Manga / Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club

Masaharu Tsuchiya has just become a freshman in high school and he’s looking to make a change in his life. He wants to be more active and more involved in school life, since the only club he was a part of in middle school he just coasted through. He’d also like to get over his lack of social skills when it comes to women. However, in his future, he’ll soon be tossed into a strange and magical world full of dancing after he witnesses his school’s competitive dance club in action…

Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club (originally Seshiji o Pin! to - Shikakou Kyougi Dance-bu e Youkoso or 背すじをピン!と ～鹿高競技ダンス部へようこそ～) is a manga serialized in Shonen Jump, written and illustrated by Takuma Yokota. The series ran from 2015 to 2017, for a total of 86 chapters.

The series shares a setting with Shudan, the author's next work published by Jump.

Not to be confused with the monthly manga Welcome to the Ballroom.

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This manga contains examples of:

• The Ace: Sakimoto is considered this by everyone.
• Acrofatic: Kinryuuin, who is short and stocky, but that gives him an advantage at having a lower center of gravity and excel at the slowest styles of "Standard" Dance.
• Adults Are Useless: Michiru Kosei, the Dance Club homeroom teacher, is pretty hands-off on the day-to-day ongoings of the club, leaving most of the work to Doigaki, though she still goes with them to competitions, and tries to deflect the heat away coming from the older teachers that complain about some of the skimpier outfits the girls wear for the "Latin" competitions.
• Agent Peacock: Doigaki's mannerisms are very flamboyant, but it is unclear whether he's gay or not. Regardless of that, he's been very close to Rio since they were 4 years old. Lampshaded by Sakimoto, who considers Doigaki a passionate man, if effeminate.
• Always Second Best: Michikage who was a dancing prodigy as a kid until Sakimoto and Doigaki came along. His regular losses to them shattered his confidence and caused him to believe that there was a rigid hierarchy in the dancesport world that must be followed. Following Sakimoto's loss in the Standard competition however, he realizes he was just beating himself up and discards that mindset.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: As close as it can be, considering that Doigaki is Ambiguously Gay, but at the start of the finals he asks Rio to not stop being his partner if they win that tournament.
• Ascended Extra:
  • In-story, Tsuchiya acknowledges that he's fairly mediocre and doesn't stand out and that if he was in a manga he'd probably be a background character with a name like Friend C but that with a bit of courage even someone like him can stand out. He narrates this as he and Watari perform their Tsucchi-Wata Boost aka dancing as soon as the music starts meaning everyone's attention is on them if only for a moment after having been overshadowed by the great dancers for most of the tournament up to that point.
  • Same with Miki Megumi, older sister to Kiyoto, who is part of an idol group, but has not really stood out as part of it, and sees her pairing to Akira Hanazono, a more famous idol singer, as a chance to increase her popularity and stand out from the other members of her group.
• Audience Surrogate: Tsuchiya and Eri are this, given they're the newbies of the club.
• Batman Gambit: Doigaki/Rio calculate Sakimoto/Sara would copy the Tsucchi-Wata Boost after seeing Tsuchiya/Eri use it and even deducing what initial combos Doigaki/Rio would use while executing it, so they hid an ace behind their ace; Rio's initiative and the Akiko/Shou moves that neither Sakimoto nor Sara could copy.
• The Beautiful Elite: Everyone tends to look gorgeous for the competitions, including the less flashy characters like Tsuchiya and Eri, heck! even Doigaki, to some degree.
• Bittersweet Ending: Shou and Akiko get a dose of this in their semi-pro competition after losing in the 2nd preliminaries, with a "Reason You Suck" Speech thrown in from a coach that took them in. To a lesser degree, Tsuchiya and Eri also get this, in that they explain they've never reached the finals, but all the really care for is to dance with each other.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Sakimoto is easily the largest character yet also one of the most outgoing and friendliest off the dance floor. He even takes the time to congratulate and encourage Tsuchiya and Watari after their elimination. Woe on you, however, if you're against him during competition, for he'll go out of his way to crush you mentally with your own techniques.
• The Comically Serious: Miyadaiku, who has problems expressing himself.
• Cool Big Sis: Rio is this to the other girls in the Shika High club.
• Crippling Overspecialization:
  • A very benign case, but Tsuchiya and Eri, due to their small size and weight, turn out to be really really good at quickstep, at least for their level of experience, a style heavier dancers have problems with — as noted by Doigaki — and conversely, have a harder time at the slowest dances, like Slow Foxtrot, which is their weakest style.
  • Sara is the only partner that could follow Sakimoto's erratic behavior on the dance floor, automatically adjusting to his Mega Manning of people's choreographs, but because of that, she can't lead, just follow.
• Dance Battler: Akiko and Shou decided to do this during one of the competitions, mixing karate with their choreographs for the "Latin" dance sets. While the public loved it, it was too unorthodox for the judges and ended up in sixth. It didn't help that Akiko accidentally kicks Shou in the face and cuts him during the last set.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Tanya, though part of the problem is that her japanese is very limited, but she immediately strikes up a friendship with Eri, even if communicating properly is hard at times.
• Delinquent Hair: Yamaki Shou, the male lead of the 2nd year pair from Shika High, dyes his hair blonde. When he was a first year, he had black hair.
• Deuteragonist: Dougaki and Rio get more screen time than Tsuchiya and Eri during the Nationals.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Hirari notes that she was at the Dance Club trials at the beginning of the year but was pressured into not joining. Sure enough, she shows up for precisely one panel in Chapter 3, long before her introduction at the end of the Cultural Festival arc.
• Ensemble Cast: While the manga certainly centers around Tsuchiya and Eri, it still follows the other Shika High pairs quite closely during their competitions as well. In the most recent arc, most of the drama is centered around Doigaki/Rio with Tsuchiya/Eri's own progress in the same competition almost being peripheral. It's made intentional by the author; he says he wrote each character and their arcs as if they were the protagonists of their own stories, in order to encourage readers to think the same of themselves.
• Fanservice: By necessity of the requirements of the "Latin" Dance competitions, which has women wear skimpier outfits than those of the "Standard" Dance ones. Same goes for the guys. They tend to wear form-fitting outfits, and not unusual to partly bare their chests, showing abs and pectorals.
• Freak Out:
  • Eri, who had been the hardest working of the Tsuchiya/Eri pair, suffers a panic attack during the first competition, and just sinks into the floor crying. Tsuchiya is able to help her out and dance and finish their set. While they don't make it past the qualifying heat, they still get 1 point from the judges for effort.
  • Eri has one on the second day of the cultural festival, triggered by some distasteful comments from boys about the skimpy dance outfits and her own memories of a boy who rejected her for being "plain". Tsuchiya has to comfort her before their dance demonstration.
• Friendly Rivalry: The relationship of most of the cast with one another. They're competitive and desperately want to win when on the floor but off the floor all get along really well. The only exception being Yamaki and Michikage with Michikage seeing himself as Yamaki's rival who basically doesn't give him a second thought. Justified in-story because as the dancesport community isn't particularly large so most who have been doing it for a long time know one another.
• Gonk: Doigaki Masumi, the leader of the Shika High's Competitive Dance Club, got hit with both Gag Lips and a garish afro.
• Graceful Loser: Kinryuuin after his Heroic RRoD. By force of will he gets up for one final dance with Minori... a ballroom dance, that goes against everything that is expected in the competition, but captures the audience's hearts. Following that he retires from the competition and leaves everything in the hands of Miyadaiku and Kashiwa.
  • Sakimoto, after losing to Doigaki and Rio, in the finals.
• Handsome Lech: Shou, who admits to the whole school that being in the dance club gives him an excuse to touch girls bodies.
• Heroic RRoD: Kinryuuin, as he's being pushed to the limit by Sakimoto, is shown as expelling large quantities of steam as he dances during the finals. At the end of the 2nd variety, he's so exhausted and in pain, that Minori, his partner, topples him with by poking him with a single finger. Lampshaded by Minori, that going further would be more dangerous to his health.
• Hero-Worshipper: Akiko to Rio. Everyone knows Akiko really likes Sakamoto, but the real person she worships is her senpai, Rio. This actually comes across as a surprise to Rio since she always found Akiko to be very similar to Sara, and felt Akiko didn't really like her.
• Idol Singer: The Hanazono/Megumi pair are both members of idol groups.
• Insane Troll Logic: Sakimoto's internal logic on how to deal when told he doesn't care about others, only himself, when called on it by Sara.
  Sakimoto:If you don't understand what you're thinking about, there's no point in thinking.
• In-Series Nickname: Knowledgeable Person, a character who shows up in the crowd at the events to act as something of a narrator and info dump for both the reader and (in-series) audience members regarding the dancing and characters.
• It's All About Me: Sakimoto, although doesn't seem to be done in a manner as malicious as other examples. All he cares about is himself having fun, and when he gets called out by Sara, he tries to think about it but finds it too hard so he just stops thinking about it. Of course, some of his fun is destroying the other pairs with their own choreographs and techniques, so...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shou, who despite his lecherous ways and short temper, really cares for his kouhais.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Hirari, Eri and Tsuchiya after the Time Skip. Granted, they are now third years so they're still young, but all three look more mature as to how they started.
• The Lad-ette: Akiko who's frequently decried by others, especially Yamaki, of being crude. This is actualy a cause of great concern for her as she has no idea how to be feminine and her biggest motivation for joining the dance club was wanting to be like the ultra-feminine Rio.
• Large Ham: Sakimoto; it goes hand-in-hand with his Boisterous Bruiser ways.
• Leg Focus: Any of the tall female dancers qualify, it's just easier to tell when they're in their practice outfits, casual outfits or in the "Latin" dance competition outfits.
• Lzherusskie: Tanya Krylov's name has common mistake of having female Russian characters with the masculine form of the surname. Krylova would be more proper. Also Tanya is used as if it was the full first name even though that's just the short form of Tatiana.
• Marshmallow Hell: Tsuchiya and Rio in their first practice dance, in part because of their height difference.
• Mega Manning:
  • Sakimoto's technique is to use the choreographs of the other pairs, after seeing them only once, and execute them at a higher skill level, to break them mentally. Lampshaded in the gag panel at the end of Chapter 70, that shows Sakimoto's supowerpower is "power copying".
  • Doigaki and Rio perform the Tsucchi-Wata Boost during the final variety of the finals... the Quickstep. Of course, as expected, Sakimoto/Sara also copied it.
• Ms. Fanservice: Of all the Shika High girls, Akiko is the one that fits this the most. She tends to wear short skirts for her school uniform, and wears the skimpiest outfits during the competitions, given that "Latin" is her specialty.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Ballroom Dancing.
• Pimped-Out Dress: All the girls wear these during exhibitions or competitions, regardless whether its Standard or Latin, but the Latin clearly lean towards a more Fanservice design, by necessity.
• Plot-Powered Stamina:
  • Justified in that Tsuchiya and Eri are first years and have never danced before, much less in competitions, like their sempais. They've been training to improve their stamina for later competitions though.
  • Kinryuuin/Minori are the first to fall of the big three during the latest competition after being driven to exhaustion by Sakimoto/Sara.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Sakimoto tends to cause this on others when he uses their own choreographs against them.
  • Sakimoto is at the receiving end when halfway thru copying Doigaki/Rio's "Tsucchi-Wata Boost", he realizes the true hidden ace behind it: Rio taking lead and incorporating moves neither him nor Sara can copy.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: The Doigaki/Rio, Kinryuuin/Minori, Sakamoto/Sara and Shou/Akiko pairs easily outclass Tsuchiya/Eri in skill. That said, Tsuchiya/Eri still get a lot of fans in-universe due to simply having fun while dancing.
  • Tsuchiya/Eri are actually so well aware of this that they use a technique called the "Tsucchi-Wata Boost", specifically designed for quickstep, where they basically guess when the music is about to start so they start dancing right away instead of waiting a couple of beats like just about everyone does. It takes everyone by surprise and end up upstaging everyone in that heat. They still fail to pass to the semi-finals, but it earns them the respect of the Sakamoto/Sara pair, the current champions.
  • Lampshaded In-Universe by Hasumi, when she mentions that Doigaki/Rio are at a disadvantage even if they're on par with Sakimoto/Sara because perception will always default to the champions.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Not saying that Rio doesn't look pretty when she's not in competition garb, but from all the girls, she's the one that looks the most different from her casual self, where she normally wears big glasses.
• Ship Tease: In Chapter 20 Tsuchiya's musings on his admiration for Watari lead to him declaring his thoughts about her cuteness out loud without being aware of doing so, causing her to blush. In general, most of the dance pairs are written with moments strongly reminiscent of actual couples. Chapter 42 has Rio say that it's not uncommon for dance partners to fall in love or even marry.
• Shout-Out: Shou and Akiko cosplayed and did a dance routine dressed as Arsene Lupin III and Fujiko Mime for the school festival when they were freshmen.
• Showgirl Skirt: The dresses for "Latin" Dance competitions tend to fall under this.
• Sixth Ranger: Fujita Hirari, who joins Shika High's Dance Club halfway thru the school year and lacks a dedicated partner. Ends up pairing with Shou for a Standard competition.
• Special Attack: The Tsucchi-Wata Boost. Tsuchiya/Eri use the basic form of it, and that Doigaki/Rio use the true form of the Tsucchi-Wata Boost, which Sakimoto is able to predict and copy.
  • Fake Special Attack: The Tsucchi-Wata Boost by Doigaki/Rio, at least initially. The Reveal is that the true ace behind Doigaki/Rio's "Tsucchi-Wata Boost" is that it incorporates Shou/Akiko's kicks and spins and with Rio taking the initiative, something Sakimoto and Sara cannot copy.
• Stealth Sequel: Not explicitly stated but it seems to be one to Koganeiro, a short story the author did for Shonen Jump a few years earlier. Michiru and her husband Tatsuya share the same names as two of the main characters from that story and even the same designs... just aged up as they are long out of high school. Made even more explicit when Michiru's husband continually refers to "a dazzling gold". Kinata, the main character from the story, gets namedropped by Michiru in chapter 81 as the only person her husband knows in Tokyo while Kinbara shows up post-Time Skip in the stands with Michiru and Tatsuya as they watch Doigaki and Rio in England where she now lives.
  • Tatsuya is also the coach of Hanamishi FC, the youth soccer club in Shudan!, Yokota's follow up series.
  • Yokota's current series, The Story Between a Dumb Prefect and a JK with an Inappropriate Skirt Length, continues the setting when Michikage and Naomi cameo as pro dancers brought in to help with the cultural festival.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Tanya though not on purpose as it's more due to her inability to speak Japanese keeping her quiet. In fact she complains to Kiyoto that the language barrier gives Eri the wrong impression.
• The Rival: There's a 3 way rivalry going on between Sakamoto, Kinryuuin and Doigaki.
  • Then there's Shou who is trying to beat Doigaki.
  • And a very benign one between Tsuchiya, Kiyoto and Miyadaiku.
• Take Up My Sword: Following the Standard Dance finals, Doigaki and Rio retire from the Latin Dance competition due to Rio's exhaustion, so Rio asks Akiko to use the dress he had planned to use. Akiko agrees to that request.
• Technician Versus Performer: Miyadaiku and Tsuchiya/Eri. Miyadaiku got into dancing at the behest of his family and just did it because he was told to, and was shocked by the Tsuchiya/Eri pair in their first competition. It took him a while to realize that Tsuchiya and Eri, despite their lower skillset were just there to have fun, something he had forgotten since he had been doing competitive dancing since he was a kid.
• Time Skip: At the end of Chapter 83.
  • Tsuchiya and Eri are president and vice-president of the dance club. Hasumi, Masumi Dougaki's older sister, is the main coach and Hirari has Mikado, a 2nd year as her dance partner.
  • Sakimoto/Sara and Doigaki/Rio are dancing at the international level in England. Meanwhile, Kinryuuin has retired from the competitive dance scene in order to take over the family business, but still attends the competitions as an spectator.
• Tsundere: Akiko who seems to be something of a deconstruction as her more tsuntsun tendencies have caused her to be labelled as crude and unfeminine and herself and Yamaki, the biggest target of her anger, only just barely tolerate one another when they're not actually in a competition despite all efforts to fix it.
• The Unfought: Sakimoto's reaction to Doigaki when he realizes both Doigaki and Rio withdrew from the "Latin" dance portion of the competition.
• Verbal Tic: Doigaki using "watashi" as a kid. It's one of the reasons he comes across as effeminate.
• Waif-Fu: Akiko is also a karate practitioner.
• Wax On, Wax Off: Training for competitive dancing is more than just learning dance moves, but also running to improve their stamina, strengthening their core and learn good posture. Lampshaded by Tsuchiya when he realizes that all the dancing and the ancillary training is giving him abs.

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