For what we know it might be himself doing some things directly but he uses his memory manipulation power to put some fall guys when shit hits the fan. It's hard to pinpoint how much of direct contact he makes.
Idk because to me the romance is a big part of dandadan so much so that I don't think it would be exactly the same without it but I also think it's stupid to look at dandadan and be like "wow cool romance story with action side plot" its probably because of how well dandadan blends the romance into the action that I feel this way anyways that's my tangent over god I'm cringe