The World Is Dancing

Episode 4

To prepare for his role as the Senzai dancer in the troupe's upcoming performance of the Okina, Oniyasha must focus on purifying his body and resting his mind so that he can be at his utmost best. This, of course, is almost impossible for Oniyasha to manage, the little bundle of nerves, curiosity, and perfectionism that he has become as of late. So, this episode begins with Oniyasha stealing away in the night to practice alone by the light of the moon. His father is expecting so much from him, but what exactly is the secret ingredient that Oniyasha needs to transcend his current limitations as a performer?

Alongside Oniyasha, we get to learn just a little bit more about Kan'nami this week, and it is fascinating (if not at all surprising) to see how the boy and his old man seem to share the same instincts for learning and invention. Kan'nami has spent his entire life learning the different disciplines and perspectives across many different art forms, and the old mentor of the troupe describes him as a man who “destroys what Sarugaku has become, builds it back up, and then destroys it again.” One of the fundamental laws of artistic creation that everyone must eventually learn is that there is no such thing as true, achievable perfection. There is either constant pursuit of improvement and new perspectives, or there is stagnation and resignation. While it is true that artists of all stripes must eventually settle on something good enough to actually be shared with the world, the fundamental irony of perfection's impossibility is that we only ever get better if we insist on pursuing it anyway.

Little Oniyasha is becoming wiser to these truths by the day, but he still has a long way to go. All he can really do, for now, is his best, which leads us to the climactic sequence of the episode: Oniyasha's dance in the Okina. This is executed very differently than the very stylized and expressionistic dances that have highlighted previous episodes. Here, we're stuck in the very real and (relatively) grounded reality of the wooden stage, the audience, and Oniyasha himself. The boy moves with practiced fluidity, and the direction opts to go for a fairly locked-in camera that watches mostly from the middle distance, as if we were sitting right there with the rest of the locals. I am fairly certain that Oniyasha's movements are made possible with the use of a very well-composited 3D rig, given the very obviously digital nature of the less detailed background characters, but the result still looks quite a lot like more traditional rotoscoped animation, which is quite impressive.

Just before his father takes the stage, we see a brief glimpse of the oceans that Oniyasha is beginning to conjure with his work, a sign that he is beginning to tap into his unrealized potential. When we finally do see Kan'nami in action…well, this is where I am still not sure how to feel. I like that the episode emphasizes his very subtle, restrained choreography, which stands in contrast to the oversized emotional effect he is having on both the audience and his own son. That said—and this could absolutely be down to me failing to appreciate the cultural and symbolic nuances of this quasi-ritualistic performance—I was expecting more from such a thematically pivotal scene as Oniyasha discovering the depths of his father's power as a dancer. While still a very good episode overall, this feels like the first time that The World Is Dancing has had to tell us just as much as it is capable of showing us to get its point across.

Still, given how successful the Okina performance was for the troupe, it seems like everything is coming up Oniyasha for the first time all season. Of course, our young hero has to go and loudly call out the attending shogun, Yoshimitsu Ashikaga, as “the sex guy” that he met during his funk of ennui last week. Then again, Oniyasha does end up with a personal invite to the shogun's mansion that merely leads to pretend threats of immediate and gruesome execution, so things could also be much worse.

Instead of being greeted with the sharp end of an executioner's sword, Oniyasha is given something much more profound: A mission. The shogun needs something that can reach beyond laws and might to unite the people of Japan, and our hero is just the young seedling that he needs to plant in the garden of the nation's future. This certainly isn't where I expected things to go by the end of just this fourth episode, but I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. We know that this lad is going to go down in history as one of his culture's most influential voices. The kid's going to need to get a move on soon if he wants to start building those centuries of artistic influence and all.

Episode Rating:

The World Is Dancing is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.