What a difference a few years of dancing can make! In last week’s episode of Welcome to the Ballroom we saw our bloody beginner Tatara dance a cute waltz and this week our master Kiyoharu is showing us how it’s done with the tango – hurt leg and all.
Japanese Episode Title: ダンサーズ・ハイ
Kiyoharu had to watch Tatara dance his waltz, which will probably have some consequences later on, as another person can’t just jump into the competition for someone else. But while that might be a problem later, for now Shizuku and Kiyoharu are still in the race and will perform the Tango. Kiyoharu was enraged, seeing Tatara dance in his place and shows everybody at the competition a tango they have never seen before. There is passion and love, fire and longing in their dance and everybody went crazy, cheering for Kiyoharu. That is, until the music stops and Kiyoharu collapses. Tatara couldn’t feel worse.
Kiyoharu is an amazing dancer. He could dance like this even when he was hurt. Tango is one of my favorite dances, so I really enjoyed watching the whole scene. But can anybody explain to me, why he has such a creepy face? The dancing is great, I got used to the whole lot of sweat, and I am okay with the overly long necks that remind me of Giraffes. But wow, what is with his face and body? Sometimes it looks like he is really handsome, then he has eyes that are distorted and reminds me a bit of Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle. He sparkled like Super Saiyajin from Dragon Ball. And then he was on fire, like the devil he is. I was being pushed and pulled between being freaked out and being impressed. It’s amazing how may different emotions they can show with the dancing animation! His dance was completely different from Tatara’s and looking back, I think the amazing outweighed the creepy. They got me hooked, I can’t wait to see what else they will show us during the dance segments!
Oh dear Iwakuma! I am so sorry! I misunderstood you, just like the producers wanted me to! You cute, giant rock of fluff! Turns out that he is a nice person who helped Kiyoharu, or he would still had been lying somewhere waiting for help. His connection with Tatara was so cute and amazing and I hope they will become good friends. To make up for my misunderstanding, let me call him Kuma, like the bear he is.
There was more than one scene, where I really wondered about some more intense feelings they might harbor. We start with Kiyoharu getting all angry for no reason. But then, it’s about Tatara taking his partner. And then there was this short moment, where I wasn’t sure if he might be gay and in secret think Tatara is cute and he would like to dance with him? Now I don’t know much about boys love, but that scene was there to be misunderstood, right?
Tatara isn’t helping either, because sometimes he makes faces that look like he just is in the middle of a great adult video… Rosy cheeks for no reason, sparkling eyes. Dear Tatara, please don’t make dancing more sexual than it already is! I mean, that near-kiss with Shizuku showed pretty clearly why I like the tango so much.
We already knew Kuma, but now we know he isn’t a bad guy and hopefully he will stay. But we also get introduced to two new characters, and I don’t know anything about them yet. I can only say one is cuter than the other. I like the excitement of the guy, especially compared to our sleepy and passive Kiyoharu, and isn’t the girl a cutie?
Heat: So our episodes are counted in ‘heat’ and this week I went to find out what that actually is. A competition has more than one kind of dance,so it’s divided into different rounds and the couples know when it’s their turn to compete. There can be really big heats, and if there are too many, the judges can call back those they think where the best and have them dance another round. A good number of couples at once on the dance floor is between six and eight, so there might be more than one callback.
Sleeping on the Train: This might seem very random, but during the train scene with Kiyoharu, I realized that right behind Kiyoharu was a woman sitting and sleeping. I will take the chance to talk a bit about the train culture in Japan. I commute to and from work everyday and everyday I ask myself the same question: do I really want a seat for my 20-minute train ride, even if it means risking that some random person might end up sleeping on my shoulder? It does happen, everybody is sleeping on the train (if they are not starting into their phone…until they fall asleep) and when they enter that state between really sleeping and snoozing off, they normally can’t sit upright. I haven’t ever seen anybody say anything to the unknown person who leans on your shoulder, but I myself wanted to scream at them so many times. The only thing you can do is take another seat, if there is one open, and during the rush hour I can tell you: there is none.
Tatara’s Posture: Just a short update, I did take a look at his posture this episode again, and so far I hardly see any improvement in his everyday posture. He does straighten up for the dance perfectly. But aside from that, he still is a tiny mess. We’ll check back again in a few episodes!
This episode was so good! I wasn’t really surprised at Kiyoharu fainting, as he was dancing like a maniac AND it didn’t seem like he did drink a whole lot. It is so hot right now. Just looking at them sweating is making me panic and grab my water bottle. But all jokes aside, The only thing I didn’t mention yet is, once again, Tatara’s family. The scene with Kiyoharu at Tatara’s house was one of my favorites this time. He really is giving comments for grandma and he accepted the presents like the good boy he is. It was so nice to see it. And Tatara will get in trouble if his father finds out about the ruined tatami mat. Those things are expensive…
So Tatara did not proceed to learn a new dance, but we did get to see tango. And we also didn’t get to see Tatara taking care of Kiyoharu’s leg, but instead we saw the maniac Kiyoharu dance until breaking down. My wish for the next episode is simple: I want to see the new characters. I want to see the cute girl become the partner of Tatara. Maybe I want to see Tatara a tiny bit jealous. My biggest hope would be that Kiyoharu also comes back and says something, maybe making Tatara take the whole partner thing more serious, as he probably would give up Shizuku at the first tiny problem, because he just doesn’t think he deserves her as his partner (yet). Oh, and can Sengoku be less a creepy pervert? How can Shizuku be so calm and say he is touching her in weird places when they dance? Why would you come back to that studio? I either need a better look at how close their relationship is, to see how this could be considered a joke OR they can stop with those ‘jokes.’ Not so funny. So I hope they won’t occur in the next (or any future) episode. As they aired two episodes this week, there will be another review coming your way really soon, so read you tomorrow!
NEXT TIME: Heat 5. Partner (パートナー)
If you liked this review, maybe you also will like some of our other Summer 2017 reviews! And if you want to talk more about Welcome to the Ballroom, maybe we can welcome you to the MANGA.TOKYO forum, where we talk about the world of anime and manga.
Official Site: http://ballroom-official.jp/
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Can you already smell the sea? Can you feel the sun on your skin? Have you already had your first slice of watermelon? Well, the only certain thing is that the summer anime season is coming this July!
