We’re definitely making progress here, and on multiple levels. The character writing continues to be excellent, and this week we got a much deeper dive with Wanda’s story. Supporting characters are staking out their place is the mix. And yes, the dance sequences are – to my eye at least – certainly getting better. It’s not so much that the animation itself is any less cringe, but the direction and choreography are doing a better job of masking that. You hate that they have to in the first place, but at least the presentation is trending in the right direction.

The first order of business here is the judging for the competition, and Assay is clearly the central figure in that dynamic. As we learned last week the judges are a mix of dancers and muggles. On’s theory is that main rivals Tennou and Sakaya High appealed to half  that audience – Tennou the non-dancer judges and Sakaya the pros. Ichirin, she says, was in effect the Goldilocks performance – one designed to appeal to both groups. Knowing your audience is certainly essential to winning a contest like this. And it was clear from last week’s ep that Assay at least was won over.

Based on that I was expecting Ichirin to win, so that was no surprise. Wanda winning the personal award was a little unexpected, but Assay especially was smitten with her – he even gives her his card afterwards and asks her to dance with him one day. It’s not all celebratory for Kabo, who’s still wrestling was a fundamental self-esteem problem. He’s not convinced he was any good, and Assay’s only advice being “you have a tendency to dance too wildly” certainly didn’t help. Kabo needs reassurance at this point – reinforcement that Wanda isn’t carrying him, and that her kindness isn’t driven by pity.

Things do pick up for him, though. The two Sakaya dudes who mocked him weren’t mocking him after all, which Kabo learns because they know Iori. They praise his performance in fact – and Iori doing so means even more. Wanda may be a brilliant dancer right now, but Iori tells Kabo he has a special ability to feel the music. I speculated last week that Iori’s style is better suited to individual than team competition, and his comments to Kabo more or less confirm that. What’s more, he tells Kabo that he expects the two of them are alike in that respect – natural improvisers who thrive when not bound by strict choreography.

At this point we go into a flashback of Wanda’s last year of middle school. This was wonderful in myriad ways, not least because it was a reminder of just how superb a seiyuu Sakurai Takahiro is and how much he’s been missed during his ridiculous blacklisting. He brings great humanity and wit to the role of Takeda-san, Wanda’s manager at “6 Mart”. Takeda is a frustrated dancer himself, a MJ otaku, and he immediately bonds with Wanda once he sees her practicing her moves using the drinks fridge doors.

Mostly, it’s just nice watching Takeda and Wanda interact and connect over her love of dance. But we gather some pretty vital intel on Wanda here too. She lives with a single parent – her dad – and it’s clear they’re not well-off financially. And he suffers from significant hearing loss and is possibly even deaf – it’s not clear which. It’s obvious that this has prepared her for interacting with someone for whom communication is not as easy as it for most. But as well, she – like Kabo – has a very personal motive to communicate via dance. She wants to create art to help someone – namely her father – feel music without having to hear it.

The anime has obviously gone over like a lead balloon with Wandance readers, and I certainly understand that. For me it was pretty better not having been saddled with that pre-knowledge of the material – the pain from the visuals isn’t as personal. In every other respect this show is just good, damn good. Relatable and complicated characters dealing with challenging but realistic problems, and a thoughtful and incisive take on a (to me) rather impenetrable art form. I’m already girding myself for this show being a one and done, because it’s obvious that Wandance can only skim the surface of this story in one cour.