Wandance, Volume 1

Starred review from July 1, 2022
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Kaboku has a speech impediment that makes everyone think he's overly nervous around them, but he's not--he'd just rather nobody take notice of him at all. One day, he sees Wanda-san, a girl from his class, dancing outside school as if she doesn't care who can see her. Her movements inspire him, but he's petrified of what others will think of him as he dances. After attending a Dance Club meeting, Wanda helps Kaboku suppress some of his feelings of self-doubt and anxiety to be able to dance with abandon as she does, and he turns out to be an impressive dancer with a keen sense of music and rhythm. Coffee manages to capture hip-hop dance in the illustrations and create a sense of movement on the page despite the static medium. The main characters could use a little more development to be fully realized people, but instead some of that space is used to focus on dance. This isn't an explainer-manga, though, and it's definitely written for those who already have some idea of musical terms and body movements. This story is in the vein of Tsubasa Yamaguchi's Blue Period or Naoshi Arakawa's Your Lie in April, where characters devote themselves completely to artistic exploration, and will definitely resonate with readers who are artistically inclined.

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