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Wandance Hip-Hop Dance Anime Reveals 1st Promo Video, 'Dance Cast,' Music Artists Providing Songs

The official website for the anime of Coffee's Wandance hip-hop dance manga revealed on Wednesday the anime's first promotional video, the "dance cast" in charge of the motion capture for each character's dance movements, and the music artists who will provide over 30 songs for the anime. The video features the song "Get Something Out of Your Mind" by Yaffle feat. Yūjin Aramaki, two of the music artists participating in the anime.

The dance cast for each character includes (image above):

• KAITA as Kaboku Kotani
• KANATA as Hikari Wanda
• ReiNa as On Miyao
• YOUTEE as Iori Itsukushima
• YU-KI as Gaku Kabeya

The music artists participating in the anime are (in alphabetical order):

• Yūjin Aramaki
• Alisa
• Black Boboi
• Daigo Sakuragi
• FUNI
• GZO
• Hidetake Takayama
• Jazztronik
• JiN,Seann Bowe
• Jua
• Kaztake Takeuchi
• Marcello Jonno
• Michael Yano a.k.a ARK
• MONJOE
• RIEHATA
• RIKKI
• Sahnya
• Scatman John
• Shinichi Osawa
• Shinichiro Murayama
• Toru Ishikawa
• URU
• Weauxmaque
• Wez Atras
• Yaffle

The anime's voice cast include:

• Kōki Uchiyama as Kaboku Kotani
• Hina Yomiya as Hikari Wanda
• Ayaka Suwa as On Miyao
• Toshiki Masuda as Iori Itsukushima
• Yūma Uchida as Gaku Kabeya
• Yuu Hayashi as Usen Takumi
• Chikahiro Kobayashi as Assei

Michiya Katō (Okko's Inn) is directing the anime at Madhouse and Cyclone Graphics. Dancer, choreographer, and singer RIEHATA, who created choreographies for Japanese groups such as EXILE and KAT-TUN, and Korean groups such as BTS, EXO, and Red Velvet, is the anime's dance producer.

Kodansha USA Publishing releases the manga and describes the story:

A boy named Kaboku sees a girl named Wanda dance, and suddenly burns with a need to join in. With its thrilling scenes of Japanese hip-hop dance and quirky, charming characters, this is a new, inspirational manga for fans of coming-of-age stories like Blue Period and Your Lie in April. Get up and join the Wandance!

Kaboku has always just gone with the flow, marching in step to the drumbeat of the expectations of those around him: parents, school, plans for the future. It feels predictable, safe, and… empty. But one night, Kaboku's at school late, and he happens on a girl alone, moving wildly, turning a blank space of concrete into a canvas. This is Hikari Wanda, a member of the hip-hop dance club. Kaboku is immediately smitten, but the road to stepping out of his shell is a long one. The club is almost entirely girls, and they're all, well, way better than him. What's ahead is unknown, and that's terrifying, but it also means, for the first time in Kaboku's life… a taste of freedom.

Coffee launched the manga in Afternoon magazine in 2019, and is simultaneously published in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app. Kodansha published the manga's 13th compiled book volume in August 2024. Kodansha USA Publishing will release the 13th volume in English on August 12.

Sources: Wandance anime's website, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web