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 parts of this review may contain spoilers):
Tribe Cool Crew was one of the earlier shows from this season, but ended up flying under the radar pretty quickly as it got washed away in the sea of other big fall titles. Being a show obviously targeted towards kids didn’t really help things and made it pretty easy to ignore. It’s a shame though, as the series is one of the more interesting entries in the current fall lineup, and one with a pretty wicked sense of style.
The basic premise involves a kid named Haneru who’s into streetdancing and wants to compete on the same stage as a famous dancer known as Jey-El. One day while he’s hanging out with his friend, he’s introduced to some online videos starring a dancer called Rhythm and he’s pretty impressed by her moves. As it turns out though, her real identity Kanon, has actually been pretty impressed by Haneru herself as she’s been watching him at the place where he usually practices and does her videos there as well. She normally watches him through a one way mirror but during one practice session where their both dancing at the same time, the mirror gets exposed and Haneru sees her. After having their moves be so in sync Haneru feels a connection with her and decides to ask her to form a dancing crew with him.
She initially refuses and while Haneru tries to see her again, she avoids going back to that spot. The two eventually end up crossing paths again at a local dance-off involving a crew called Tribal Soul. They end up in a dance battle against the group but the two are beaten pretty easily. Kanon is pretty inspired by Tribal Soul though, and decides to go ahead and form a crew with Haneru to go against them again. As they start practicing together, they also get closer to Tribal Soul who takes an interest in them and the two groups start to become friends.
It’s a pretty simple story so far, but the show more than makes up for it in flair. The show has some really great visual direction and the R&B aesthetic gives it an over the top style that excels in being really flashy while not feeling too directed at just kids. Animation wise the show looks pretty solid though the majority of the dancing is done in 3D CG which can be pretty clunky looking in some instances but works for the most part and isn’t distracting enough to take away from the rest of the show. What really stands out though is the show’s music which aside from the fairly catchy J-pop opening song, generally focuses on hip hop and has some really great tracks that makes the show worth watching for that reason alone.
The dynamic between the two leads is also pretty interesting as Haneru is a short hyperactive kid from an average family while Kanon’s noticeably tall, shy uptown girl. Normally those last bits would make for a pretty predictable setup but the balance between the their personalities is handled pretty well, and while their differences in status is obviously going to become a larger issue eventually, the show isn’t too interested in putting a lot of focus on that(with episode 4 being the first time it’s mentioned and even then it’s mostly played for laughs), and is far more interested in making the audience fall in love with dancing.
In Summary:
Tribe Cool Crew is a show with a lot of style so far, and while the story isn’t exactly going to set the world on fire, the fun execution more than makes up for that, with some awesome music to seal the deal. If you can get past this technically being a kid’s show, this one is looking to be a pretty sweet ride, and has some great potential going for it. But enough about this review, go check it out for yourself.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
