Manga Mondays #152: Swan vol. 10 by Kyoko Ariyoshi

Manga Mondays Meme

I've been doing Manga Mondays every week since I started my blog 3 years ago. It started out as a personal feature, but I decided to turn it into a meme last year. There are quite a few people who do Manga Mondays. I don't claim by any means that I owned or created the idea of Manga Mondays - it's an obvious choice given the alliteration. I think a meme is a great way for everyone to publicize their own Manga Mondays and get a little more publicity.

The linky will be below my review.

Swan vol. 10 by Kyoko Ariyoshi

Summary

Round 2 of the World Ballet Competition is about to begin. Masumi is still shaken by the news regarding Kusakabe, the dancer she loved, yet she must now put her pain behind her and dance the performance of a lifetime. Aoi, her loyal and dedicated dance partner will certainly be there to support her, but what role might the mysterious Leonhardt Von Christ come to play in the young ballerina's life? (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

*Warning: Potential spoilers. My manga reviews tend to be more of a summary than a review. I find it hard to review manga in the same way I do regular books.

Hijiri and Aoi give an incredible performance in the pairs part of the Tokyo World Ballet Competition. But talk about a love triangle...Hijiri's inspiration is her heartache over Kusakabe. Aoi's inspiration is his heartache over Hijiri. Whatever it takes...


They run into some trouble because they were late getting to the competition. The judges try to disqualify them. A famous ballet dancer saves the day. No one has seen him in the many years since he defected from Russia. It was assumed that he was dead. He convinced the judges that he was giving Hijiri and Aoi some last minute training and they couldn't go on stage until they had the proper motivation. I think if I was a judge, I'd say that you should have found the proper motivation and still been on time, but when a long lost dancer is the ones who tells the judges to give Hijiri and Aoi an extra chance, I guess the judges listen.

The rest of the volume shows the other characters dancing their parts of the competition. Lilliana is the standout. Both because she's the most talented dancer and because Hijiri shrinks in terror every time Lilliana steps on stage. This will continue to be a problem for our low confidence star.

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