Dance Dance Danseur

Alternate Title

ダンス・ダンス・ダンスール

Synopsis

Junpei is a second-year junior high school student who has been fascinated by ballet since he was young and aspires to become a ballet dancer. But after his father’s death, he gives up on those aspirations and takes up the martial arts style Jeet Kune Do in order to be more masculine. Then one day, a girl named Miyako Godai, whose mother is the lead instructor of a ballet studio and who has been around ballet since she was young, transfers into his class. Seeing his hidden interest in ballet, she invites him to join her at the studio, where he rekindles his passion for the artform and decides to pursue ballet in earnest. His passion is only flamed even brighter by Ruo Mori, an aloof and talented ballet dancer who received special education and has skills that far exceed his. Though unaware of it, Ruo also becomes inspired by Junpei, and together the two aim to reach even greater heights.

Background

Dance Dance Danseur began as a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by George Asakura that started serialization in September 2015 in Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits seinen manga magazine. As of December 2021, 22 collected tankobon volumes have been published under the Big Comics imprint. The series was one of the Jury Recommended Works in the manga category at the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival in 2020 and surpassed 14.5 million copies in print in April 2021.

A TV anime adaptation was announced in April 2021. It is being produced by studio MAPPA (In This Corner of the World, Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuri!!! on Ice the Movie: Ice Adolescence) and features Munehisa Sakai (Mr Love: Queen’s Choice, One Piece, Zombie Land Saga Revenge) as director and Hisatoshi Shimizu (Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution, The Gymnastics Samurai, Natsume's Book of Friends) as assistant director, with Yoshimi Narita (Aikatsu on Parade!, I★CHU: Halfway Through the Idol, Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie) handling series composition, Hitomi Hasegawa (Kimi ni Todoke - From Me to You, One Piece Film Strong World, Sengoku Basara - Samurai Kings) handling character designs, and MICHIRU (Ascendance of a Bookworm, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town) composing the music. The anime’s opening theme song is "Narihibiku Kagiri" by YUKI, and the ending theme song is "Kaze, Hana" by hitorie. The anime will premiere in Japan on April 8, 2022 during the Super Animeism programming block on MBS, TBS, and 26 other channels. It will be streamed in Japan through Disney+'s Star service and outside of Asia through Crunchyroll.

Characters

Junpei Murao (Voiced by: Daiki Yamashita)
Junpei is a second-year junior high school student. He is fascinated by ballet, but his father’s death leads him to seal away his desire to dance. He has a dancer’s body type and physique but has bad habits from being self-taught and can get easily carried away. He is the type to spare no effort when it comes to ballet. He is well-respected by others due to his discipline in anything he does and for being an effective communicator.

Ruo Mori (Voiced by: Kouki Uchiyama)
Ruo is a second-year junior high school student. He is a gifted ballet dancer who received special education, but he is a shut-in who is bad at connecting with people and spends his time practicing alone while living at the Godai residence. He absolutely hates to lose. His past and family life are mainly unknown.

Miyako Godai (Voiced by: Kaede Hondo)
Miyako is a second-year junior high school student. She is a beautiful girl who transfers into the junior high school that Junpei attends. Her mother Chizuru is the lead instructor at the Godai Ballet Studio, and she was raised around ballet from a young age. She is the one who invites Junpei to join her at the studio, which ultimately rekindles his desire to pursue ballet.

Music

• Opening Theme Song: "Narihibiku Kagiri" by YUKI
• Ending Theme Song: "Kaze, Hana" by hitorie

• Anime Site (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: George Asakura
• Director: Munehisa Sakai
• Assistant Director: Hisatoshi Shimizu
• Series Composition: Yoshimi Narita
• Character Design: Hitomi Hasegawa
• Chief Animation Director: Hitomi Hasegawa, Masahiko Komino, Yumi Kuroiwa
• Art Director: Mari Fujino
• Color Design: Kana Tanabe
• 3D Director: Tomoko Washida
• Ballet Animation Director: Atsushi Ogasawara, Tsuyoshi Kuwahara
• Ballet Director: Hajime Ohtani
• Ballet Supervision: Sayako Abe
• Choreography: Naoya Homan
• Director of Photography: Madoka Yagi
• Editing: Tomoki Nagasaka
• Sound Production: dugout
• Music: MICHIRU
• Animation Production: MAPPA