As a fan, it’s important to acknowledge the contradiction: You love Dance Dance Danseur so much that you can’t wait for an official translation, yet accessing raws from repack sites does not financially support George Asakura. Manga is a grueling profession—Asakura has reportedly struggled with wrist injuries from the intense drawing required for ballet sequences.
A balanced approach:
WeLoveManga is a popular aggregator site known for hosting a vast library of titles.
The chapter picks up in the middle of a performance—likely a crucial competition or showcase. Junpei is dancing a contemporary pas de deux with a senior female dancer (not Ruou, interestingly). From the first panel, something is wrong. His landings are heavy. His fifth position is shaky. As a fan, it’s important to acknowledge the
The raw dedicits several silent, double-page spreads to his feet. Asakura draws them with grotesque specificity: swollen ankles, the ghost of a previous fracture, the way his toes claw at the floor not for grace but for balance. The middle of the chapter features a flashback (distinguished by a softer, watercolor-like gray tone) where a doctor’s bubble dialogue contains the word 「限界」 (genkai – limit) and 「手術」 (shujutsu – surgery). Junpei, visibly crying, rejects it.
Back in the present, the dance reaches its climax. He is supposed to lift his partner. The raw captures the sequence in three agonizing panels: preparation, jump, and failure. He doesn’t drop her, but he staggers. The orchestra stings (represented by a jagged, black sound effect: 「ギリッ」 - girri – a grinding, wrenching sound). The audience gasps.
The final pages cut to Ruou in the wings. She is not wearing performance makeup but street clothes, meaning she has already danced or is not in this piece. Her hand covers her mouth. The last panel is a close-up of Junpei’s face, mid-pirouette, mouth open in a silent scream, sweat and tears indistinguishable. The chapter ends on a text box that likely reads: “The final curtain approaches.” The chapter picks up in the middle of
The persistence of the keyword “welovemanga repack” points to a nostalgic SEO quirk. Between 2018-2021, Welovemanga was the fastest aggregator for seinen manga raws. After its domain was seized in 2022, fans began re-uploading old Welovemanga releases as “repacks” to preserve the formatting. Search engines still associate the term with high-quality, early raws. However, no new Welovemanga repacks exist for Chapter 173—any site claiming otherwise is likely using the name for traffic.
Instead of chasing potentially dangerous repacks, here are safe approaches:
Significantly, Ruou is relegated to a silent observer. She is not his partner here. This is a brilliant narrative choice. Throughout Danseur, Ruou has been Junpei’s ideal—the muse who forces him to be better. By removing her from the pas de deux, Asakura isolates Junpei with his own decaying body. When Ruou appears in the wings, her horror is not romantic; it is the look of one athlete watching another self-destruct. His landings are heavy
The absence of dialogue in her final panel is powerful. She has nothing to say. There is no “You can do it” left. There is only the recognition of tragedy.
The world of ballet manga has seen a renaissance in recent years, but few series capture the visceral intensity, physical agony, and soaring beauty of male ballet quite like Dance Dance Danseur (often stylized as Dance Dance Danseur). Written and illustrated by the talented George Asakura, this ongoing series has built a cult following for its unflinching look at a young boy’s struggle with toxic masculinity, artistic passion, and the brutal price of perfection.
For English-speaking fans waiting for official translations or scanlations, the wait can be agonizing. That’s why search terms like "dance dance danseur raw chap 173" and "welovemanga repack" have become lifelines. But what do these terms actually mean? Where can you safely find them? And what makes Chapter 173 so highly anticipated?
This article is your complete breakdown.
For fans following the intense journey of Junpei Murao, the release of a new chapter is always a highly anticipated event. As the story delves deeper into the competitive and often brutal world of professional ballet, Chapter 173 marks another pivotal moment in the series. Below is a guide on the current status of the release and what to expect when searching for the "raw" version on platforms like WeLoveManga.