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.
Regardless of which direction Jumpei ends up going though, I’m really engaged with what Danseur is doing with him. His progression from bottling up his passion to loudly proclaiming it in the locker room has been fantastic. The way he just exploded when accused of swooping in and stealing the results of other peoples hard work, crying out about how he has held back because ballet wasn’t “cool” or “masculine” and how he wants to take every chance he can now that its in the open, was great. Yes, Jumpei hasn’t been doing this openly as long as Misaki or the others have, this is true. But he’s loved ballet just like they have and has had to hide that fact. An arguably worse fate, stunting your passion for years, than losing a single class opportunity. Danseur is doing a really good job here!
Speaking of suffering, lets talk about Luou. This was a complex week for him. Danseur is still laying it on thick here, there is no denying that. We get more of his backstory, his angst, all of that. But I think it works a lot better this week because of how it’s being framed through current events. Rather than having the grandmother poke her nose in every couple of scenes, oppressively tinting the entire episode, this week Danseur has multiple character critique her work and, by association, Luou. Stuff like Oikawa saying this is the “old way”, its “dangerous” and “outdated”. Going so far as to say his grandmother was a bad teacher and that he, and his mother, could have been so much more. It’s a big slap in the face to Luou, who seems to respect his Grandmother a great deal! Well… maybe “respect” is the wrong word.
It seems to me that Luou doesn’t so much respect his grandmother as he does depend on her. That he might not even see what she’s done to him as abuse. It’s almost like he thinks that she gave him a gift, that she is the reason he is so good at ballet despite lacking the natural talent and flexibility Jumpei has. Combine that with abandonment issues regarding his mother, and maybe he thinks his only value is in his ballet? That his mother left because he wasn’t good enough, that Miyako chose Jumpei because he wasn’t “the best” anymore, that the only reason anyone cares about him is for his ballet. Basically what I’m saying is that I think Luou has built his entire personality around being good at ballet! And that Jumpei is slowly chipping away at that confidence and self image.
If we rewind half a season, this all gives that gym routine a whole new meaning. I remember back when episode 3 first aired, I wondered “What does this mean, why did he dance”. And I feel like I have that answer now. If Luou thinks all of his value is in his ballet, then of course the only way he could see to seize control of a situation would be to dance. And once everyone stopped picking on him afterwards… Once people realized he was incredible and praised him for it like Jumpei did… it only fed into the idea that people only valued him for his dancing ability. So now that Oikawa is openly staying he can’t go pro, he doesn’t have the mental fortitude, the way he was taught is wrong. That has to hurt. I imagine that might be the first time that’s ever happened.
So yeah, suffice to say I think this was another good episode of Danseur. Not as good as the last two in terms of individual content and artistry, but great for setting up our upcoming finale. Danseur could do literally anything in these last two episodes and it would probably work. Jumpei goes back to Chizuru and Luou proves he has the mental fortitude, taking the scholarship at Oikawa’s? Sure. Jumpei gives up on Miyako and Chizuru, letting Luou have the emotional support while he furthers his technical skills at Oikawa’s? Works for me. They both stay at Chizuru’s and support each other, Luou teaching Jumpei the technical while Jumpei helps Luou learn he is more than just his ballet? Inject it into my veins. Danseur would have to try really, really hard to fuck this finale up. And that makes me pumped.
