Kabo and Hikari are both driven to get better as dancers. Club President On-chan, trying to entice Iori back to the club in the hopes that he'll step up as president next year, agrees to take the club to a dance battle. Kabo gets to bond with the only other guy in the club, and we get to learn the difference between street, house, and break dancing.

I absolutely loved these two volumes.

Kabo's a good guy. He's still struggling with a lot of things; his stutter keeps him from jumping in, and that is reflected in his dance as he hesitates to join. The stutter is not centered in the story, but his attempts at dealing with it are a constant feature. He shifts his words around and keeps a message on his phone to let people know. Nonetheless, there are times it presents a barrier for him, so we are always aware of the impediment's presence in his life.

He almost desperately wants to be better, for himself and for Wanda Hikari. Because he is our perspective character, we don't know much about her. Reticent as he is, Kabo isn't asking her about herself, and he's content to know she's there. Until she begins to shine in the dance battle, and he suddenly realizes that someone else might take her away. He feels an odd possessiveness about her and immediately wonders why, what his feelings are, and how she feels about him. Then, once again in her presence, he realizes that he's overthinking everything. She and he just vibe, and it's okay. His jealousy backs off, and he's able to unleash himself on the dance floor. He trusts Hikari and wants them both to succeed.

I absolutely love the art for this series. If you're old enough, you might remember the 1980 Olympic art by Leroy Neiman, all of which portrayed athletes in action. Add even more movement, the emphasis of beats and spins, and you get close to the feel here. Everyone is in motion. As I finished up this volume I noticed with some surprise that there are, comparatively to other manga almost, no lettered sound effects, I expect that has to do with the fact that the soundtrack is always provided to us at the beginning of every dance, so we can hear what they are hearing as they battle, and the music at a battle would overwhelm any other noise.

Characters here are pretty obsessed with dance, which seems valid and important to the story. But, when they stop being dancers and we can see that they are teenagers, with a lot of concerns about how other people treat them, or what they want to do or be, the story really builds depth. Kabo learning to do floor moves is cool, but his learning to understand Iori-senpai through his speech and actions is as powerful.

It's this balance of movement and sound framed by kids just trying to figure things out that grabs you into this story. This far in, I'm hoping that both Kabo and Hikari find paths for themselves that include dance, but maybe not each other?

In traditional sport/activity manga style, the cast of characters is expanding now, as well. The school Ichirin defeated is back, and a few others are battling as well. More importantly, winners of the battle groups are going to dance against the judges, which could not happen in an established sport, but I love the idea. What a visceral way to learn. Like most explainer manga, Wandance, carefully feeds us new information every chapter, but obviously, dance is not learned by reading or watching. I can easily imagine that this manga encouraged a lot of kids to try dancing.

There's one other thing I genuinely love about this manga…it is the least sexist manga I think I have ever read. Yes, of course, the boys notice the girls and comment on how cute Hikari is, but there is no assumption that the girls dancing are dancing for the guys, no benevolent sexism, no misogyny. Its absence is notable, and wow, so nice. This is a manga about people who love dance for itself. I cannot express how much of a weight I've grown to expect with manga simply is not there in this series.

Also notable at this point, there are no bad guys in this story. There are no bullies, no posing wankers, not a single gloating asshole to be seen. It's utterly remarkable. Everyone in the story is focused inward, looking at themselves and each other, measuring themselves against “dance,” against their highest future achievements. This is a shockingly high-level competition mindset for a bunch of high school students who are largely training themselves. New rivals, new people to learn from…not new enemies. Again, fantastic.

You might not be into dance, per se, as I am not, but this manga has a lot to offer—high energy, strong characters, people driven to perform, non-toxic egos, a light hand on the sturm and drang of teenage life. And of course, it has a banging soundtrack I never listen to for myself, and that stellar art that makes it come alive.

I didn't expect to like this manga as much as I do, but if you asked me now to recommend a sport/activity/club/team manga, Wandance would be at the top of my list. Unless one day Ariyoshi Kyouko's Applause (speaking of sturm and drang) is ever licensed, this stands as my favorite dance manga.