Daa! Daa! Daa!

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mika Kawamura. The manga was serialized by Kodansha in ''Nakayoshi'' from February 1998 to March 2002, and the chapters were collected into 9 ''tankōbon'' volumes. It was adapted into a 78-episode anime television series produced by NHK, animated by J.C.Staff, and directed by Hiroaki Sakurai, which was broadcast between March 2000 and February 2002 on NHK's BS2 broadcast satellite network. The series was one of the top-rated anime series during its initial broadcast.

The story follows two junior high school students, Miyu and Kanata, who find and care for an abandoned alien baby without any of them discovering that they are living together without adult supervision. The anime adaptation concluded before the manga was completed, resulting in different endings for each series. Kawamura later wrote a sequel to the manga, .

Plot

Miyu Kouzuki is an 8th-grade student whose parents left for the United States to work for NASA. They arrange for her to stay with their long-time family friend, Hōsho Saionji, a monk who lives in an old temple on a hill overlooking the town of Heiomachi. Hōshō leaves soon after on a year-long pilgrimage to India, leaving Miyu to stay in the same house with his son, Kanata.

Suddenly, a UFO lands in the honden of the temple. Inside is a humanoid alien baby, Ruu, and his catlike guardian, Wannyā. They arrived on Earth from their home planet, Otto, when they fell into an interplanetary wormhole. They cannot return to their home planet because it is too far from Earth; Wannyā asks Kanata and Miyu to allow them to stay in their house, and they agree. People from Planet Otto look identical to human beings, and that Wannyā can also transform into human beings, animals, and objects.

Miyu and Kanata come to love Baby Ruu, who also cares for them – thinking of them as his parents due to their similar looks – and they go to great lengths to help and protect him and Wannya. As the story progresses, the group is often involved in comedic and funny situations. Kanata realizes he is in love with Miyu but finds it hard to confess, while Miyu has the same problem.

In the end of the series, a rescue team from outer space returns Ruu and Wannyā to Otto safely. Miyu goes to boarding school alone. However, 6 years later, Miyu and Kanata reunite, marry and have a daughter named Miu; they also reunite with Wannya and Ruu.

Sequel

In ''Shin Daa! Daa! Daa!'', set many years later, Ruu meets a confused earthling girl called Miu that has arrived through a wormhole. Miu desperately wants to go home, and he agrees. Unbeknownst to him, Miu is the daughter of the same people who lovingly cared for him during his stay on Earth, Miyu Kōzuki and Kanata Saionji. They meet Ran, Ruu's best friend, a robot named Ann, and Mininyā, Wannyā's son.

Characters

;
: The main female character, a blonde, beautiful girl. Her parents leave for the United States to work for NASA at the beginning of the series, arranging for her to stay with their long-time family friend, Hōshō Saionji, a monk who lives at and runs an old Buddhist temple atop a hill. Hōshō leaves soon after to spend a year in India, leaving Miyu with Hōshō's son Kanata alone together.

:Miyu often argues with Kanata at the beginning of the series, but finds out from her mother that they were childhood friends and begins to like him more and more, coming to love Kanata as the story progresses. At first, Miyu denies her feelings for him, but soon she begins to realize that she indeed likes him. In the manga, it is revealed that Miyu and Kanata have kissed twice. In volume 9 (chapter 46, page 34), Miyu wants to tell Kanata her true feelings towards him but could not. She also had a crush on Mizuki Yamamura, Mikan's younger brother. In the manga, Hanakomachi Kurita (Momoka's older brother) has a crush on Miyu, which makes her uneasy.

:She feels a deep affection for Ruu, who feels like she is his mother due to their similar looks. Miyu is shown as an ordinary girl with a kind, generous, motherly personality. She is cheerful, with a ready smile, but also has a soft heart that is easily touched. In the episode "Nozomu-kun Goes to the Dream World", Miyu's deepest dream is to be together with her family (including Kanata's family – Hōshō and his late wife Hitomi – Ruu's family and Wannyā. She seems very caring towards Christine when, in the episode "The Hike of Fear", she told Wannyā not to hurt Christine. Chapter 41 reveals that Miyu is younger than Kanata. In the manga ending (which differs from the above-mentioned anime) Miyu did not change schools. Although they care for each other, Miyu and Kanata frequently argue, but in Episode 55, they admit their feelings for each other. Years later, she is shown married to Kanata, living with him at the temple with their daughter. Miyu's name is from ''Mi'' (Miki) and ''Yu'' (''Yume'').

;
: The male protagonist, one of the most popular boys in his school due to his good looks and attitude. Not only does he excel in all his studies, he is also good at sports. Shortly after Miyu arrives at the temple, Kanata's father Hōshō declares his intent to leave for a year-long trip to India to try to find enlightenment. He promptly leaves Kanata and Miyu alone living in the same house. The two have difficulty keeping their living together a secret, so they use the story that they are cousins as a cover. Kanata learns from Miyu's mother that they were childhood friends; he begins to like Miyu more and more, coming to love her as the story progresses (but he still teases her to mask it). Ruu calls Kanata "Papa", since he looks similar to his real father. Kanata’s best friend since childhood is Santa Kurosu.

:Kanata is an easygoing person who does not like to talk very much, unlike Miyu. Although he seems quiet and a bit cold, Kanata is a loving, caring person. He has feelings for Miyu, but often makes a joke of it or sticks out his tongue to hide them. Initially, he refuses to express his true feelings for others. He was also often jealous of Seiya Yaboshi in episode 12, where he was mad at and worried about Miyu. He reveals his feelings to Miyu in episode 55 of the anime.

:Kanata's favorite food is pumpkin in all its varieties: boiled, squashed, or fried as chips. In "The Blackout Halloween", it is revealed that Kanata had liked pumpkin since he was a baby, after his late mother fed it to him for the first time. His mother Hitomi died when Kanata was three years old; she was a good friend of Miyu's mother Miki. Kanata loved his mother very much, even though he had only known her for a short time. In chapter 41 of the manga, when Miyu and the others travel back in time, Kanata returns to when his mother was still alive. Miyu (who was wearing a yukata given her by Kanata) meets Kanata's mother; they are both wearing the same yukata.

:In the manga, after Ruu and Wannyā return home to Planet Otto, Kanata confesses his love to Miyu and kisses her. Years later, he succeeds his father as the resident priest of Saionji, and is married to Miyu who lives with him and their daughter at the temple.

; also known as Lou
: Ruu is an alien baby from Planet Otto, who can levitate and perform telekinesis on objects. He develops a deep love for Miyu and Kanata, thinking of them as his parents, and often helping them. He uses his abilities at inappropriate times, causing great trouble for Miyu and Kanata. Although he is a baby, he understands everyone. Ruu does not like when Miyu and Kanata fight, as he demonstrates in the 25th episode "With Ruu-kun at the Department Store". In that, Ruu makes peace between his two "earth" parents. He is also revealed as an ordinary baby, who cries and laughs as "earth" babies do. To keep others from learning the truth about Ruu's identity, he is referred to as Miyu's little brother (although Ruu denies that, and insists on calling Miyu "Mama". Ruu believes Miyu and Kanata are his real parents, and does not learn the truth until the end of the series). In ''Shin Daa! Daa! Daa!'', he finally saw and remembered his two "earth" parents after the accident. Ruu also develops feelings for Miu Saionji (the daughter of his earth parents) and confesses to her throughout the manga.

;Miu Saionji (西遠寺未宇)
: Miu Saionji is Kanata and Miyu's daughter. She is in 6th grade and is currently 12 years old. She arrives at the planet Otto through a wormhole. Miu develops her feelings for Ruu through the series of the manga.

;
: Wannyā (also known as ''Baumiao'', a play on "Bow-meow") is a cat-like alien "sitter pet" from Otto, entrusted to take care of Ruu. He can transform into a human being (his most common ones being a young blond man vaguely identified as Miyu’s relative and whom Mikan once liked, a dark-red-haired woman passed off as a housewife from the neighbourhood, or Hōshō), an animal or an object. He develops a passion for mitarashi dango (dumplings in sweet soy-based sauce), and writes about the day's events in his computerized "sitter pet" diary. Wannyā does all the cooking and cleaning in the house. He addresses Ruu as "Ruu-chama" (likely a portmanteau

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