All it took for Kanade to become hooked on ballet was seeing her neighbor Risa perform on stage. From Risa’s beautiful dancing to the whimsical performance, Kanade fell in love. This got her to beg her parents to sign her up for ballet classes, and she took them with the best of intentions.
Not surprisingly, it’s nothing like she expected!
Cuvie’s La Magnifique Grande Scene begins with a young Kanade learning she has a ways to go. For starters, ballet is super technical. So even little positioning mistakes are a no-no and will be pointed out accordingly. All of that, plus her dislike of how she’s being taught, causes her to rebel. But during this period, she has a chance to see the advanced class, and Risa, dance. Once again, she’s mesmerized by Risa’s performance and believes she can’t do any wrong.
So it’s not surprising that Risa doesn’t pass her competition to continue doing ballet, forcing her to quit.
That doesn’t sit well with Kanade, which, in a way, changes Risa’s mentality moving forward. And with that, years pass, and Kanade’s in middle school. She’s still doing ballet, and she’s always looking to get better. So how does she react when someone else and her friend, Shoko, get a chance to learn something new? Not well. But as turns out, if the ending to this volume means anything, maybe it was for the best.
No matter what else you might think about this series, the one thing that will stick out is the artwork. From showcasing the various movements ballet dancers do, the specific positions they have to be in, the level of choreography necessary, and all the times Kanade is sad (or pouts), it’s clear a lot of work was done to convey emotions and tell a story. There’s obvious text at times, but the art is the main draw here.
Which is great since the story is pretty strong. It seems like the usual shounen storyline — not quite as talented but has a rare ability or determined character is super passionate about something. In this case, Kanade’s passionate about ballet…maybe obsessive over it! She tries to be the first one to ballet class (is always beat out by Shoko, who lives closer), watches other dancers, or watches Shoko. (At one point she watched Shoko a bit too much to figure out how she could get better.) She’s always looking to make herself better, which is why when she’s told she can’t wear pointe shoes, for example, she’s disappointed — not at anyone, but at herself.
The characters also make this manga fantastic as well, from Shoko, a talented ballet dancer herself, to Risa, who did ultimately give up ballet but found a way to stay close to it in a different way. Even Risa’s teacher, Takimoto, who manages to be either strict or kind, is a good character in the end. So far, there’s not too many characters I don’t like. There’s even two students who don’t believe Kanade should be on stage because she’s not allowed to wear pointe shoes that I like. Is that because of history and how the character Kanade’s going to perform as in the Don Quixote play — Cupid — is wearing pointe shoes? Or is it youth at play? Whatever the case, it feels competitive, but in the best way possible.
But the biggest thing is seeing parents do their best to support their child, which is why they certainly get a special shout out. Now whether they let it get to their heads we’ll have to see, but from the moment Kanade begged them to let her sign up for ballet, her parents have been in her corner. They’re not always around, but they appear at the right times. I do hope, though small, that they’ll be around in the right ways.
Anyways, La Magnifique Grande Scene is super fun, and a great read. If you’re looking for a ballet manga, this is one you should try. If you’re looking for a manga to read in general, this is recommended. Just a heads up that the localization is…fine. As in, overall it’ll do, but little editing errors like missing an extra word or two prove annoying when it happens often enough. In this case, that came up towards the end, which is disappointing. But it’s not bad enough to completely dismiss it, so check this out when you can.