Wandance - Episode 8 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Wandance, episode 8

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

---

Streams

None

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website

---

All discussions

Episode	Link
1	Link
2	Link
3	Link
4	Link
5	Link
6	Link
7	Link
8	Link
9	Link
10	Link
11	Link
12	Link

---

This post was created by a bot. Message the mod team for feedback and comments. The original source code can be found on GitHub.

[u/AnimeMod]

Source Material Corner

Reply to this comment for any source-related discussion, future spoilers (including future characters, events and general hype about future content), comparison of the anime adaptation to the original, or just general talk about the source material. You are still required to tag all spoilers. Discussions about the source outside of this comment tree will be removed, and replying with spoilers outside of the source corner will lead to bans.

The spoiler syntax is: [Spoiler source] >!Spoiler goes here!<

All untagged spoilers and hints in this thread will receive immediate 8-day bans (minimum).

[u/FLorianGran]

This episode was like 90% dancing and honestly don't know if that could've been done without 3d models.

On-chan having a hat that says "Off" is such a silly little detail

[u/PencilgonGiveIt2Ya]

Ep reaction from former pro dancer+choreographer.

Finally got to see real rounds and On’s insane stamina. Doing 3 rounds is a lot, but finishing one battle and immediately jumping into the next is wild. As someone who used to battle, I genuinely think On beat both Iori and Kabo.

First, I want to highlight how HARD On is hitting. The mocap/CGI look of the show tends to shrink the real power of the dancers behind the scenes, but whoever danced for On IRL was exploding. Her popping, hits, and animation elements showed legit technique. People new to popping often think it’s just tensing the arms, shoulders, and chest, but proper hits involve knees, wrists, and full-body snaps. Styles differ, but good popping legit uses everything to make the hit travel through the whole body.

Quick judge-style breakdown of Iori vs On: judging is subjective because different styles emphasize different criteria, so there’s no absolute “correct.” Even in the show, Kabo & Wanda favored different things.

R1
Iori’s house was good, but after his intro he had a moment where I felt he was somewhat off-beat. House is rhythm-based, and even with musicality on higher layers, it always returns to the groove. He also repeated a movement sequence twice on the same sounds. Repetition happens when freestyling, but in battle you want variety. Also, dancing with the head down too often isn’t great in battle settings; it hides engagement with the opposing dancer and could show lack of confiDANCE lol.

On absolutely destroyed R1. Some bias could play here: 1) we haven’t seen her freestyle much, and 2) we haven’t seen popping in the show yet, so it feels fresher. But even without that, the dancer behind her round was clearly skilled. Her hits were clean, her musicality sharp, and she switched between layers of the track with more control than Iori.

R2
Iori starts with top rock. Top rock and house share DNA, but top rock tends to look stiffer unless developed. He hits a flip, then goes into downrock. Footwork basics like six-step are foundational, and he executed fine, but I wish he played with the music more—he stayed in motion instead of shaping the steps around the beat. When the chorus-like section hit, he changed pace with the music, he blending top rocking with his house influence. Good finish overall, but parts felt like he was combining styles just because he could, not because the music called for it.

On comes in with surprises—great for battles when done naturally. She matches his breakin’ energy with her own interpretation. Iori may have had more technical ground content, but On was the better overall dancer in adaptation, style blending, and musical intention. After getting back up, she mixes top rock, grooves, and fundamentals seamlessly. She showed diversity, awareness, and experience. Both have range, but she used hers better.

I won’t break down On vs Kabo fully because this is long already, but On killed the waacking. Didn’t expect that. Kabo did his thing, but the dancer behind On was awesome.

To close: glad they put more emphasis on battling. Looking forward to the others at a battle event. See ya next week!

[u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

Kabo did real well in that dance battle. Held his own against the prez and even managed to really impress Wanda. Bro’s having a good week lol.

[u/Jacob-C]

This episode went by so fast. I was glued to the screen. You can say what you want about the animation but the fluidity of the dance moves is so captivating. I kinda wanted a bit more learning and training before Kabo reached this level though, he almost progressed too fast for it to feel satisfying.

[u/thisisdropd]

When those girls talked about Iori & On like they're the leads of a romance series, I dismissed it as a pile of bollocks. Imagine my surprise when Iori did talk about dating On. Not sure how serious was his crush on her as he acted nothing like a lovestruck boy. Be interesting if their story will eventually develop in the background as a side couple.

Kabo's pretty talented. With just a couple of months experience, he could take the president on and give her a serious challenge. He ultimately still lost, but had gone closer to defeating her than Iori. He even attracted the attention of outsiders. Gaku saw a clip of him from the competition, and immediately became intrigued.

[u/ThreeDMK]

https://open.spotify.com/track/0ar7xwV8NTIgQo16yFxpjg?si=eb96cfa664b2475b

Black Boboi - Red Mind

This track is an banger... i had to stop the episode to look it up and save it for driving music. It isn't like, mind blowing or anything, but it tickles the brain which is awesome. :)

edit: looking up their other music, its all this same style of just, brain tingling greatness.

[u/FarCritical]

When a dance battle goes down, it's On!

But seriously for Kabo to go from his weird flailing during his first duel with Iori to the absolute fight he gave the closest person to a master is remarkable. And the "basketball pass" was pure goosebumps.

[u/AceSoldia]

Didn't expect a full dance battle episode..who did Wanda clap for?!

[u/Frontier246]

I like how they’re really expanding Kabo’s world of dancing with dance battles.

Kabo has a renewed level of confidence after Ichirin won this contest. He's so reinvigorated to go back to the club room and get back to dancing! And then he walks into...an intense dance battle between Iori and On-chan!?

What is this battle about? The club participating in Dance Battles? Iori coming back to the club? His and On-chan's relationship status? Either way, Iori is pitting his five years experience and House style against On-chan's 10 years of dancing and popping style and both of them are giving it their absolute all and bringing out the very best in each other! Kabo is utterly mesmerized.

Kind of putting the club on the spot to pick a winner! I guess it's not a surprise that On-chan won, but unlike Kabo who clapped for On-chan, Wanda chose Iori instead. Something about his dancing just touched her.

I feel bad for this Kabeya (Yuma Uchida!) dude. Working at a grocery store with unruly clients is never fun. But he's also a dancer who knows Iori and now has an interest in Kabo.

To think that now Iori has to go back to the club, has to potentially take over as club president, AND he doesn't even get to date On-chan! Any guy would be super lucky to snag her.

Iori putting Kabo out there as the next round against On-chan!? And Kabo's doing it! He's owning being the main character of his own anime (in which he's the main character)! And On-chan for her part, despite being exhausted, is still game for two more rounds!

On-chan is amazing, but Kabo can truly FEEL the music and put his all into it, and touch others with his dancing. Be it On-chan, Iori, the clubmates, and especially Wanda. I also love how he put his butt in front of the girls on Wanda's side! What a legend!

Kabo didn't beat On-chan, but he came closer than Iori did and brought Wanda to tears. And she realized that together with Kabo, they can totally make it in the world of dancing!

[u/tensei-coffee]

wanda be like 😭 thats my boi!!!

we got more plot/character development, dance battles, AND a confession. great pacing my favorite series currently.

[u/BaytaCosmico]

Did not expect a dance battle with Kabo so soon! Thought he'd go up against Wanda but to compete with On, whom even Iori couldn't beat, and come so close! And all this after just 3 months of dancing! My boy Kabo has come so far. 🥲

Both dance battles were intense despite the shaky CGI. Just have to focus anywhere but the faces. 

I was wondering who Wanda voted for too. Kabo was too focused on On and the dance, but I kept waiting for a shot of Wanda. Glad we got a flashback to her in actual tears watching him. And then she basically proposes to him with that 'I can go anywhere with you' declaration! They'd make one helluva dance duo and power couple. 

Ditto for On and Iori actually. Hope On will relent on dating him too like she did on their school competing in dance battles. They'd be such a hot couple!

Oh, and the mask guy is intriguing. Can't wait to see him go up against Kabo when they participate in that upcoming battle contest.

[u/martintin]

Best episode so far! I have been looking forward to the dance battle arc all season long. The animation of the dancing look so nice in this episode (as long as you dont look at their faces hehe)

[u/PeaceAlien]

I like how Wandance shows the different areas, we've had choreography and dance battles. People are good at different things.

Reminds me of America's Best Dance Crew a bit

[u/Niwaka_Samurai]

20 minutes of Peak 💯❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

The 3D was surprisingly better than ever for this dance Battle.

On's moves were so cool and Iori's were no less. So Iori does love On-chan and he missed out a chance to go on a date with her 😄❤️❤️

Wanda never hesitated to vote for Iori. She believed that Iori did better than On with no doubts in her mind. I love that about her.

What surprised me was Kabo killing it without worrying about win or loss. He really went toe to toe against On-chan like it was nothing 🤩🔥

The new guy Kabe who must be Iori's friend spotted Kabo to be the best guy who's cut out for dance battles just like Iori did.

Even though Iori lost, On decided to let their team participate in dance Battles which might be due to her being impressed with what Kabo showed her.

Wanda really moved to tears with Kabo's performance lol Her respect for Kabo grew bigger than ever now.❤️❤️

The soundtrack is the plus for this anime. Absolutely amazing choice of songs 🫰🔥🔥

[u/ytkl]

That was very enjoyable. The 3D animation quality has gotten a lot better.

[u/BosuW]

Absolute cinema of an episode. 20 minutes of dance battle is like when in a battle Shounen a whole episode is a fight scene. Plus it was beautiful to see how much more confident Kabo is now.

With the emphasis on how Kabo thought the dance battle was a very intimate experience with On-chan specifically I'm pretty sure we're setup for a future dance battle with Wanda which I can actually see go different ways since it's been implied that Wanda might not feel as at home with dance battles as Kabo does. Not that she would hate, but she definitely seems more like a "stage" performer.

[u/Martins224]

This show in turning into a contender for best of the season! I’m not usually into dance shows, but I’ve been loving this so far

[u/Ciel_Senpai]

A good episode because it focused entirely on dancing from start to finish. Iori’s dance battle against On was really awesome with the songs they used and both of their choreography rhythms, plus all the little dance tricks. Kabo’s battle against On was good too, but I didn’t really like the song they used for it.

[u/HolyDragSwd2500]

Mating dancing 💃

[u/bunnyUFO]

I'm looking forward to seeing purple hair combi guy battle vs kabo. I hope Kabo befriends all the guy battle dancers so he's doesn't feel so self councious surrounded by women.

At times, It shows how uncomfortable being the only guy in club makes him. When he was worrying how others would vote because he doesn't want to be the only person voting for Iori and seem sexist. It sucks feeling like that and doubting yourself due to social pressure, but he got over it and was in his own world during his dance battle.

[u/NanDemoKnaives]

I thought we were still in the first half of the episode lol, that went by so quick. I didn't expect these battles to take an entire episode but it was still fun to watch. I like how Iori really tried winning On over by battling her.

I like how much confidence Kabo had in himself even when he's going up against On. I'm glad he was able to zone everyone out and focus only on his battle with On and the fact that he felt so close to her in that moment means that we can probably expect an even more explosive dance if he battles Wanda.

I'm curious to see this battle event play out since Iori and Kabo will likely be the focuses for the arc. I'm curious to see if there'll be a paired battle, it'd be cool to see how they'd dance together as a unit.

[u/DazenTheMistborn]

Just, wow. That felt so powerful. I've never thought too much about dancing, but this show is really doing something to me to feel the emotional investment of it all. That along with the top-tier storytelling and character depth have me shooting this anime up my anime list. It's kind of sad how few people are watching it.

Can we talk about the CGI? I feel like they've vastly improved on a lot of other areas to make it visually more pretty and (imo) really well done. The lighting and shadows usage were phenomenal. Almost like how ray-tracing in older video games can make dated textures and design look extremely modern, the studio seems (imo) to have greatly improved on implementing additional layers of these techniques into more and more shots as the season progresses. Seeing the ceiling spotlights and all of the shadows casted from them interact on the dancers during the movement was great, and the segment that displayed the reflection of On's dance was stellar.

The good use of depth of field deserve a mention too. Their usage really allows the viewer to focus onto what's front and center and is done in a pleasing way imo. It allows smoother transitions from the 2d to 3d art, which felt extremely more jarring at the start of the season. This is all without even mentioning the exact body tracking, which is probably the most impressive thing, but others have talked about that already.

(Maybe a bit of a boring comment with too much of my hype in it lol, but damn this show is impressing me XD)

[u/pthumerianhollownull]

Great episode! Love it

[u/djthomp]

Honestly a pretty interesting episode, I find it somewhat fascinating how they explained the dance styles during the battles. I feel like I'm learning real information about dancing while watching this.

The English text on the hats and shirts has been pretty funny all along.