Category: Dance Dance Danseur

This is it everyone, welcome to the finale of Dance Dance Danseur! This is a pretty eventful week all things considered. Someone gets the girl while another gets a scholarship, all the while a dementia ridden grandmother laughs along at the drama. So the question is: Is it any good? Let’s jump in and find out.

First up lets talk about the visuals. If you ask me, these are a bit of mixed bag. The first half was absolutely gorgeous. Like legitimately beautiful, I don’t think anyone can dispute that. The lighting, Luou’s movements, how it was all framed and storyboarded. Great stuff. However the second half leaves much to be desired, both in animation and storyboarding. Part of this no doubt comes down to the location. There’s no way a static classroom provides the same kind of scenery and options that a beach at sunset does. Beyond that, we also need to recognize that MAPPA problem: Melt. MAPPA has a history of productions falling apart in the second half, it’s just a fact. And we saw a bit of that as if you check the credits, this episode has 13 different studios working on it. I’m amazed it came out as good as it did.

Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 11 [Oh, I Think I Love Classical Ballet]” →

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week of Dance Dance Danseur! And what a week it was. This episode was just so GOOD. I was worried that Danseur might flub it’s ending, but this penultimate episodes makes me sure that won’t happen. Why is that? Well lets jump in and talk about it.

Right off the bat, and as if this comes as any surprise, Danseur’s direction this week was stellar. There were so many incredible frames that I had trouble picking my screenshots for this post. Whether it be the almost fairytale portrayal of Luou’s small door, or the beginnings of Swan Lake on the beach, Danseur hits hard when its wants to. Now sure, there were some hiccups here and there. The transition from the train to Jumpei/Miyako running on the beach was awkward, as was the composite of them running in the background. Danseur wasn’t perfect. But it was beautiful. Like in the way that flaws in a masterpiece remind you that it was made by a human, rather than a machine, is all the more perfect for it. Now maybe Danseur isn’t masterpiece. But it is without question my Anime of the Season.

Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 10 [Miyako… You Need to Be by His Side]” →

Welcome everyone, to another week of Dance Dance Danseur! Apologies for the wait on this one. I haven’t stopped, just been rather busy since I started grad school and its left me feeling a bit more tired than expected. Excuses aside though, lets jump right into this weeks episode!

This was an interesting week, as we seem to be coming to a head on both Jumpei and Luou’s stories. Or at least this arc of them. Jumpei’s is going about as I expected, he’s been offered the scholarship by Oikawa and must now choose between her and Chizuru. About what I predicted right? But there’s an added layer here from Danseur that I wasn’t expecting: Natsuki and Miyako. I said last week that I wasn’t expecting any kind of romance to happen this season, but now we have a full blown triangle situation. And on top of that, they both seem to represent something different in the story. Like Miyako is personal expression, feelings, romantic love and everything we saw Jumpei exhibit in the Swan Lake performance. Meanwhile Natsuki seems to almost represent the institution of ballet itself, the ideal Jumpei seems to be striving towards. It’s… interesting.

Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 9 [I Wanna Get Better, Too!]” →

Hello, and welcome to another week of Dance Dance Danseur! This is an odd episode if I’m being honest. There are scenes I really like, but also ones I find really concerning. Which is which? Lets jump in and find out!

So if I’m being honest, visually, this episode looked pretty rough. There were a few good shots with Natsuki practicing alone, and her jump/dance with Jumpei in the second half was fine. But by and large the episode relied on static models and flashy post-processing backgrounds rather than smooth or intricate character animation. There simply wasn’t much impressive going on! And beyond that? I think the episode was kind of a mess. Characters had rough, imprecise linework all over the place. It felt like we were zoomed in on wide-shot low-detail versions of the designs. I’m all for rough, thick linework. But that’s not Danseur, that isn’t a stylistic choice. It’s just evidence of MAPPA Melt starting to set in.

Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 8 [Oh, I Wanna Do It Again!!]” →

Welcome back everyone, to another episode of Dance Dance Danseur. This week continues Jumpei’s journey of learning what ballet really is while Luou figures out the power of friendship! Or rivalry. Unsure which yet, to be honest. Regardless, lets jump into the episode!

Starting off I want to say that this was a very good looking episode. It didn’t have any big, flashy, explosive sequences like episode 5, true. However it did have a lot of incredibly solid character acting. Especially the Russian dancer! It’s very rare that an anime describes someone as “graceful” and then the animation actually backs that up. The way this guy moved was so smooth, it’s like he was animated on 1s rather than 2s. He certainly stood out compared to everyone else, that’s for sure. On top of that the scene of everyone doing pirouettes looked great as well. Obviously not to the same degree, aside from Luou who continues to be beautiful, but good nonetheless. I especially liked the focus on posture and axis for Jumpei, who has been struggling with the basics. More than anything though, I think this episode was directed beautifully.

Lets take a look at an example.
Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 7 [Ah, I’m So Embarrassed]” →

Welcome everyone, to the halfway point of Dance Dance Danseur! This week we begin a new arc, Jumpei get’s chewed out and Luou becomes a tad more competitive. Interested? Then lets jump right in!

Starting off, lets talk about something I mentioned last week: Consequences. I said that I was annoyed that Jumpei hadn’t had any for that stunt he pulled on stage, and that I hoped they were coming. Well? Here they are. Much to my delight, despite how impressed Godai was by it, not everyone else was so happy. I doubt that the Moms pulling their kids out of the school will cause any lasting damage of course. The economic viability of the Godai school simply isn’t what Danseur is about. But that isn’t what I like about this either. What I like is that Jumpei is being forced to recognize the consequences of his actions. And as such, is seeking to not only rectify them but to ensure they don’t happen again. It’s a moment of possible character growth for him. One I’m glad to see Danseur picked up on.

Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 6 [Why Am I Doing Ballet?]” →

Ladies and gentleman, this episode of Dance Dance Danseur might just be my episode of the season. There’s so much love here and we have so little time to talk about it, so lets just jump right into it!

Obviously the first thing we need to talk about is that beautiful performance. Danseur really came out swinging this week with this rendition of Swan Lake. Not in terms of animation sadly, we haven’t gotten much 2D ballet work since Luou’s gym performance in episode 3. Instead MAPPA used CGI for all of those scenes this week, and it was painfully obvious. They stuck out like a sore thumb anytime Danseur switched to a wide shot with multiple characters and complex movement. It’s a shame, definitely the low point of the episode. But even with those, what stuck in my head after watching wasn’t the CGI models. Instead it was all of the beautifully lit and detailed still frames. The expressions on Jumpei, Miyako and Luou’s faces throughout, and prior to, the performance. Or the incredibly framed full-body posing with extreme lighting and camera angles. These were all fantastic.

Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 5 [I Can’t Die Now]” →

Welcome back everyone, to another week of Dance Dance Danseur. This week we follow up with Luou on the bullying, Jumpei embraces ballet and the show becomes just a tad bit more Shounen. What does that mean? Read on to find out.

Right off the bat I want to, once again, praise Danseur for its visuals. The eyes still look off in wide shots sadly. I think the lines just do not look good without the proper tapering and details provided by the closeups. There was also an issue regarding Miyako’s tutu just being a static image moving across the screen rather than any kind of animation. But I find both of these to be ultimately small, almost irrelevant, issues. Neither of them changes how good the character movement is. Especially the legs! Oh how I love the legs in Danseur. The attention to detail on their form, the way the joints move, the careful way they must be posed and walk during a ballet… I find it beautiful. I haven’t been able to fill hunger for dance since the Princess Tutu Throwback Thursday series, so this has been a welcome find.

And as for the narrative? Well that was pretty damn good too.

Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 4 [I Can Do Ballet Now]” →

Welcome everyone to week 3 of Dance Dance Danseur! This one is simultaneously the most interesting, and concerning, episode yet. Why? Well lets jump in and find out!

Now normally I start these posts talking about the production, but you know what Danseur looks like. It looks good! So instead lets skip straight into what happened this week: Bullying. Conceptually I rather like it. This episode went all in on Jumpei struggling with being “cool”, being “masculine”, and that’s exactly what I wanted from Danseur. Not just some glossed over “I dance, everyone is cool with it”, but an actual full on look as to why Jumpei feels this way. Why he’s concerned and insecure about it and why there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. And I got that! By the end, Jumpei has started down that road. He has begun to figure out that being a “man” isn’t about being a fighter or whatever. It’s about being true to yourself and your beliefs. The only concerning thing about it is how Danseur got there.

Continue reading “Dance Dance Danseur – 3 [What Does It Mean to Be Manly]” →