This review is also posted in my blog :
https://onewordtoomuch.wordpress.com/2019/02/12/la-magnifique-grande-scene-vol-1/

Thank you to Akita Publishing Co.,Ltd. and Net Galley for a free copy of this book in trade for an honest review.

Ballet oh ballet! I’ve always love ballet from when I was a child, but only as far as watching. The gracefulness, the movements, costumes and music is like a dream. This manga really pictured it. This for sure is quite different from other mangas with ballet theme that I’ve read during my teenage years. Usually, the story concentrated on the performance, school or love life of the characters. But this manga takes another view: the view of studying the ballet itself. The drama only evolved around the struggle of Kanade in achieving her goal as a ballet dancer. It’s quite refreshing reading something that is not school girl crush with ballet theme.

The story is quite simple. We follow the life of Kanade who wants to learn ballet because of her neighbor, Risa who is a ballet dancer. Kanade is not talented, but she’s very determined to be a good ballet dancer.
The characters are quite serious in this story. Usually manga has some funny pictures or references, but not this one. Kanade is pictured as a serious girl with big curiosity and determined attitude. She won’t stop at anything into achieving her goal of becoming a good ballet dancer. She is showed having fun with her dancing lessons and try to practice hard.

The illustration is light and has the right proportion for the human body. No bigger heads, smaller body or things like that. The arms and legs are drawn in details, down to the nails. The body movement is well researched and very fluid. Facial expression is also very obvious. Whether it’s frustration, anger, tiredness or happiness, it’s shown clearly. Reading this makes me feel like I’m reading a guidebook to ballet 101 that makes me enjoy it and might want to try to dance.

Recommend for those who loves dancing, ballet and manga (not in that specific order).

This was a beautifully illustrated and written manga about a girl's dream to learn ballet. I loved the story, the artwork was gorgeous, and the ending was fantastic! I'm interested to see if this gets a sequel. I liked that Kanade had moments of frustration and doubt as it really made me love her more. Kanade was sweet, smart, and adorable and her passion for ballet was fascinating to watch. Overall I really enjoyed this manga.
Rating: 5 stars!
FTC DISCLAIMER: I received this book in exchange for an honest review

Book Review
Title: La Magnifique Grande Scène #1
Author: Cuvie
Genre: Manga
Rating: *****
Review: The opening to La Magnifique Grande Scene was, we are introduced to Kanade who after watching her neighbour Risa perform decides to become a ballet dancer. However, Kanade is constantly struck by how ugly her dancing is compared to Risa’s, but she forgets that she is just a beginner. Risa helps Kanade through her issues and helps her develop and very soon she is be taught by the experienced teacher because she has the potential to be great.
Soon, we see Risa perform in a competition but there seems to be something wrong with her knee making her stumble and fall more than once in her performance. Back in practice we see Risa cheering on her friend every step of the way seemingly unaware of the problem that Risa is facing.
Before Risa leaves ballet for good, she and Kanade convince the teachers to let them dance together for the first and only time in their recital. We then jump forward and Kanade is now in the advanced class and waiting to get her pointe shoes. However, her friends get them before she does and will she is a little heartbroken she is determined to work harder in order to earn her shoes. But it is from Mrs. Takimoto that we learn the reason Kanade hasn’t got her shoes yet is that Takimoto doesn’t want to push her too hard and destroy her in the same way she did to Risa.
With another recital coming up Kanade has the role of Cupid which also means that she gets a solo. However, being the only girl in the recital wearing ballet shoes not pointe shoes has her very worried. But when she goes to watch the boys practice she realises all of them wear ballet shoes, afterwards she does lots of research into men’s ballet and contemporary ballet and realises that they all wear ballet shoes but there are some advantages to wearing them. After learning this she has a newfound confidence and decides to be the best Cupid and she is going to do it in ballet shoes.
As the day of recital arrives, everyone is nervous except Kanade. When the show begins we see the hard work and dedication of one young girl really pay off as she dances. Even the audience seem shocked that she is wearing ballet shoes and dances more like the men than the girls but as one person points out Cupid id genderless and Kanade seamlessly merges both the male and female ways of dancing ballet and it is beautiful.
Overall, I loved La Magnifique Grande Scène, the story and art style are beautiful, and I can’t wait to read the next volume as soon as it become available on NetGalley. Highly recommend to fans of sports manga and anime and I think it makes a great beginner manga for people that don’t normally read manga.

Thanks to net galley.com, Cuvie and Akita Publishing Co., LTD. for the advance PDF file for my honest review.

Not a bad read, like graphic's like this one being black and white, although it was weird that the page count was backwards from what I was used to and decent inspirational read.

I just LOVED this manga.
I danced classical ballet myself for most of my childhood and teen years and I just loved how it was shown here.
This was just the perfect manga for me and I will definitely continue on with the series.

The story begins with Kanade watching her neighbour Risa’s enchanting performance on stage. Soon after she kicks up a fuss by pleading her parents to let her attend ballet classes. Two months in, she is frustrated and has a breakdown of sorts. Her class teacher decides to let her watch the advance class where Risa is in.

This book feels like it doesn’t take detours. all about the ups and downs in the world of ballet and it’s as good as it gets. Does bear some similarities to the long-time classic ‘Glass Mask’ in this aspect. What a refreshing read!

I knew nothing about ballet when I started reading so it was confusing. It took some effort to make sense of what was going on by looking at the panels more carefully. One particular downside is that the ballet vocab in French isn’t italicised.

Kanade is a young girl when she sees her neighbor, Risa, dancing in the ballet, and begs her parents for ballet lessons. Kanade quickly learns that learns ballet means hard work, determination, and sometimes disappointment. With Risa's help, Kanade is encouraged to stay dedicated to ballet, and she uses her intense observation skills to learn from the dancers around her.
Later with two years of dancing experience, she longs to be allowed to wear pointe shoes, but is told she is still too young. Despite the drama surrounding the other students, Kanade finds her own inspiration and her own center as she prepares for her big recital.

I LOVED the beautiful artwork in this manga! The graceful dance poses, and lovely costumes make this a pleasure to read, and I found myself pausing on several pages just to enjoy the gorgeous illustrations.

The story is wonderful; all about finding your inspiration in your art, learning to deal with disappointment, reaching out to others and encouraging them, even if it means they might surpass you and claim that coveted solo part.

Kanade is a delightful character who goes through a lot of change and development through this first volume. She is spunky and funny and fierce. She is a perfectionist, and can get discouraged easily at times, but her friends encourage her to keep working hard to perfect her dancing, and she develops the skills she needs to be a great dancer. Through it all, she finds JOY in dancing, and it's infectious! She inspires other dancers with her pure love of movement, and captures the hearts of her audience. Just like this manga captures the hearts of its readers!

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

A sweet all-ages story about a young girl learning to dance ballet. The arc is a very typical sports story -- enthusiasm followed by a set-back followed by determination to succeed again -- and the art is lovely. It is a children's story and thus doesn't really get into gruesome details about injuries, what happens to ballet dancers' feet, eating disorders, etc., although there is an older dancer that the protagonist looks up to who has to quit ballet for financial reasons. There are some typos in the translation but nothing that impedes comprehension.

A must read for any young girl interested in ballet. the drawings are expressive. The story of a young girl learning how to dance, practice and deal with injury -- all for the love of dance -- is just charming

'La Magnifique Grande Scene #1' by Cuvie is a manga about...ballet. I don't think I've read a ballet graphic novel, and I quite liked it.

Kanade has an older neighbor girl named Risa that does ballet. When Kanade sees her dance in a recital, she wants to dance like that, and to dance with Risa. Thus begins her journey. It's a lot of hard work, and there are disappointments along the way. She wants to wear pointe shoes, but her teacher won't let her. It holds her back mentally until she finds a way around it.

I've never been in ballet, but I loved how this was presented. It felt pretty honest. Kanade has struggles and she cries. Risa's story has a realistic ending. I think this would be a great read for any young student studying the kind of discipline that takes years.

I received a review copy of this manga from Media Do Internations, Inc. and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.

I simply adored this book, it was so lovely. Kanade is such a sweet kid with a big heart and a big passion, I want to protect her till the end of the time. I love how she starts dancing because she was idolizing her neighbor, Risa, but they ended up helping each other, girls supporting each other, this is what I'm here for. The art was so soft to look at it really went so good with the story. I can't wait to read the rest of this story and know what'll happen next.

(Can you believe this book made me wanna dance ballet again, and i absolutely hated my classes?)