The Youth America Grand Prix preliminaries begin and everyone is in for a struggle. As in, almost nonstop dancing, lots of competitors, and high ranking judges attending. Like Oliver Smith, who’s the Principal of the Royal Ballet School. Which is the school Kanade has been told to get a scholarship from! So in other words, she’s gonna have to perform super well in front of him or fear letting Abigail Nichols down.
But The Magnificent Grande Scene volume 8 isn’t all about Kanade — Shoko and Ema also show where they’re at as well. For one of them, not in the best way.
So in this volume we see the strenuous activities all the dancers have to go through in five days. Whether it’s the preliminaries, workshops, or scholarship classes, everyone has chances to prove themselves. In this, we can see how having different goals will help make the trip a success no matter how it goes in the actual competition. With an assortment of ballet enthusiasts with different motivations for taking part as judges, each dancer has a chance to catch someone’s attention as long as they perform. So from Kanade’s intense focus on getting a scholarship to Ema seeing where’s she at as a dancer, this type of event is helpful in determining that.
But, at the same time, it’s still brutal. Most things in a competitive space usually means it’s cutthroat, and not everyone’s going to accomplish what they want. This turns out to be something Kanade and Shoko’s teacher, Takimoto, thinks about when one of her junior students isn’t chosen for the finals. So while she knows Kanade did well performing Diana, Takimoto tells her she didn’t perform her best. That easily could’ve left her off the finals list, and so naturally, this all adds to extra stress (and fretting) for Kanade when she realizes her mistake.
This series continues to show how these characters have grown thanks to having rivals, which leads us to Ema. Her growth from when we saw her practice habits to where she’s at now is something else. Like, she didn’t appear much in this volume, but when she did, she made an impact. Her improvements shake up Shoko, who fulfills the hot and cold segment when it comes to performing in this volume. There is certainly a trust factor in play here, as Ema did have some shaky habits, but Shoko wears being unable to hide her dislike of her on her sleeve. Maybe this will change when Kanade tells her to watch Ema perform, as she can see personally where Ema’s at.
One thing I like in sports manga is any additional things that can affect performance. Like how players perform differently in new arenas or the crowd, etc. In this volume, the stage size turns out to be a factor in how these dancers do their dances. This in a way affected Kanade’s performance in general, and made Shoko’s Aurora stand out from her competitors’. It’s a neat detail that is important to point out, even if subtle.
While overall the story continues to shine, the art in this volume felt like it went up another level. Now you can only detail so much in ballet, and the art has been still solid. But that dance in the last few chapters of this volume essentially showed off a competitor who knew exactly what she wanted…and who she wanted to take down in terrific form. Now time to find out what’s next in this fantastic ballet series.