Hulu’s Most Promising Anime Is Already Dancing Through Controversy (& It’s Only Been 2 Episodes)

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2025 hasn’t been a standout year for sports-themed entertainment, but the manga *Wandance* offered a promising change. Created by Coffee, it focuses on dance – a relatively uncommon subject in anime. What makes *Wandance* interesting is that it doesn’t get bogged down in the complex details of technique. Instead, it gives equal weight to the characters’ personal challenges, making their emotional journeys just as compelling as their progress as dancers.

Everyone was excited about the *Wandance* anime because the manga is fantastic and the show had a strong script. With the respected studio Madhouse – known for their excellent work on 2025’s *Orb: On the Movements of the Earth* – involved, expectations were incredibly high. Unfortunately, after two episodes, it looks like *Wandance*, which many predicted would be the year’s biggest sports anime, might be a disappointment.

Wandance’s Premiere Cuts Through the Sports Anime Fog

Most sports-themed stories center around popular sports like football, baseball, or basketball. Dancing isn’t commonly featured, with only a few shows like *Welcome to the Ballroom* making it a central focus. *Wandance* is different – it follows characters striving to become dancers through their high school dance club. The story revolves around Kaboku (nicknamed Kabo), a very shy boy who initially worries too much about what others think of him.

Kabo struggles with a severe stutter, which makes it difficult for him to communicate. He finds an unexpected connection with Wanda, a fellow classmate who is also very shy, through their shared love of dance. The first episode of *Wandance* immediately draws you in, beautifully portraying Kabo’s thoughts and feelings thanks to Kouki Uchiyama’s excellent voice acting. Even subtle details in Wanda’s expressions reveal her unique personality and highlight the difference between her quiet exterior and her lively inner world.

Wandance immediately grabs your attention with its incredibly catchy opening and closing themes – songs that are sure to become hits this year. Beyond those, the anime includes lots of energetic music during dance practice, which is a fun addition. Even after just two episodes, Wandance really explores the fundamentals of dance, showing the characters – who are mostly new to it – learning from more experienced dancers about technique and expressing themselves through movement. But what truly sets this anime apart is its complex and well-developed characters, who elevate the story beyond typical sports anime tropes.

Wandance’s Story Highlights Relatable Characters & Romance

What really sets *Wandance* apart as a potential top sports anime of 2025 is its honest portrayal of anxiety and loneliness. In just two episodes, the show reveals that its main character, Kabo, isn’t the typical optimistic athlete. He’s actually deeply afraid of performing in front of others. Kabo experienced humiliation in middle school when a video of his awkward dancing was shared and ridiculed by his classmates. This led to lasting performance anxiety and a sense of shame that made him increasingly shy and hesitant, even when simply watching others dance.

Kabo was stuck in his own head until he met Wanda, who shared some similarities with him but was also very different. Wanda was beautiful and well-liked, but she was independent and enjoyed spending time alone, especially dancing. Like Kabo, she kept to herself, lost in her own thoughts. However, unlike Kabo, she didn’t care about being different or special. Kabo was drawn to Wanda’s sense of freedom, and when he discovered that dancing brought her joy, he wanted to experience that same liberation himself.

Dancing helped Kabo escape the constraints of his usual, predictable life – a life he’d always felt he had to defend. What drew him back to dance was the freedom of not needing words. In that way, two people, who didn’t know each other, connected through a shared passion, finding joy and self-expression. Their lack of verbal communication didn’t matter; they could express themselves simply through movement.

While *Wandance* deals with themes of anxiety and depression, it also features a sweet and developing romance between two unexpected characters. Kabo is instantly captivated by Wanda, and although she doesn’t immediately reciprocate his feelings, she’s one of the few people who genuinely understands him. She accepts his stutter, doesn’t criticize his dancing, and consistently encourages him. Despite a strong start to the story in the first two episodes, the animation quality is unfortunately lacking.

Bad Animation Holds Back Wandance’s Otherwise Good Story

The story and characters in *Wandance* are strong, so the anime adaptation had a lot of potential. While the animation starts out looking okay, it quickly becomes clear that the overall quality is quite poor. The inconsistent animation is especially noticeable and distracting. Many dance scenes suffer because of it – characters will be traditionally animated in one moment and then switch to CGI, which ruins the visual flow and makes the experience jarring.

The character designs aren’t particularly strong, and the anime suffers even more when compared to the original manga. The manga version of *Wandance* features beautifully exaggerated dance moves that really convey motion, and surprisingly, it does a better job of showing the choreography than the anime adaptation. This is disappointing, especially since Madhouse, a studio known for its high-quality work, is involved in the production. However, it’s worth noting that they aren’t the only studio working on *Wandance*; Cyclone Graphics is also contributing.

Beyond the clumsy animation, the *Wandance* anime doesn’t seem to be faithfully adapting the original manga. Important conversations that build the relationship between Kabo and Wanda have been cut, and in Episode 2, many supporting characters are either missing entirely or aren’t developed well. Even if these characters appear later, minimizing their roles could harm their storylines. The dance performances are much simpler than in the manga, and a lot of the training scenes were left out, giving fans little to connect with when so much is already missing.

It’s disappointing to see *Wandance* struggling, especially because it started with such promising ideas. While the story still has potential, it can’t fix all the problems on its own. After the first two episodes, the show is facing major challenges due to the weak animation. Hopefully, the creators can improve the animation quality in future episodes and allow *Wandance* to live up to its potential.

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2025-10-16 22:09