Is Welcome to the Ballroom Manga Finished? (2026)

Welcome to the Ballroom Is Not Finished — The Manga Is on Hiatus

The series is on an open-ended hiatus, not cancelled. No Volume 13 announcement has been made. The story is incomplete — this isn’t a case where the manga wrapped up quietly and you missed it. The chapters simply stopped being published, and readers have been waiting since.

So what does this mean if you’re thinking about picking it up? It means you’ll get 12 volumes of genuinely excellent sports manga — one of the best depictions of competitive dance in any medium — but you won’t get a conclusion. At least not yet. Whether that’s a dealbreaker depends on how you feel about open-ended stories, and we’ll get into that more below.

For context, 12 volumes is a moderate-length series. Most readers can get through the entire run in a couple of weekends of focused reading — it’s a meaningful amount of story, not a quick sampler.

Publication Timeline and Current Status

Welcome to the Ballroom began its run in Monthly Shonen Magazine, a manga magazine published by Kodansha — one of Japan’s largest publishers — in late 2011. (“Shonen” refers to the magazine’s target audience of younger male readers, though the series has a broad fanbase across demographics.) The first collected volume hit shelves in Japan on May 17, 2012.

In manga publishing, series typically debut as individual chapters in magazines before being collected into the bound volumes you buy at bookstores. This process is called serialization, and it’s how most manga reaches readers in Japan before the collected editions come out.

The important thing to understand about this series: even before the formal hiatus, the release schedule was irregular. Tomo Takeuchi’s health has affected the manga’s production throughout its run, and there have been extended gaps between volumes at various points. This isn’t a series that was pumping out volumes every four months like clockwork and then suddenly stopped — the pacing has always been uneven.

The most recent Japanese volume, Volume 12, was released in November 2022. The English edition, published by Kodansha Comics (Kodansha’s English-language publishing arm), has kept pace — all 12 English volumes are available, matching the Japanese release completely.

No Volume 13 has been announced. The hiatus is open-ended and tied to the author’s health, which means there’s no timeline anyone can point to. Kodansha has not cancelled the series — it remains listed as ongoing but on hiatus, which is an important distinction. A cancelled series has been officially ended by the publisher or author, while a hiatus means publication has paused with the possibility of resuming.

For readers who follow manga closely, this pattern isn’t unheard of. Several well-known series have gone through multi-year hiatuses and eventually returned. But there are no guarantees, and anyone telling you a return is imminent is speculating.

Is the Story at a Satisfying Stopping Point?

This is the question that matters most for anyone deciding whether to start reading, so here’s an honest assessment.

Volume 12 leaves the story in the middle of an unfinished storyline. Without getting into heavy spoilers, the manga follows Tatara Fujita as he discovers competitive ballroom dancing and throws himself into the world of partnerships, competitions, and self-improvement. In competitive ballroom dance, pairs of dancers perform together, and the relationships between dance partners — the trust, conflict, and chemistry — become a central part of the story’s emotional engine.

By Volume 12, the story is deep into a competition storyline with real momentum — character relationships are developing, rivalries are intensifying, and the emotional stakes are high.

And then it stops.

What That Feels Like as a Reader

There’s no gentle pause point here. It’s not like the story wraps up one phase of Tatara’s journey and takes a breath before the next. You’re reading a series that’s building toward something, and it simply hasn’t gotten there. If you’re the kind of reader who needs resolution — who closes the last volume and wants to feel like the story is done — this will frustrate you.

But Here’s the Other Side

Welcome to the Ballroom is the kind of manga where the individual moments are so well-crafted that the journey genuinely holds up on its own. The way Takeuchi draws movement — the fluidity of dance, the tension of competition, the raw physicality of bodies in motion — is extraordinary. Each competition storyline has its own emotional payoff. Each volume delivers something.

Comparing it to other long-hiatus manga: series like Hunter × Hunter (a long-running adventure series famous for its repeated hiatuses) and Berserk (a dark fantasy epic whose creator passed away before finishing it) have shown that readers can find deep value in incomplete works. The experience of reading what exists can be powerful enough to justify the investment, even without a final chapter.

That said, go in with your eyes open. You will want more when you finish Volume 12. That’s both a sign of how good the series is and a real consideration for your reading experience.

Similar Sports Manga to Read While You Wait

If you love the competitive intensity and the dynamic between dance partners in Welcome to the Ballroom, there are some great series that scratch a similar itch — and some of them are actually complete, which is a bonus. All of these are widely available at major retailers in English.

For the Competition Drama

• Haikyuu!! — Volleyball, not dance, but the way it handles the emotional weight of competition, the bonds between teammates, and the physical storytelling is remarkably similar in spirit. It’s also complete, so you get the full story from start to finish.

• Blue Lock — A more aggressive take on sports competition (soccer), but if what you love about Ballroom is the ruthless drive to improve and the psychological pressure of head-to-head matchups, this delivers that in spades.

For the Art and Movement

• Yowamushi Pedal — A cycling manga with incredible energy in its artwork. The art captures speed and physical strain in ways that fans of Takeuchi’s dance sequences will appreciate.

For the Partnership Dynamic

• Your Lie in April — Not a sports manga in the traditional sense, but the way it explores the relationship between two performers pushing each other to be better shares DNA with the partnership dynamics in Ballroom. It’s complete and tells a deeply emotional story — be prepared for heavy feelings by the end.

These won’t replace Welcome to the Ballroom — nothing really captures competitive dance the way Takeuchi does — but they’re strong reads that hit similar emotional notes.

Where to Buy Welcome to the Ballroom in English

All 12 English volumes are available from Kodansha Comics in both physical and digital formats. The English release is fully caught up with the Japanese edition — there’s no gap between the two, so you won’t need to hunt for unofficial translations to continue the story.

Volume 12 is the latest release in both languages, so whether you’re buying in English or Japanese, you’re getting the complete published run.

The physical volumes are standard manga-sized paperbacks and widely available at major retailers. Digital editions are available through most major e-book platforms — services like Kindle, Apple Books, or Kobo — if you prefer reading on a tablet or phone.

If you’re just getting started, Volume 1 is the natural entry point — the series does a great job establishing Tatara as a character and making you care about ballroom dancing even if you’ve never thought about it before. You’ll know within the first volume whether this series is for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Welcome to the Ballroom cancelled?

No. The series is on hiatus, not cancelled. A cancelled series has been officially ended by the publisher or author, while a hiatus means publication has paused with the possibility of resuming. Kodansha has not announced a cancellation.

How many volumes of Welcome to the Ballroom are there?

There are 12 volumes in both the Japanese and English editions. The English translation by Kodansha Comics is fully caught up.

Will the manga continue?

Unknown. The hiatus is related to author Tomo Takeuchi’s health, and no return date has been announced. There’s been no Volume 13 announcement. Fans hope the series will continue, but there’s no confirmed timeline.

Is there an anime adaptation?

Yes. A TV anime adaptation of Welcome to the Ballroom aired in 2017 and was well-received. The anime covers approximately the first 8–9 volumes’ worth of manga material, then diverges from the source for the conclusion of the Metropolitan Tournament arc — the anime aired July–December 2017, and Volume 10 wasn’t published until January 2020. If you’ve seen the anime and want to continue the story, picking up around Volume 8 or 9 is the safest entry point, as that’s where the anime’s adaptation diverges from the manga. From Volume 9 onward you’ll find material the anime didn’t faithfully adapt. The manga goes further into the narrative than the anime does.

Should I start reading even though it’s on hiatus?

The 12 volumes that exist are genuinely great — the art is stunning, the characters are compelling, and the way Takeuchi portrays competitive dance is unlike anything else in manga. If that sounds appealing, it’s absolutely worth reading. The trade-off is real, though: the story is incomplete and stops in the middle of a storyline, so you won’t get closure. If unfinished stories tend to bother you, you might want to wait and see if the hiatus ends before committing. But for most readers, what’s here is more than rewarding enough on its own terms.