Way back in my early years in high school, I experienced dancing social dances and ballroom dances. At first, I really find it difficult to dance that genre because I'm more into cultural dances. So when I saw a clip of Welcome to the Ballroom (Ballroom e Youkoso), I immediately remembered those days. The days and nights that we practice tirelessly so that we could polish our routines, the scoldings I often got whenever I did something wrong in the execution of our routines (my horrible footwork, lol), and especially the happy feeling I felt whenever I dance—all of those memories flooded in the moment I watched that clip. So I got curious: will this anime be able to express the point-of-view of a ballroom dancer? Or will it just be a failed attempt?
Konnichiwa Hivers, it's me again, your ridgette ! For today, I'm going to share my very first anime review. So please be with me as I share a sneak peek of Tatara's journey towards discovering his passion—his passion for dancing.
About the Anime
Welcome to the Ballroom (Ballroom e Youkoso) is a shounen sports anime that premiered in the summer of 2017. It aired from July 9, 2017 to December 17, 2017. It's under Production IG, and its main theme is performance arts, which is ballroom dancing. It has 24 episodes, and it is an adaptation of Tomo Takeuchi's manga, Ballroom e Youkoso.
So the anime began by introducing Tatara Fujita, a third-year middle schooler with no specific dreams or even plans for his high school, who yearns to find something that he could truly say he likes. Although he had gotten through his life by being timid and by going with the flow, that eventually became not enough to keep him safe from trouble. One day, while he was walking, a group of bullies approached and harassed him for money. Fortunately, before things got worse, Tatara was saved by Kaname Sengoku, a motorcycle-riding dance instructor. Assuming that Tatara is checking out the studio's flyer, Sengoku proceeds to invite him to his dance studio.
Even though he would normally never set foot in such a place, Tatara was amazed by Sengoku's captivating aura. Upon entering the studio, he unexpectedly saw his classmate, Shizuka Hanaoka. Upon his trial lesson, he was granted an opportunity to dance with Shizuku, and there he realized something. He realizes that, maybe, dance is the thing that he's been searching for all along—the thing that he would like and that can change him. With a strong will to see more of the beauty of dance and to improve himself, Tatara takes the first step in his journey into the vivid and fast-paced world of ballroom dancing.
The Other Characters
Aside from the main character, there are a lot of interesting and admirable characters in Welcome to the Ballroom, and they are:
Kiyoharu Hyodo
Honestly, I didn't like him the first time I saw his character. He seems like a bland character to me. He is basically the 'Kaede Rukawa' in this anime because, at first glance, he seems uninterested, lazy, and complacent. Later on, Tatara discovered how passionate Kiyoharu is about dancing. He is the type of person who always strives to become the best, and that somehow made me less unlike him (tho like Rukawa, I didn't like him up until now that I finished this anime).
Mako Akagi
Mako, a petite girl with a timid aura, was really the opposite of her brother and dance partner, Gaju Akagi. Being partnered with him since they were kids, Mako gradually thought that as they grew older, she'd become unworthy of her brother's partnership. Thankfully, after her pairing with Tatara, Mako finally saw her worth—that she can alone bloom even without her brother's presence.
Chinatsu Hiyama
I don't really like her character that much because she's too strong-willed. She always does what she wants; that's why her past partner matches didn't succeed. She really struggled to understand and connect with Tatara because of this trait. Can a dancer who's used to leading follow Tatara's lead? Or will she let her leader instinct overcome her?
Kaname Sengoku
He is definitely one of the reasons why Tatara discovered his passion for dancing. Sengoku is usually straightforward and tactless. The first time I saw his character, I really thought he's a guy from Haikyu (lol), but later on I found out he's from Welcome to the Ballroom. He was one of the most recognized professional dancers in this anime, and together with his partner Chizuru, they really dominated the dance floor with their eye-catching performances.
Masami Kugimiya
He is basically one of Tatara's rival and an occasional training partner. His way of dancing was elegant and traditional, which was really opposite of Tatara's dancing style, but there's definitely beauty in it. He's basically my favorite character because I really like how realistic his character is. His background story was something more interesting because I saw how he really struggled with his passion. I felt more attracted to his character than any other characters in this anime because his story resonates with me well.
After four days of watching the anime (thanks to the crappy internet connection, my binge watching was delayed for days), I finally finished it, and it really ended beautifully. I can't say I'm fully satisfied with its anime ending because I'm currently reading the manga, but I can confidently say that it was really a beautiful sports anime. I really admire its art style because the characters seemed all beautiful in their own ways. The dance performances were also captivating, and they sure kept me glued to the screen for hours. Further, the funny scenes were hilarious, and they really complemented the serious scenes well.
They didn't use too complicated narrations to express the characters; instead, they used the ones that would be understandable to all viewers, even those who don't have any knowledge of ballroom dancing. There are, of 'course, the technical terms they used, but if you focus and understand what the characters are saying, you'll eventually understand what those mean. As someone who once experienced ballroom dancing, it's really refreshing to hear the dances that I once danced. I thought that they wouldn't do justice to the intensity of emotions that a dancer feels, but again, I'm amazed at how they expressed those. Those emotions somehow affected me, and they somehow made me reminisce about my past experiences.
Overall, I rate this anime 7.5/10 because I'm somehow looking for a plot that is not really like the usual shounen sports anime. Nevertheless, I'm confident that even a non-dancer viewer would enjoy this anime. I'm hoping that it will get a second season, but for now, I'll continue reading its manga.
That's all for now, Hivers. I hope you enjoy reading my anime review. See you next time on my next blog!
Arigatou and tanoshinde ne minna-san~
The pictures that didn't have source were from screenshots of the anime's episode, while the last picture was edited in Canva.