What’s up guys! Today I want to bring your attention to this manga called Ballroom e Youkoso.

Ballroom e Youkoso is written by Tomo Takeuchi (Story & Art) and it’s released in Shounen Jump monthly. Recently, it became available in English, which it is being published by Kodansha Comics USA with the name “Welcome to the Ballroom” (please support the mangaka by purchasing the volumes when they are available wherever you are).

Spoiler Alert: the plot is about a kid called Fujita who entered the world of Ballroom by mere coincidence. It happened when Sengoku (professional ballroom dancer) thought Fujita was looking at his ad for ballroom dancing classes. He kicked some dudes asses, who were bullying poor Fujita, and then dragged Fujita to his studio. Fujita experienced for the first time in his life what ballroom dancing was about when he partnered up with Shizuku for practice. Later in the night, Fujita saw a video about a ballroom competitive dancing starring Sengoku, which got Fujita hooked up for real to the competitive ballroom world. Afterwards, Fujita saw that the lessons were too expensive for him to pay, and the studio agreed that he could pay it later when he could. Thus from this point onward begins Fujita quest to stardom… or not?

The figure shown below is the main cast for the manga (from left to right: Fujita, Chinatsu, Hyoudou,  Shizuku, Gaju, and Mako):

What made me recommend this manga?

The manga main theme is about ballroom dancing, which is not something you see commonly in manga. Also, the story and development of Fujita is so well executed that I don’t see any flaw story-wise (Fujita has weaknesses, which shows throughtout the story and competition he is part of). I don’t know if it’s a general rule of mangakas or what but it seems that whenever the main character lacks experience in a sport, to make up for it, the mangaka makes it so that their eyes are really good (this happens in Baby Steps and in this one).

The artwork of this manga is so stunning, that it catches your attention. When the characters are dancing, the motion of their movement and every clothing detail is so damn amazing that you feel that it’s really moving. The way the body is drawn and their eyes looks beautiful. Heck, just look at the figure shown above. They look so gorgeous.

Something to note about the competitions is that competitive dancing is all about grabbing attention from the judges and audiences all to yourself. Any pair who fails to grab any attention will receive lower scores. Thus we will get to see more action coming from the main characters, which I feel it is really intended for. Also, there is a loooooot of dancing in this manga.

On a side note, this manga will get its anime debut on summer 2017, so I am really looking forward to how it will be executed. I believe one of the main key to making this anime successful would be the timing between the dancing and the soundtracks they are dancing to, and how that translates to impact the viewer. Yuri on Ice figure skating scenes hit the nail right in the spot, and I hope that Ballroom e Youkoso can do the same. The other keys to the success of the anime would be faithfulness to the manga, animation, and how the characters will be drawn.

My Verdict: I highly recommend this manga if you want to explore new contents in manga from the usual.

And… that’s all folks! Thanks for reading the article! If you like the article, please give it a like and share it with your friends! I would really appreciate it. If you want to keep track of my posts, please subscribe to the blog because I will be posting new contents from now and then. Thanks again and see you next time!