If you’re sleeping on Dance Dance Danseur, you’re missing out on the deepest and most ruthless series in a pretty decent season. And if you’re hating on Junpei over this episode, well – if you were ever 14, I can only guess you were either part of the social elite bubble or have a shoddy memory. I have a lot of respect for storytelling that doesn’t pull any punches. And even more so if it doesn’t rely on dramatic embellishment. Nothing is more painful that reality can be, if the writing is keen enough to present it authentically.
“Painful” is the operative word here. That was the most painful anime episode of the year for me, and maybe a lot longer. It was incredibly difficult to watch. And it was supposed to be. I’ve seen a lot of very bad takes about it (I’ll touch on that shortly) but I find that adults very rarely want to face reality when it comes to bullying. They blame the victim, or they blame the kids who don’t intervene. Do these people not understand the reality of being in junior high school? Clearly they don’t – and the fact is, they blame the kids because it allows them to pass off responsibility (and allay their guilt) over letting it happen when it’s their job to put a stop to it.
Whatever Luou’s reason for coming back to school was – and until given reason to believe otherwise I think it was feelings of rivalry towards Junpei – it’s predictably a disaster. The first few moments of the episode had a sense of deep unease, almost to the point where they made me queasy – a testament to how accurately they captured the moments leading up to what followed. I’ve seen this happen in the real world – my instincts were tingling. And as it started to become obvious that Hyouta would be at the center of it, that unease only deepened.
Unfortunately Luou is an irresistible target for existential thugs like Hyouta. He looks weird, he’s unresponsive, he doesn’t fight back. All the revelations about him – being the child of Mazaru, a former idol, and the controversy over his parentage – are just accessories to that. I get the urge to blame Luou over what happens – you want him to fight back, to resist. That certainly applies to Junpei, who knows what’s happening is wrong but understands the cost of taking Luou’s side. If you think that’s an easy thing to do, all I can say is good for you – I don’t think you’ve ever been in that situation or you’d know better.
From Junpei’s perspective, everything about this is hard. Imagine being 14 and being told to “throw it all away” – indeed, that unless you do, it’s pointless to pursue your passion. 14 year-olds shouldn’t have to throw it all away – friends, fun, pointless time-wasting. Those things are the essence of youth, and we have a whole life to live in their absence. But Chizuru isn’t wrong – if Junepi wants to get where he wants to go, he really doesn’t have any choice, especially having started so late. It’s a brutal decision for a kid his age to have to face, in an episode full of brutal decisions.
I’ll be honest, at one point I was literally shouting “Do something!” at Junpei in the latter part of the episode. But it cannot be stressed enough – this wasn’t Junepi’s fault. It wasn’t Luou’s fault. It was the fault of the bullies, and of the teachers who didn’t step in and put a stop to it. For Junpei the idea of stepping in is terrifying. It means likely losing his friends, and possibly becoming the target of bullying himself. It means giving up the social cred he’s worked so hard to bank, the legal tender of middle school life. If you think that’s easy you’re nuts – it’s unimaginably hard. And it doesn’t take a lot of imagining (or much empathy) to grok that.
What finally prompts Junpei to act is seeing Luou humiliated on stage at the school chorus contest (his tormentors dress him as a girl and throw him to the wolves as his mother’s big hit plays on the PA system). Luou’s dance is the one burst of poetry in an episode of agonizing and gritty prose, but it suits the moment. That it took this much to finally break Junpei is testament to the fact that he’s flawed and human – weak in the way most people are, much less in adolescence. It was the shame of hiding his secret after seeing Luou declare himself in the most terrifying of circumstances that prompted Junpei’s declaration of purpose, but he got there in the end (which is more than a lot of people ever do, and they wind up living a lie).
Forgive me recycling material, but I can’t say it any better than I did in last week’s final paragraph – as a chronicle of the travails of a 14 year-old boy generally, and specifically one pursuing ballet, Dance Dance Danseur is absolutely stellar thus far. The way this series approaches issues of masculinity and peer pressure is probably the best I’ve seen in anime since Hourou Musuko (which was, somewhat ironically, also 11 episodes). I wouldn’t expect it to be a hit, but I hope it finds a small but appreciate audience, because anime of this caliber enlightens the entire medium.
leongsh
April 23, 2022 at 6:21 pmI think I was one of the few that posted about this series in your season preview post. It’s good to see this manga title well-realised and adapted into anime. MAPPA has not dropped the ball either on the dancing animation. Hoping it continues until the end of this season (said to be 11 episodes in total, and “this season” – in hoping for another season).
p.s. With respect to the matters you posted, I presume you have read the r/anime subReddit on this episode. There are some posters who expect a lot more out of Junpei despite him being only 14 years old. One of them posted in the show’s thread in the AS forums. That is not to say that it’s all that way. A small few have roughly similar thoughts and opinions as you posted here.
Guardian Enzo
April 23, 2022 at 6:58 pmThat “expecting more of Junpei” is the gist of what I saw, though mostly on MAL (why I ever look at that cesspool of a forum I’ll never know). There was also victim-blaming. Both are unrealistic and kind of reprehensible to me, and TBH I think blaming Junpei is one step up from blaming Luou. Both are comically bad takes.
Do people not remember how ridiculously hard this sort of situation is for 14 year-olds? Do they want to convince they don’t? Did they live in a S-tier bubble where they never had to deal with it? This is not Junpei’s fault– that can’t be stressed enough. It’s the bullies’ fault, and it’s the fault of the adults who let it happen. I would love to have seen Junpei act sooner but honestly, that would have been fantasy. It doesn’t work that way in the real world most of the time.
Elia Notari
April 23, 2022 at 11:48 pmWait, you write some columns on that site, don’t you? Was that a thing from the past?
Guardian Enzo
April 24, 2022 at 12:12 amThat ended quite a long time ago. I’d also add in this case I’m talking specifically about the forums, as opposed to the columns (which as far as I can tell barely exist at this point, though I don’t go looking for them).
Polly
April 23, 2022 at 6:56 pm“Whatever Luou’s reason for coming back to school was – and until given reason to believe otherwise I think it was feelings of rivalry towards Junpei – it’s predictably a disaster. ”
If you’re right on this, I think Miyako’s mother (who seems to be the closest thing Luou has to a decent adult figure in his life) should’ve seriously spoken to him about school before allowing Luou to go back. She might have, and they might show further down the road. Did he just stride off to school one day without telling her? I was frowning at Luou when he appeared completely unresponsive to teachers who being perfectly civil to him- like, dude, why are you even here if you’re not showing interest?
And perhaps it’s a result of different school cultures, but students in the schools I went to wouldn’t have been allowed to to fiddle with the school’s speakers without the supervision of a teacher or a member of the operations staff. That stunt of their on the stage would’ve probably resulted in a few weeks’ detention.
I think the story might still have plans for Hyota specifically- his interest in music was brought up last episode, and his strict upbringing in this one. But it’s gonna be hard for a lot of people to embrace him after this episode.
Guardian Enzo
April 23, 2022 at 7:24 pmWell, they wouldn’t be “allowed” to do it here either, but it probably isn’t that difficult to pull a stunt like this. Maybe somebody in the class is in the broadcasting club, maybe the school just never expects anyone to try stuff like that.
There certainly should be punishment – not just detention but probably suspension for the ringleaders. Not just for hijacking the chorus contest but publicly bullying a student. Schools in Japan prefer to put up a few posters and then pretend bullying doesn’t exist – to have it thrown in their faces like this will have seriously pissed off the school administration.
Snowball
April 24, 2022 at 5:21 am“I was frowning at Luou when he appeared completely unresponsive to teachers who being perfectly civil to him- like, dude, why are you even here if you’re not showing interest?”
I can actually relate to Luou as I work with foreign students (with varying levels of English) in a secondary school and Luou behaving the way he does is realistic and not entirely his fault. While it might not be due to the language barrier, it is evident that he is socially withdrawn and he has been out of education for a while.
Guardian Enzo
April 24, 2022 at 9:02 amTotally. I have experience in that area as well and it was all very realistic. Japanese kids who have been living abroad or are “haffu” are commonly targets for bullying.
sonicsenryaku
April 23, 2022 at 8:07 pmI’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: People make bad takes upon analyzing art/media either when they have a propensity for knee-jerk, impulsive reactions without parsing their emotions through the filter of critical thinking, or they have an over-tendency to project their views on the work, blinding them from what the literature is actually saying. Happens to the best of us sometimes, but improving critical analysis comes from being able to see past yourself, recognize when you’re doing that shit, and reevaluate your perspective and the media you’re passing judgment on. The bad takes on this ep of Dance Dance (fall out boys, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!) are a product of just that: people having knee-jerk reactions and just impulsively saying whatever without taking the time to scrutinize the context of the situation. Oh well; what I wouldn’t give to live in the reality some of these people pretend is real life. Who needs drugs to deal with the world’s pain when you could be that blissfully unaware, am I right???
leongsh
April 24, 2022 at 12:45 amThat’s true. There’s also the tendency to self-insert and project what they would do in the character’s place. They have difficulty understanding the concept of putting oneself in character’s shoes requires empathy and understanding the context of the character. It is not a vessel to project personal viewpoints.
Guardian Enzo
April 24, 2022 at 1:45 amI think it’s more “what they say they would do in the character’s place.”
Nellie
April 23, 2022 at 10:14 pmI’m a bit disappointed. I was hoping we’d see the show depict Junpei deciding he’d rather do ballet than play football and dealing with the peer pressure and stereotypes without having to resort to making the football boys outright bullies.
Nellie
April 23, 2022 at 10:43 pm*I’m a bit disappointed. I was hoping we’d see the show depict Junpei deciding he’d rather do ballet than play football and dealing with the peer pressure and stereotypes without resorting to making the football boys outright bullies.
Fixed.
This episode was well-done, don’t get me wrong. It’s just not a writing decision I agree with.
Riv
April 24, 2022 at 6:06 amI thought that was a very well done episode and pretty spot on when it comes to how many 14-year-olds would behave in that situation. You felt for both Luou and Junpei. 11 episodes already feels far too short.
Guardian Enzo
April 24, 2022 at 9:02 amWay, way too short.
leongsh
April 24, 2022 at 11:19 amThere is a natural stopping point at that point based on the rate that the anime is adapting the manga chapters.
You may want to read the manga after this season ends although the scanlation is done up to that natural stopping point, for now.