Wandance is peaking at a good time. First and most obviously, the most important stretch of any anime is the final few episodes (and endings are hard). Also, I’m in hard-core deliberation mode for the year-end top 10 (and 20) list, and recency bias is a thing whether I like it or not. Wandance is making its case pretty powerfully – it’s in the running at the very least. And it does seem like even with CGI, keeping your metaphorical powder dry is a thing. The dancing has never looked as good as it did this week.

A fascinating aspect of this show for me is that watching it is kind of like learning a new language. I mean, there’s even a literal linguistic element – I hear terms in contexts I’d never heard them. But it’s the dancing itself that’s a language I never really spoke. Now, though, when I see the main dancers going at it, I feel like I instantly recognize their personal voice. And not only that, kind of understand what they’re saying. I still couldn’t pick out a B-Boy from an uprock in a police lineup, but when I see one of these kids on the dance floor I’d never mistake them for anybody else.

Take Usen, for example. He gets more action than anyone else in this episode, and he’s a fascinating dancer and person. His dance totally reflects his personality (which I suspect is what usually happens). He’s a kind of amiable goof, but – as Iori says – Usen has the gift of doing something incredibly sophisticated and making it look unpolished. There’s a common thread to all his dancing, and that’s whimsy – he smiles literally and through his moves, and dares the audience not to do the same. “Infectious” was the word I used last week, and I’m still comfortable with it.  It fits.

Usen faces off with no less than three of the cour four this week. On seems to give him the least problem, though she’s certainly tough. Iori refers to her style as “polished” and I think that kind of works for me. Interestingly Assay is the one judge who votes for her – despite observing that Usen was already good enough to pose a threat to a pro like himself. On is superficially chill – this isn’t her specialty and I can’t think she expected to win. But Iori (who could hardly be more puppy-dog in love) feels guilty for pushing her into battling when it’s not her thing.

Kabo in fact wins not one but two battles this week to reach the semi-finals – both offscreen. He’s being saved for the finale, obviously – first off against Kabe in the Kab-finals (which I fully expect him to win). Next to face Usen is Wanda, and this is another fierce battle. Wanda asks no quarter and gives none – she’s fierce as a badger when the spotlight’s on her, and to my eye there’s something rather confrontational about her utterly fearless dance persona. Usen struggles to keep from being drawn into Wanda’s style – fierce isn’t his jam. And he triumphs in another split decision, with Assay this time siding with him.

Kabo longs to comfort Wanda after her loss, but naturally hesitates, and it’s On-sempai who steps in. Wanda will be fine – she’s 15, a tear or two is no sign of crisis. Next up Usen faces off with Iori, not for the last time one suspects. This starts off with Usen’s crew staring Iori down, only to have Wanda and Kabo (adorably) step in to fire faggers back at them. You get that the mutual respect here is very real – and very much merited. These guys are good, very good. Usen specializes in hip-hop and the first tune favors him. The second is house (I assume the DJ does this intentionally to level the playing field (dance floor). But Usen sticks to his vibe – he just dials it up to eleven.

Watching this duo go at it is utterly fascinating. The dancing looks great first of all – and I mean the animation. We even get real facial expressions. But they’re just so distinct, these two. Iori’s dancing continues to appeal to me the most in aesthetic terms. He never seems to be trying too hard – he just flows. He’s relaxed, liquid. It may seem incongruous to recall Fred Astaire – a dance removed not just by an era, but several – when talking about a teenaged Japanese house dancer. But dancers are dancers – no matter the style or time, I think more unites than divides them. I’ve seen Astaire’s style described with “No matter how fast Astaire moves, he never seems to be working very hard.”, and I think that fits Iori like a glove.

The third track of this epic showdown sounds to my untrained ear like trance. And in fact Iori wins (another 2-1 vote) this battle, one in which we never see Usen’s third performance. And that’s in spite of Iori making a mistake in the house round, after catching a glimpse of On in the crowd. She slapped some sense into him when he tried to make this about her (and dating him), and that helped Iori get across the line. I can see a narrative pretext for Kabe being his opponent in the final – this is nowhere near the final arc of the manga, after all. But I do suspect it will be Iori and. Kabo in the end, master vs disciple. And that’s an outcome that would be even harder to predict.