Swan 15

Kyoko Ariyoshi – CMX – 2010 – 21 volumes

Admittedly, I liked the last volume better because of the Bolero scene, but I think Swan will be hard-pressed to ever top that scene for me in terms of emotional intensity.  It does have a crack at it, and nearly succeeds, when Leon and Masumi dance together at the beginning of this volume after Masumi figures out what she’d been missing all this time.

Now, in terms of artwork, I think this volume is probably the best yet.  Visually, that dance at the beginning of the book has far surprassed anything that’s come before.  There’s just nothing like this series for portraying movement and… well, dance, and the combination of two souls, if you want to get technical.  Of course, a big part of my awe of every volume probably has something to do with the fact I haven’t laid eyes on the older volumes in at least eight months, so I may forget what the regular stuff looks like.  That’s just in terms of the series itself, though.  In general, I think there is nothing that really surpasses Swan art-wise.

After that first dance, a good portion of the rest of the book is taken up with matters of the heart, something this series doesn’t dwell on too much, surprisingly.  Masumi finds herself caught between Leon, her partner who will dance with no one but her, and Luci, the ladies man that all the other dancers are a little in love with.  Leon is pretty open about his feelings for Masumi, but this puts Masumi in an awkward spot.  She doesn’t know how to act around Luci, she doesn’t know how she feels about him herself, and she doesn’t know what she should feel for Leon.  Leon seems devoted to her in dance, but cold otherwise.  What are his feelings?

In Swan, romance will of course be way over-the-top and a little ridiculous, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Some of the scenes are so corny both visually and emotionally they made me laugh, but in the context of the story, I think it would be strange if it happened any other way.

And if I haven’t said this enough… boy is it pretty.  I’m just flipping through it right now, and even the parts where there is no dance, the parts where Masumi is stressing out emotionally, or where Luci is coming on strong… even those parts are just amazing.  Wow.  It’s been a couple years since I picked this up, and I just cannot get over how pretty it is.

This series is easy to pick up because it’s not even really a matter of taste for the story, I think.  As long as you’re okay with through-the-roof melodrama, I think the unusual ballet premise and the excellent art is enough to keep most people interested.  And the story does hook you after awhile, regardless of how you feel about melodrama.  Just try to stop when you’re going through all these competitions.

Again, wow.