Episode 6: Line of Dance
Fujita asks Gaju to battle him and Mako in the Tenpei cup, an unofficial competition in the Standard Division. Looks like again it’s our boy Sengoku who is behind that idea. But his motives are still rather unclear, does he want Shizuku and Hyoudou to be paired up so bad? Is he concerned about Mako and Fujita’s improvement as dancers? Or maybe he just dislikes that Gaju guy very much. I guess that’s a bit of everything…. but with this guy you never know.
As usual Gaju is being a dick, rather than just accepting the challenge he starts insulting everyone and making a fuss about nothing. If he was so sure of his unconditional victory he could have just shut up right? Sadly the guy is good at dancing. He can compete in both Latin and Standard. On top of that, and according to Sengoku, he has a perfect dancer body.
Sengoku gives advice to our young duo and tells them they should focus on the quickstep part. As Fujita trains with Mako he manages to learn the sequence way too quickly for it to be normal, thing Mako realizes too.
One thing to note is that while rehearsing the moves, Fujita focuses solely on Mako and says to himself: “I’ll Bring Mako to the right and to the left.”. It shows Fujita is really aware of his partner, focused on her and thinks about her before himself.
The Mako-Fujita relationship is even more developed in the last part of the episode, when Mako phones Fujita to apologize about not dancing every well that day. In their conversation Mako tells him he should think a bit more about himself. So not only are those two compatible on the dance floor but they also understand each other’s feelings pretty well. After that conversation Fujita starts being more confidant and selfish on the dance floor, having gathered the requirements for being a good dancer.
Finally, the reason why Gaju wants to pair with Shizuku so badly is explained. Actually, 6 years ago he kind of fell in love with her and decided he would pair up with her. So that’s a bit dull and only contributes to make the spectator not root for Gaju because his motivations are… yeah… So now we have some explanations for Gaju and Mako’s behaviors. Only Shizuku hasn’t been very developed yet as we still don’t know why she dances nor why she decided to abandon Kihoharu for Gaju when it’s crystal clear she doesn’t enjoy dancing with Gaju nor does she like him.
Episode 7: Tenpei Cup
Now is time for the Tenpei cup, the amateur competition. If Mako and Fujita win Gaju will have to recognize their worth and stop being Shizuku’s partner.
Ok, so there’s this that thing that everyone looks either hot or cute as hell in those ballroom outfits. I don’t know if it’s because of the sparkles or anything but damn, the whole cast looks super attractive to me. Even Gaju looks fierce… although he remains a delusional prick who keeps being insulting to everyone around him. Sorry if I sound like I hate him. I don’t hate Gaju, I just disprove most of his actions and reactions…. I like his accent though… It’s pretty cute.
During the first round, Shizuku and Gaju stand out from the other dancers. They pretty much made it to the second round even before they started to dance. When it is his turn, Fujita does that thing again where he pretty much copies some parts from Kihoharu and Shizuku’s choreography. This drives Gaju crazy and like Kihoharu, makes him more motivated for the Tango part.
However, as Gaju later explains, reproducing someone’s else moves when you are a beginner is pretty risky since you’ll probably just end up doing a “fake” version of it. Even more than that, it’s pretty meaningless since you are not dancing on “your own” but pretty much relying on someone else’s moves instead of doing your own thing. Fujita understands it and decides to dance the last heat without copying anyone and relying on the basics for now.
Lucky, Fujita and Mako pass on to the second round. But despite their efforts, like the other couples, they get ignored by the crowd since they are dancing in the same heat as Shizuku and Gaju. In the quickstep part, following Sengoku advice, Fujita and Mako accidentally, (or not, we don’t know since again, it’s Sengoku who gave this generous “advice”) bump into Shizuku and Gaju. This accident only shows Gaju is too emotional and has trouble keeping his calm and remaining professional. Heh, so Mako is not the only one who has too work on something I guess.
Speaking of the devil, she finally has the courage to say to her brother that he is a dick and only causes trouble to everyone. She also bitch-slaps him. Not gonna lie, he deserved it. Good Good Mako, continue to rebel against your prick of a brother. Don’t just rely on Fujita and start standing up to him on your own. That’s how I like my female characters.
This episode ends on a cliffhanger when both Kihoharu and his mother, a former standard champion show up to the competition. Of course Kihoharu is not aware Shizuku accepted to dance with Gaju. Looks like we are in for some serious drama next episode. I hope Kihoharu tells Gaju all he needs to hear and that he’ll show some motivation in order to stay paired with Shizuku. Even if I don’t really like her, mostly because her motivations have not yet been explained, I understand Shizuku felt abandoned by Kihoharu. Sure, the guy is not the most expressive fellow in this dancing world but heh, a little bit of explanation from him from time to time would not hurt. But apparantly and thanks to Fujita he’s starting to show some change so we’ll see how this will turn out.