Danza Serenata Review
Danza Serenata
Story
Isaque (Yuzuki Reon) shows up in a nightclub that is abandoned and ready for demolition. He starts thinking about the past when he was the top dancer here.
We turn back in time and see the sparkly stage where Isaque and others dance. The show is very popular, but Isaque is still dissatisfied and argues with his dance partner Angelita (Shirahana Remi) who also happens to be his ex-girlfriend. José (Suzumi Shio), the bartender, takes Angelita’s side, as he is in love with her.
After the show, Isaque and his coworker Luis (MakazeSuzuho) end up in a bar, where Luis introduces Isaque to his girlfriend Carolina (Kisaki Airi). Because Carolina is from an aristocratic family and in a different social class, they are planning to elope. Later, Isaque notices the siblings Monica (Yumesaki Nene) and Angelo (Toki Irisu) who are getting bullied by a bunch of drunk soldiers, because they look foreign and were born in a colony. Isaque comes to their aid and they flee the club. Joaquin (Kurenai Yuzuru), a member of the secret police, witnesses this scene, and talks to Isaque about the problems with the independent movement in the colonies. Isaque isn’t interested.
When there is an audition in the club for new dancers, Monica shows up with her roommate Rita (Saotome Wakaba) who wants to take the audition. Monica helps the struggling Rita to learn the choreography. Isaque sees her dance and convinces her to do the audition too. In the end, both Monica and Rita are hired.
Meanwhile Monica’s brother Angelo is meeting with the local anti-government movements who are bent on revolution. Angelo has been a leader of the independence movement in the colonies and is now trying to unite all anti-government movements. However, Joaquin arrests him and he is taken in for questioning.
At the club, Angelita is upset that Isaque is trying to replace her with Monica. When she breaks her leg, Monica has to take over her part and dance with Isaque. They fall for each other and Isaque wants to keep dancing with Monica. However, Monica tells him she won’t be around for long, because she is planning to go back to her country.
Later, Monica gets arrested and questioned as well. Isaque then tries to help her leave the country and in the process has a rather violent fight in which he beats the crap out of Joaquin. Just when Monica is about to get on the ship, Joaquin shows up with a gun. However, he doesn’t stop her, because as it turns out, he’s a revolutionary himself and has been secretly helping the movement.
Monica disappears from Isaque’s life and finally the club gets closed. Many years later, Isaque received an anonymous letter telling him to come to the club. There he finally meets Monica again. Turns out, she received the exact same letter and thought it must be from Isaque. In reality the letter was written by José who is now married to Angelita, and apparently wanted them to meet again. They talk and both discover that they have never been able to forget each other.
Main cast
Yuzuki Reon (Isaque): Can I just say that Isaque is the typical Masatsuka-sensei hero? Rather tough, with a bit of a tragic and violent past, and at least one ex-lover somewhere. What made me happy about this character was that Chie finally got to play a slightly more mature role. Ever since she became top, they’ve kept giving her very youthful roles, so that was a nice change. And she got to do a lot of dancing, which made me happy too.
Yumesaki Nene (Monica): I rather liked Nene’s character. Monica was more mature than the average musumeyaku heroine and seemed to be quite intelligent. These days, that’s enough to make me happy.
Suzumi Shio (José): Toyoko was basically Remi’s romantic sidekick. Her role was what musumeyaku usually get when there’s nothing for them to do, and they end up being the girlfriend of one of the main characters which gives them some stage time, but not much chance to develop a character or anything. Usually I would have rejoiced in seeing this reversed and having a musumeyaku with an otokoyaku-sidekick, but I certainly did not want this for Toyoko’s last show. It’s really disappointing. I thought out of all the taidansha, she’d be the one with a decent role.
Toki Irisu (Angelo): I thought the role of Angelo suited Masako very well. I could totally see her being a guerilla. She didn’t hold passionate speeches or had any big action scenes. She just quietly and determinedly did her job and then got herself and others into huge trouble. Also, can I use this moment to say how happy I am to have Masako in Hoshigumi? My only complaint is that she didn’t get a lot of scenes with Chie.
Kurenai Yuzuru (Joaquin): Beni’s character is all: “I am just doing my job, I am not heartless.” And then towards the end of course, there is the big revelation about his true motives. Unfortunately, she couldn’t really make me care for her character at all, so to be honest, I couldn’t have cared less about his ulterior motives. Beni did a good job with acting I think, but I found her character rather boring. I did enjoy the fight scene though. Chie tries to hit her and misses, so Beni is all: “Ha! I told you, everything you do is in vain!” And then Chie hits her right in the face and is all: “Neener neener!”
Shirahana Remi (Angelita): I liked Remi’s character. At first I expected her to be really bitchy, because ex-girlfriends must always be evil, but she wasn’t. She was just someone who struggled with the fact that her dance partner at work happens to also be her ex-boyfriend, which is not an easy situation to handle. And I am really happy she got something to do for her last show.
Makaze Suzuho (Luis): Yurika had the best part in this show. Her character didn’t really participate much in the main story, but that was okay, because Luis is living in his own world, doing his own play full of tragedy, pathos and angst. Yurika was all: “A MAN HAS TO DO WHAT A MAN HAS TO DO! DON’T TRY TO STOP ME!” And Chie was all: “… Dude, no one is stopping you.” Basically, Luis is this really hilarious idiot and Yurika did really well with all the comedy.
Saotome Wakaba (Rita): Wakaba-chan plays Nene’s adorably dorky friend. Rita wants to be a dancer very badly, and what she lacks in talent, she more than makes up in eagerness. I had a lot of fun watching Wakaba-chan, and I couldn’t help but love her character. She was just so adorable and funny.
Other people I noticed:
Hiroka Yuu: She had a really funny part as one of the drunk soldiers who attacked Nene and Masako. First she managed to knock herself out with a table, and then she just randomly run around the stage yelling at Chie.
Ichijou Azusa and Kisaragi Ren: I also spent a lot of time opera-glassing Renta and Shiiran. They were both dancers at the club and a bit of a combi. First they both tried to hit on Nene at the same time, until Chie was all “MINE!” and pulled her away from them. Then they ended up without dance partners during a rehearsal, so Shiiran just grabbed Renta and forced her to dance the female part. When Shiiran was finally done, poor Renta looked deeply traumatized.
My thoughts:
Danza Serenata was okay. It has its good moments, but especially towards the end, it also has a lot of weaknesses. Most people don’t get anything to do, but I guess that was a given with a Masatsuka-sensei show. To be honest, I still don’t really know what to say about it. But hey, I will see it nine more times. That’s plenty of time to come up with something more insightful, right?