Kanade and Shoko’s performance of Pizzicato from “Sylvia” got them high marks, applause, and Sakura still in shock at how much better they’re getting. But it’s not them getting applause that surprises her — it’s how the audience reacts to them. She soon learns about different types of audience reactions when she competes in the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) — and the talent at a global level when she runs into Andrea Mendoza, who was better than her. And SHE didn’t even get gold at the competition!
Yet Abigail Nichols sees gold-level potential for Kanade, who she wants to teach? Welp!
Ok, there’s way more to that: Nichols has seen Kanade perform well and wants to teach her. In order for that to happen, Kanade needs to pass the Japan preliminaries and do well enough at the YAGP to earn a scholarship. She can use it to attend the Royal Ballet School in England, which is where Nichols teaches. Needless to say, Kanade’s life can change drastically if she earns a scholarship. However, Kanade’s teacher, Nobuko Takimoto, has doubts. Not in doubting Kanade doing it, but from what Nichols’ endgame is. What is she really doing when choosing her to teach? Because of that we see Nobuko continue to help advance Kanade in ballet but still impart her own vision.
But here’s the punchline (and the welp! comment from earlier): ballet is difficult! Well, we knew that, but this volume of The Magnificent Grand Scene reinforces it. Sakura has won competitions in Japan and at her level is one of the top dancers in ballet. But in competing internationally, she not only discovers even better dancers than her, but different types of reactions by the audience — see when she gets applause from the New York audience versus when Andrea doesn’t make one mistake on the stage. This begins to clash with how she’s performing versus what her teacher, her mother, wants from her.
This also brings back something that was brought up in past volumes regarding international training and knowledge of each dance. Sakura and Shoko take English classes in order to study abroad — but is that enough? As Nichols mentions to Takimoto, a number of Japanese dancers can perform, but they couldn’t overcome the cultural differences. This is something that can apply in many fields, and in this volume, Sakura wasn’t able to overcome it.
Combine that with a ruthless schedule — there are two rounds in the competition, scholarship auditions a dancer can take, and a Grand Défilé where finalists must participate — and you wonder if Kanade would be ready for that. In general, this volume definitely emphasizes (if they didn’t have a picture of a nice greasy bacon cheeseburger as an example!) taking care of your body to be in peak condition. Would Kanade be able to learn all of that under Nichols? Maybe for now she needs to find out why Sakura didn’t even medal while over in the city.
Which she kinda does actually — with Ema. After her role was limited in volume 5, Ema’s goals — or lack thereof — begin to explain her habits in practice. We find out why she did ballet initially, and how getting hurt made an effect on that. This volume ends with her seeing Sakura and Kanade have a solo dance-off, and Kanade’s comment allows her to have something to strive for. And this is good to see! While Kanade is the main character, Cuvie continues to make sure everyone around her grows from when they first meet her.
Teaching has been this series’ calling card for the most part — The Magnificent Grand Scene volume 6 really keys on it. From Takimoto teaching Shoko and Kanade, to Sakura being taught by her mom, and from the people these characters have met, they all impact the growth of the characters. For example, at this point Sakura’s growth feels like it fluctuates — her goals end up clashing with her mother’s — but it’s her rivals that motivate her to get better. It’s not a revolutionary thing, but it’s done sublimely in this series that it’s a ton of fun to read.
There’s still so much more to this manga and it continues to be great in almost every aspect. At this point, the only real concern is what can this manga do to be really poor? Until it actually displays it, with terrific art and fine pacing, each volume of The Magnificent Grand Scene will always be a treat.