Hello everyone and welcome to the first post of the first covered show of the new season! What I have here is Dance Dance Danseur, MAPPA’s latest attempt to make me like them as a studio. And you know what? It’s working. Lets dive on into it and talk about why!
Starting off I want to praise MAPPA for the visuals in this episode. I rag on them a lot, mostly because it’s amazing just how low their production can get at times. But in others, like here, it looks fantastic. From both an animation, background and direction standpoint, Dance Dance Danseur was gorgeous. I loved how creative Munehisa Sakai got with some of the scenes. His willingness to go wide to better show off the ballet, how it completely switched color pallets, lighting and editing style when the lead dancers came out in Swan Lake. Or the way Jumpei’s legs moved in his alleyway ballet scene, or Miyako’s almost ephemeral quality in the forest, or, or, or, etc. There were to many good scenes this episode to list. And while that may result in Dance Dance Danseur burning out later on, for now? I love it.
Moving on to the actual episode, I found a lot to like here. I’m engaged in all 3 characters and their individual struggles in just 2 episodes. Whether it be Miyako and her relationship with her mother regarding her ballet skills or Jumpei and his struggles around his passion. Even Luou, who has only really existed for this episode, got some subtle and engaging character moments. Look for instance at his interaction with Jumpei in the dance studio, and how body language when Jumpei starts to yell. Immediately shielding his face and making himself seem smaller, belaying a history of abuse when looked at together with Miyako’s comments about his past teacher. I was afraid this was going to end up like Bisque Doll and turn into a more fanservicey, girls-in-tights, kind of show after the intro. But it’s only doubled down on what I love!
I especially liked the use of Swan Lake throughout the episode, and how it was reflected in both the immediate and meta narratives. The obvious, the immediate character stories, is shown in how it engages Jumpei with Ballet again. Showing us that he doesn’t care about the “school recital” levels but rather the beauty and grace to be found on the highest level. That’s not all though, its also reflected in the characters and their relationships to each other. There are a lot of interpretations here but my favorite is a sort of gender swap, with Miyako being Siegfried and Jumbei/Luou being Odette and Odile while the mother is Rothbart. Effectively forcing Miyako to choose one and in doing so choose her partner for ballet. The question then becomes: Which one is which? There are other ways to assign those roles, obviously, but I like this one the best.
On top of the immediate character narratives though, Swan Lake also applies to Jumpei’s larger story regarding his passion. However this time the mother isn’t the one who takes on the role of Rothbart. Instead that belongs to Jumpeis Uncle/Father and how they are pushing him towards Jeet Kun Do, something he clearly doesn’t love, and away from Ballet. I think it’s another fabulous layer to what was already a play filled with meaning. And those moments where Jumpei’s true passion bursts forth, where he is finally able to express himself? We get the alleyway scene. Yeah there was more going on there, such as his desperation to be wanted, to be desired, after effectively being shot down by Miyako. But if anything that’s just another push towards Jeet Kun Do, towards Odile. I’m looking forward to what will push him back.
About the only complaint I do have with Dance Dance Danseur this week is in regards to the hormones jokes. I get it, this is at least partially a romance and Jumpei is a young highschooler. It wouldn’t be weird for him to freak out over things like the intimate touched of a pas du deux or to be more focused on the cute girl in the forest rather than his ballet. I don’t have a problem with those! Its more that I dislike how a lot of those jokes are framed. They feel almost… fetishized in a way? Overdone almost? They always left almost as quickly as they arrived, so its not a huge issue but it is something I hope doesn’t take over the show as we move forward.
So yeah all in all I think this was a fantastic second episode. Dance Dance Danseur has quickly become my favorite show of the season. There are just so many small details, on top of the big ones I already mentioned, that draw me in. Stuff like Jumpei being the shortest character in the show despite being our leading man. Or the way Miyako already has someone she likes and isn’t just going to end up in the MCs arms because he’s the only available option in the series. Even this bet Luou seems to have made with Miyako’s mother, something involving Jumpei, adds this air of mystery and plot to an already packed narrative. Maybe Dance Dance Danseur will end up overloading on to many plot points, I dunno. For now that I am all about it.
Os this show an adaptation or anime original?
Adaptation of a manga I believe, so we wont get the full story most likely, which is a tad sad.
I honestly don’t understand why people are so hung up about the “omg Junpei is sooo hot for Miyako!” thing. Yes, it’s not necessarily the most amazing thing about the story, but I don’t think they’re overdone or offensive or even exploitative, and you see much much worse in other shows where nobody ever complains about them (all those boob jokes in otherwise non-fanservicey stories, etc.). Also, he’s a hormonal teenage boy, of course he’s going to be all worked up about getting to touch the girl he fancies!
Anyway that aside, they do have a reason to exist, which we saw in this episode: they emphasize Junpei’s attraction to Miyako. Which is imprtant because for one that was what drew him to even try taking up ballet again; it was what kept him going for the first period of time. And now that he realizes that it was all one-sided, and his attraction is pointless, he also realizes that he wasn’t, in fact, doing ballet because of that attraction, that he does genuinely want to do ballet just for ballet’s sake and not to impress a girl he likes. (And it also makes him see Miyako as an actual person, not just THAT GIRL I’M INTO OMG OMG.)
Lets hope you’re right! I haven’t read the manga so I have no idea how it handles the “romance” part moving forward.
Your correct about him being a hormonal teenager, and about there being much much worse crap in other fanservicey shows. Like I said, it’s not a huge issue and it’s really all I could come up with when struggling to think of anything I disliked about the episode. So long as we don’t go overboard and end up in that booby fanservicey territory, it’ll probably be fine. Alsio it appears I accidentally lost a “nt’ when doing my editing which definitely changes that sentence, so fixed that. It 100% makes sense why he reacts the way he does to Miyako.
Oh, that “nt” helps, heh. Honestly, without any spoilers, I like how the romance turned out in the manga, at least as far as Junpei is concerned. There are elements of it that I find frustrating but that’s because they come with a certain aspect of the story that I find fairly frustrating overall. Once the story reaches beyond that it’s all much, much better. I just hope the anime will be there to adapt it (not sure how many episodes it’ll have, or where they’re planning to cut off).