Welcome to the Ballroom is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tomo Takeuchi. It tells the prototypical story of an aimless Japanese youth named Tatara Fujita, who, after a chance encounter, is plunged into the world of competitive dancing. The series is licensed in North America by Kodansha Comics. An anime television series adaptation by Production I.G premiered on July 8, 2017, with Amazon Video exclusively streaming the series worldwide.
Plot
Third-year middle school student Tatara Fujita is a guy who has no plans for his future or dreams, but tries to find something he can pursue with his whole life. With him being bullied and extorted, he is saved from delinquents by a man named Kaname Sengoku, a motorcycle-riding dance instructor. Tatara is entered into the Ogasawara Dance Studio in which he is shown the ropes of the world of Competitive Ballroom Dancing.
The manga began serialization by Tomo Takeuchi in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine in the December 2011 issue. The series went on hiatus in February 2016 due to the author's poor health, but returned in the February 2017 issue. The series went on another hiatus for two months from December 2017 due to the author's health, however, did not return during the expected timeframe, and was instead expected to return in April 2018, but due to further health issues, the manga remained on hiatus until further notice. On May 13, 2019, it was announced that Takeuchi was preparing to resume working on the manga, later announcing in the July 2019 issue of Monthly Shōnen Magazine that the series would return on July 5, 2019. In the February 2020 issue of Monthly Shōnen Magazine published on January 6, 2020, it was announced the series would be on an indefinite hiatus due to Takeuchi's continued decline in health. On March 21, 2016, Kodansha Comics announced that it has licensed the manga in English. As of June 23, 2017, nine volumes have been released.
Anime
It was announced in the February 2017 issue of the Monthly Shōnen Magazine that the series would receive an anime television series adaptation. The series is directed by Yoshimi Itazu and written by Kenichi Suemitsu, with animation produced by Production I.G, character designs by Takahiro Kishida and music composed by Yuki Hayashi. Tetsuya Kinoshita produced the anime. It had its world premiere at the 2017 Anime Expo on July 2, 2017, later premiering on MBS and other channels in July 8, 2017. From episodes 1-11, Unison Square Garden performed the opening theme song "10% Roll, 10% Romance", while Mikako Komatsu performed the ending theme song "Maybe the next waltz." From episode 12 onwards, the opening theme song was "Invisible Sensation" by Unison Square Garden while the ending theme song is "Swing heart direction" by Mikako Komatsu. Amazon began streaming the anime series on their now-defunct Anime Strike service in U.S. and on Amazon Video worldwide one day before the first episode aired in Japan, with the following episodes streamed as soon as they aired in Japan. The series ran for 24 episodes. Anime Limited announced that they had acquired the series for release in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
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Reception
It was nominated for the 6th Manga Taishō. It was number nine on the 2013 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Top 20 Manga for Male Readers survey. It was placed seventh in Zenkoku Shotenin ga Eranda Osusume Comic 2013, a 2013 ranking of the top 15 manga recommended by Japanese bookstores. It is nominated for the 8th Manga Taishō. Volume 4 sold 53,892 copies in the week of April 14 to 20, 2013.
