Wandance

As Kaboku "Kabo" Kotani enrolls in Ichiran High School, he hopes to spend his high school days quietly to avoid standing out from everyone else because of his stuttering. While his friends join the school's basketball club, he looks to the dance club instead. However, due to an embarrassing memory from middle school, Koba has avoided dancing in front of others again, keeping him from joining the club.

Things begin to change when Kabo spots his cute classmate Hikari Wanda dancing. As the two learn about each other, Wanda admits that she is not great with words either and prefers to express herself with her performances. This sparks a light in Kabo, and he decides to join the dance club despite his uncomfortable past. With Wanda and his new clubmates supporting him, Kabo sets out to improve his dancing, express himself freely, and create unforgettable memories one step at a time.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Wanda, Hikari Main

Youmiya, Hina Japanese

Kotani, Kaboku Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Miyao, On Supporting

Suwa, Ayaka Japanese

Itsukushima, Iori Supporting

Masuda, Toshiki Japanese

Takumi, Usen Supporting

Hayashi, Yuu Japanese

Kabeya, Gaku Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Takada, Sayaka Supporting

Ogizono, Momoka Japanese

Takeda Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Seiya Supporting

Baba, Junpei Japanese

Shimoda, Hitomi Supporting

Watanabe, Yui Japanese

Yoshida, Yuuki Producer

Yonezawa, Akira Producer

Sawada, Airi Producer

Itou, Sumire Producer

Reviews

Dec 24, 2025

Marinate1016

Recommended

Getting it out the way early, I like Wandance. Yes, the CGI sucks and looks wonky, yes it takes getting used to. No, that didn’t turn me off from the show. I like the characters, I like the story, learning about dancing, the choreography, the music, etc. As a k-pop/j-pop stan, this was fun. Riehata, the legendary dance producer who’s worked with BTS and other big name groups being involved in this is crazy. It’s not going to be for everyone because a lot of people aren’t able to get past the CGI and that’s fair. It does look like a wonky PS2 cutscene 95 ... percent of the time and I understand it being a dancing anime means animation is extremely important. I just prioritize the other parts of the story so it wasn’t the end all be all for me. The two leads’ growth both as individuals and a team was really cool, I loved the supporting characters’ personalities and dance styles and I found Kabo’s journey from having no formal dance training to competing among the best and brightest very inspirational. It’s one of those stories that probably works better in live action format just because of how CGI heavy it would have to be as an anime, but I still enjoyed the anime for what it is. If you have any interest in the modern pop, especially J/K-pop industry or dance choreography in general, I definitely recommend going into this with an open mind. Plus, one of the star girls of the year in Wanda, so no brainer.

I think it’s technically fair to classify this as a sports anime since competitive dance is a sport in a sense. The best sports anime to me are those where the MCs journey feels believable. It’s not just a straight shot to the top, but one where they face adversity, two steps forward, one step back. Improvement at your craft is rarely a straight line, it’s full of ups and downs and setbacks and requires you to stay focused and committed. Seeing Kabo go from having basically no experience in organized dance to one of the best in his age category feels satisfying because we get to see him putting the work in, having success, failing, learning from those failures and growing as a dancer. The connections he makes enable him to improve and see things from others’ perspectives, picking up on various techniques from the people he comes across. Kabo in general feels like an MC you want to root for. The way he uses dance to help him deal with his speech impediment and express himself in a way he’s always wanted to is really cool as well. I love a good underdog story and this ticks all my boxes.

Kabo’s relationship with Wanda is another big thing for me. Wanda is such a cool and beautiful character, but the way she develops this rapport on and off the dance floor with Kabo is really heartwarming. She is someone who seemingly has everything going for her and he’s the shy awkward kid with a stutter, but she ends up learning just as much from Kabo as he does from her, not to mention all the encouragement and inspiration he ends up giving her just by leading with his example. As dance partners, you can see them unlocking each other’s full potential in several performances throughout the season. “Soulmates” is kind of cliche, but it really does feel like these two were born to meet and dance with each other. Being around each other is the only time they’re ever truly 100 percent comfortable and able to be themselves. There’s obvious romantic undertones, but the show doesn’t prioritize that. For now, the biggest thing is seeing them both improve as dancers and as individuals during this pivotal moment in their lives. PLUS, Wanda is one of the most beautiful characters of the year. I will miss her.

The elephant in the room is again the CGI. It’s awful and it’s very apparent. Around episode 3-4 I just started getting used to it so it didn’t faze me as much, but there’s a few scenes even later on where I kept thinking “there’s no way madhouse did this” and apparently I’m right, because they did outsource the 3DCGI. It’s really a shame that a series so heavily reliant on CGI for its subject matter couldn’t get halfway decent CGI. The 2D art looks great, I love the art style, it’s so bright and full of life, the 2D direction is good, the voice acting is good, the music bangs, although a few songs were reused to DEATH, generally speaking the OST slaps. It’s really a solid show other than the CGI and that’s why the score is what it is.

Even with the technical issues, the positives far outweigh the negatives with Wandance for me. I had a blast watching this show and enjoyed learning about dance fundamentals and the level of completion within the medium. It was an eye opening inspirational journey. It’s never too late to pick up a new hobby or challenge yourself to apply a new skill. I’ll be rooting for Kabo for as long as this series goes on and can’t wait to start reading the manga. I’m also looking forward to the live action adaptation which should be PERFECT for this series. Wanda, you’ll always be famous too.

Wandance gets 8 out of 10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 31, 2025

Chuy_diazz

Mixed Feelings

Memes aside, Wandance has a decent story. Memes aside, it looks as bad as any edit you've ever seen.

Wandance arrived with all eyes on it simply for being a Madhouse production. Unfortunately, it's a series that succumbed to the pressure. The anime is a co-production where Cyclone Graphics was in charge of CGI and motion capture. It's clear there was no communication between the studios because it feels like a team effort where everyone did their part and they just slapped it all together at the end. There are many points to address, so let's get to them.

1. CGI and Motion Capture: Let's address the ... elephant in the room. The dances are very bad and uncomfortable to watch. The problem lies mainly in the 3D character modeling. When you see how the motion capture was done, thanks to the videos shared by the production, you can see that the dancing and movement were never the issue. The characters' movements are incredibly fluid; if you compare them to any dance video, or if you dance yourself, you'll understand that their movements are perfect. However, if you combine those movements with inefficient character modeling, then you ruin the good part of the work. The characters in their 3D models are expressionless to an extreme. You focus on their faces, and they look like possessed dolls about to undergo an exorcism. They're always smiling but don't move; they're frozen in the same expression, to the point that they become uncomfortable after a certain amount of screen time. It doesn't matter how well-done the dances are; it's all for nothing if you make the viewer look away from the screen.

2. The story: If you happen to be blind or have myopia and astigmatism, then you might enjoy the story. The story is well-crafted, with two very charismatic protagonists who complement each other. You have a boy who stutters but doesn't have social anxiety. He simply can't control his stutter, and that prevents him from communicating the way he wants to. The girl is beautiful and attracts everyone's attention, but she doesn't know how to communicate, so she ends up pushing everyone away. The two of them meet and understand each other, finding in dance a way to express themselves without using words. Throughout the story, we see how they both grow personally and how they evolve. When you ignore the awful CGI, you're left with a pretty interesting story about overcoming challenges. It also has light romantic undertones that you'll appreciate because it's not like the protagonists can ignore their feelings, even if it's not the main focus.

3. The Sports Part: While dance is an artistic form of expression, the anime doesn't want to leave everything in the ambiguous and subjective realm of art. They have a school competition system with judges and so on. At first, it's a good idea, and you can use the characters' competitive spirit to help them grow through frustration and other emotions. However, in the final stretch, this aspect falls apart. The male protagonist is often sidelined to allow the female lead to shine even more. They momentarily undermine the entire structure to make the male protagonist emotionally dependent on Wanda. The final tournament isn't even fully depicted because the final battle isn't shown. The competitive aspect, where Kabo should shine, is only used to destroy him so Wanda can claim the glory.

I'm not going to tell you not to watch Wandance because it looks awful, like 90% of the internet does. I want you to be aware that the greatest appeal of this work is also its greatest weakness. The dances are the last thing you'd watch this anime for. It has a good story, good characters, and good sound design. I would recommend giving it a chance, although I also understand if you don't want to watch it. Ultimately, it's a dance anime, and if its best feature doesn't appeal to you, then nothing else will.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 24, 2025

uiorwejklfsd

Not Recommended

CGI has turned this into the greatest cringe comedy ever made. I literally burst out laughing whenever the dancing started and I really don't think that was the intention. I'm wondering how something this bad can even exist in 2025. It feels like they found some ancient Windows 95 software and decided to use that for the 3D parts. I really need a behind-the-scenes documentary explaining what happened here. So are there any parts in this worth watching? No. The reason for that is because the manga exists and it's light years better. A hundred times out of a hundred I would recommend people skip ... this and go right to the manga.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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