So after a week long of no Tribe Cool Crew, we’re back. And once again….Haneru’s going to complain about Crowd High. OH BOY! However, this time…they do things a bit differently. What exactly do I mean by that? Well I would just have to start my review wouldn’t I? So…let’s do just that!
So the episode starts up and Haneru is impatient waiting for Jey to tell them what the next and final round of Dance Road will entail. Unfortunately, he doesn’t show up to tell them this episode. What we DO get however is Lui and Moe getting a guest spot on a TV talk show where they dance for her and everyone at home.
After the dance appears on TV, even more people are enamored with the dance, including the people at Haneru’s school. To which he scoffs and ignores it because…you know, Haneru hates Crowd High because he just does.
After school he hears from his basketball buddy a rumor that Crowd High was invented in the 60’s to brainwash people.
Yeah… yeah they kind of lampshade it even in the show by the characters being like “um..what?” the sad thing is, they’re probably going to make this a thing. And that will cause me to shake my head in shame.
Haneru thinks about it for a while, and the dance quickly gets banned from school because some idiot kid hurt himself trying to copy it.
Finally deciding to talk to Lui and Moe he meets them in the park and he begins to have a conversation with them. And…to be completely honest, I completely side with Lui and Moe here. Basically they state that they’re glad the teachers banned the dance because they actually know the risks of the dance. They’re fully aware of that, but that’s what they want to do.
Jey’s apparently SO worried about this Crowd High, when here’s the thing. They started it because HE kicked them out of HIS contest. I’ve said this before. Just because they lost YOUR contest, doesn’t mean they can’t be famous on their own. And to go even further, they say that they’re glad they didn’t win because they wouldn’t want to be Jey’s backup dancers and live in his shadow. Which actually makes a LOT of sense. The grand prize of this “Dance Road” thing is to be a BACKUP dancer. What kind of grand prize is that? That’s how egotistical Jey is. He considers it a grand prize to be HIS BACKUP DANCER. If anything, Jey’s a giant douche.
There is literally NOTHING wrong with what they’re doing. They know the risks, they’re not cheating, they’re putting their all into something and it’s what they want to do.
Now here’s the thing. I would be VERY impressed if there was a twist and JEY was the one with the evil dance, and Crowd High was actually a freeing dance for people that made them happy, and the reason why Jey’s group doesn’t like it is because it’s messing with THEIR plan, and the big guy is trying to stop it by making Crowd High popular. See, THAT would be an awesome twist. Unfortunately I don’t think this show has the balls to do that.
Anyway as I was saying, Haneru leaves and talks to Kumo, and he does actually repeat some of the things I was saying. Haneru’s a bit frustrated by this but determines that he really can’t hate Crowd High until he tries it. And that’s where the episode ends.
Here’s the thing about this episode. This episode’s level of goodness will all depend on where it leads us. If it’s going to lead to “Bah Crowd High really IS evil” then it’s a stupid episode. BUT if leads to something more, then I will be very impressed with this episode. It’s kind of a wait and see episode.
If they’re trying to make us dislike LuiMoe and crowd high, they are doing a TERRIBLE job. I actually like them maybe even more than the main cast, but a HELL of a lot more than Jey. Jey really is a giant asshole who won’t even come to his own goddamn rounds of his goddamn contest. Unless of course he IS already dead. Then I would laugh.
Overall, I have to say that I DID enjoy this episode as it did force Haneru to look at both sides of the coin and not to just continue his “I hate Crowd High” mentality. If it pays off, like I said, this will be a great turning point episode. I am interested to see where this plot thread goes and if they’re going to do something unique or just travel the way that one would think a show that tries nothing new would go. Like I said, I’ll wait and see.
Episode (If Crowd High is not evil) 8/10
Episode (If Crowd High IS evil) 5/10
I’m keeping my eye on you Tribe Cool Crew.
Oh. AND GET A NEW GODDAMN OPENING!
-Hideki