Swan 13
July 18, 2008
There is definitely more plot in this volume than usual, mostly due to Masumi’s move to New York City and totally being uprooted from everything she’s known. She met friendly faces when she got to Russia, if I remember right, but her reception in New York is much colder. It’s nicely done, because this of course is played for MAXIMUM DRAMA.
I’m never sure of Masumi’s romantic interests. I was all ready to pair her up with Aoi, and I don’t much like Leonard, but I can’t tell if things are moving more towards them just being dance partners or what. Maybe both. It’s hard to tell in this series, which is part of what I love about it.
It enters a new era, where modern dance is discussed and performed. I was missing the well-coreographed dance sequences from the previous competition volumes, but there were still a handful of dancing sequences while the characters explained modern dance to Masumi. Masumi can’t quite wrap her brain around it, and the American coreographer is of course harsh with her. Drama drama drama, as you can imagine, and only in ways that Swan can pull it off. What would a volume be without at least one character bursting into tears at least once?
I love it. The art is still gorgeous, the characters are still passionate, and this series is just fantastic.
July 19, 2008 at 9:05 pm
[...] Taisen for the Daily Yomiuri. Nerdtron enjoys 100% Perfect Girl at Nerd Fellowship. Connie reads vol. 13 of Swan at Slightly Biased Manga. Kransom at Welcome Datacomp reviews two of Frederick Schodt’s [...]