West Virginia’s Flatwoods Monster featured in new anime television series

FLATWOODS, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia’s Flatwoods Monster is taking the spotlight this week thanks to a recent appearance in the new anime series Dan Da Dan on Netflix and Hulu.

The show’s first episode aired earlier this month and is adapted from the original manga first released in 2021. The story focuses on two students: Momo, who believes in the existence of ghosts but not aliens, and Okarun, who believes in aliens but not ghosts.

In the second episode of the show, the pair are attacked by a large alien with a distinct pointed head and large glowing eyes when Okarun recognizes the creature as the Flatwoods Monster . Apart from being first sighted in Flatwoods, Okarun also says the Flatwoods Monster has been seen in the Yamanashi Prefecture.

You can see the show’s rendition of the Flatwoods Monster here .

Although there have been no explicit, real-world sightings of a Flatwoods Monster-type creature in Japan, the province does have somewhat of a paranormal reputation. UFO and UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) sightings have become so prevalent that Japanese lawmakers formed an official group earlier this year to investigate UFO claims, according to NewsNation and The Japan Times .

Yamanashi has many wineries and also includes the northern half of Mt. Fuji, making it a popular tourist destination . But in 1975, two boys said they encountered an alien and UFO in one of the vineyards near the prefecture’s capital city of Kōfu. Although details of the sighting are somewhat sparse, Historical Mysteries and Kyodo News describe the alien they saw as a creature with a large head, a reflective outfit, long fangs, and wrinkled skin that obscured the creature’s eyes and nose.

The description doesn’t exactly line up with how the typical West Virginian would imagine the Flatwoods Monster. But, one similarity between the two sightings is that Braxxie was also reported as wearing a reflective metal suit when it was first spotted in 1952 and is commonly thought of as being extraterrestrial.

Much like West Virginia towns such as Point Pleasant, Sutton and Flatwoods, Kōfu is looking to turn its “Kōfu Creatures” into tourist attractions. According to Kyodo News , the city is preparing for the 50th anniversary of the sighting and is even looking to build a monument at the location of the alleged sighting, similar to Point Pleasant’s famous Mothman Statue.

While Dan Da Dan may be the latest appearance of the Flatwoods Monster, this West Virginia cryptid and parts of its unique look have actually been appearing in Japanese media for decades. Similar-looking purple ghost monsters appear in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask , and an almost identical Flatwoods Monster appears as the final boss in the NES game Amagon . You can find a video of (almost) every Flatwoods Monster video game appearance on YouTube .

If you want to watch or read Dan Da Dan for yourself, you can watch the Anime on Netflix , Hulu and Crunchyroll ; you can read the first five chapters of the manga for free here .

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