(Note: To finally (or hopefully!) close the loop on these notes, you’ll see past reviews refer to this as La Magnifique Grande Scene. At some point this was localized to the title you see above. That will be the title for this series in any future reviews moving forward. You are free to refer to the past title, especially since the covers so far still have the original name…)
A year has passed since Kanade and Shoko had that national competition, and they’re mad. Well, competitively mad at least. They see Sakura dominating her competitions, which means their fierce ballet battle only made her stronger! Now they each desire to get better, but the only way to do that is lots of practice.
A lot of The Magnificent Grand Scene volume 4, however, focuses on youth, time, and patience. Which both of them, especially Kanade, might be struggling with.
Watch enough sports or read enough about athletes, there’s a story or two or ten about perfection. Improving your craft almost any opportunity you get. Obsession with the basics, treating your body like your temple, etc. You have a goal, you chase after it — that’s the mentality for many athletes. No, they’ll never reach perfection — but that’s the goal. Well, some have modest goals of getting better, and it applies to a lot of things. In this case, any sport will have a number of athletes desiring to become the best. This is always a thing in sports manga/anime, and The Magnificent Grand Scene is no different from any others.
The Magnificent Grand Scene volume 4, however, focuses heavily on that and the tolls of becoming the best. Both Shoko and Kanade want to improve faster, but problems arise — for Shoko, her getting better is at odds with her school responsibilities on top of any additional dances she wants to do; for Kanade, her wanting to do so many programs and routines is great but will that ultimately burn her out?
The one who essentially represents the both of them is a new character they meet, Ema. She initially doesn’t seem to be as good as those two and comes across as low effort during practices — and then they watch her perform. She’s not just good, she’s great. But Ema’s practice habits irritate not just Shoko, but also a veteran performer, which only leads Kanade to wonder why she’s like this. That gets explained in a way that’s fairly common — a past incident ends up dulling her skills and affecting her mindset, and only by making a change did she come back from it.
Though did Ema come all the way back from it is at least a question. It’s clear she has the ballet chops, but is her attitude about practice going to be a deal breaker? That’ll be how you view it in general, though certain professionals will always tell you it all starts with the basics. Of course, her unexpectedly getting into it with Shoko shows there’s competitiveness within her — at this point, maybe it’s bad competitiveness? Thankfully we’ll have future volumes to find out how she grows, as she is an intriguing character to follow.
Kanade has had a lot go her way, and it even goes her way when she meets one of her idols…and even dances with her! But a new setback occurs that will challenge her in a new way, and only by reading the next volume will I find out how she handles it. I’m also curious how seeing Risa again impacts her. Or how Risa seeing Kanade in her new state impacts her!