'Welcome to the Ballroom' Episode 16 Spoilers: The Shizuoka Dancesport Grand Prix Begins
Tatara Fujita's quest for ballroom dancing excellence took a surprising turn on the Japanese dance-themed anime series, "Welcome to the Ballroom." But can changing dance studios really help him get to the top?
The previous episode saw the series' main protagonist, Tatara, paying the Hyodo Social Dance Academy a visit after its coach, Marisa Hyodo, told him to stop taking the girl's lead on the dance floor. The afternoon was then spent in dancing with one of the studio's finest dancers, Kugimiya, who excels at taking the lead.
Kiyoharu Hyodo himself told Tatara that Kugimiya was his exact opposite when it came to dancing with the partner. For while, Kugimiya goes by the basics and takes the lead, Tatara is the kind of dancer who thinks of ballroom dancing as a cooperative effort between the leader and his partner.
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Even after competing in two ballroom dancing events and losing in both, he still maintains the stand that a female should be seen just as much as the leader. However, Marisa has warned him that this way of thinking could be the very thing that's been keeping him down, for the judges at the competitions look to the partner's ability to lead and compensate for what his partner lacks.
And now that Tatara and his partner Chinatsu Hiyama have both transferred to the Hyodo Social Dance Academy, one would think that Tatara's way of thinking would change. But the highly competitive dancer has just signed himself and his partner up for 2018 Dancesport Grand Prix in Shizuoka without letting his new coach know.
Marisa has told Tatara that he could not yet compete at the Grand Prix's level. This, however, has not managed to deter him from entering anyway in order to finally meet his rival, Kiyoharu, and his partner, Shizuku Hanaoka, on the same stage.
Can Tatara and Chinatsu hold their own against the tough competition that they are about to face? How has their month spent at Marisa's dance studio improved their individual skills, as well as their partnership?
"Welcome to the Ballroom" airs on Sundays at 11:30 p.m. JST on Tokyo MX. Information on other broadcast schedules and online resources can be found on the series' official site. Episodes are also available for regions outside Japan via Amazon Prime's Anime Strike service.
