Ballroom e Youkoso

[MFauli]

1825


A professional dancer named Sengoku rescues Tatara, an introverted third-year middle school student who is being harassed by delinquents. Tatara ends up at Sengoku's dance studio where he meets Shizuku Hanaoka, a schoolmate he comes to secretly idolize. From this defining moment when Tatara enters the world of dance. Sengoku is a free-spirited, dynamic international dancer who recognizes Tatara's potential and begins to coach him. Through dance, Tatara meets another schoolmate, a dance prodigy named Kiyoharu. Through these new friendships, Tatara develops a passionate desire to improve as a dancer and be accepted by his peers and rivals, which nurtures his own native talent. And through interaction with Tatara, other dance members are encouraged to take steps to overcome their own challenges and issues

Episode 1 is out
------------------------

Imo the best new anime of this season, and clearly so.
I enjoyed this from beginning to end. It nicely combines aspects of the dancing-theme with slice of life and features a sympathetic, likable charme like Haikyuu had. The artstyle is fairly standard, but detailed where it needs to be.
Tatara, the main character (lol, I keep reading his name like Steins;Gate´s "Tuturu!"), is a jolly-good hero. In terms of dancing, he seems to be a nice mix of hard-worker and talented, which makes me like him even more. After all, a bit of talent is surely needed if you want to become a pro, but putting in a lot of work, too, helps to diminish any potential arrogance.

Super-looking forward to ep 2. The dancing teacher gives off a bit of Almight-vibes, lol.

Also, Shizuku is the hottest girl of the season. She´s mine. You guys pick someone else!

[KrayZ33]

Yeah, looks great.

Even though the "overnight" training was a bit over the top.
The artstyle is pretty, but they could've gone with necks that aren't 3 feet long in some of those shots.


I like it so far however, dancing is pretty badass, at least some of the dances I've seen are. And fucking difficult too.

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, I think I can agree this is the most promising show so far this season, out of left field.

They could have done a shitty job of it, but they gave it to the right staff, clearly. It looks like it came from the full staff of Death Parade. Immediately reminded me of the ice skating episode of that.

I like the art style. It's exaggerated, like xxxHolic, mixed with Baccano, which had the same character designer. It conveys movement really, really well. Awkward actions look way worse, and smooth or controlled motions look immediately deliberate, refined, and elegant. It's a neat affect with animation that you only notice in series like this or xxxHolic. I hope they keep it up.

Good mix of humor too.

And I still see a dog face and Rem sig...looks like Shizuku is still up for grabs to me...

[Buffalobiian]

HAHAHA those backbreaking shots look ridiculous.

But yeah, otherwise pretty good stuff. I could do with another sports anime again.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I'm definitely ready for shounen sports style ballroom dancing.

[David75]

Chara design felt a little like haikyu. Probably because of Sengoku.

[Ryllharu]

HAHAHA those backbreaking shots look ridiculous.
Stranger than fiction!


https://youtu.be/4c5-fdMDl0s

[Buffalobiian]

Stranger than fiction!


https://youtu.be/4c5-fdMDl0s

Hah, not quite. Comparing both anime and real life footage, the angle of bend in the females are comparable (in standard poses), but what sets the anime apart is the (wrong) body proportion. Having a longer thorax makes those back bends much less human-looking.

Cool footage nonetheless.

[KrayZ33]

Ep2 was way more goofy than it should've been imho.

[Munsu]

Just watched the first two episodes and was much better than I expected. Wouldn't go as far as call it best anime of the season and what not, but a very good watch so far. Looking forward to the rest.

[MFauli]

Curious: What *would* you call best of season so far?

@episode 2:

Enjoyed it greatly. God, I could watch this anime hours at a time. It´s just so enjoyable and interesting. We even got a decent fan-service scene with Shizuku, and I really liked the line "You have to steal her away from him", haha.

[Munsu]

Curious: What *would* you call best of season so far?


Princess Principal is the one I'm enjoying the most right now. Classroom of the Elite has potential for me as well.

[neflight86]

First episode especially, I'm getting heavy Hajime no Ippo vibes from this, and comparing to HNI is never a bad thing in my book.

[MFauli]

Btw one point of criticism I have to mention: The EYES of the characters often times make them look like complete psychos. Especially the hero, who always has his eyes wiiiiiiide open, as if in permanent shock. Kinda dumb.

[Buffalobiian]

Ironically, Shizuku's changing-booth scene is the least titillating when compared to everything else.

I'm entirely okay with the occasional goofiness. What has me guessing is how the dynamics will work out between the MC, Shizuku and genius guy. He's essentially "borrowing" Shizuku for competitions since she's already taken. A new partner would solve that issue in once sense, but needlessly risk a love rectangle which I won't be particularly fond of.

[MFauli]

I guess genius guy will eventually get a new partner. However, not because Tatara is stealing Shizuku away from him, but because the new partner is simply more skilled than Shizuku. That would put the, up to now, so elegant and masterful Shizuku in a directly competitive situation, where she´d naturally force Tatara to improve so she can show genius guy how skilled she really is.

That would also fit with the current love-situation, which I wouldn´t call a triangle yet. Tatara likes Shizuku. Shizuku like genius guy. The end.

[Ryllharu]

I think it is more of Hyoudou doesn't want to study abroad, Shizuku absolutely does, and Tatara is probably willing, as long as he trains up to meet her skill, and his father doesn't have to pay for it.

[Munsu]

I think it is more of Hyoudou doesn't want to study abroad, Shizuku absolutely does, and Tatara is probably willing, as long as he trains up to meet her skill, and his father doesn't have to pay for it.

Does she actually want to go to study abroad? The gist I got from the story was that she was going to study abroad for his sake. And certainly I agree that he doesn't want to go abroad.

So the question is then, if they're no longer partners if it eventually happens, would the interest of studying abroad remain? It could be I guess, but doesn't seem to be the current motivation.

[MFauli]

episode 3 is out
------------------------

fantastic episode. the pacing is perfect, lots of stuff happening and progressing without it feeling rushed. Was Hyodo really pushed down the stairs by the gorilla? It looks the case, but they made it a point not to show it. Hm.
Tatara dancing was nice, although I hope they score low. Come on, you shouldn´t score high when you start late and keep interrupting the flow. It´d be nice if they lost BUT got a score close to the other competitors, thus everyone being in awe of Tatara for managing such a feat without any experience and real training.

Also Shizuku-fanservice. <3 Although the teacher probably shouldn´t rip off the clothings of an underage girl, lol.

[Ryllharu]

I think it was more that Tatara didn't completely fuck up that surprised them. He was mimicking Hyoudou's choreography so that Shizuku naturally fell into pace, and matched the rhythm well enough to improvise in ways that were appropriate.

They should score low, totally agree there, and they will, especially because they fell at the end.

[Munsu]

I think it was more that Tatara didn't completely fuck up that surprised them. He was mimicking Hyoudou's choreography so that Shizuku naturally fell into pace, and matched the rhythm well enough to improvise in ways that were appropriate.

They should score low, totally agree there, and they will, especially because they fell at the end.

Unless they fell after the music had stopped =)

[MFauli]

Unless they fell after the music had stopped =)

Took the words out of my mouth, lol. Although I´d love to see the judges then. Were they looking at a timer and thought "oh no, they´re falling! The time, the time ...! YES! Time stopped shortly before they hit the ground! They win!!!"

;D

[Buffalobiian]

The gorilla pushed him down stairs. That's why he was shocked. If he was completely devoid of responsibility then he wouldn't have that guilty as fuck look. He couldn't even thing himself to look at Hyodo at the dance off. He might have deliberately failed to catch a falling Hyodo, but that's the same thing.

Also, they fell as the music was ending, but it's still going. They'll lose big points. Hyodo will dance like a boss to still win it in Gorilla's face.

I also only just realised the fat glasses person was a girl. I thought she was a guy the entire time.

Shizuku again looks best when clothed.

edit: seriously, trim those fucking pants. This is the 2nd time now.

[Munsu]

Episode 4 is out, honestly by far the worst episode of the series so far. Hope it recovers in the next ones.

[MFauli]

episode 5 is out, too
----------------------------

first of all, i liked ep 4, no idea why you hated it.

anyway, ep 5 ... damn, at first i found Mako boring, but now she´s just super cute. I don´t want that new asshole to touch Shizuku, gives me serious NTR reactions, but Tatara cant have both. Hm ...

[Munsu]

Wonder if someone is going to release episode 5.

[Buffalobiian]

The NTR is so strong with this one (Episode 04, since ep 05 isn't fansubbed yet as far as I know).

I took a really misogynistic read to that episode. It really felt like Shizuku was a tool for Hyoudo or MC to show off their techniques with, or to enjoy the floor with.

Yes, the opposite is also true where you're supposed to look after your partner etc etc (see Episode 03 where MC adjusted the dance to save both their leg strength - and that his dance only worked because he learned THEIR choreography).

But ep04 - Hyodo did not look like he gave a fuck about her, despite what is depicted before (or after) that tango.

[KrayZ33]

Episode 4 topped Oofuri's level of MC whining. Not an easy task

[Munsu]

For those waiting for episode 5, Horriblesubs has released it.

[Munsu]

The NTR is so strong with this one (Episode 04, since ep 05 isn't fansubbed yet as far as I know).

I took a really misogynistic read to that episode. It really felt like Shizuku was a tool for Hyoudo or MC to show off their techniques with, or to enjoy the floor with.

Yes, the opposite is also true where you're supposed to look after your partner etc etc (see Episode 03 where MC adjusted the dance to save both their leg strength - and that his dance only worked because he learned THEIR choreography).

But ep04 - Hyodo did not look like he gave a fuck about her, despite what is depicted before (or after) that tango.

I never got the impression that Hyodo was mad at Fujita for dancing with Shizuku, at least based on how the translation came off. He was asking for "it" back, so I thought he was going for something cheesy like "smile" or "joy" or some crap like that.

It seems Fujita did steal his choreography, but even when that was explained, I'm still unsure about what Hyodo was mad about or what was he asking to be returned. Or if he was mad at all for that matter.

Whatever, Hyodo is a weird dude.

As for episode 5... well, I'm a Mako fan. I hope she sticks around for the long haul.

[Ryllharu]

I'm not sure what anyone has against episode 4, especially when episode 5 makes it pretty clear what the dynamics of the series are all about.

The girls, Shizuku and Mako, are assumed to be essentially perfect. This isn't because of some weird shit going on, but because they're not the leads in dancing. They excel in the Follow role. The two girls follow whatever their partner does. That's how it is intended to work, beautifully illustrated in episode 5 by Mako and Tatara in the park.

Tatara has a natural instinct on where the Follow is supposed to go, and ensures that she makes it there, or adjusts accordingly. He's leading, but in a passive way, if that makes any sense. Gaju simply leads regardless of his partner, and Hyodo leads and meshes with his partner, but most recently was focused on himself, not as a pairing. The success of the performance in episode 4 is due to Shizuku's talent...she can keep up with Hyodo's lead. But they were not really dancing together. Tatara and she were, because she naturally fell into his slipshod rhythm.

[Munsu]

I'm not sure what anyone has against episode 4, especially when episode 5 makes it pretty clear what the dynamics of the series are all about.

The girls, Shizuku and Mako, are assumed to be essentially perfect. This isn't because of some weird shit going on, but because they're not the leads in dancing. They excel in the Follow role. The two girls follow whatever their partner does. That's how it is intended to work, beautifully illustrated in episode 5 by Mako and Tatara in the park.

Tatara has a natural instinct on where the Follow is supposed to go, and ensures that she makes it there, or adjusts accordingly. He's leading, but in a passive way, if that makes any sense. Gaju simply leads regardless of his partner, and Hyodo leads and meshes with his partner, but most recently was focused on himself, not as a pairing. The success of the performance in episode 4 is due to Shizuku's talent...she can keep up with Hyodo's lead. But they were not really dancing together. Tatara and she were, because she naturally fell into his slipshod rhythm.

Episode 4 was full of cry babies and needless faux drama boredom. Hyodo's routine was cool to watch though.

[KrayZ33]

Yay, episode 5 was pretty cool, I'm glad he's pairing up with Mako, she's a sweetie.

She seems to fit him much better anyway... not only skillwise, but also in terms of character.

[MFauli]

Yeah, but Shizuku is like that hot, curvy teacher you always wanted to screw but never could, so that´s why I wish for Tatara to "get" Shizuku.

Wait, what´s this about anymore? Goddamn, the NTR in those 2 episodes hit me hard ...

[Ryllharu]

She seems to fit him much better anyway... not only skillwise, but also in terms of character.
You're taking her brother's word that Mako is the one dragging them down. They placed 5th in Latin dance.

She's way better than Tatara, though maybe not in the classic style, but probably there too.

[Buffalobiian]

I never got the impression that Hyodo was mad at Fujita for dancing with Shizuku, at least based on how the translation came off. He was asking for "it" back, so I thought he was going for something cheesy like "smile" or "joy" or some crap like that.

It seems Fujita did steal his choreography, but even when that was explained, I'm still unsure about what Hyodo was mad about or what was he asking to be returned. Or if he was mad at all for that matter.

Whatever, Hyodo is a weird dude.

As for episode 5... well, I'm a Mako fan. I hope she sticks around for the long haul.

Hyodo was mad and jealous that Tatara got to enjoy a dance in his place.
He then went and danced in ways he normally wouldn't have in order to enjoy himself - and that's being inconsiderate. And that's the point of my read on it.

He went out and danced in ways he wanted to, and Shizuku was simply expected to keep up.

Shizuku's role there wasn't to be a pair with him. Her role in that dance was to enable him to dance. This is in stark contrast to what's shown in episode 02 or late episode 04.

Episode 05 was fine, like the rest of the series. Those Latin moves looked great. The exaggerated art fits that better than waltz. The MC better start learning more dances or this could get boring really fast.

[Munsu]

Seems like we're not getting an episode this week?

[KrayZ33]

Yup
/8char

[KrayZ33]

EP6

__________________________________________________ _________

Mako2qt4me

this ep had a really nice end. I liked the music.

[MFauli]

Cant add anything more meaningful.

TataraXMako for ship

[shinta|hikari]

Shizuku is a bitch (in the Japanese meaning).

Mako best girl.

[Munsu]

While the ending was cool, I'm a bit unsure about seeing this reveal in practice instead of happening during the competition. Guess we'll see how the actual competition goes.

And yeah, I like Mako quite a bit. Just don't like her being as meek as she's been so far, hope she gets more assertive as she gets more comfortable with Tatara.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 07

---------------

















Oh shit, this one was only a setup episode? This week of waiting would be soo long.. :(

And don't worry Mako, washboards have appeal too.

[shinta|hikari]

Flat is justice.

Fuck the Gaju Shizuku pair. They are perfect for each other. A whore and an asshole. I hope Shizuku totally tanks because she is caught cheating and loses the top spot, but obviously not to the Tatara pair, who are barely above water at this point.

[MFauli]

I gotta agree A BIT with shinta here. Shizuku´s reaction to Tatara´s sentence came off as bitchy. Made her look a bit stuck up.

Meanwhile, Mako-chan is the cutest thing ever. God, her puffy face when Tatara wouldn´t decide between the two dresses ... hnggggg!!1

I almost audibly celebrated when Tatara and Gaju crashed and that arrogant prick imploded because of quitting to dance. Sooo satisfying.

Dunno ... I have a feeling Tatara and Mako won´t win against Gaju and Shizuku, but I really, REALLY hope they do.

[KrayZ33]

Since the next episode is called "Reality", you can guess how it'll turn out.


I wonder why the Milf seems to be a problem. I didn't catch/understand that.

[MFauli]

I wonder why the Milf seems to be a problem. I didn't catch/understand that.

She´s Hyodo´s mom or aunt, and apparently s well known quantity in the dancing world.

[KrayZ33]

And why is that a problem for Tatara? Or is this about Shizuku?

[Buffalobiian]

And why is that a problem for Tatara? Or is this about Shizuku?

I thought it was more about Shizuku. Sengoku goes "She'd better not tell.." then young Hyodo rocks up.

It does also sound like she knows about Tatara though.

[Munsu]

Just watched the latest, and man the wait is going to be tedious... though I only have a few days of wait. Hated that they cut the animation short on the Quick Step after the clash. Probably so we get "surprised" on their performance once the finals come.

[MFauli]

You have to wait a couple hours, lol. You´ll survive :D

[David75]

You have to wait a couple hours, lol. You´ll survive :D
Well, last week the show was late by almost a full day, wasn't it ?

[Munsu]

Well episode 8 is out...



Man, they dragged this one quite a bit, another week of wait... I'm still not sure how it's going to go. Feels like no matter what happens, someones going to get the shit stick in the end, which sucks.

[David75]

Very bold proposal from Mako... I'm blushing :o

[MFauli]

What happened this week?

First Boku no Hero has the peeping-scene.
Then Youkoso Jitsuryoku dedicates an entire episode on an elaborate peeping attempt.
And now we have a scene of an old fart trying to casually grope some boobs.

Is Obon the sex week in Japan?

[Ryllharu]

Shizuku is the queen of cool, but Mako is the queen of cute.

I cannot decide!

[KrayZ33]

The interactions between the characters in this show are so beautiful.
Can't wait for ep 9

[Munsu]

Episode 9:






Now this was a very good episode, repetition of scenes aside. Of course, shit's not over yet, but this episode alone was completely satisfactory regardless of what happens next.

LOL, I posted this in the wrong thread. Will fix it now.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 09

---------------------------------------------------













Figurative petal showering was finally necessary, since technique isn't what they're showcasing.

btw, I know it's supposed to be pretty and all, but with the amount of sweat they're dripping I can't help but think it's also rather smelly.

[MFauli]

Fantastic episode. Hoydo´s smile was the highlight for me.

And Mako is so cute and pretty. If only her and Tatara became a real couple :>

[David75]

Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

But at least Mako has had the blooming time of her life.

As for sweat, it shouldn't smell with people with good body higiene and no specific body odor troubles.
It needs some time to smell enough that you can sense it from over a meter.

But visually, it's not very nice.

[KrayZ33]

I'm pretty sure they smell bad, but it's not like you can actually smell it from that far away when they are just dancing close to you for some seconds.

They can smell each other though.

I just don't want to imagine how it must feel under that tuxedo.

as for the ep itself:

I want more Mako now...


The biggest downside in this show so far is that it doesn't really show the moves.
I could probably look it up on youtube etc. but I have absolutely no knowledge of ballroom dancing.

How does a "whisk" (or whatever the name was) look like? Why is X into Y difficult?
They don't explain that at all and that is kinda sad, considering that the dancer we are following here is a complete scrub too.

When I watched Ookiku Furikabute, that baseball anime, I didn't know much about baseball either, but I at least I got to understand what is difficult to do and what not when watching it... that felt nice.

After they showed us the box they stopped doing it.

[Ryllharu]

Mako's so cute I got diabetes!

This episode reminded me a lot of the ice skating episode of Death Parade, one of my absolute favorite anime episodes of all time.

Buff, sweat doesn't smell if you bathe regularly. The byproducts of bacteria on your skin eating the sweat smells, not the sweat itself.

[Buffalobiian]

Buff, sweat doesn't smell if you bathe regularly. The byproducts of bacteria on your skin eating the sweat smells, not the sweat itself.

So I've heard. I have a friend who sweats buckets whenever they exercise, and he smells lol. That visual dripping reminded me of them.

I went and did a search, and advice seems to be:

guys: change shirts/undershirts often.
girls: show as much skin as appropriately allowable.

@Krayz33: I agree regarding the lack of explanation. For one, it's hard to appreciate how "not leading" actually allowed Mako to bloom. Exactly what did she do differently here that she couldn't otherwise do earlier (or with Gaju)?

[David75]

I think you got it wrong.
Tatara is leading Mako so well that she gets to shine and take all the light while he erases his presence.

[Buffalobiian]

I think you got it wrong.
Tatara is leading Mako so well that she gets to shine and take all the light while he erases his presence.

Tatara is "leading" by doing whatever Mako wants to do, which is fine. But.. what exactly is Mako doing?

We can't fully appreciate that, except for visual petals flying around and Mako smiling all over the place. Hyodo talking about her physique was going somewhere. Developing on that and telling us exactly what moves suit her body type for example, would give us concrete reasons as to why she's dancing well today.

Tatara is leading without applying his own intentions, which is why they're commenting that he's not really leading at all.

Compare this to Sengoku and his manager's lead when he showed them a dance. He lead her to do what he wanted while keeping her ability in mind. That's leading.

Leading is directing. Tatara's lead is like figuring out where a dog wants to go, then placing carpet in front of it as it walks to enable it. (I can't think of a prettier analogy, apologies to Mako)

[Ryllharu]

He was leading, but Hyoudo-Mama and Sengoku made it clear that the two were actually communicating by touch and body movement through the entire solo. It was what Sengoku noticed between the two of them when they were playing in the park. Mako and Tatara pay attention to each other. That's how he was able to signal to her about where she wanted to end, and she indicated through touch she wanted them to finish where she'd be showing off to her brother.

Tatara's technique is special because he lets his partner steal the show so much, that the judges miss his own flaws because they never looked at him. Sengoku noticed because he focuses on them both, and Marisa did as well because Tatara makes her curious, but everyone else only looked at Mako. It's all exactly what Hyoudo told him to do. Have Mako beat Shizuku, don't try to beat Gaju.

Tatara's style contrasts the other dancers who are trying to show off themselves as equals (Hyoudo and Shizuku) or show off themselves (Gaju). To be fair though, this little competition hasn't been fair to Gaju at all, he's best at Latin dancing, where the two dancers operate more individually.

edit:
@Buff: He is leading her. The two of them signal what their next improvisation is and rough location, which they arranged immediately beforehand, and Tatara picks a place where the pair haven't been on the floor and takes Mako there. He's paying attention to the crowd and location, Mako gets to spend more effort looking beautiful and elegant. He's doing all the positioning, she's doing all the posing.

That's leading. He's not dominating the dance though, which is what makes it unusual. The others, especially Gaju and Sengoku, treat their partners as ornaments. Hyoudo treats them as equals, Tatara puts the partner on display. He followed Hyoudo's advice, in the only way he's capable of doing. Where Hyoudo's "frame" is a bit more intricate and flatters what it contains as well as being a work of art in and of itself, Tatara's is a plain simple one that you ignore, but the "painting" shines all the more from the contrast.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm sure the current state of Tatara's frame is temporary. He himself said it. He isn't good enough yet to be the star.

What's funny is everyone, including Hyodo's mom, thought quite a bit about Tatara, all the while not realizing this was his 1st actual competition. The mom thought it was his first final... which usually means you've been into quite a few contests beforehand. He hasn't even been dancing for 6 months, right? Definitely not a year.

Tatara is a monster.

[neflight86]

Jolly episode for me. I'm convinced at least 1/2 of this anime working is the soundtrack which rouses appropriate emotion at each dramatic scene. I just wish the animation wasn't so sparse, but with character art this detailed, I can let slide for the most part.

[Buffalobiian]

Talking about character art, I get a little distracted by the furry eyelashes at times. It's looks more or less fine in this context, but I'll always know it'd look quite weird and possibly disgusting in real life.

edit: kind of like a horse.

[Ryllharu]

Eps 10

------


I like that this episode, on the whole, had nothing to do with the male leads of the series. It was Shizuku, realizing that this was her moment to take back the momentum. She can't let down, even for a moment, if she wants to be worthy as Hyoudou's rival. She has to be every bit as good as he is, or risk being swallowed up by his ability and placed in the shadows.

Like they said earlier, this has nothing to do with Gaju versus Tatara. It has always been Shizuku versus Mako. The only difference is that Tatara doesn't mind being the shadow that highlights his partner.

[KrayZ33]

THE TEASE.

[Buffalobiian]

THE TEASE.

Exactly. Right when Quickstep started, I saw that there was 4mins left - enough to actually do the dance if they didn't drag it out. They dragged it out. In retrospect it was inevitable, but I still hoped I didn't have to wait for one entire week longer.

edit: once again, Chibi-Mako wins so much.

[KrayZ33]

The animation quality dropped this time around... I hope they went all out on the Quickstep!

[shinta|hikari]

FCK U SHSUCKU

GJ to Mako for beating that whore, but I feel bad for Tatara for losing the perfect partner... until I saw the post credits scene and the next episode title. I guess Tatara is gonna get a partner perfect only for him.

Gaju is such a bitch. If he really wanted Shizuku as a partner, he should've rejected the result. Informal "duels" like these don't mean shit anyway. Instead, he blushed for his sister(!) and followed her like a whipped dog. At least Mako was clearly infatuated or even in love with Tatara by the end of it, as she should be.

LOL @ all the judges and Hyodo's mom. They can't even identify a complete noob in a glance. It took them the entire competition to realize that Tatara is an absolute beginner and is only in his first competition and 2nd time dancing to a public audience.

[KrayZ33]

EP11

---------------------------------------------------------

pahahaha @ 3:38

okay, anyway - that was great.

Let's see what the new girl is going to be like.

[MFauli]

Meh, a red head :/
I want Tatara to bang Shizuku, he's deserved it :>

Anyway, sooo satisfying to see Shizuku lose to Mako. Whatever about the overall ranking, Tatara is a total beginner, so it'd have been weird for him to win against pros. This was the perfect concluson.

[Buffalobiian]

LOL @ all the judges and Hyodo's mom. They can't even identify a complete noob in a glance. It took them the entire competition to realize that Tatara is an absolute beginner and is only in his first competition and 2nd time dancing to a public audience.

Hyodo's mum knows about Tatara and that it's his 2nd time in a competition. The other guys noted that he was more noob than they tbought while she said he was now almost ugly to watch.

They draw a pretty big link between dancing stamina and dancing experience up to a point. Tatara looks good, but he hasn't danced enough to form the proper muscles. I can't fault the judges for only picking up something that shows with time.

[shinta|hikari]

When was it stated that the mom knew that much? I remember her saying she knew it was his first final, not his first comp. If she knew it was his first actual competition, she should've said that, not specifically state "final." The Hyodo switching event isn't really a proper contest so it doesn't count.

About the other judges, that was my entire point. Everyone knew Tatara sucked from the start, but none of them were the wiser that he was that much of a noob, even to the very end. They eventually realized he was even more amateurish than they thought, but they would probably wet themselves if they knew he hasn't been dancing a year and that it was his very first contest (and that so much was at stake for that matter).

Heck, none of them even realized it was Tatara's frame that led to Mako winning the partner award. Only Sengoku and Hyodo, the two who orchestrated it, knew it was Tatara's intentional achievement.

[KrayZ33]

When was it stated that the mom knew that much? I remember her saying she knew it was his first final, not his first comp. If she knew it was his first actual competition, she should've said that, not specifically state "final." The Hyodo switching event isn't really a proper contest so it doesn't count.

About the other judges, that was my entire point. Everyone knew Tatara sucked from the start, but none of them were the wiser that he was that much of a noob, even to the very end. They eventually realized he was even more amateurish than they thought, but they would probably wet themselves if they knew he hasn't been dancing a year and that it was his very first contest (and that so much was at stake for that matter).

Heck, none of them even realized it was Tatara's frame that led to Mako winning the partner award. Only Sengoku and Hyodo, the two who orchestrated it, knew it was Tatara's intentional achievement.


I don't see the issue, it's not like Tatara did a poor job before his stamina went out.

You yourself said Tatara's frame led to Mako winning the partner reward, and that is something the judges noticed too, especially Hyodo's mom. But the fact that he was able to do that means it doesn't show that he's a beginner. His solo performance was pretty amazing after all and when Hyodo, a real pro, was putting himself into his shoes, he chose (so I assume, because I don't actually know what a 360 no scope pivot turn open rondel is) the same figures.

In the end, they couldn't even rate *his* stance/posture in the finals, because he made it so that they'd rate Mako's instead.

[shinta|hikari]

Tatara did a pretty poor job even before his stamina went out. Everyone kept saying how he was doing only basic movements and how he was disappearing all the time. The first part is due to his inexperience. The second part is because he intentionally made Mako shine. The judges didn't realize that he was doing that on purpose. Most of them didn't even realize he was doing it at all. They merely said that they didn't see/remember how he danced. They were victims of a skill a noob has, which sort of makes them less admirable as dance judges.

As for the mom, she even criticized Sengoku for his teaching methods, as well as Tatara's dancing style in a previous episode. That's because she is oblivious about Tatara's motives in dancing as he did, which makes her lack of insight quite understandable. In the end, however, all of them got trolled by Tatara's frame because Mako won. None of them knew that was Tatara's goal, and he achieved it, despite everyone bashing him as unskilled or whatnot.

TLDR: Tatara is a monster (in the making) and none of the judges realized that.

[Munsu]

Don't care to get too much into it, ready for the next one, but that was quite a satisfactory episode for me. Only regret is that we didn't get a real Mako/Tatara scene when they parted.

[KrayZ33]

How is using the basic bad.

He made the hall applause and stunned the judges with his performance. Or rather, he made Mako stun them.
Hyodo's mom even said it was all thanks to Tatara's lead and that it is a pretty rare feat and actually amazing that he is able to do what he did (improvised routine etc.)

Tatara has good posture and can dance very well and carefully precise for as long as he can remain focused (otherwise I wouldn't understand why his teacher could easily imagine a ghost in form of a dance partner in his hands when he trained). That's basically his special feat and the reason why he doesn't look like a bloody scrub.

On the other hand, who even knows how good the judges are in that competition. It's a really unimportant one after all - so unimportant that the other 2 didn't even want to participate at first.

[shinta|hikari]

On the other hand, who even knows how good the judges are in that competition. It's a really unimportant one after all - so unimportant that the other 2 didn't even want to participate at first.

This is what I meant. The judges probably aren't the cream of the crop, because even the cream of the crop (Hyodo's mom) failed to see through just how much talent Tatara has or exactly how new to dancing he is.

[Buffalobiian]

This is what I meant. The judges probably aren't the cream of the crop, because even the cream of the crop (Hyodo's mom) failed to see through just how much talent Tatara has or exactly how new to dancing he is.

I don't agree. Someone who is massively talented can easily pass as being more experienced than they are. That's just part and parcel of being talented.

If you're talented but obviously a noob then you're not that talented. It doesn't make the judges any less admirable.

[shinta|hikari]

Wouldn't highly skilled judges be able to see through his skill just like Hyodo and Sengoku did? Granted they have the advantage of knowing him in practice.

And none of the judges thought that he was massively experienced. They all knew he was still a beginner. What no one saw through was that he intentionally danced as Mako's frame and disappeared intentionally, and that he was actually a first timer with less than a year of dancing under his belt, which they should've known seeing how he lost stamina so quickly.

Understanding both these things will lead the judge to conclude that they have a monstrously talented lad in front of them, not a "strange" dancer or whatever they kept calling him.

[KrayZ33]

I have no idea what you mean when you say that no one saw that he intentonally danced as Mako's frame.

Because that is not what has happened imho.

The Main Judge saw it, Hyodo's mom saw it (and both pointed it out too). The other Judge with the glasses noticed in his own way but couldn't quite grasp how it was possible for Tatara to disappear like that..


and that he was actually a first timer with less than a year of dancing under his belt, which they should've known seeing how he lost stamina so quickly.

It just means he's not a professional. People have different amounts of stamina - he could've danced for 5 years and still not last till the end. Maybe he never made it to the finals before? All of a sudden, he has to dance 4-6 more times - something like that would show sooner or later. On top of that, how much experience could a child like him have - he's what... 16 or something, at most?

Just take a look at professional football for example.

These guys train every other day, several hours a day. 90m on the field is still really hard for them. Overtime will pretty much result in minor injuries for many of them.

I don't quite understand how Tatara's feats and talents relate to how bad the judges are.
Tatara is not a bad dancer and thus, he doesn't look like a beginner. This is what this show is all about after all.

He's a diamond in the rough, and that is not something that is easy to spot for everyone. Talent might be mistaken for experience, especially at his age.

[shinta|hikari]

He's a diamond in the rough, and that is not something that is easy to spot for everyone. Talent might be mistaken for experience, especially at his age.

This. Better judges would've spotted a diamond in the rough (counter example: glasses judge who didn't quite make it to the end). Maybe I'm just expecting too much from the judges of this specific competition, though. It is rather small after all. I'd imagine world level judges would easily see through Tatara's situation.

And about experience, don't forget Shizuku, Hyodo, Gaju, and Mako are all around his age, yet they have been dancing for far longer. Dancing for 5 years versus dancing for 5 months is a completely different thing. People have different levels of stamina, which is why they train for a long time to improve it. He simply didn't have the time to do that.

[neflight86]

My hangup so far (nothing to do with judges or judging) is that I'm completely lost whenever they mention specific dance moves or other technical aspects that I can't perceive. I just have to take everybody's word for everything because I have no knowledge of dancing. Typically, shounen sports stories have a segment breaking the sport down for the truely clueless, with sprinkled META commentary to keep the audience up to speed.

Ballroom doesn't really do that, and I'm split in opinion. On one hand, I'm glad it is respecting the audience's intelligence by not breaking down the entirety of how one dances in competition, allowing the animation and commentary to clue us in on the participants' faring. On the other hand, I'm afraid I'm too stupid to grasp the proceedings without that firm foundation most shows spoon feed me. For example, once they didn't get first place, I had no idea his dancing was bad enough to put them in last place until (his) hindsight filled in the gaps that he is still a weak dancer. I just don't have enough information to form solid conclusions about the state of these competitions. Time will tell if that is going to bother me down the road.

[KrayZ33]

Yeah, I criticised the same thing.

They don't really show the moves, they stopped doing that right after they introduced the training-box routine.
A shame, really.

I think it would've been best if they showed us some more training, maybe pick up on how he keeps doing X a lot better now than he did before and how it's difficult to do Y right after Z and why.

And then, during the tournament, slightly guide the viewer but mostly just hint at mistakes via animation etc.

[MFauli]

I can see that criticism, but on the other hand, I rewatched Akagi 3-4 times and I still have no idea how Mahjong works and it was fun nonetheless. So no big deal for me.

[shinta|hikari]

Maybe ballroom dancing is simply too boring to break down? Better just focus on the performance.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 12

---------------------------------------







And here I was all depressed thinking every show was ending this season. Instant morale boost.

1) New OP/ED is refreshing and sets the new mood well. Tatara's on his way up.

2) The new girl is only about as tall as Tatara - which isn't tall at all. She's probably barely half a head taller than Mako.

3) She's also pretty hot, but it's hard to beat Shizuku. I reckon it's a tie. Shizuku's asscrack though, just steals all attention. She would not be able to bend in public with that comp dress.

4) Chizuru's a pretty awesome as well. Treating him like a dog was hilarious. Since they deliberately hid the new girl's name, I wonder if Chizuru's her mum. I wouldn't go quite so far as to think Sengoku's her dad, but the level of affection suggested this episode (and in the preview) wouldn't exclude that (even if the genetics does).

[MFauli]

I dont like the new girl at all:

- red hair
- huge forehead
- small, spikey boobs

She's everything I dislike in women :>

Otherwise good episode. Loved how Sengoku´s partner was luring Tatara like he´s a dog, rofl.

[Ryllharu]

2) The new girl is only about as tall as Tatara - which isn't tall at all. She's probably barely half a head taller than Mako.

3) She's also pretty hot, but it's hard to beat Shizuku. I reckon it's a tie. Shizuku's asscrack though, just steals all attention. She would not be able to bend in public with that comp dress.

4) Chizuru's a pretty awesome as well. Treating him like a dog was hilarious. Since they deliberately hid the new girl's name, I wonder if Chizuru's her mum. I wouldn't go quite so far as to think Sengoku's her dad, but the level of affection suggested this episode (and in the preview) wouldn't exclude that (even if the genetics does).

Her name is Hiyama Chinatsu, and amusingly enough, she's voiced by Akasaki Chinatsu. I was wondering if she was related to Hyoudou somehow, but it looks like she's just a Sengoku fangirl. I'm very interested in why she called Tatara lame when her hobbies were "listening to music."

Chizuru is the best. I loved that everyone keeps wondering when the two are going to stop being partners because they fight all the time, but the reality seems to be that the two of them love fighting with each other. So glad she'll be joining the studio to teach, or so it seems in the OP.

But let's talk about Shizuku, and why she's amazing. Shizuru sees Tatara as a rival since the Tenpei cup. She's not a passive romantic interest. She's a goal to reach. She respects Tatara now, even with his lackluster skills, because he is capable of making his partner shine above all others. Shizuku is still Hyoudou's partner, but Tatara has earned her respect. For now. It wasn't granted just because protagonist power (his observational skills), it was earned. He's weak, he knows his weaknesses from watching Sengoku, and he knows why he wouldn't be capable of the same. I love that. Shizuku demands that he maintain her respect, or she'll dismiss him. I love how different that is for a relationship.


small, spikey boobs
Uhh...all the breasts in this series are shaped that way, if they have them. Upward pointing.

[KrayZ33]

First of all, the new intro is awesome,
But at the same time, the way they placed it in this episode was awful.

They shoud've left it out, at least for this episode.... it spoiled pretty much everything in an instant.

I like the new girl. She looks awesome in the opening and she is on fire and exactly what Tatara needs counter his wimpiness.
That's super attractive. Extra points for ponytail btw.

The day when Tatara is able to tame conquer that girl is the day I'm looking forward to.

Lol @ Tatara having to immitate the partner in the next epsiode.

[Munsu]

I like Shizuku, but I'm not really interested in Tatara and her getting together. This new character has my interest, we'll see.

LOVED Sengoku's partner, she's awesome.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode - 13

----------------------------------------






Tatara is leading without applying his own intentions, which is why they're commenting that he's not really leading at all.

Compare this to Sengoku and his manager's lead when he showed them a dance. He lead her to do what he wanted while keeping her ability in mind. That's leading.

Leading is directing. Tatara's lead is like figuring out where a dog wants to go, then placing carpet in front of it as it walks to enable it. (I can't think of a prettier analogy, apologies to Mako)


If this "feeling of being controlled"is what leading is then what have I been doing all this time?

Exactly. Tatara is holding the leading position while letting his partner do whatever they want (and making sure he's in a position to facilitate that). It's not leading. Sure, he can make his partner look great if they know what they're doing, but as a pair and as a dancer he fails at his job.

He's planning the floor position, but that's it. He has no input in directing the dance at all.

-----------

How refreshing it is to have Chinatsu be a Hongo fan than a Sengoku fan. Now she doesn't have to compare poor Tatara to Sengoku endlessly.

------------

Judging from Sengoku's words, Chinatsu hasn't been much of a docile follow either. She too has ideas about how dances should be performed (ie not at the "lowly Japanese level"). That explains why:

1) she only admires Chizuru and her national-level partner,
2) Thinks dancing in Japan overall is lame,
3) Quit dancing because no partner has ever been up to par, or been able to cope with her.

[KrayZ33]

I don't think it's limited to just ideas
Sengoku's words made it sound like she did actually lead in the past.

Maybe she danced in a female/female couple with her sister or something and since samesex couples are probably not allowed (?) when they grow older she couldn't really keep dancing since she had basically no experience as a "partner"... or because she starts acting like she did in this episode (due to her leading all the time) and no lead wants to have that kind of partner.

I was really sad when this week's epsisode ended... I'm already curious how Tatara will bring his lead-game up some more levels.
And in the preview for next week, they are already in a new competition?

Can't wait to see Chinatsu dance in a dress. The Opening still gets me - I hope they can get the dances a bit more fluent in the episode themselves too at some point. So far they are pretty much only using stills and interrupt the flow.

The moment when they are face to face, roughly 2 inch apart is awesome.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 14

----------------------------








1) Well, Aki might actually be the hottest of them all. Too bad she's an ass.

2) Chinatsu's at fault here. She's ruining the dance even if she's the better dancer. They say she won't follow males who are worse than her, but it sounds like she just doesn't know how to follow period. She tries following Tatara but simply failed in the previous episode. It doesn't really have to do with "better" or not. When she thinks a move is appropriate, she performs it - regardless of whether you "hinted" it or not. She does not follow.

And until she does, she's a fail of a follow/female adult dancer.

3) On the subject of feeling pissed off - Hyodo's mum's comment lit me on fire.
Sure, from an outside perspective it looks like Tatara's deliberately "following" the female, but he's not doing any less work, and she knows it.
It also paints him as a slacker, but that's as far from the truth as it can be. He's working his ass off because his partner can't follow for shits.

Honestly when he saw Chinatsu's pelvic thrust earlier, I thought he'd use it against her (as if he realised that to lead means to force your partner into the desired figure). That's how pissed off I felt.

Chinatsu, start following, or go home and keep shadowing. That's all you're doing.

----------------------------------------

edit: extra discussion

https://i.imgur.com/f7PTwZc.jpg

[KrayZ33]

It would've been so badass of Tatara to simply adjust his tie after the final dance, look super gloomy, and not speak to Chinatsu for the rest of the day. Especially since that music that was playing in the background would've been a perfect fit for that. (I really like the background music in this show)

And Hyodo's mom is a bitch too. What does she even mean when she says Tatara is leaving "all the work" to the girl. So if Tatara leads, he's doing all the work and that's fine then I guess...?

Bill is too hard on Chinatsu. That girl did never get to follow properly..
Chinatsu is basically the expert here who's studied the topic for years, and Tatara the guy who doesn't know what he's talking about and is basing all his decisions and thoughts on that one paper he read.
And you expect Chinatsu to consider Tatara's inputs at face value.

It's not that easy.

The training makes it obvious that Tatara can't even bring out Chinatsu's dancing skills properly... that's also something Tatara has to work on. Chinatsu has to work on herself too of course but I think anyone can relate to a situation where you are being held back by someone else and want to take the lead.

Even Tatara himself realised that - which makes him a so much better and more likeable character already. And I'm happy that Chinatsu realised what Tatara was doing too...I loved it when she moved her pinky finger and Tatara was like:

"Oh you want to do a flip-flop 180° double turn aerial tuck pike?! 'Aight, gotcha'!

and Chinatsu looked like "DUDE SAY WHAAAT?"

[Ryllharu]

Right, Buff is being way too hard on her. Akira and their instructors never let Chinatsu try, and Akira's defense for that is that she was shorter and bustier?! Even more interesting is that Chinatsu had all the girly accessories for being a follow, but was never allowed to use them even though she was clearly practicing with them.

Hyodo's mom is correct as well. Tatara needs to learn how to be good himself. She was saying he's been relying on his partners to get them wins. Fading into the background like he did with Mako only works when you have someone as good as Mako or Shizuku. Since Chinatsu is starting again from the ground up, he can't let the girls do all the work.

She was telling him the reason they're not in first place.

Hyodo's mom likes him, remember? Or at least finds him interesting. She's trying to help him, not insult him.

[KrayZ33]

I think so too (the liking part)

But the way she says it makes it sound as if there is *always* someone who is slacking and not doing anything. I mean, she is skilled enough to see what Tatara was doing (see Tenpei Cup). I'm not sure what she could've said - but don't make it sound as if there is the "leader" that has to do something and that's it then.

[Buffalobiian]

Bill is too hard on Chinatsu. That girl did never get to follow properly..
Chinatsu is basically the expert here who's studied the topic for years, and Tatara the guy who doesn't know what he's talking about and is basing all his decisions and thoughts on that one paper he read.
And you expect Chinatsu to consider Tatara's inputs at face value.

It's not that easy.

The training makes it obvious that Tatara can't even bring out Chinatsu's dancing skills properly... that's also something Tatara has to work on. Chinatsu has to work on herself too of course but I think anyone can relate to a situation where you are being held back by someone else and want to take the lead.

She still needs to follow, because that's her role. She needs to support Tatara and train him outside of competitions, not go off on her own. See, you have 3 possible scenarios:

1) Chinatsu lets Tatara lead properly, and follows their pre-reheared, Tatara-level dance. It's not fantastic, but it'll do. This is the ideal scenario.

2) Chinatsu does her own thing and pushes Tatara around, while Tatara's trying to do his job as leader. This isn't even a dance. It looks horrible and viewers wonder if they've even rehearsed because they are out of sync. This is what happened earlier, and is not ideal.

3) Chinatsu does her own thing, and Tatara the miracle worker somehow syncs in near-real-time with her. They manage to dance with dynamic moves. Chinatsu looks great because she's doing her own thing, and Tatara's strained, but barely managing to not hold her back or screw things up. This has short term benefits, but long term only perpetuates this dysfunctional team.

What Chinatsu should aim for is 1), but she went ahead with 2) with poor results as expected. Tatara managed to save their team into 2nd place.

Chinatsu can teach Tatara off-competition by leading for him and showing him moves, which he should then be able to emulate as a leader. In any case, the fact she thrust her pelvis into him to make him move was bad. That's not a case of "Sorry, I'm bad at following". That was a case of "I'm leading bitch, move how I want you to."

I understand Chinatsu has never had a chance to try. That excuses her for being shit. What I see and can't forgive her her lack of trying right now.


edit:


Hyodo's mom is correct as well. Tatara needs to learn how to be good himself. She was saying he's been relying on his partners to get them wins. Fading into the background like he did with Mako only works when you have someone as good as Mako or Shizuku. Since Chinatsu is starting again from the ground up, he can't let the girls do all the work.


Don't be confused. Chinatsu sucks at following the leader's cues, but she does not suck at dancing out the moves of a follow. Tatara predict-dancing with Mako isn't actually fundamentally different than with Chinatsu. The only difference is that Mako will follow Tatara's lead when he's not doing prediction. Chinatsu won't.

Chinatsu shadow-dancing as a follow is superb. The issue? She has no partner in mind. It's all about her and what she wants.

When Hyodo shadows, he does so with Shizuku in mind. When Tatara shadows, he does so with his partner in mind. Chinatsu does no such thing. Her dancing is 100% about what she thinks is correct and ought to be.

[KrayZ33]

She still needs to follow, because that's her role. She needs to support Tatara and train him outside of competitions, not go off on her own.

That's what these episodes are about and no one is arguing that.

It's just that Tatara sucks at leading and Chinatsu is probably a *much* better dancer too so she wants to show off her skill. It's difficult to adjust to someone who is inferior to you, especially if you know how to do it properly and the other guy doesn't.

What you are suggesting is to put all the work on Chinatsu - but it's not only her that has to change, it's also Tatara.

1) won't do it btw. and that's the thing.

[Buffalobiian]

What you are suggesting is to put all the work on Chinatsu - but it's not only her that has to change, it's also Tatara.

Quite the opposite actually. Tatara has to do the work and improve.

During practice, Chinatsu has to teach and bring him up to speed if possible.
During competition, Chinatsu has to follow and let them perform what they've accomplished to date during practice.

During comp, you don't say "fuck practice" and dance out of sync or character compared to your practice runs.

1) won't win you competitions from the beginning necessarily, but it's how you improve the team while maintaining the team. The follow should never lead pretty much. Even when this worked out for Mako, Mako wouldn't make her move unless Tatara lead her to it. That's the difference.

"Have a move in mind Mako, and show what you want to do, but do not make that move unless Tatara guides you to." -Sengoku.


It's just that Tatara sucks at leading and Chinatsu is probably a *much* better dancer too so she wants to show off her skill.

You are 100% correct. If Chinatsu could dance alone, she would. But she can't, because that's not a thing. Tatara is the prerequisite she grabbed just so she could compete with Akira and "show off her skill". She has no regards for his abilities or desires during a dance, or to even look like a pair.

---------------------------------------


She still needs to follow, because that's her role. She needs to support Tatara and train him outside of competitions, not go off on her own.


That's what these episodes are about and no one is arguing that.
To me you guys seem to be finding Chinatsu's "accidental leading" during the competition excusable given her background. I'm arguing that it's not excusable.

[KrayZ33]

The question is why you think it's not excusable, considering that she never could train to follow.

You are putting an offensive player into a defensive position for the first time in his life and complain about him pushing forward too much.

She has never been led before, so someone who can't lead isn't really helping her understand how it feels to be the partner and not the leader. During the flashback you could see that the only training she has done as a follow was dancing by herself - which obviously, is not following since you yourself decide what you want to do next.

[Buffalobiian]

The question is why you think it's not excusable, considering that she never could train to follow.

Because the basic idea of following - is to move however your leader wants you to.
You may do the job poorly and get things wrong (as Chinatsu does), but never forget this basic fact. Never stop trying to follow.

As soon as she pushed Tatara with her body to make him follow her, she lost all respect from me during that episode. She stopped trying to follow and began ignoring her leader.


During the flashback you could see that the only training she has done as a follow was dancing by herself.
She's been practicing with Tatara, who also notes that she didn't dance as she did during practice. All she has to do is emulate practice - what's what competitions are about. She got "fired up", as Ryll would put it, and started dancing on her own.

To do that, is to fundamentally forgo your role. I'd say it's more akin to putting your goalkeeper on the field, say "your one job is to never use your hands", and they use their hands. That's how basic it is. Being "fired up" doesn't cut it.

addit:

https://i.imgur.com/azg0EMO.jpg

[KrayZ33]

As soon as she pushed Tatara with her body to make him follow her, she lost all respect from me during that episode. She stopped trying to follow and began ignoring her leader.

Which is a normal thing to do when the leader can't lead properly.

As for her not dancing like they did in practice: Yes, that happened because she wanted to show off to her friend.
Seeing how Tatara can't keep up as soon as Chinatsu goes a little overboard, or "wild", shows how much he has to learn.

As I said earlier, Tatara is just as much "at fault" here as is Chinatsu.
You blame Chinatsu for not knowing how to follow, but you don't blame Tatara for not knowing how to lead. Double standards. Both their issues are based off the same lack of experience.

[Buffalobiian]

You blame Chinatsu for not knowing how to follow, but you don't blame Tatara for not knowing how to lead.

I have clarified this earlier: I blame them both equally for not knowing how to follow, and not knowing how to lead.

I blame Chinatsu for pushing Tatara around and doing things on her own just because "she wanted to show off to her friend". That is, I blame her additionally for giving up trying.

See the IRC quote above: "If Tatara makes Chinatsu dance at 1% capacity due to both their incompetence, Chinatsu should dance that way."

Chinatsu dances differently to how Tatara wants her to because she thinks she is right, and he is wrong. She should follow his wrong lead.

[KrayZ33]

Who is even saying she shouldn't have handeled this differently? On that part we agree

The discussion you had with Ryl earlier and now with me is about you not being reasonable enough.
Tatara isn't a dick and failure just because he doesn't know how to lead yet.
Which means Chinatsu isn't a bitch just because she doesn't know how to follow yet.

And the episode 14 post you made here doesn't even sound remotely like you'd blame both of them.
You even said, specifically, that Chinatsu is at fault here.

Sure thing she is too, but at the same time, she is also not.

I don't think it would be correct for her to dance at 1% capacity even if Tatara is only able to handle that.
That would put the full responsibility on Tatara - and that's pathetic.
She'd become "the partner that always relies on him to lead her like a dog on a leash"

[Buffalobiian]

Why complain about them for being equally shit at their job? That's known already.

I'm complaining about her abandoning her job despite that. That's the whole point, and that I look highly down on that instead of saying it's reasonable.


I don't think it would be correct for her to dance at 1% capacity even if is only able to handle that.
That would put the full responsibility on Tatara - and that's pathetic.

That's the point. It's been stated before that ballroom dancing is largely dependant on the lead. If Tatara's lead is weak then so be it. You dance to it, and fix it outside of comp. The inability to lead is Tatara's full responsibility.

It's about getting the process correct regardless of poor results, and repeating this process until you get good. It's not about abandoning your lead/follow roles for quick results that have no long term benefits. That's what Chinatsu opted to do here. That's what's not acceptable.

Like Marissa said a few episodes ago, proper leading and following with impromtu communication is actually very difficult. Most competition dances are actually just re-enactments of practice. That's why you rehearse. This concept is especially important for our current duo as they can't lead/follow correctly anyway. All they can do is dance to what they've rehearsed.

So when you do things your own way without communicating to your partner, you're not playing a team sport anymore. You're jeopardising the team.

I'm glad we all agree she should have handled this differently. Where we differ, is that I consider this a discourtesy, a basic error, and deserving of a bitchslap.

[KrayZ33]

You dance to it, and fix it outside of comp. The inability to lead is Tatara's full responsibility.


But that part is bullshit.

What would you do if she went on and said.
"Oh, I could have won you know, but my partner sucks - it's not my fault that we are not D-Class"
Could you blame her then?

This is what deserves a bitch slap.

Not giving it her all is too. Their balance was never good to begin with - this is also something Tatara realised himself.
The reason why Chinatsu is leading is because Tatara isn't doing it. Her actually doing it is because she doesn't know how to follow and not having the lead she needs.

You expect someone who has never followed to follow a leader that has never led.
Of course it won't go on without problems, especially when the person who follows used to lead, and the person who leads is actually following the partners wishes.

If you say Chinatsu had to follows Tatara's poor lead, then yeah, she probably had to do exactly that - that would've been the perfect scenario.
But why don't we bitch slap Tatara for not leading properly too?

For the very same reason - they don't know what they are doing.

edit: She didn't "give up" on following, she doesn't know what it means to follow.
That's the difference in our perspective. That's also why "I'll only dance to 1% of my ability" is not going to work for her.

[shinta|hikari]

Partners should follow the lead. She did so in practice, but she made a conscious decision not to do that in the contest, ignoring what Tatara wants. She also admitted to this error, so it isn't even up for contention.

Whether you want to condemn her for it or not is entirely a matter of personal values. I don't care enough to do either.

[Buffalobiian]

Partners should follow the lead. She did so in practice, but she made a conscious decision not to do that in the contest, ignoring what Tatara wants. She also admitted to this error, so it isn't even up for contention.

^ This. Thank you for clarrifying that Shinta.


What would you do if she went on and said.
"Oh, I could have won you know, but my partner sucks - it's not my fault that we are not D-Class"
Could you blame her then?

This above example is hypothetical, but I'll go with it. She'd be wrong - they wouldn't have won.
Scenario 2, where Tatara and her both try to lead each other, would not have had good results.

Ballroom dancing is a sport about synchronised movements, in its simplest terms. And as with all synchronisation, you do so with the lowest common denominator. Value synchronisation first, then the difficulty of your moves - not the other way around.

[KrayZ33]

^ This. Thank you for clarrifying that Shinta.


I mean, we all get that part where she took and forced the lead




This above example is hypothetical, but I'll go with it. She'd be wrong - they wouldn't have won.
Scenario 2, where Tatara and her both try to lead each other, would not have had good results.

Ballroom dancing is a sport about synchronised movements, in its simplest terms. And as with all synchronisation, you do so with the lowest common denominator. Value synchronisation first, then the difficulty of your moves - not the other way around.

But to realize that would mean she is good at following and has experience in doing so, which she isn't and has none.
And her not synchronizing well is also Tatara's fault and Tatara did well to realize that he can only go by if he acts like he did during the Tenpei Cup. Especially since their training was obviously awful too.

If I'm not mistaken, the partner "follows" right? If the partner doesn't get a proper lead, she can't follow and thus they can't synchronize their moves. Even less so if that partner used to call the shots.
(or are you telling me during practice Tatara was the one leading?... he was clearly not)

I mean, on one hand, we have her who could lead Tatara through a perfect dance with moves he has never done before, even though he never followed before.
On the other hand, we have Tatara who obviously can't even remotely control someone who has, just like him, 0 experience in following.

To put it in his Tatara's own words, a lead that can't lead and a partner that is bad at following.
Don't know how to call it other than the "polar opposite of faultiness" or something :D
If one deservers a bitch slap, so does the other - one for not doing the job of a leader, the other for not doing the job of a follow. It's as much of a leaders job to keep the partner (team) in line as it is the partner's (teammember) job to stay in line.

And the best of both world happens when the leader is able to lead while also keeping ideas of his team/partner in mind... which at one point, Tatara will surely excel in since he can literally "feel" what the partner wants/thinks.

[shinta|hikari]

I see where the disconnect is. The Anti-redhead faction says that Redhead consciously stole the lead, an action that is unrelated to her skill or experience at following. The Pro-redhead faction says that Redhead consciously stole the lead, not realizing how terrible a decision that was because she has little experience at following.

I actually understand both sides and don't think they are mutually exclusive. It's just a matter of personal values on whether you will and how gravely you will fault ignorance. Redhead's conscious decision (which was objectively wrong) was only made because she didn't know any better and thought it was a good thing somehow. No one goes all out to sabotage themselves, after all.

[KrayZ33]

Btw, does anyone know how the ranking systems in dancing works if you have a new partner?

Would Sengoku have to start as a novice again if his partner stopped dancing?
Where and how do you level up... you can't possibly rank higher in every single tournament, right? That would eventually mean you have too many A ranks.

[KrayZ33]

Episode 15

---------------------------------------------------------


I didn't like it that much, because it felt like they skipped a lot of training and Chinatsu is so "calm" all of a sudden, or at least there was basically no reflection on their perfromance.
Isn't this tournament they are going to now several month "in the future" from where they were at 2 episodes ago or something? What happened in that time... I wanted to see that.

I'm disappointed, but at the same time, I want it to be next week's saturday again.

[Buffalobiian]

And her not synchronizing well is also Tatara's fault and Tatara did well to realize that he can only go by if he acts like he did during the Tenpei Cup. Especially since their training was obviously awful too.

If I'm not mistaken, the partner "follows" right? If the partner doesn't get a proper lead, she can't follow and thus they can't synchronize their moves. Even less so if that partner used to call the shots.
(or are you telling me during practice Tatara was the one leading?... he was clearly not)

During practice, you learn what you're supposed to do. Even without the leader, you'd know what you're supposed to do given you practiced your regime. The leader will simply set the timing during the actual dance. You know you're supposed to do a Spin A, Turn B and Flip C as per practice.

This episode highlighted everything I had in mind:

At this level, leading is everything. Tatara's lead is everything, and the ability to dance and win is also his full responsibility. They need to start back at basics, have Chinatsu dance basic moves to match Tatara, and forego competition wins if they have to in order to nail down the basics.


Isn't this tournament they are going to now several month "in the future" from where they were at 2 episodes ago or something?

It's 1 month post starting at Marisa's place, shortly after he rocked up. It'd be no more than 2 months post their D-Rank comp, I'd say much closer to 1 month.

[KrayZ33]

It's 1 month post starting at Marisa's place, shortly after he rocked up. It'd be no more than 2 months post their D-Rank comp, I'd say much closer to 1 month.

I don't know
this is the Sendai Grand Prix they mentioned when Tatara was at work and Chinatsu and Aki(?) had that cat-fight, isn't it?
He entered High school in Spring - which is basically where he met Chinatsu - and the Sendai Grand Prix is in September.

Which means they've known each other for roughly 4-5 month now and it doesn't feel like that at all (from our perspective)

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 16


---------------------------------




-"Hyodo's not here, wtf do I do?" - yeah how about you get your shit together, forget about the damn "rivalry" and focus on self improvement.

-Chinatsu not taking the lead during the comp: good. And now she's crumbling because despite wanting to follow she's now physically not able to.

Somehow Ballroom Youkoso isn't quite as fun lately because it's not playing to Tatara's strengths - which is him learning via osmosis and visually picking up every detail from top dancers. They highlighted that his body wasn't keeping up with his head earlier so I get that physical training is needed. Hopefully we'll get back to that stage again where he'll see something with his Sharingan and break it out because he'll be physically a boss.

[KrayZ33]

Ep was good and fun.
I want more. I like how they covered the training in this ep.. both during the tournament, and also the training camp in general.

They are actually playing to his strength btw... the fact that he got it down first is just that.

lol @ the amount of food on those plates and on the grill btw ... aaaaand Tatara is a wimp, wth, stop tearing up like a puss just because you are having a fight.

[shinta|hikari]

Amount of food looks right for athletes. These guys consume 5k or more calories a day due to the level of exertion they do.

[KrayZ33]

But they don't eat all of it in mere minutes or in one session

They had like 3-4kg of meat each if you include the stuff that is still on the grill.

[Buffalobiian]

They are actually playing to his strength btw... the fact that he got it down first is just that.


That lasted all of 2 minutes though and happened right at the end. Otherwise it's been consistently what I said previously for the past 2-3 episodes since he stopped dancing with Mako.

[KrayZ33]

Nah, they are doing scenes like that one in pretty much every single episode.

That's all there is to Tataras skill in the first place.
He can read the partner he's dancing with, immitate what he has seen and also understand the execution. The "Sharingan"-scene was pretty much the first dance only as far as I can remember.


This Ep was him learning it faster than Chinatsu, who thought that she's actually pretty good at picking things up herself
Last Ep it was him following Kaga..yumi something.
The Ep before was him reading Chinatsu and be her shadow
The Ep before that was him following like a boss for the first time
The Ep before that was him analysing Sengoku-sans dance to near perfection
and the Ep before that he was dancing with Mako.

[neflight86]

I enjoy how the new pairing for this cour isn't making it easy on Tartar Sauce. It feels aimless in a unique way. I have no clue what he should do (as I mentioned in a previous post), so I'm interested in what he does end up doing to 'get' his new partner, or at least I'm expecting a climax to come from it. this show has handled pay-offs to my liking so far.

[KrayZ33]

I wonder if we'll actually see Tatara "doing something", or Chinatsu this time... right now, Chinatsu has to come up with something that helps her understand Tatara.
At least I'd appreciate it if she understands that.

Chinatsu is still not set on the Partner's role. She feels like she has to do things all on her own, probably because that's what she had to do in the past (and thus the "like a dog on a leash"-comment about her childhood friend)

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 17


--------------------------------------



Totally missed this edit:


Nah, they are doing scenes like that one in pretty much every single episode.

That's all there is to Tataras skill in the first place.
He can read the partner he's dancing with, immitate what he has seen and also understand the execution. The "Sharingan"-scene was pretty much the first dance only as far as I can remember.


This Ep (1) was him learning it faster than Chinatsu, who thought that she's actually pretty good at picking things up herself
Last Ep (2) it was him following Kaga..yumi something.
The Ep (3) before was him reading Chinatsu and be her shadow
The Ep (4) before that was him following like a boss for the first time
The Ep (5) before that was him analysing Sengoku-sans dance to near perfection
and the Ep (6) before that he was dancing with Mako.

Reading Sengoku and learning new figures is exactly what he's supposed to do. That's good.

(2-4) and a large part of (1) were (ineffectively) addressing Tatara's flaws. Tatara did not emulate any leaders, and was either a) told to follow someone, or b) forced to fake-lead someone. That's not playing to his stregths. As these episodes have shown, if you don't apply your emulation to leading, it'll hold you back. It's no longer a strength.

Tatara was taught to move like a leader, but he was never taught to think like one.

It's a mentality issue. We've been stuck beating around the bush instead of telling him exactly what's wrong and having him fix it. Without fixing this he can't improve with his strength - which should be eyeballing and emulating other leaders' forms.

Not dancing as a follow, not fake-leading as a leader. Now that it looks like we're finally going to have it fixed, can we finally see Tatara copy the top leaders.

--------------------

edit2: As for ep17, it was pretty hilarious.

As for Tatara, thank you team for slapping him in the right direction.

[KrayZ33]

That ep was pretty cool, wasn't it?

Next ep seems to feature Aki again, can't wait to see them leaving an impression on her.. probably even beating her by a mile considering that Tatara already nailed it during the last comp during the first 2 dances.

On a side note

While I'm sure it's the proper way to do this in ballroom dancing, Chinatsu's hairdo, the one where you puts everything on the back of her head in a shape of a horn or something, is really awful compared to the other one we've seen so far... or her standard ponytail etc.
It always reminds me of this movie I watched ~15-20 years ago... about some alien-family that head egg-shaped heads.

[Buffalobiian]

Man, if only Aki wasn't so much of a bitch. That said, Chinatsu is just as snappy back at her. It's just that Aki picks up on how shit Chinatsu's follow is and keeps rubbing it into her face.

[shinta|hikari]

All I gotta say is...

Shizuku is a slut.

[KrayZ33]

Episode 18


--------------------------------------------------------------------


That stuff was amazing to watch.
Really impactful and fun.

You could really tell how much Tatara struggles and that he is about to grasp what dancing means to him, on top of him being full to the brim with emotions (mostly anger/frustration that he directs at himself) and that he is about to unleash these.

That moment when Hyoudou started to grin like a maniac
and when Chinatsu came really close to Tatara's face at the end (?) of the song as if she really felt Tatara's dance this time around ...
next ep please.

[Buffalobiian]

It was a good ep.

They made Akira seem dumb as shit regarding dancing, which ties in to Chinatsu's comment that their success as a pair was entirely due to her leading. That said, the ep made it out as if everybody except Hyodo had subpar insight into Tatara and his pair in general. Just even the idea that you can stuff around as a pair during prelims seemed foreign to them. The only other person to share such a thought (that experimenting in prelims was okay) was Sengoku.

[shinta|hikari]

That's because the two are dysfunctional, which means they are abnormal, therefore very few would consider their actions as something acceptable, much less positive. Hyodo himself states that Tatara always evolves in a twisted way while carrying all that baggage.

[KrayZ33]

I think one of the reasons why they don't see it is because Tatara and Chinatsu are "beginners" in terms of official matches.

Wouldn't it be far more reasonable to think that they go all out from the very beginning, since they are only D-class.
I don't really think that they are "experimenting" in the first place. They struggled to perform as a team. They are currently "training" (as in finding themselves) on the floor and that is indeed odd because that is something that should've been done prior to the match.

And as someone who trained together with them, it's far easier and obvious to see mistakes compared to how they would perform when they are in top shape, especially if they are also interested in how they perform.
If Germany plays soccer against Luxembourg, I'm more inclined to see the mistakes of the German team and I ignore the fact that they, even at their worst, are most likely playing several levels above Luxembourg.

[David75]

Your mindset can be totally different in a competition than it is while training.
Thus you behave and perform very differently.
The odd thing about Chinatsu and Tatara is that they tend to get better in that setting.

[Munsu]

19 is out:


Disappointed in this one, broke the pace with a long flashback. Nice to see more insight on these side characters and their motivations, but it should've come earlier, not in an episode right after Tatatara had some sort of epiphany.

[shinta|hikari]

Who the heck cares about a fatty's motivation anyway?

[Buffalobiian]

Who the heck cares about a fatty's motivation anyway?

I do. Akira deserves some love too

[Ryllharu]

Did no one else here actually pick up that Akira is a lesbian from this episode?

It's a pretty big deal worth mentioning.

[KrayZ33]

19 is out:


Disappointed in this one, broke the pace with a long flashback. Nice to see more insight on these side characters and their motivations, but it should've come earlier, not in an episode right after Tatatara had some sort of epiphany.


I kno right?

They took all the tension away with this one.
I'm not sure what to expect next though, it got somewhat interesting in the middle when Tatara said that "Chinatsu is the most beautiful in this room"

I kinda like Aki due to her VA using her Clementine (Overlord) and Tanya Degurechaff (Youjo Senki) voice for her, which is kinda funny considering that she also voiced Komachi(8mans sister), Kayo (Inai Machi) or Yuuki from SAO... which are less psychotic characters.
Seems so out of place for a (used to be) shy girl, but it's actually a nice fit for a character that is mostly bitchfighting in this show so far.

edit: And that very very last bit did also get my attention.
Ya...Yandere???? Just rewatched that part, that face is SCARY. She could potentially have directed that sentence @ Tatara and not Chinatsu, lol. And look at their faces, haha.

[Ryllharu]

Yuuki Aoi is in three or four shows airing this season.

Not ONE of her characters sounds the same. Her range is pretty nuts.

[Buffalobiian]

Did no one else here actually pick up that Akira is a lesbian from this episode?

It's a pretty big deal worth mentioning.

She's only a lesbian for Chinatsu, I don't know if it'd extrapolate out in general.

[Munsu]

Did no one else here actually pick up that Akira is a lesbian from this episode?

It's a pretty big deal worth mentioning.

Huh? I mean, they only spent one full episode hitting us in the head with it lol... but with how these sorts of relationships are portrayed in anime, one can't say definitively as to label her a lesbian. She has a thing for Hiyama. She could indeed be a lesbian, could be one of those full-on admiration things that anime always like to portray, she could be bisexual.

But yeah, it was fairly obvious she has the hots for her.

[Buffalobiian]

Perhaps slightly more note-worthy is that Kugimiya has a lot nicer to Tatara now that he sees him as a person instead of a black mass.

[KrayZ33]

What made Aki act less bitchy towards Chinatsu at the end of this epsiode?

I didn't quite grasp what ended it.

[Buffalobiian]

What made Aki act less bitchy towards Chinatsu at the end of this epsiode?

I didn't quite grasp what ended it.

-Chinatsu looking at her.
-Remembering that she actually likes Chinatsu
-Remembering that dancing is fun because Chinatsu looks at her.

Something like that.

The build-up for the past 2 eps feels slightly disjointed with the Aki backstory, as much as I enjoy seeing Aki around. The story was talking about how Tatara will show his "own dancing" every now and again, then it was all put on hold for some Aki time.
Now we've moved onto stretching and body flexibility, which sounds like something that would have been addressed as apart of Marissa's general physical training.
Regardless of all of this, it's all going to be about Tatara's mindset anyway. He's shown in his previous fake-leading that he can move as dynamically as Chinatsu needs. He just generally doesn't do it.

[Munsu]

I'm just not going to bother with this episode, waiting for the next one.

[shinta|hikari]

I think the stretching was overdoing it for this specific event, which will lead to Tatara realizing something about his dancing. It isn't something that should be done regularly. That screaming clearly wasn't normal.

[Ryllharu]

He's taking wider, longer steps.

Chinatsu has been compared to western female dancers.

Who else takes, huge flowing steps and often dances with overseas partners? Sengoku.

That's my guess for what they're setting up here.

[Buffalobiian]

Thing is, he could do that previously. He just doesn't choose to do it by default. When he shadowed Chinatsu, he could dance to her moves without her compromising her range of movement.

Since he knows Chinatsu moves wide already, he should have already been putting in conscious effort to match her. He's capable.

It's weird for it to not be addressed during regular training, and for it to be "suddenly" brought up now.


I think the stretching was overdoing it for this specific event, which will lead to Tatara realizing something about his dancing. It isn't something that should be done regularly. That screaming clearly wasn't normal.

That seems weird, but we'll go with it for now. I mean, if by stretching he realises he needs to be more dynamic, it won't change the fact that his body doesn't readily perform that way.

[David75]

It is possible that stretched Tatara will push Chinatsu's limits forward, giving Tatara the edge he needs to really lead the dance as he should...

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 21

-------------











The first half of the episode can be described with one word: frustration.

The second half explains why they're so shit mentally - because Marisa deliberately didn't teach them shit in that regard. it's still kinda weird how they can still dance "well" when Tatara's just scrambling for body control, just because Chiantsu is finally deciding to follow. Granted, it's like what David said, except it's forcing Chinatsu to think, not Tatara.

[KrayZ33]

It seems like they are going to end the show with that quickstep and more flashbacks.

Eh, not really liking it, the first half of this ep was waaaay too long and didn't focus enough on Tatara and Chinatsu.
They didn't really have to keep repeating how good the other pair is in standard etc.

They re-told the same thing 3 times in less than 5 minutes.

[shinta|hikari]

The anime has caught up with the source material, supposedly, so we are about to get a filler-ish ending.

[Munsu]

The anime has caught up with the source material, supposedly, so we are about to get a filler-ish ending.

Takeuchi's full note reads:

Thank you very much to everyone on the cast and staff for creating a wonderful anime.
For the end game of Metropolitan Tournament, the original work and the anime were going to advance the story at the same pace, but the original work is falling behind so the anime will go ahead of it. The original work isn't finished, but I will convey my plans for it to advance.

Furthermore, as I continue to work on the original, I will set my sights on developments that happen at the Metropolitan Tournament and after. I think I will release parts that differ from the anime, though they will start from the same plan, but I will be happy if people enjoy either the anime or the manga.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-11-07/welcome-to-the-ballroom-anime-to-pass-manga-story/.123729

[KrayZ33]

I can already hear the screams and taste the tears from some other anime community far, far away.

you wouldn't believe how pissed people get when the manga is behind the anime or the anime is different from the manga etc.

[shinta|hikari]

Shouldn't they wait for the ending too see if it's a good or bad thing?

[Buffalobiian]

The anime is already feeling like it's dragging on with disrupted flow. I care not about whether this is because we're in "filler" mode or because the manga too is like this.

Remember that episode where Hyoudo said the Tatara-pair can stuff around as much as they want? Then they showed the "One moment of unison, a second moment of harmony" (or something) and the judge dropped his pen? The very next episode after that should have been about how the two are getting better with each moment, how after Tatara starts to show his dancing after admitting to being a coward.

That was... 3 episodes ago? We're still waffling around about how poor their teamwork is, and now Hyoudo is experimenting some more. Now we're starting again as if none of that mattered, instead talking about Chinatsu following for once.

[David75]

IRL, progress is non linear and you regress a lot too at times...
I talk from experience, crossfit and golf I started in April...

[shinta|hikari]

This is actually about Chinatsu's growth and finally being able to understand Tatara because she was put in his shoes. It dragged on, sure, but it's a different type of breakthrough. Finally, Chinatsu is contributing to the dance instead of just being a part of it. By being able to adjust, she will allow Tatara to finally show his true colors on the floor.

I think this entire competition could've been condensed into like 4 episodes though.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 22


-------------------------------






With that explanation, I now understand more.

-or so one would have expected, but no, I don't really.

It's something about Tatara leading, Chinatsu following with her interpretation of that lead, then Tatara readjusting his actions to match what Chinatsu is outputting - which is just regular following right? I don't know exactly what "clicked" within Tatara. If the heaviness was Chinatsu dancing differently to him, and now all he has to do is dance faster to accommodate that, he should have had this down already.

They made his initial issue being his "lead not coming through", but this has nothing to do with it.

[shinta|hikari]

No, the problem was in both of them. Chinatsu realized how hard Tatara was working and how talented he was when she was forced to accommodate Tatara's loose joints. This led to her finally allowing herself to properly follow Tatara's lead, something she has actually never done before. She just sorta pretended to do it without being sincerely into it. She underestimated him, and you only do that to people you don't respect. And you don't follow people you don't respect (unless you are paid to - employment).

With that out of the way, Tatara could finally realize that Chinatsu was a talent bomb waiting to be lit. It just so happens she is more experienced than him, so she tends to adhere to the forms and aesthetics in her head. That is where Tatara's adjustment ability comes into play. He felt the weight and instead of force-lifting it, he used momentum and balance to handle it. That, however, does not change that he is taking the reins from her. He is leading her now by showing her the way without stifling her experience and potential.

As for the final part, the above is not something the weak-willed Tatara would normally do. He usually just lets the girl do all the work and fades into the background. This time, he realizes the gem he has and is working shit hard to make use of it. Only badasses like Sengoku do that, which leads us to Creepy Kid's final comment. Tatara changed into a bold and daring leader to be able to adjust to Chinatsu, who required one.

[Ryllharu]

Shizuku and Mako also realized their rival isn't one of the men, like Shizuku mentioned at the halfway point of the series, trying to shine brighter than they do. It's Chinatsu and dancers like her (Chizuru!).

Mako mentioned she needed to bring her energy level up (at least in Standard, she and Gaju are pretty unrivaled in Latin) because Tatara gets better depending on the "power" his partner feeds back into him, and Shizuku noticed that Chinatsu has the potential to blow right past her.

[KrayZ33]

Episode 23

-----------------------------------


Finally a very strong episode again.
I really like the Kugimiya-pair and compared to Aki-san story, this one is actually really interesting. Just got to love it that he keeps calling her Banshee.

If all 4 of them keep kicking ass like that, it's going to be an awesome last dance.

Tatara being happy about Sengoku calling was kinda cute too. That was way beyond the level of appreaciating the call.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 24

--------------------------







Well it's over. The last segment of the show felt weaker than the rest, especially with it focusing on the more abstract aspects of dance compared to the technical parts. I remember sharing similar feelings about Kaleido Star actually.

The highlight was definitely Chinatsu giving Tatara a peck on the cheek.

I can't place this as one of my top sports anime, but it's strong enough to recommend I guess. The last bits wouldn't take as long if someone marathonned them.

[KrayZ33]

Last episode was pretty good too.

A good point to end it. Though I'd love to see more, Tatara's past is still "black" (mother left?) and his father still doesn't know about him dancing.

I have no clue how you'd make future episodes as interesting as this season though.
I mean, the Chinatsu and Tatara pair is established now, it felt like they were dancing at their current peak in the finals and I can only assume that it would be rather difficult to "show" progress in skill, since the dance - whenever no obvious mistakes were made - always looked like it was "perfect".

I have no idea why Tatara even won tbh. That's how poorly established the dances are and how hard it is to compare them for the viewer.
You'd basically have to listen to the reporter or some bystander to judge how good/bad a pair was/is or at least if you wanted to compare two pairs that didn't do any obvious mistakes.

So basically, they'd have to crush Tatara's dancing skills once more (which would make Kugimiya look like a fool) and establish all the quirks and ircks on top of the fine adjustments needed for each and every dance and how Tatara doesn't have that one down yet.

[Ryllharu]

The judging is almost entirely subjective. They've been clear about this several times over the course of the series.

And it all boils down to look at me.

It's the view that Tatara finally achieved after having mostly the opposite desire before. And it is why they won.

His old attitude helped them earlier in this competition. They were making mistakes and were overlooked because the Kugumiya pair were taking all the attention. But they'd never be able to win unless Tatara changed his attitude.

The Quickstep is Tatara and Chinatsu's strongest dance, and thankfully for them, it was also the final one. It's modern, energetic, flashy, and fast. Kugumiya and Idogawa specialize in the slower, more formal dances, like the Waltz. But the Viennese Waltz went to Tatara and Chinatsu because it fits Chinatsu extremely well.

The judges wanted to focus on Kugumiya and Idogawa, but Tatara and Chinatsu kept stealing away the attention. That's exactly why they won.

And it is what all the other characters have been saying the whole time. Get attention, dominate the floor, dominate the judge's focus. And don't make mistakes when you have it.

[Munsu]

Nothing left to say to what it's already been said. Enjoyed this series quite a bit, 2nd half dragged quite a bit in particular in this final competition... but I thought it had a better ending that what I was hoping for with 1 episode to go last week.

Has there been any mention of a continuation down the road?

[Buffalobiian]

The manga isn't even up to here yet. But no, they haven't announced anything going forward.

[neflight86]

Jolly ending that left me fulfilled. I can't put my finger on it, but this was suprisingly satisfying, for me not having understood most of what happened for the last quarter of the series. Possibly because the music and detailed facial line work made every episodes climax feel more compelling than they truely were.

[shinta|hikari]

Waki was awesome. Worth watching just for that.