After finding out this manga would become an anime, I immediately sought to read it. However, after a first lukewarm volume and a second volume not that promising first half, I decided to put this on hold and for some reason decided to pickup back where I left and it was a good choice. Volume two’s latter half is very good and I finally feel invested in the story.
Volume three, so far, was the best. I loved how the character dynamic progressed from the previous volumes and the rawness of the dance sequence. Other aspects that improved the narrative for me were: the various lengths in which ballet is approached and how society’s gender expectations can impact one’s life. Also, despite being a little clunky sometimes, I like this art style a lot. It reminds me Jun Mayuzuki’s “After Rain”, one of my favorite mangas.
Coming off from last volume's amazing cliffhanger, I loved seeing the continuation of the dance at the Western Dance Festival. To be honest the entire dance captivated me and I honestly thought Junpei was gonna get the MVP award but instead, I felt like I was smacked in the face with the harsh reality of ballet. Now, I know nothing about ballet so I was surprised at how "real" and "painful" this volume was. Everything in this volume felt like a punch in the face on how hard ballet truly is. I get how Junpei was dancing ballet because it was fun and how he was moving on to the beat of the music, but this volume showed me that ballet is definitely way more and way deeper than that. Not only that, this volume also featured them doing Ballet Summer Camp and it further just showed how far Junpei is from doing "good ballet". With that being said, I'm rating this volume 4 stars simply because I feel like this series didn't "sugarcoat" anything and really showed us readers the hardships ballet dancers go to. Now off to the next volume :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Cos'è la vera danza classica? Alla ricerca di questa risposta il nostro protagonista finisce in un corso estivo. Si porta dietro anche Rue e davvero riceviamo spunti su questo mondo. Augurando il massimo al nostro protagonista, ci rimane solo che commentare, vedremo...
Absolutely amazing! The story is so captivating you just can’t tear yourself away from the volume—and the moment you finish it, you’re already itching to dive into the next one. George Asakura’s artwork is simply masterful!