Welcome to the Ballroom Episode 2 Review: Kiyoharu Hyodo

Tuning into Episode 2 of Welcome to the Ballroom, I wondered if I might have been on the wrong channel. The first thing greeting me were boobs, jiggling non-stop! And then the confused face of Tatara. Okay, right channel. Just an interesting beginning to an interesting episode!

Japanese Episode Title: 兵藤清春

Plot

It has been some time and Sengoku is keeping his promise. Tatara gets introduced to two teachers, who are supposed to teach him the basics. Both of them try their hardest for a week, teaching Tatara the basics of waltz. But when Sengoku is checking in on his progress, it turns out Tatara only got worse. Luckily, they don’t give up on him but instead take him to a competition. Shizuku, our smart girl with glasses, is there as a participant with her partner Kiyoharu Hyodo. Tatara later meets Kiyoharu for the first time in front of the studio, while he was daydreaming about dancing. While Kiyoharu is dancing with Shizuku, Tatara is supposed to practice his steps again. But he keeps looking at the pair, so the smart teacher Sengoku makes Tatara follow Kiyoharu’s steps instead. Turns out Tatara is a visual learning type; he can copy everything perfectly just by looking at Kiyoharu. Next thing we know, we see Kiyoharu dancing at his studio, because Tatara has to pick something up. There, Kiyoharu is dancing with Shizuku, even though she isn’t really there, because he can ghost-dance. He can imagine his partner so well that he dances as if she were there. Due to this amazing skill, Tatara is motivated to practice even more. And it seems to pay off, because Sengoku can see who Tatara ghost-dances with. He is dancing with no other than Shizuku…

Episode Highlights

More Color Magic and WTF Kiyoharu

Wow, this episode was amazing. The short time we were invited to the competition was great. But I really need to be less scared of Kiyoharu because his facial expressions really make me want to run away! In the competition, his scary face might have been him being sick. But when even Tatara says that his jaw is way too long, then there’s something off! Please do not make the always-tired and passive Kiyoharu pull these strange faces. Drawing him like a ghost in his own dance studio didn’t help either. I mean, the art was perfect and beautiful. I loved how it looked. But I was scared for Tatara. Maybe he got possessed while watching him and that’s how he became good enough to also ghost-dance?

Perfection

Most of the characters are so pretty and cute. But then they were so nice and put in Karen-sensei, Tatara’s teacher who is anything but perfect. She has meat on her hips and her boobs jiggle in a not-anime-sexy way. I loved her; she is such a cute teacher! On her side is the baldy-teacher. I guess he is also a way to show that not everybody is perfect. And maybe we can count Kiyoharu’s strange faces to this as well? Not everything in this world is perfect and even though they are side characters and get made fun of a bit, I think it is nice to have them there. I hope they come back. Tatara also has to take a few hits. While Kiyoharu might pull strange faces, he has long legs, which Tatara doesn’t have. He might at one point have been close to develop a complex because of it, but I think they saved him well with the ghost-dancing.

Beware of Genius

Surprise! Tatara is a genius! This episode he was worthy of that title two times! The first when he was just looked at Kiyoharu and copied his dance, and then again when he ghost-danced. The copy-dance was okay for me, I mean, he might be better with watching. I just think there will be problems coming up, if he can’t make the dance ‘his’ dance instead of making it just a copy of Kiyoharu. But then, when he was able to dance as if he was partnered with Shizuku… I mean… Come on! They could have waited for another episode. From now on, I will just call Tatara ‘Tensai’, which is Japanese for ‘genius.’

Love Triangle

Aren’t they cute? Sengoku randomly tries to get Kiyohara emotionally react by saying Tatara would steal Shizuku. And the reactions were precious! Tatara with his blushing is never too much and Shizuku showed her true feelings, saying ‘What do you mean, you don’t care?’ because Kiyhoaru said he wouldn’t care if she was taken away from him. But we see how deep of a bond those two have and that Shizuku obviously likes him in some way. Now we have to see what Kiyoharu thinks about her. Tatara couldn’t be more in love seeing how he is already imagining her as his dance partner…

Themes & Trivia

Waltz: Waltz has a long history that comes from the area around Austria, Bohemia, and Bavaria. The first forms of waltz were mentioned starting 1771 in literature, even though poorer folks might have already known the dance even earlier. It probably just came in fashion when richer people starting dancing it during events. Back then, dancing was a great way to meet people and find a good husband. It was the Tinder of their time. Back in those times, ladies and gentlemen didn’t meet too much in private, and touching was out of the question. Dancing at an event was a good way to get to know the ladies and be able to be close to the person you like. That’s also the reason why at first it was shocking for the people of the era when waltz became popular. Dancing so close to each other was unheard of and everybody was enjoying it. Though I want to mention, they didn’t dance as close as we do now but were leaving more space between each other and sometimes danced side-by-side etc. Still, touching hands is more than they would do while drinking tea!

Ghost Dancing: I am a very big scaredy-cat, so when I tried to research if a thing like that actually exists (in some bizarre way, you never know!) I only found ghosts and dancing, but nothing connected to ballroom dancing. So let’s just say there probably isn’t something like ghost dancing and this was an awesome but random thing they made up for the anime!

Comments

This episode couldn’t shake my feelings of the first episode in any way. On the contrary, I like the series even more, now that there are things starting to happen. Tatara, as well as Kiyoharu (I hope), is getting more motivation and I am also excited to see how Tatara influences Shizuku. I think for now she isn’t really shaken by him, but maybe because of how he will influence her dance partner. I also hope they will let him dance with a partner soon. I don’t care if it’s Karen-sensei or Sengoku, just give him a partner. I don’t want to see the awkward hands anymore, no matter how perfectly positioned they are.

While I love that they are starting off with waltz, I’d rather have had a quickstep or one of the Latin dances. The music is better and I think fast songs are a bit easier. But I also am happy they are starting with waltz, since I am from Vienna and always sit there in hopes of them mentioning the Viennese waltz explicitly. Anyway, while a lot happened, there isn’t much to comment on. Like I mentioned, they somehow put in body types in this episode, as well as Tatara’s own tiny complex of height. And then we are also reminded that Tatara is struggling to pay for the lessons without help from his father. So there is room to keep working on those kind of topics and I can’t wait to see where they will take us.

Hopes for the upcoming episode

Well, this episode I only got half of the things I hoped for and in a totally different way than expected! For the next episode, I want to see Tatara dance with a partner – I don’t care who it is, even if it’s a stray cat that would be fine. My personal favorite would be Sengoku, though. Just for two or three steps, please? I also have very high hopes to see more of our pretty Shizuku, because she is all things great and I love her. Pretty baby, stay awesome!

Oh, and more dancing, please? I can’t get enough of the dancing and the dresses and everything. So please, don’t forget to put in a bit of magic for the next episode.

Lastly, I hope we get some progress on Tatara Tensai’s dancing. Since he already is a genius, I expect it won’t take long for him to show off his dancing in some way or another. Which brings me back to my wish to see him dance with a partner… Read you next week!

Did you like Episode 2 of Welcome to the Ballroom? Don’t forget to check the rest of our episodic anime reviews for Summer 2017 and let me know in the comments below or on the MANGA.TOKYO forum if you have anything to add!

NEXT TIME: Heat 3. Dance the Waltz (ワルツを踊れ)