A Story of Growth not Dancing: "Welcome to the Ballroom"

Synopsis

Middle schooler Tatara Fujita is a shy boy who has gone through life avoiding any confrontation and having no particular plan for the future. Though he tries to blend in with the crowd, it does not stop the bullies from harassing him for money. However, the young man is luckily saved by a man named Kaname Sengoku.

After saving him, Kaname invites the middle schooler into his dance studio, a place that Tatara would normally never step a foot in. Upon being faced with Sengoku’s commanding presence and given a chance to dance with a fellow classmate, Tatara discovers something new. As he enters into the limelight and limelight, Tatara finds a new passion as he enters into the world of competitive dancing.

The Good

As a series that features the world of competitive dancing, you would think that the dancing and the music would be the biggest highlight of the series. Instead, the biggest highlight of the series lies in Tatara’s growth and development. At the beginning of the series, he seemed like the typical shy character type who didn’t know how to deal with people. As the series progressed, you see not only the development of his character but the way he looks and holds himself.

He’s not the only one that was given a solid development. Even the side characters were shown to have gotten a good amount of development to them as well. Just seeing all the characters from start to end really makes you feel as if you went on this journey of growth with them. The story overall just gave a lovely story of growth around the theme of dance. On that note, the dance scenes do have its moments.

Rather than in the movement of the pair, it is when the focus is on the singular movements of the characters or when they are practicing that the dance element of the series shines. The way that the curves and the motions of the characters are accented during these moments, you can feel the strength of the characters working the motions. On a smaller note, the series also dished out some good comedy as well.

The Bad

There has been much debate regarding the art and style that was placed when it comes to the competitive dancing scenes. Seeing how it strangely accentuates the stretch of the necks and the sweat of the characters it’s easy to see why. The way that the series dishes out the quick movements of the characters while also featuring the strength of their movements comes off as rather rough and takes away from any fluidity the scene could have. Other than this, Tatara’s visualizations when he is trying to work through his struggles comes off as rather hit or miss.
Storywise, there was some interesting development for the characters but for the most part, there was a lot of predictable points to the story. And while there weren’t any romantic points emphasized, the whole thing with Tatara being awkward with ladies but still charming them was rather expected. That and the whole female characters having a rough side was another expected point of the series.

Conclusion

As a series that took on the concept of journeying into the world of dance, it did highly well in the journey portion but not so much on the dancing side. Visually and storywise, you can see the development of the characters. That and their dynamics also helped along with this and their self-analysis adds on. When it comes to the dance scenes, it does relatively well when it comes to featuring the characters practicing, but it the competition moments, the art and scenes come off as rather rough and fast with little fluidity. Overall, it’s a dance series that has dance as a backdrop of development.

Rating: 8/10