only for them to be rejected due to the captured aliens being already registered and otherwise too common. There have been many situations and arguments where him and his crew have gotten on Scarlet's case even to the point of pushing her limits, such as in "Nobody Knows the Chameleon Alien, Baby" where they kept failing to bring in the correct alien, which is supposed to be the Chameleonian. There are times however where Scarlet will kindly be willing to give them exceptions, such as one time recommending they find other interests due to being terrible alien hunters.
In the second episode "The Search for the Phantom Space Ramen, Baby" Dandy flirted with Scarlet in an attempt to make her give him money to pay their restaurant bills. When they were both attacked by Gogol Empire soldiers sent by Dr. Gel, Dandy (as well as his crew) was awed by Scarlet's martial art skills, and comments when she leaves afterwards that she had a nice-looking posterior.
Outside the ARC, the chemistry between Dandy and Scarlet is most of the time a love-hate relationship. In "Lovers Are Trendy, Baby", Scarlet brings up a proposal for Dandy to pretend to be Scarlet's boyfriend for a while due to her ex-boyfriend still being attached to her. If Dandy did so, which he was so hesitantly to do, she was willing to award Dandy over the outdated alien he and his crew turned in. During their pretend date, Dandy's shenanigans cause a mild bit of frustration for Scarlet. Scarlet has even said if they were the last two living beings on Earth she would never be with a doofus like him. Although some good qualities in the pretend date were present like how Dandy complimented Scarlet with her hair down and even offering her a piggyback ride, saying that he'd do it for any girl even a phony one. Even though Dandy accidentally blew up Scarlet's house, the two laughed over the situation at least because they were able to get rid of the spider-like alien living in there. In the aftermath, Dandy then finds a copy of Missing In Action that Scarlet happens to have and they begin having a conversation about the similar movies and authors they are a fan of.
After this day, the rest of the days they're dating seem to go a lot smoother than when it started. On the 6th day of their pretend date, Dandy kisses Scarlet in front of Dolph to convince him that Scarlet has moved on. Scarlet then goes to say that they can end their contract early since they don't have to pretend to date anymore now that her ex is gone. However, as they leave they have sentimentalities over each other.
Dandy and his crew earn their reward, but Dandy is still left feeling disheartened. Dandy then looks at a paper, which shows at 8:00 p.m. that Cafe Bar Crystal is open. Scarlet then removes the calendar, which the 7th day of their date wasn't finished. Dandy was going to go to BooBies with Meow and QT but then instead grabs a copy of one of his movies and asks them what time it is. As Dandy then rushes to find if Scarlet is at the cafe, Scarlet is seen having a drink and spelling out his name. When Dandy gets there, Scarlet has already left and asks the bartender if she was here. Dandy then calls out Scarlet's name, which Scarlet heard, making her turn around only to see a train passing by blocking her view of Dandy and walks away. Since Dandy is unable to locate Scarlet he then heads back much to his disappointment. The next day at ARC, Dandy tries to turn in an alien for registration but is once again rejected by Scarlet due to the alien not being fortunate enough. Dandy then looks back at Scarlet while she notices him doing so then Dandy picks his ear as he leaves. Due to this, it's very possible that Scarlet is one of Dandy's destined love interest as he has come close and far as to the both of them kissing and bonding together.
Honey[]
Dandy meets Honey in the first episode, "Live With The Flow, Baby.", as a waitress at BooBies and was never hesitant to see Honey as the perfect woman, going as far to flirt with her and get to her attention that he is an alien hunter. She is one of Dandy's dream love interests, which Dandy often tries his best to win and other women, but oftentimes gets overshadowed by her in his attempts. Honey still recognizes Dandy as a loyal customer at BooBies and also is often excited or ponders over the company and intentions of Dandy. She also helps Dandy and his crew out, serving him and his crew food, drinks and sometimes information on unknown aliens. Dandy has a habit of staring and admiring the busty features of Honey, such as her butt (mostly) and breasts.
Dolph[]
Dolph is a side character only seen in Lovers Are Trendy, Baby" as one of Scarlet's ex-boyfriends, who is shown to to be extremely possessive and still obsessed with her, despite them breaking up prior to the episode. Scarlet employs Dandy to serve as a fake boyfriend for a week holiday, trying to send a message to Dolph. Near the end after stalking them for the whole week, he lands his robotic suit, fights with Dandy, after which Scarlet and Dandy run followed by Dandy kissing Scarlet in front of Dolph to prove to the psychopathic ex that Scarlet has moved on.
Adélie[]
The relationship with Dandy and Adélie is sort of a father-daughter brother and sister bond. When Dandy meets Adélie, who was mistaken as a regular kid for the Gentooan he wanted to trade in for alien registration, he was knocked unconscious from his own body into a penguin doll by herself who happens to be the Gentooan. Dandy has said to her straight several times that he hates kids and little brats as opposed to the opposite of Adélie, who also hates grown-ups for a specific reason. Due to this, the two tend to squabble over each other about their age differences and opinions. Also to a degree, against the intentions they have for themselves. Dandy had no choice to meet Adélie's request of finding her grandfather against his intent to trade her in to registration; otherwise she would accuse him of being weird, kidnapping and abandoning her, which led to more of Dandy's frustration of having her (a little brat) around with him along with Adélie's frustration of Dandy leaving her alone. On the way to find her grandfather however and seeing the attractions, Dandy found a bit of amusement in her such as seeing how she ate eggs sunny side up and wanting to take a good picture with her at a park. Adélie also found a bit of humor in Dandy's frustrations. Dandy also did not hesitate to save Adélie when the other alien hunters went after her. Dandy even went out of his own way to find her grandfather, which Adélie mistakenly presumed that Dandy would leave anyone behind for his own interests instead of finding him for her. This caused her to have an outrage against him and storm off into tears. After Adélie is reunited with her grandfather and Dandy gives her a parting souvenir, he then changed his mind about trading her in to alien registration and let her and her grandfather enjoy their lives. Adélie offers to Dandy if she could ride aboard the Aloha Oe but is then denied by him due to him not wanting to tolerate little brats. Adélie then rephrases the offer to when she was grown if she could board, and Dandy would let her aboard the Aloha Oe crew if she came back as a curvy and big chested woman. Adélie finally smiles and then calls Dandy an idiot as he leaves. Adélie then promised that she would grow up and then she would be the one to hunt Dandy down.
Powers and Abilities[]
While a poor combatant and an inaccurate marksman (even when confronted with multiple targets at close range), Dandy is quick on his feet and is shown to improvise, which benefited the Aloha Oe crew more than once. When piloting either the mecha pod Little Aloha or the Aloha Oe's mecha form Hawaii Yankee, Dandy is revealed to be a good pilot as well as a decent shot. When piloting, Dandy could take out aliens larger than his mecha and even won a race by date.
Dandy is also shown be a pro surfer, shown in his escape from the Undian and Vestian's planet by navigating through the debris easily. However, he is said to have retired because no waves could "stir his heart."
Dandy is also more perceptive of things than he lets on; he knows the secret to warping, which is that warping is actually the movement of one's consciousness between universes and doesn't really exist. It is hinted that he might not be human at all; in the Season 2 episode "Dandy's Day in Court, Baby", a simple DNA scan revealed that Dandy's body has no DNA whatsoever - instead, his body is made of Pyonium, an extremely rare and godlike particle.
It is possibly due to his biological nature that Dandy is the only one who possesses the extremely rare ability to traverse between multiple dimensions and still retain his identity. Dandy's power over space and time are heavily implied to be the reason why he (and possibly the rest of his crew) seemingly died in the explosion from "Live with the Flow, Baby", only to be found alive and well in the next episode. It is also implied that he also has awareness of his alternate selves as well as the dimensions they live in.
Because of these powers, Dandy is coveted by the Gogol Empire, who plan to use him as a tool to gain control over all existing universes, and constantly targeted by the persistent Dr. Gel. However, it is also possible that Dandy's memories are wiped every time he travels to a different dimension, and thus is unable to remember his previous adventures, which also explains his poor memory. Yet despite this, he seems to know that he cannot die.
The final episode reveals that Dandy was chosen to be the God of a new universe by the Narrator, but he turns down the job after learning that he would have to forfeit his body, which would make trips to BooBies boring and leave him unable to personally indulge in his posterior fetish.
Episodes Featured[]
Major Appearances[]
- Live With the Flow, Baby
- The Search for the Phantom Space Ramen, Baby
- Occasionally Even the Deceiver is Deceived, Baby
- Sometimes You Can't Live With Dying, Baby
- A Merry Companion is a Wagon in Space, Baby
- The War of the Undies and Vests, Baby
- A Race in Space is Dangerous, Baby
- The Lonely Pooch Planet, Baby
- Plants are Living Things, Too, Baby
- There's Always Tomorrow, Baby
- I'm Never Remembering You, Baby
- I Can't Be the Only One, Baby
- There's Music in Darkness, Baby
- Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Baby
- The Transfer Student is Dandy, Baby
- The Big Fish is Huge, Baby
- The Gallant Space Gentleman, Baby
- Rock 'n' Roll Dandy, Baby
- A World with No Sadness, Baby
- We're All Fools, So Let's All Dance, Baby
- Lovers Are Trendy, Baby
- An Other-Dimensional Tale, Baby
- Never-ending Dandy, Baby
Minor Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Dandy sports a Regent pompadour, a hairstyle often sported by Japanese delinquents and bōsōzoku gang members. Space Dandy's character design art even depicts him as one, with the typical slouching-yet-intimidating posture.
- During Dandy's "live with the flow" rant, one bit has the background as the word "Muda" (useless) repeated endlessly. This is a reference to the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
- Dandy's religious charm 成田山 could mean the Naritasan Temple or Shinshō-ji (新勝寺).[1]
Gallery[]
- ↑ Revealed in Live With the Flow, Baby, in which Dandy introduces himself as Space Dandy to Honey, a waitress at BooBies.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Revealed on Funimation's website