Good evening, good afternoon and good morning ladies and gentlemen! We find ourselves at the end of another year, recalling the good and the bad times, celebrating the lack of a hangover despite a wild night out, but also struck with the fear of hanging over a toilet bowl on New Year’s Day to keep the scales balanced. Most importantly, though, it’s the time of the year where we round up the sakubuta to present the ever-growing Sakuga Bowl and…
We’ve got another look at the production of Welcome to the Ballroom, its creators, and also the downfalls of the projects that have made themselves more than obvious at this point. Time to tackle the good and the bad!
Welcome to the Ballroom is finally focusing on the dancing aspect, which is the perfect excuse to look at how the creators are approaching the sport; their dedication in learning the intricacies of real ballroom dancing, and the particularities that set apart everyone’s style – within the show and regarding the creators in charge!
Before enjoying another look at the craft of this series and the fascinating vision of its key creators, there’s something more serious we must talk about. Even if this project by itself wasn’t necessarily at fault, someone died of overwork while producing this episode. That’s not something we should skip over. Let this be a final farewell to Kazunori Mizuno.
Production I.G’s veritable theatrical effort to bring this hotblooded dancing series to life has me very excited, but before tackling the series proper, we need to look at the studio’s modern history and how that has influenced this project. And with that out of the way, we can also look at the creators’ approach to this sport – having a crew who genuinely understands the power and range of animation is always a joy! And so, Welcome to the Ballroom!
A new season approaches with more titles than anyone can watch, so it’s our self-imposed duty to keep on curating the ones handled by the most capable creators. Strong premises still require skilled directors and animation teams to support them after all! So, which Summer 2017 titles are most likely to live up to their potential?