Welcome to the Ballroom Episode 17 Review: Performer

For this week’s episode of Welcome to the Ballroom, we are invited to their training camp! Aside from training, there will be a lot of interaction between the members, a bit of sexy fanservice for both male and female viewers, and a big breakthrough for our main performers.

Japanese title: 表現者

Heat 17. Performer

All of our beloved dance pairs came together to train for the upcoming tournament. Tatara and Chi-chan have a big fight with the other couples getting involved. They try to help them find each other and face their problems they have. Marisa puts Kiyoharu in charge of training them and Kiyoharu is doing such a bad job at it that Shizuku jumps in and helps out as well. While the whole experience should help Tatara and Chi-chan, there are too many problems building up, like Chi-chan learning about Tatara dancing with Mako-chan. Mako thinks Tatara was a great leader and he helped her become a better dancer. She feels inferior and is a bit jealous, which only complicates the matters. Even Gaju’s efforts seem in vain, because the two of them only end up fighting more and more…

Episode Highlights

Kiyoharu-sensei

Once upon a time, I really wanted to see Kiyoharu teach Tatara and be there for him. This time, we get to see him be a teacher! The way his mother told him to teach him was so funny and it made me so happy. He is a real senpai now… I thought. But instead, Shizuku ends up doing most of the work, because Kiyoharu has to stop himself from laughing at Tatara and Chi-chan.

You’re too sexy for your shirt

The fanservice in this episode was great. Most of the time it went along with the story and didn’t just fill some airtime. This episode was bliss. All those dancers are so well trained. Even Tatara really shows a great sixpack and I also enjoyed the view of the girls. I wasn’t even bothered with how open Marisa was, because that’s just how it is in an onsen.

But can I just say that I love Kiyoharu more and more? His voice got sexier and he had this sexy pose outside the water when he told Gaju to close his eyes, AND he can dance. It really is hard to contain my fangirl feels.

The second very sexy scene in here was when Shizuku and Kiyoharu showed Tatara and Chi-chan the closed-eyes practice. It was amazing how much sex-appeal they can show with some colors and music on a screen. Kiyoharu was sexy, Shizuku was sexy, Martina was Gaju. Couldn’t stop my nose from bleeding when my Kiyoharu x Shizuku ship took sail.

Themes and Trivia

Once again… Leading is a man’s job?

This time, I felt a lot of bonding with Chi-chan. First, it was Tatara whom I could understand and connect with, but this time we heard Chi-chan say all the things we needed to hear. How unfair it is that everybody gets judged on the guys’ performance and that she can’t lead. We hear her say what she really thinks, without her being strange or shy or hiding something. That was really refreshing and helped me connect with her. It also made me feel a lot better, since they are making my main issue with the series a real topic and talk about it. Of course, that also makes me write about it in my reviews again and again, so bear with me when I keep mentioning it. In any case, we also get to hear Mako-chan’s opinion about it, and it showed that they in no way just accept it. They just kind of gave up and decided to work with what they have. The girls in general had a lot to say in this episode, and it made me happy to meet them like this, without the guys around and leading them on.

Comments

Why so serious?

What I really enjoy about Welcome to the Ballroom is how the feeling of the show hardly ever changes. The biggest drama is handled like in real life: with a bit of humor and some talking. While Tatara and Chi-chan scream at each other and fight, which sometimes results in Chi-chan crying, they still keep practicing and facing each other, because that’s how things are happening in real life. In this episode, I realized that in the very first scene, where Marisa is seriously telling Tatara that she won’t be able to teach them and that she has other people to look after, and then she turns around Kiyoharu and makes him teach Tatara. Kiyoharu’s face was amazing and the loaded energy was gone, replacing the drama with some chuckles. It made me feel light-hearted.

Also, the new opening theme is slowly creeping into my heart. To be honest, I loved the first opening so much that I was a tiny bit disappointed with the new theme. Just with this episode, I finally started to really like the song. So if you usually skip the song, just give it two or three episodes to grow on you. It’s one of those songs, that you have to hear a few times to really, really love it.

Expectations for the next episode

There will be another competition and we heard that Tatara does not intend to win against Shizuku and Kiyoharu but just wants to share the stage with them. He wants to be on the same dance floor and enjoy the time with them. He knows his limits way too well to think he could win against them. What I hope for the next episode is simply a good competition with all the couples and to see how well Chi-chan and Tatara can work together! Because so far, it honestly doesn’t look like they will ever be able to work together well. I think we will see how hard they worked on themselves and that Tatara can be fierce and leading. Maybe he also gets to show us his honest thoughts. With Chi-chan, he probably will be able to go all out. Oh, and not to forget: I hope this tournament won’t be the last thing we see in this series. There are ‘only’ seven episodes left and if they drag it on like during the first half of the series…

NEXT TIME: Competitor No. 13 (背番号13)