It’s a Merry Tri-Cool Christmas
What They Say:
Haneru is a kid who’s always been into dancing and dreams of becoming a famous dancer like his idol Jey-El. One day while he’s practicing his moves at his usual spot he finds out it’s the same place where a girl named Kanon also practices and she’s secretly a famous dancer known as Rhythm who’s well known on the internet. After being impressed by her moves and finding out she’s been watching his, he decides to form a dance team with her.
The Review:
Content (warning as portions of this review may contain spoilers):
After putting an end to the tournament arc for a while last week, this week’s episode a bit more of a breather. Of course with how fun the show generally is, a breather episode doesn’t necessarily mean less entertaining as it makes for a good Christmas episode. It’s not one that really sets the world on fire or anything but it’s pretty nice stuff and there’s a bit of character work thrown into the mix too.
As the gang continues practicing for the next stage of the tournament, Kumo leaves early and mentions that he won’t be there for practice on Christmas Eve either. The others notice how unusual it is for him to skip practice and decide to follow him to see what he’s up, assuming there might be a girl involved. Unsurprisingly it’s mostly the opposite as it turns out he got himself involved with a group of small kids at a nursery and helps out there. They decide to throw a Christmas party, and Haneru takes the opportunity to show off, which gets Kumo’s disapproval. Haneru eventually realizes his mistake, and in time for some Christmas themed dancing.
Christmas episodes in anime generally tend to come off as an excuse to have characters act goofier and more fun than usual, so for a series that’s consistently fun it’s not a particular stand out in that department. Having the ep after Christmas is technically done with for this year, even if only slightly doesn’t help things much either so it’s not quite of the show’s better episodes. That said, the show does milk the theme for all it’s worth and even adds some Christmas-themed backgrounds to the eyecatchers for the commercials. It’s not quite as glorious as the show probably could have taken it, but the usual brand of fun is still pretty fun (plus getting Master T in a Santa costume is it’s own goofy reward)
The episode also doubles slightly as a Kumo centered one, helping to provide a bit more perspective into exactly why he dances, and its interesting that the inspiration he gets from Jay-El extends to wanting to make others happy through dancing. It makes for a nice little reinforcement of that theme, and Haneru gets to learn it for himself, though the way that’s handled is pretty simplistic kid’s show writing. Sadly the dance for this week’s episode uses the “Can You Feel” song yet again, which has started to wear out it’s welcome a little, but that gets a bit of a Christmas remix as well so it’s a little less repetitive this time though hopefully this is the last time it pops up for a while
In Summary:
This week’s episode is a Christmas themed breather and it’s a pretty good one though not one the show’s standouts as far as overall fun goes. It’s still pretty fun though, and it also helps in providing a bit more characterization for Kumo. Next week’s looks to be Kanon centered and with some new moves involved so hopefully this time’s the last the “Can You Feel” song gets used. It’s time for a new beat.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, Hulu
