Dancing is as easy as one-two-three, one-two-three.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Natsumi Ando
Translation/Adaptation: Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
What They Say
DESTINED TO DANCE
Homely and shy, Himé is burdened by the name her mother gave her, “Princess.” Wanting nothing more than to be unnoticed and live a modest life, Himé gets a jolt of inspiration when she tries a dance class where she meets Tango. Her teacher/dance partner, Tango happens to also be her classmate at school. Unfortunately, Tango is desperate to keep his ballroom dancing a secret, believing it will ruin his cool image if anyone at school finds out. Will Tango quit teaching Himé in order to keep his secret or will he be the partner Himé believes he’s destined to be?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Let’s Dance a Waltz is the latest work from manga artist Natsumi Ando, who is probably best known here for Kitchen Princess and Arisa. She’s one of the creators that works under Kodansha so it’s not surprising that her newest work is now being published in English, along with the rest, from Kodansha.
The story is simple enough. A lonely, down on herself teenager named Himé walks by a dancing studio one day and is courted by the owner to enroll. Wanting to believe her dead mother’s words that any girl can be a princess she takes up the offer and begins to learn to dance. The unusual part of this all is that we don’t meet Himé first, we meet her teacher, the amazing and perfectly named Tango. He just happens to be the son of the owner and a classmate at Himé’s school. The story which has been framed as Himé’s is actually more about Tango!
Perhaps because Himé is following the typical ugly duckling turned beautiful swan story it was smart for the author to place so much emphasis on her prince charming, Tango. A boy raised in a dance hall and trying to hide the fact he dances ballroom from his peers? That’s far more interesting. Then there’s the past he had with another girl when he was just a little kid that makes you wonder what he could have possibly said or done to make her, and him, stop dancing competitively.
The author did her research, as is evident by the comments about her learning ballroom dance from a dance instructor. I’m no expert on dance, so I can’t speak to the accuracy, but all the characters have a great sense of movement when they’re dancing across the page. Even with that realism there’s more than a little fairy tale embedded in this meet-cute story. Himé takes to the dance floor with a natural knack for following a lead. This is framed as the consequence of a perfect match in dance partners. Himé realizes it quite quickly as a crush on Tango.
It’s nice to see the book avoid some of the typical pitfalls you’d expect in the story about a chubby girl and handsome guy. Tango never sees Himé’s weight or shyness as an issue of embarrassment, but any of the classmates watching would certainly think that’s the reason he’s avoiding her. Likewise, Himé never sees Tango’s avoidance of her as that either, and waits to hear why he isn’t teaching her anymore. I’ve read so many manga where lack of communication is the downfall of all it gets so tiring, so it’s nice to see it avoided here. Himé also seems to ignore the jeers of classmates, aware but immune to the bullying. She’s down on herself because of herself, not the others. It’s unusual for any story to simply shrug it all off, and perhaps a bit overly optimistic of it to do so.
By the end of the volume Himé’s looks are no longer at play. With more fairy tale logic creeping in Himé somehow looses 40 pounds in two weeks. I hate to tell the author that such a thing is impossible, but I’m certain that’s not only impossible but fatal. It also turns our unique lead in to just another pretty face, although it’s true that in six months of heavy dancing she’d certainly have become quite fit. I suppose trying to have Tango avoid her for that long wouldn’t exactly work.
Kodansha USA is releasing this series as a typical, no frills affair. No color pages, standard trim size, and a few translator’s notes at the end. Then there’s a pesky guttering issue in a few places that I can’t entirely pin on being a fault of my slightly off-cut reviewer copy, because we’ve seen it too many times before in Kodansha’s releases. It’s not bad enough to be a deal breaker, but it makes the book feel cheap.
In Summary
Let’s Dance a Waltz is off to a cute start, if not an amazing one. The character’s names might be a little on the nose, but it avoids most of the wrong steps I thought it would take with it’s two leads. The story moves so quickly that I have to wonder what new conflicts will be introduced once Tango gets over his fear of betraying another partner again. A love triangle perhaps? We’ve seen what might be the seeds of jealousy sown in the other couple, but it would be way more fun to just watch them compete in dance rather than love. Then again, that would turn this in to a shonen story instead of a shoujo one, wouldn’t it?
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B +
Packaging Grade: B –
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: April 21st, 2015
MSRP: $10.99
