Welcome to the Ballroom Episode 11 Review: Evolution

You thought Episode 10 of Welcome to the Ballroom was boring? Well, fear not! This episode has more of the same: just the last dance of the Tenpei cup and nothing much happening story-wise! Welcome to my anime review and enjoy the rant!

Japanese Title: 評価

Heat 11. Evolution

The last dance of the Tenpei cup is finally (and slowly) coming to an end. The quickstep is the most exciting dance of the cup and both the Tatara/Mako pair as well as the Gaju/Shizuku pair are showing everything they got. For Tatara, that means his body cramping up and his steps getting more and more sloppy to the point where even the founder of the cup asks himself why he wanted to see Tatara in the finals… But all is over soon enough and the only thing the pairs have to wait for is the announcement of the winners. Before they announce the first place, Sengoku asks Tatara where he honestly thinks he ranked. And that makes Tatara think about their performances so far…

Episode Highlights

The end of the cup

Dear heavens, it’s over! Finally! I didn’t expect them to take another episode to finish this cup. Why would you drag it out even longer? I was so happy when they finally announced the winners. I personally liked how they made the audience realize that Tatara would not win the cup magically. Because, let’s be honest, he sucked. I think Gaju and Shizuku shouldn’t have won either, since there were moments when Sengoku gasped at their mistakes. But then again, the audience did think that the pair was way too good for such a tiny and unknown cup. So, let them have first place.

Tatara, on the other hand, was so cute when he cried his heart out because he realized how bad he was and how naive he was for thinking he had a chance in winning. It was a precious sight and I wanted to hug him so badly. Tatara is such a relatable character. While he is exceptionally good and naive and everything, I think many people will find a tiny bit of themselves in Tatara. And that’s why I like him so much. I am sure he will grow a lot from this!

Queen Shizuku and Princess Mako

Shizuku may an amazing dancer, but I liked how Mako-chan won the trophy for ‘best partner’. It is a bit ridiculous to give the girls a special award because you would think the best pair would get the award anyway. In this case, the worst couple got it, because Tatara managed to disappear in order to make Mako-chan bloom. It also seems like the effort of the male partner was the thing that got them the award. This is one thing that I don’t like about this series. Yet, I promised to not rant about that anymore, so lets just talk about how great Queen Shizuku was and how she just got thrown off the throne by Princess Mako-chan. The only reason I was able to enjoy the loss was because we got to see Shizuku crying over it. She was all cocky during the tournament, telling Tatara they had to out-dance her first. She honestly congratulated Mako for the win but she did not just take it well: she was sad and crying. That is what will make her stronger in the end. I can’t wait to see her become stronger!

And for Princess Mako-chan, it was amazing what that trophy did to her, how she grabbed Gaju at the end and just dragged him with her. She decided they would dance again. It was her choice and he would follow her, regardless what he wanted. That was so cute. Though I think she would have made a waaay nicer pair with Tatara, once he had some time to practice more and build up stamina…

Everybody, dance now!

It was so cute how Sengoku said he wanted to dance. I can only agree and say that I want to see him dance! He is definitely one of my favorite characters in the series and his voice is so great. There was also the tiny moment when Kiyoharu left the room and did a tiny dance step. Apparently, I am not the only one looking forward to the day when he can dance again. Get well soon, Kiyoharu!

New Characters

In the end, we get to see Tatara study hard and give his best so he can attend high school. And then, there is this mysterious girl. I went to Kyomaf this weekend, one of the most famous anime and manga festivals in Japan, and they announced at the Welcome to the Ballroom event that a new character would appear – which seems to be that girl. She looks fierce and I can’t tell you how excited I am to see something else again. The story can progress again, become good again and not be a yawn-festival of flashbacks and narration to dance steps…

Now we know that the girl is Chinatsu Hiyama (VA: Chinatsu Akasaki)! See the key visual for the second cour here:

Welcome to the Ballroom Reveals Visual and Trailer for Second Half of the Series

Themes and Trivia

High school in Japan: It’s time for Tatara to become a high school boy! Oh my, I forgot how young he was. It was nice to see his dad worry about him and tell him to study. Tatara actually did study and passed the exam. It shows that his father is still there and cares and that he is not one of those anime characters that seems to not have any parents. In Japan, if you want to go to high school, you have to study so you can get into a better high school. The better your high school, the higher the chances are for you to get into the university you want. Of course, you will also have to get good grades in high school and pass an exam, but there are some advantages in going to more prestigious high schools. Some are even directly connected to a university, so if you pass the entrance exam to their high school, you don’t have to go through the stress and pass an university exam later on.

Now this isn’t really trivia, but I heard from my host family that some girls actually choose the school based on the school uniform. Because who would not want to look cute in the clothes they have to wear for the next three years? And when my host family’s daughter had to choose a school, she went for a school that allowed you to choose certain aspects of the uniform yourself. For example there were three skirts you could choose from and during the winter uniform you could either wear a sweater, a cardigan or a vest. Of course, the clothes were really expensive and had to be bought at a different store, but well, parents would do anything for the happiness of their child..

Comments

I am happy we are over with the Tenpei cup. My excitement for the series is still here and I am looking forward to each episode, but this time I expected us to be over with the cup in the first 10 minutes of the episode and then proceed to the next arc. But instead, they wasted so much time… Some scenes were really good and I wouldn’t want to miss them, but they could have been done earlier.

Instead, I am double as excited for the next episode, because the preview has finally left that sweaty, smelly, old ballroom of the Tenpei cup and finally shows the refreshing outside world and some new characters. Please, let the anime become more about the story again and let’s not waste that much time on a cup ever again! Because if we do, I fear there will not be much more left than one other cup and then the series will be over…

Hopes for the upcoming episode

We saw who won, we saw who Mako will pair with, but we did not see anything else. What I wish for now? I want to see Tatara’s new partner. I hope she is not as aggressive as she seems in some of the preview scenes, because I want someone like a more energetic Mako-chan for Tatara. And it seems like that girl will be Tatara’s new partner.

I do hope she is not boring and I also hope we meet more characters. It will be a lot of fun if they introduce some other pairs and we can enjoy the next cup not only knowing two couples in a contest with ten other ghost couples! New couples will bring more pressure to our protagonists and that is what makes the sport good. Competition.

Also… Was that Sengoku in a dancing outfit? I could only wish to see the master dance. Please show us some Sengoku dance! If Tatara’s partner has any doubts about doing dance lessons, then she should be convinced after seeing him dance! Just don’t let her see Gaju’s creepy dancing face and all is well!

If you liked this review and want to read more, don’t forget to check out our other reviews for this season and maybe you want to join our forum talk about this and other series in more detail!

COMING NEXT. Heat 12. Meeting (出会い）