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Forbidden Dance

Title: Forbidden Dance
Volume(s): 4
Creator(s): Hinako Ashihara
Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left
Publisher: Tokyopop
MSRP: $9.95
Genre(s): Drama
Rated: Teen (13+)



CONSUMER ADVICE

Parents have little to worry about with this book, there is no bad language, no sexual situations, and no real violence to speak of. Aya's best friend puts broken glass in her dancing shoes, but otherwise there is nothing objectionable to speak of.

Women may love the sugary love story in this series, but there is nothing in this series that will make anyone feel inspired.

People who are into dance may like this, but they are the only people I can think of who would gain anything from this.

Series that are about girls trying to reach a certain goal/dream no matter what are pretty common. Series where there is a love interest involved while said girl is trying to obtain said goal/dream are also common. And series when said character gets past every obstacle that stands in the way of said goal/dream are also common. And the problem with these types of stories is the fact that after reading the summery you can usually figure out how the whole thing plays out...without having to read a single page of the series. It’s this category where “Forbidden Dance” falls. The story begins with a young woman named Aya, who wants nothing more then to be a professional dancer, to fly on stage and be completely free. However one night she has a dream that she falls while performing, and that very next day during a school performance she, you guessed it; falls down on stage and feels so sorry for herself that she quits the dance club.

It would seem like her future for dancing is forever ruined now, but then (Surprise, surprise) some inspiration comes along to make her want to start dancing again. This inspiration comes in the form of Akira Hibiya, a dancer from the all male dancer group known as “Cool,” and when Aya see’s this group dance she MUST be in the group, and she MUST dance with Akira as he’s the best dancer in the group (Translation: He’s the sexist person she’s ever seen)! One of the other “Cool” dance member’s thinks it would be good to let her join, but Akira doesn’t take her seriously, thinking that a girl could not keep up with their group of all male dancers. Well Aya begs and begs Akira to let her join, and he finally says yes...on one condition: She needs to win the next dance competition and prove to them she can contribute a lot of skill to the group.

And so Aya is off to win the competition so she can join “Cool,” and dance with Akira, and win Akira’s affection, and...oh you know the rest already. I must stress this one point: This is not a BAD story, it’s just so basic and standard that we’ve read this so many times already! Everything you need for your standard girls comic is here, which includes but is not limited to:

A big goal/dream that the protagonist will reach at all costs.

A possible love interest.

Obstacles to face.

Other beautiful girl that could jeopardize relationship with guy.

Guy treats protagonist like garbage, but protagonist still loves guy because he has shown her kind spot (Really, would it be too much trouble for one of these girls to fall in love with a NICE guy for once).

Girl achieves goal.

Another obstacle with both goal and guy comes along.

Girl ponders lifes problems.

Guy comes back to say he loves girl, gives girl power to finish her goal/dream.

Girl achieves her goal/dream, gets guy, lives happily ever after.

See, there’s nothing special about this series at all. Except for the that fact that this is about dancing (Which is a rarity to see on US shores) there is nothing different about this series then many other girl series currently out there. Well actually there is one thing better, and that’s the fact that many other girl series have better artwork then this series does. The artwork in this series is sketchy, blocky, underwhelming, and inconsistent, there is nothing pretty about this series at all. So if you like by-the-numbers series without many surprises you might like this. Its a safe bet, and it's nice that the series is only four books long, but I’m still convinced that there is far better stuff out there that women could be reading and gaining much more from too. If people want to read a by-the-numbers series that won’t bore them to death they should check out “Guardian Angel Getten” and leave this one on the shelf.

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- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -