The Last Waltz is an upcoming indie visual novel by Matt Sainsbury. Exploring the niche area of dancesport through this story is an interesting idea and someone who has been involved in the area for over 15 years certainly has the experience to tell it.
I’m looking at an early version with three of eleven chapters available, covering a couple of hours of this title. It is still very early, so some things will be subject to change prior to the full release.
Dee Dee Stars In…
Once again, Dee Dee takes on the role of the protagonist of this visual novel, this time as a dancer aspiring to greater heights. She’s been dancing for years, but has never been able to find a suitable partner and so has never competed. That is until she meets Micah.
Micah is somewhat of a local celebrity, at least in the incredibly niche world of dancesport. Known for blowing away all the competition with his dancing partner Lorin, Dee Dee is surprised to find that he’s looking for a new partner and that he’s interested in her. But while she’s certainly good, she’s nowhere near his level.
These first few chapters of The Last Waltz jump around different points in time, starting at their final dancesport competition and the height of their career. Through Dee Dee’s eyes, we see the difficulties and joys of dancesport, competition, and dealing with a sometimes awkward partner.
Time Together
The relationship shown between Dee Dee and Micah is quite different than most in visual novels. She describes him as her ‘not my romantic partner, but something so much more than that’, but it wasn’t always this way. Micah can be harsh and rather demanding, which leads to plenty of frustration all around. Even later on after they become closer, they certainly care for each other, but Micah isn’t one to say as such. Despite this, they have to be in sync and through dancing put on a rather sensual performance together.
The idea of romance between the two is mentioned but is dismissed with a level of frustration that dancing partners are assumed to be romantic partners. While I couldn’t say what happens in chapters beyond this preview, it even mentions other people that Micah is interested in. Instead, they’re both far more in love with dancesport itself.
The Last Waltz never misses an opportunity to educate the reader about dancing and dancesport. From commentary about how competitions work to the ideas, mechanics, and timing behind the dances, it’s informative in a way that made me want to learn more, despite knowing very little about the sport myself. It even supplements explanations with dance videos. I do often enjoy when visual novels talk about niche topics and I can learn something through a story.
While Dee Dee and Micah are certainly the main focus, there are moments I enjoyed with the rest of the cast too. Amelia talks about identity being tied to sports, while Nettie just has some hilarious dialogue, with what Dee Dee describes as ‘porn brain’. Dee Dee who narrates most of the story has moments of being sassy and flirty, which is fun to read, though she certainly stands out for her taste in reading material. She references topics like Marquis de Sade and dystopian political novels over more popular genres.
This preview is too small a glimpse for me to say much about the story, but I enjoyed reading about the experiences of the challenges, the way the characters deal with them, and how they deal with each other.
Visually Different
The opening of The Last Waltz may come as a surprise as it’s a real video if one with a filter on it. It appears to be from the Oceania Dancesport Championship 2023. This carries on throughout the story, with the dancing tutorial videos mentioned previously also being real dancers but with a filter over the video. It works well to show how the dances work, though it is a bit jarring when compared to the rest of the visual novel.
The sprites and backgrounds are more typical of what would be found in an indie visual novel. The sprites and backgrounds do look good and it’s an improvement over the previous games staring Dee Dee, with more detail and better shadows. The CGs are the most notable though, with plenty of particularly striking ones showing dance poses.
The music is a rather unconventional mix of music that wouldn’t be found in another visual novel. There is no voice acting, which isn’t unexpected since it’s an indie title.
One feature I particularly like is that there’s a very stylish box for the dialogue and options. It’s themed very suitably with musical symbols and dance steps.
Keeping in mind that this is an early preview, there are a few things I’d like to see improved for the final build. Sometimes it’s jarring when there’s a sudden cut in and out of audio tracks, and there are some little inconsistencies like a different outfit in a CG and sprite during the same scene. This is still being worked on though.
Final Thoughts
The Last Waltz certainly has promise. It’s always nice to see indie titles like this explore different ideas and it both seems to be veering away from the typical romance plot and instead leaning far more into showing the reader just how interesting this niche sport can be.
Want to check out more visual novels? Why not check out our review of Tayutama -Kiss on My Deity- We have also covered a wide variety of visual novels both original to English and localized from Japanese, which you can check out here.
Many thanks go to the developer for early access to this demo.
A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
