Well, there’s no going back now. Ballroom just went full sports anime, and it cut the brake lines for good measure. After the relative nuance of last week’s character introduction, the newest episode treated us to more fanservice, more contrivance, and more shounen formula than the last two combined. Sports series have really stepped up their game over the last few years, with Yuri on Ice and especially Ping Pong busting genre conventions every time they hit the airwaves, but I wasn’t expecting Ballroom to reach those heights – just equaling its sister series Haikyuu would be a fine achievement. The going is still early, but since I’m reviewing the show episodically, I don’t have a lot of praise to dole out this time.
Before we get too negative, though, let’s talk about Fujita’s family life for a bit. There’s a sweet mealtime scene between our young hero, his father, and his grandmother, who we met for the first time this week. Fujita does his best impression of a color commentator as a sumo match plays on TV, allowing his nearsighted grandma to follow along. This heartwarming scene further establishes him as a good kid, but he’s still not disclosing his new hobby to his dad, so I have to wonder when Fujita’s sneaking around will come back to bite him in the butt. Ballroom isn’t one of those series that makes its paternal figures into antagonists, but we already know that he’s concerned about his son’s upcoming high school entrance exams. When he inevitably learns that ballroom dancing is coming before Fujita’s studies, we can expect a B-plot’s worth of material from the resulting conflict.
Notably absent from the dinner table is Fujita’s mother. I’ve been on the lookout for a shrine somewhere in their home, but it appears she’s just living apart from her family. I have to wonder whether Fujita would be more comfortable revealing his passion for dance to a mother figure, but it’s hard to speculate, since all the women in this cast are already part of that world. Tamaki-san is the encouraging type, at least, which is a wonderful trait for a young novice to have in an instructor. Speaking of female characters, I took issue with the way that half of the cast was treated in this episode. This is a shounen property, so I was prepared for a certain level of sexual objectification, but at this point Banba’s role in the story is 80% boob jiggle. The more offensive instance by far, though, came when Sengoku grabbed a handful of Shizuku’s dress during a pep talk and inadvertently bared her breasts. Then they threw in a gushing nosebleed and a camera flash for good measure… I was able to get past the changing scene from last week without much trouble, but if this shit becomes a staple in Ballroom’s playbook, it’s going to put a sizeable damper on my enjoyment of the series.
Excessive fanservice isn’t the only bone I had to pick with this episode, either. The “overheard from a bathroom stall” trope was executed with about as much grace as Fujita after just one dance lesson, and it didn’t teach us anything that we couldn’t infer from the studio above his home and his rigorous practice routine. The show’s attempt to frame another competitor for Hyodo’s fall didn’t even qualify as half-hearted, plus we’ve already seen him fall down a flight of stairs at Ogasawara. And the fall itself was a complete contrivance, not only because it allowed Fujita to hit the floor way ahead of schedule, but also because it will prevent Hyodo from claiming his title. This kind of plotting reminds me of sports anime from the mid-90’s: clumsy and lacking any kind of dramatic tension. Sengoku refers to dance competitions as “battlefields” midway through the episode, but the show handled this one as though it were a mere reenactment.
Thankfully, Hyodo’s character remains fascinating, even when the events unfolding around him are not. After seeing Fujita’s excited expression on the dance floor, Hyodo angrily demands that he “give it back,” a clear reference to the passion that he himself has lost. It’s tempting to think that the two trash-talkers from the bathroom got under his skin, but it seems to me that he’s been approaching this breaking point for a while. His enthusiasm for the sport is at a low point, given his lack of challengers and disinterest in training overseas; he may not even want to compete at all, feeling only the need to live up to his reputation or please his parents. Hyodo’s expressions on the floor are often intense, but never are they happy, and that’s where Fujita has him beat. The continued strength of their rivalry will be one of the biggest measures of Ballroom’s success as it goes on – hopefully the rest of the show catches up soon.
The plot here was seriously contrived, as you say. No character even bothered to look for Hyodo either. This show better not pull some power of friendship rubbish at us (ever) because it will be disgusting. Heck even trust in partners isn’t going to work. The way Shizuku passively waited for Tatara to lead during the entire routine… Competitions are important to her, I expected Shizuku to take the lead herself instead of waiting for Tatara’s inner genius to be discovered.
So Tatara has an excellent ability in copying others. That’s not going to be easy to get character development out of if it’s his best learning method. He’s stealing Hyodo’s partner, dancing, clothes and happiness!
Longer dancing scene as well this episode! Pretty enjoyable but sadly still full of stills. I wonder if it’s budget or animating difficulty?
Re: Shizuku waiting for Tatara to lead – she may not have had a choice. I don’t know a whole lot about DanceSport, but since they’re being graded on their routine, a non-traditional performance may have been cause for a deduction in the Standard category. It would have been a thrill to see Shizuku covertly lead during Tatara’s panic, though. Really hope they treat her character right overall.
I’m thinking that the stills are due to the 24 episode order. I.G. is probably trying to keep the cost under that of two individual single cour series. I feel for them, since the subtleties of ballroom dancing seem tougher to capture than volleyball’s dynamic limb movements.
I think they but a but more than they could chew with the character designs. They have a lot of details and they are tough to animate. I mean everytime they try, it comes off as stilted.
I liked that they switch up to rougher but smoother animation from time to time. I hope they do that more often.
Good point there! Yuri on ice had surprising animation but standard designs so we have it backwards here. How would Ping Pong compare… those designs were ugly as and it was amazing.
I reaallly like the dancing parts where they whooooosh and surge forward, are you talking about those parts? They’re great, adds so much vitality.
but a but?…
I meant “they bit a bit more then they could chew”.