Wandance
a review by marioink508
a review by marioink508
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_This review contains LIGHT SPOILERS for Wandance._
This is a review of the Wandance anime and a comparison to its source material for the season.
Another example of a great series ruined by studio adaptations delegating work to lazier producers. I absolutely love MADHOUSE as a major studio, and whenever I see a series under their control, I know I’m going to get a great series — but that’s not the case here unfortunately. And that has been the case more and more for recent MADHOUSE titles.
Synopsis & Story - 7.3/10 Wandance is a beautiful coming-of-age story about dance, full of passion and attention to detail — but the anime adaptation feels like a wasted opportunity. The core material elevates the emotional impact in ways the anime more often than not fails to reproduce consistently.The show’s premise focuses on a newcomers journey into the world of dancing — specifically street dancing, although this season is more focused on group choreography. It develops two lovable leads, Wanda and Kabo, with a beautiful subtle romance subplot. But, where the anime struggles is not the source’s heart, but with the execution on the emotion. Inconsistent direction and adaptation decisions make some of the manga’s best features render null in the show.
Music - 3.8/10 One of the details that made me fall in love with Wandance was the music, the manga music. (It makes sense I promise) — The track insertions in the manga invited readers to experience each dance with the music direction the author had in mind, some songs were more mainstream, wildly known, while other niche, genre specific. This choice created a personal, interactive reading experience I haven’t encountered before.And while I can fully understand the adaptation not having the freedom to license such tracks, the replacement soundtrack largely felt generic and unvaried. While there are exceptions, most songs live in the same sound space and rarely capture the manga’s soulful diversity.
It’s an unfortunate situation, knowing anime limitations. The manga does an incredible job at achieving a visual style that matches the music direction, clearly expressing the author’s passion.
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Pacing & Details Unfortunately the anime lacks in the pacing department too. While the manga nails its quiet, purposeful use of empty space, the anime fails to do so more often than not. Sometimes those moments can be found, yet the inconsistency — likely from trimming less relevant manga context or the varying directional focus — break the rhythm. Because of the pacing swinging from episode to episode, some emotionally charged moments land, while others feel rushed.The manga’s short technique annotations also give important context for dance movements and make sequences feel more informative and impactful. It’s not as relevant as the music, yet the anime drops most of that explanatory layer, which leaves scenes feeling lighter in meaning and less passionate.
These annotations initially made me feel the authors love for his medium and his attempt to get people interested in it.
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Characters - 8.1/10 Characters on the other hand, are improved by the adaptation in certain areas. Kabo’s stutter and speech patterns are handled naturally and remain faithful to the source, preserving his personality and development.Wanda as well; her character design receives the most attention. Her expressions and body language are much more impressive; she shines visually and emotionally in many scenes. They took the cuteness factor and 100x it.
These faithful character touches prove the adaptation can get things right whenever it wants to, unfortunately that isn’t always the case.
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Animation - 4.4/10 There was a lot of bad reception around the CGI animation Cyclone Graphics gave us — and I do agree… to some extent.The decision to use CGI for dance sequences is completely understandable and sometimes it works very well. When the production choses to go all in, choreography can match the energy of the manga. But overall, the CGI is uneven. Many dance scenes feel jarring; lifeless faces, awkward 3D to 2D transitions, and awful cloth physics frequently pull you out of the moment. Yet there are sequences, especially around Iori, that are excellent. His house dance style is always perfectly represented, the previous issues still stand, but the overall quality the CGI achieves is much more impressive — which only makes the surrounding inconsistency more noticeable…
Flowing movement trails and stylistic touches also appear in some dance sequences but they are not reliantly applied, keeping in theme with the adaptation’s inconsistent direction.
Backgrounds on the other hand, rendered in 3D often look natural, blending in well with the 2D characters. Yet background characters once again fall in the inconsistent category; they switch between CG and 2D quite a lot. And while 2D is understandable to be flat in background, the CGI is generally used as a means to add life to crowds, yet here that is not the case; the CG characters are poorly implemented, static figures with bland idle poses, making the crowd feel lifeless. I fail to see how adding some idle animation would’ve been a hard execution… This is a clear example of the lazy animation the series has, in what are details that could’ve improved drastically the atmospheric experience.
Closing Notes When it commits, the adaptation can be good; example of that can be the Iori dance battles, character portrayals like Kabo and Wanda, the romance subplots which are well adapted, and even the rare extra scenes. Those moments show that the anime could’ve been a faithful adaptation of the manga.Ultimately, Wandance feels like an incredible manga in the wrong hands — a story full of passion and detail that the anime only rarely achieves. The adaptation’s inconsistencies in music choice, pacing, and CGI make it a frustrating for anyone who liked the unique experience the manga offered.
I heavily recommend the Wandance manga over this adaptation, it offers such an incredible visual style with a story to match your expectations.
Enjoyment Level - 7.4/10
Favorite Character - Iori Itsukushima
Favorite Episode - Episode 8 ‘Dance Battle’
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