English Dub Review: Wandance “Wandance”

Overview:

Hulu has recently dropped the English dub of the first season finale of Wandance. It’s Kabo vs. Kabe during this latest story, which shares its name with the series itself.

Our Take:

The dance battle between Kabo and Kabeya, or “Kabe,” starts off in a series of intimidation, at least from Kabe’s side, who starts his round blindfolded. This has a double purpose. It makes his own dance skills look effortless during his own time, while also making it look like he doesn’t need to pay attention to Kabo’s moves, as if he isn’t a threat. However, Kabo, the male ingenue that he is, doesn’t seem to pick up on this, all the while continuing to give his all.

However, this makes Kabe feel uneasy, with him even starting to remove his false teeth and rip up his clothes to scare Kabo. Given how little viewers have seen Kabe up to this point, and how stoic he’s seemed, even the times he is clearly scared of the competition can feel unnerving.

Once again, 3D models aside, the series proves how creative it can get once the dancers hit the floor. During Kabo’s first round, viewers briefly see things through Kabe’s mask, looking like a cross between chalk drawings and a visualized echolocation. Later, Kabo imagines himself dancing with a number of floating basketballs in the air, a nod to him playing the sport at the start of the series. Granted, the fact that we always see him dance in some dream world makes you wonder what is actually going on in the real world.

Ultimately, the judges pick Kabe over Kabo. While it’s nice to see not everything works out for the main characters, it can be a little forced with everyone talking about Kabo having an ear for music and even Kabe being intimidated. While there are some hints that the judges, aside from Assay, had a bias, it feels like Kabo mostly lost because the story needed drama. That said, it’s hard not to feel bad when losing causes Kabo to cry to himself in a corner.

Kabe gets a tender scene with Wanda, who assures him that Kabo intimidating him was all in his head and even appeared to have a lot of respect for him. This also leads to a nice moment when Kabo tries to congratulate Kabe, but his stutter won’t let. Kabe doesn’t seem to entirely pick up on this, but still offers him a friendly pat on the arm.

Even if Kabo didn’t win, he still grew a lot throughout this season. The theme of pre-planned dances vs. freestyling once again gets focused on. While Kabe appeared to already have a number of planned dances for whatever song got dropped, Kabo always seems to let the music take him where he needs to go.

The episode ends with Wanda telling Kabo that they’re just getting started with their dancing as Iori heads off to face Kabe, showing there’s still more for this story left to tell. Fans are already likely looking up when they can expect a new season or live-action spin-off as the credits roll, even if the title promises just “one dance.”