Manga Adaptation by Madhouse, Cyclone Graphics
Streaming on Hulu

Premise

Kaboku Kotani is a first-year high school student, intent on keeping his head down and blending in with the crowd – and getting by as best as he can without drawing undue attention to or being laughed at because of his stutter. However, when he sees a fellow classmate, Hikari Wanda, practicing to join the dance club, an old trauma resurfaces, which he is encouraged by Wanda’s seemingly carefree dancing to finally face head-on.

Artemis’ verdict: Not a Bop

I really, genuinely, wholeheartedly want to like this. The message is fantastic. The characters and story are, for anime, fairly believable and even highly relatable. The backgrounds are lovely. The character designs, even if I don’t love them, are perfectly serviceable.

The dancing is awful.

I’m not qualified to speak on the music or the dance moves themselves, mind you – and to be honest, I really don’t care either way whether those would be considered ‘good’ or not by dance or hip-hop enthusiasts. If it works within the narrative of the story, fine by me. I just can’t get past the god-awful CG that’s not only jarring in the most abrupt way possible, but downright ugly in and of itself. I’m talking nightmare fuel, where the faces turn to blobs and the artwork itself suddenly transforms into Hatsune Miku circa 2010. Whether or not you’re one to care overly about the general quality of the visuals in your anime, there’s simply no ignoring the shift whenever the music starts, and for all I loved the Scatman John reference, that can’t make up for what should be, in terms of plot, the highlight of the entire show.

(Note from Jel: Here’s a comparison of the 2D to 3D difference in the dance scenes. It’s rough… but I did kind of like the episode)