Welcome to the Ballroom Part 1 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Welcome to the Ballroom (ボールルームへようこそ, Ballroom e Youkoso) is a 2017 television anime series based on the manga of the same name written by Tomo Takeuchi. It was adapted by studio Production I.G and directed by Yoshimi Itazu. Pony Canyon published the series and was first broadcast in Japan on July 2017 as part of the Summer season.

Background:

“Middle school student Tatara Fujita is a young man living a directionless existence – desperate to change and find a true calling to pursue though he is, there’s simply nothing in his life to provide the spark that he needs to ignite his passions.

All of this changes one day when Tatara spots a fellow student entering the door of the Ogasawara Dance Studio. Saved from bullies by a cool, calm and collected stranger, the next thing Tatara knows he’s dragged into the studio for an impromptu trial and is transfixed by a whole new world – a world of supreme confidence borne from an upright posture… of almost inhuman body movements and gyrations… of talented dancers shouting out to the world to look at them.

There’s no doubting Tatara’s determination to look good on the dance floor, but does he have what it takes to make a name for himself in the cut-throat realm of professional ballroom dancing? With professional and personal rivalries to deal with, and a cornucopia of new demands both mental and physical providing plenty of new challenges, it’s going to take more than sheer will to reach the heights of the competitive ballroom scene. As he makes friends and mentors along the way, Tatara soon learns that it takes far more than two to tango.”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, July 2019

Production I.G adapted a bunch of manga titles and I remember the big ones that blew up over time were Haikyu!! and Kuroko’s Basketball. Both were great shows overall and the character designer for Haikyu!! then worked with the studio on another shonen adaptation of a manga known as Welcome to the Ballroom.

Unlike the two shows that I mentioned, Welcome to the Ballroom was received pretty well but had a much lower following because it was simulcasted exclusively through Amazon Prime and also acquired by Pony Canyon’s American branch known as Ponycan US. The distributor is basically similar to Aniplex of America but not to the same quality. Eventually that distributor seemingly disappeared, but the shows that were under their belt were pretty much in limbo.

That being said, here in the United Kingdom was a different story. Anime Limited worked with Crunchyroll to release some of Pony Canyon titles with Rokka -Braves of the Six Flowers- and Sound! Euphonium. They were also able to release Welcome to the Ballroom which was not part of Crunchyroll but were still related to Pony Canyon at the very least.

In fact Ponycan US never really bothered to release Welcome to the Ballroom on Blu-ray in North America, so Anime Limited’s release is pretty much the first English release for the series.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

Anime Limited loves providing collector’s edition releases for their catalogue and it should be no surprise that Welcome to the Ballroom would get similar treatment.

This release is presented with a rigid box containing a digipack to house the Blu-ray discs for the first half of the series. The second half was released many months later but will still match with this set. The box also comes with a 24-page booklet, a couple of art cards and an A3 fold out poster. The box has clean artwork with the show’s title on the spine and a small mention to indicate which part it is.

The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99. This is also a Blu-ray only release and may get a standard edition over time, sometimes if a subtitled only series doesn’t sell out fast it may not get a re-release due to various factors.

I should note that this set was included in the 2020 Mystery Box bundle from Anime Limited’s 12 Days of Christmas sale and I acquired the set via other means to secure a copy. Thankfully I found one at the price I was happy to spend (which is what I would have spent if it were on sale). I don’t know if the set is on the verge of being out of print but at the time of this post it may last another couple more months to the next year if you want to risk it.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with digipack packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
• 24-page booklet
• 4 art cards
• A3 Fold-out Poster

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 8th July 2019

The collector’s edition release for Welcome to the Ballroom Part 1 covers episodes 1 to 12 of the series across two Blu-ray discs. The encode and authoring were done by Anime Limited as this is actually the first time the series has been made available on Blu-ray across all of the English-speaking territories, the episode count is split evenly across each disc and the menus look really nice and fits the show’s aesthetic. The audio options available for the series include Japanese with English subtitles because Ponycan US did not provide an English dub.

The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are locked to B for Blu-ray. I should note that the subtitles are a tweaked version of the Amazon Prime simulcast translation so it’s not the most accurate experience.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Japanese
Audio	Japanese Linear PCM 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	Yes
Discs	2 BD-50s

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

No extras across all discs

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Welcome to the Ballroom Part 1 is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition for both Part 1 and Part 2 on Amazon UK.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)