Ballroom Blitz

In the world of ballroom dance, Shinya Sugiki is god. He’s won the triple crown a ton of times and he’s trying to becoming champion in the 10 Dance Competition, but standard ballroom is his bread and butter. In order to win, he has to master the other half of the 10 Dance, the Latin style. He and Shinya Suzuki, the number one Latin dancer, decide to train one another in the dances they both need to master in order to become champions.

Volume 2 covers the pair again struggling to work together, but Sugiki invites Suzuki to watch him perform at an international tournament. Though Suzuki isn’t aware, Sugiki believes in his abilities deeply and has seated him at a table with influential men in the industry in the hopes that one of them will see what he sees in Suzuki and agrees to help guide him. Suzuki has fast emotions and doesn’t understand the stoicism that Sugiki has, but he realizes that there’s a lot more to competing and performing than just getting the moves correct. Sugiki entertains the crowd and gives them a underdog to root for, and that’s his role within the world. The two lock eyes during Sugiki’s last dance, and Suzuki quickly realizes what he’s feeling is love.

In Volume 3 we continue to learn more about the Shinya’s, this time with Sugiki beginning to recognize and embrace his feeling son Suzuki. However some information comes out regarding Sugiki, his previous dance partners, and his obsessive need to win and become the number one. It’s a bit intimidating and scary to see the change in Sugiki, so it will be interesting to see how to they can move forward from this point.

I like this series a lot. I honestly LOVE how it’s about older people, as most of the manga I find is about those around the high school age. It’s really nice to read something about people that are closer to my own age as I can understand their motivations and decisions much more. I think the characters in this seem to be in their early thirties which is awesome, and I also really love how the art reflects this. The art for this series has an older, more elegant style to it and it makes it fantastic for reading facial expressions within the story.

I also really love how we learn more about the characters in this as they learn more about dancing. It’s a nice juxtaposition to feel like your’e learning along with them, and for me it makes reading this series more enjoyable. I have no interest in dance outside of this series, and it usually does a good job of explaining things, especially with the glossary in the back.

Title: 10 Dance (Volumes 2&3)
Author: Satoh Inoue
Format:  Paperback
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9781632367662 // 9781632367679
Three Descriptors: Fast-paced, Authentic, Bittersweet