No dropoff in any way for Dance Dance Danseur. In addition to general excellence it’s been a model of consistency in every sense, so credit where it’s due, MAPPA or no MAPPA. It’s a given at this point that DDD will place highly on the year-end list (perhaps most surprisingly of any show that will), no matter how many big guns are yet to fire – it’s just a question of how highly. In a sense those unexpected masterpieces are even more satisfying, because with the expected ones part of what you feel is relief. A case like this is like winning a big bet with house money.
It’s fair to see we’ve been building towards the events in this episode. In many ways – certainly the main triangle, but just generally speaking the boy-girl dynamic has been the elephant in the room. I can’t even imagine surviving the close physical contact involved in ballet when I was this age – I’d surely have died of embarrassment. Our heroes are far from unaffected by it – especially given that one of them is in love with another one of them. But events come to a head here when the Oikawa School pairs up the summer school boys and the SS girls for some pas de deux practice.
It’s not at all surprising that a school would throw the students together like this. Pair dancing is elemental to ballet, first and foremost – even I know that much. You’d need to practice it when you can. Even more though, the girls and boys have to be as socialized to this as possible. I can’t imagine the challenge instructors face in corralling the hormones of 13 and 14 year-olds thrown into each others arms and asked to be professional about it – it has to be a nightmare. Junpei is not a shy boy, but he’s not immune from the moment by any stretch. His first concern – how do you not get distracted by nipples (underwear apparently being verboten because of unsightly lines)?
The veterans are somewhat used to this, and try to talk Junpei down from the ledge. Misaki knows the importance of becoming comfortable around girls and acts as a facilitator to bring the two sides together in a social situation – but he’s a guy that’s always got two agendas working (at least). As for partners, Miyako ends up with Luou – much to Junpei’s distress – and Junpei winds up with Oikawa Natsuki. She’s the daughter of Ayako (as you probably guessed if you’d read the credits), and as you recall she was swept away by Junpei’s performance in Swan Lake that her mama hated. And she clapped for his pirouettes, too…
Natsuki may be a 6th-grader but she’s got Junpei seriously outclassed in (ballet) experience. And she may have a crush on him (well, there’s no “may” about it) but she’s seriously tsundere. She scolds him for the way his Swan Lake showcased himself rather than Miyako, and tells him that she was basically covering for his lack of precision by matching him. But she also bemoans the fact that his current dancing is so “safe”. Natsuki longs to dance with the wild monkey who wowed her at the competition, but Junpei is trying to master the basics so he can break through his glass ceiling. Both kids are conflicted, but their end goal is the same – to have fun dancing in the unbound fashion their hearts demand.
One thing is clear – Natsuki is seriously talented, but also seriously serious. Too serious, though given her age that’s not surprising. Junpei is raw but a true prodigy, and together the pair unleash a certain magic that has the others in the class kind of wowed. But there’s another point to consider here. Even setting aside their age difference, the two of them don’t have to be romantically linked to be good dance partners (and neither do Luou and Miyako). Junpei’s appreciation for Natsuki as a dancer – and for their chemistry together – is 100% genuine. But he’s in love with Miyako, and even if he is 14 that’s not trivial for him. He’s able to separate the two things in his mind, and kudos to him for that.
Thanks to Misaki’s meddling facilitating Miyako and Junpei wind up alone together in the salon as the others go out as a group (Misaki makes sure Luou is part of it). This scene has been a long time coming, and it’s everything it should be and more. It’s full of awkwardness – again, as it should be – but Junpei is no shrinking violet. He’s a bold kid with self-belief and he lets Miyako know how he feels. And, perhaps surprisingly, Miyako feels the same way. She may not have the star quality Natsuki does (I like Chizuru but that “charisma” thing was pretty cruel), but that’s not why Junpei fell for her. That was about as authentic a fumbling, yet somehow free-spirited middle school first kiss as you’re likely to see.
Just what Misaki’s ultimate motive here was remains unclear, though he clearly wasn’t just altruistically matchmaking. This was a way of striking a blow at Luou – who does like Miyako, seemingly, and assumed her protective feelings for him were also romantic. Perhaps Misaki simply wanted to give Luou a reason to run away from the Oikawa, or perhaps was trying to drive a wedge between he and Junpei (though the direct benefit to him in that is not immediately obvious). This is a test for all of these kids to be sure, especially Luou – he and Miyako are still partners, just as Junpei and Natsuki are, and to expect kids this age to be able to be mature about this powder keg of a situation may be a bit unrealistic
