The following excerpt is from manga review of “Swan” on the Daily Yomiuri by Mieko Sasaki:
Kyoko Ariyoshi’s hit manga series Swan, about a teenager determined to become a great ballerina, proves shojo manga can stand alongside great works of literature. Though the story contains the melodrama typical of shojo manga, a much wider age range than its genre might suggest is enthralled with the manga. Granted, the audience is still comprised mostly of women, but the real themes of the manga are universal subjects about life.
Swan revolves around Masumi Hijiri, a 16-year-old Hokkaido girl who is miraculously accepted to the newly established Japanese National Ballet School after entering a special ballet contest. Told in the form of a graphic novel, it depicts the hardships Masumi must overcome after her acceptance, with an emphasis on the rapid succession of auditions and competitions in which she participates at home and abroad.
In Moscow, she studies the basics under Alexei Sergeiev, a star dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet, as she has flaws in her technique that could end her career. In London, she becomes aware of the importance of creativity and expressing inner strength through dancing. In New York, she is exposed to an entirely different approach to dance, with which dance is used to visualize the music without expressing any emotions.
In a sense, her struggle to improve as a dancer might be shared with artists in other genres. And that makes one grow as a human being as well. It is amazing to observe how tough and self-confident Masumi becomes.
Particularly stimulating are the interpretations of the dances and roles presented by the dancers. One excellent example is Masumi’s performance in Swan Lake, in which she gives the classic ballet a new break from tradition. As the Black Swan, Masumi doesn’t deceive the Prince by masquerading as the White Swan, but instead has him vow his eternal love for the Black Swan because of her own enchanting beauty. As the White Swan, Masumi implies that she foresees the Prince’s betrayal at the start and therefore does not blame him for his weakness–and even shows her compassion for him in the end.