Ballroom e Youkoso Episode 8 Review – “Reality”

(Spoilers in this review)

• Sengoku neglected to give Tatara advice which led to Tatara running out of stamnia during the semifinals.
• As such, there’s actually a drawback to Tatara’s Sharp Eye (it’s basically a super power). He can identify which moves are the best and he will attempt to copy them even though he’s not all that athletic compared to his competitors.
• Kiyoharu comes along and tells Tatara that he has no chance to beat Gaju. Kiyoharu then proceeds to remind Tatara (and everyone else, including the viewers) that the goal of the contest is to make Gaju accept Mako as his partner and that Gaju had said he’ll go back to Mako if she can dance better than Shizuku.
• I’m not quite sure how Kiyoharu knew about what Gaju said. I also don’t know why everyone was overreacting to Kiyoharu just informing Tatara the true nature of their competition.
• To their surprise, Tatara were able to squeeze into the finals. Sengoku replies that they should only celebrate once they win.
• Speaking of Sengoku, it was nice seeing him be so concerned about Tatara. Beneath his gruff exterior he cares. Doesn’t change the fact that he sucks at communication and is prone to saying things that aren’t politically-correct.
• More female objectification – this time Kiyoharu’s mom, Marisa, is the victim. The series is very much following the tracks of a typical shounen series.
• I still have no idea what’s going on through Shizuku’s head. She feels upset over Kiyoharu’s words, she feels like he’s going to leave her behind, but she makes no effort to talk to him and to just show him through dance? She’s stubborn in a bad way.
• While I still detest Gaju, this episode gave us a bit of insight into why he is quick to insult Mako’s dancing skills through a flashback. Apparently he was frustrated that Mako was a passive dance that only quietly followed her leader, even when he asked for her input. This meant that Gaju had to decide everything. Ballroom dancing is a team sport, after all, so this is probably not an ideal team set-up.
• Taking Kiyoharu’s input to heart, Tatara promises Mako that they’ll be dancing as a team and he asks Mako for input regarding his dance. She responds that she wants to bloom like a flower. This is in stark contrast to how the male is supposed to be the one who shines in ballroom dancing, so it’ll be interesting to see how Tatara accommodates Mako’s request next week.
• I’m actually not sure if I’ll continue doing episode reviews for this series, to be honest, so this might be the last one. I’ll keep watching the show, however. But don’t be surprised if this is the final episode review for Ballroom e Youkoso on The Lily Garden.