Another DNF for me.

There’s manga that you vibe with and others that are just not for you and this one unfortunately was not for me. Thank you NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review!

Has a lot of potential as a coming-of-age series surrounding ones love for a hobby and the freedom and joy it grants them, not unlike series such as Your Lie in April. There is some really striking art which works well in the narrative's favor. But as of yet it is not doing anything particularly unique in the realm of it's genre to truly stand out.

Great Story of living your passion and becoming a dancer. It's about expressing yourself without words.

This manga follows a high school boy who wants to learn how to dance and goes about it by joining a dance club and making friends with an accomplished female dancer classmate.
The positives of this manga is the artwork, which is interesting and different and shows dance in a unique way, lending action and movement to something that otherwise could appear stale. The characters are interesting and likeable, slightly mysterious and making the reader want to learn more about them.
The negative in this first volume is the attitudes and actions of the high school boys in the main character's class. It was sexist and abusive. It was addressed but it still left me feeling uncomfortable.

Wandance follows a shy boy with a stutter who starts to break out of his shell through the power of dance. After meeting a dancer named Wanda, he decides to try for the school dance team, and slowly leans to follow the rhythm of his heart. I had a hard time grasping and enjoying the characters and I didn't always vibe with the pacing, but I loved the themes of the story and the fun, dynamic style that really fit the flow and plot of this manga!

If you are a fan of other dancing series or love slice of life coming of age stories, you will probably adore Wandance.

Nice contemporary slice-of-school-life manga with some light teen anguish and a fun premise; the book concludes leaving you wanting more and it will fit in well with the rest of our collection.

Sadly this didn't work for me. I love dance, classical, modern, etc and I've adored a lot of manga that have this as the main theme but this one didn't connect. I think the art style is partly to blame, I didn't like it at all.

Kaboku has opted to live a life of blending in, not wanting to draw attention to himself or his stutter. However, when he chances upon his classmate Wanda dancing by herself, he is captivated. Not only is he impressed by her talent but also, he finds himself drawn to the art of dance himself. Together, Kaboku and Wanda join the school dance team where he begins to finally live life for himself instead of others.

I liked this introductory volume quite a lot! Kaboku and Wanda are compelling characters and there are inklings of interesting supporting characters on the horizon. I especially loved Wanda's little faces. I'll certainly be following up on this series and am glad it has a print release to handsell.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

A manga about self-confidence and identity disguised as a manga about dance.

This manga was nothing if not mixed messages. At first it seemed as though it was trying to fight back against the stereotype that dance is a sexualised activity and the ratio of girls to boys in the dance club was simply a fact to be disgarded. But there were times when it really heavily leaned into the sexualised aspect of it with some questionably angled panels of Wanda whenever she started dancing.

Moreover, it was confusing to try to discern whether the protagonist was in love with Wanda herself or Wanda’s ideologies and confidence and whether the focus was on the dance or on the music.

Yet, perhaps that constant dual focus showcased a more complex manga rather than one with a splintered essence. Whilst it felt a little muddled it also tried to do something different by having many underlying themes that all link to each other in indecipherable ways.

What was impressive was the clear level of research that had gone into this. The deep dive into the technicalities of dancing, the exploration of dancers’ relationship with music, accurate representation and explanation of stutters, and fantastically detailed translation notes that managed to pick up on a lot of nuances.

And above all, the art was fantastic. Dance is a very visual medium and trying to replicate movement and express fluidity in illustrations is considerably hard to do. This manga perfectly captured the essence of dance, much like the characters did by the end.

I thought this was a really good manga for people who enjoy dance. I am not particularly interested in dancing so this isn't for me. I can see the appeal to someone who does enjoy dancing. The art was interesting and the movement was fantastic in the dancing. In the art I could visualise the movement and if I really wanted to give it ago. I might be able to with the art in this manga.

The storyline is fairly good and the art unique with some appeal. Overall it's a spin on an often-told story about a teen boy fascinated by a creative and unusual teen girl.

Great! I loved it. I couldn't put it down. Great characters and the story is wonderful. Definitely worth reading.

**I received an arc in exchange for an honest review
I felt like this was a good intro to the manga series. It seems like it will be one of those series that can really inspire the reader, especially if they enjoy dancing and can relate to the main character in that way. The art style was different but very eye catching. Can't wait to see where this series goes.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha Comics and the author for an advanced copy.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wandance is about a shy, male teenage who discovers the freedom dance provides after seeing a female classmate dancing one day. The classmate, Wanda, was simply dancing, dancing as if no one was watching, dancing to express herself, dancing freely and seeing this makes Kaboku wonder if he can also have this type of freedom.

First of all, I love that this manga not only focuses around dance but also has a male MC. I love dance and love books with a dance focus but haven't found many (any?) manga that truly focuses so much on dance the way Wandance does. And not only dance but hip hop! So many typically focus on ballet so it was nice to see hip hop take center stage. And featuring a male MC that discovers an interest in dance was fantastic. Gone are the days where males are teased or shamed for their love of dance yet not many are featured as true main characters, instead they are the background, the side characters to support the females. I loved Kaboku's journey of discovering the freedom dance offers, his determination to improve and find his own freedom of dance/expression and when he allowed himself to just let go and let dance take over. I enjoyed reading this from Kaboku's pov and that it was focused on him.

When we are first introduced to Kaboku, we figure he's just super shy but there's so much more behind his shyness. I enjoyed how the author included his struggles with his stutter and trying to fit in without just making it front and center. In a way, the struggles are hidden from the reader just as much as from the classmates until we either figure it out or it's finally brought up.

The author showcases dance beautifully and does an amazing job of reminding us just how much dance can be used to freely express yourself. Dance gives you another voice, it allows you to express yourself in ways that words often don't and this is perfect for Kaboku who struggles with his words. Dance is a language for everyone and truly is freeing.

Following Kaboku's journey to learn to dance, really let go and dance, and tryout for the dance team was enjoyable and I can't wait to see what happens in Volume 2!

This was so heartwarming! We follow Kaboku who sees a girl dancing and from there his life kind of goes from a quiet boy who has a stutter so he doesn’t talk a lot to a more confident boy ready to take the world, one dance at a time.

If you like a story that focuses more on the main character’s journey of growth along with friendship elements and a tiny hint at a romance, this is the perfect manga! Especially if you also love dance as there is a lot of info dumping on the basics of certain moves for beginners. Which was interesting but did make me lose focus on the story for a bit but other than those parts, this was fun and I do look forward to reading the next volume!

3.5 stars, rounded up.

This is a manga about a young boy with a stutter, Kabo, who joins a dance club after observing his beautiful (and very quirky) classmate, Wanda, dancing in the school grounds. I found the art style a bit difficult to get into, with the faces being drawn in a very unique style (this isn't a bad thing, it just takes a minute to adjust!). I found the drawings of the dance movements very clear, though I stuggled to conceptualise them as an actual dance. The characters are likeable and I found me rooting for Kabo to find a hobby and explore that side of him, and learn to live with his stutter too!

Overall quite a nice start to a dance manga, so if you're looking for that kind of thing this'll be great. I personally don't think I'll continue with the series because I struggle with sports/dance in 2D and conceptualising it into 3D, but this could become a great anime one day!

<i>I received a complimentary copy of this volume in exchange for an honest review from Kodansha via NetGalley, which I leave voluntarily.

A fun first volume with illustrations full of rhythm and movement! The MC Kaboku is trying to overcome his stutter by learning how to express himself freely through dance. Wanda is an enthusiastic dancer who supports and inspires him to be his very best self, even other dancers are encouraging as they teach each other how to dance.
For those who love Blue Period and Your Lie in April, this is a slice of life manga that will get you to move and feel the beat of your own heart.

Wow! This was so good!
It had the quality of a good sport manga while still being about the art of it. It was light and fun while still covering the subject in a very serious way, setting the scene and preparing for probable conflicts in the next volumes. It had good representation of someone living with a stutter and of an oddball living her best authentic amazing life.
The only critic I have really is about the music choices. The fact that they were such mainstream American or UK music really took me out of it. The book featured artists I don't not particularly like and sometimes the same artist more than once ! I just think I would have preferred to see music more cultural to Japan or otherwise more unknown music that you can check up if you're curious and discover cool new songs !
As an ex dancer myself, I really really really appreciated going back to the dance world. It really brought back a lot of memories and made me want to move. You can really see in the attention to detail that the author really know what they're talking about, and it was also great to see so many different style mentions such as wascking. The drawing of the dance moves were dynamic and beautiful. Evocative of movement and rythm.
I will ill be continuing the series.

I really like the art style of this manga - it's a little edgy, just like their (I assume hip-hop?) dancing. As someone who wanted to try out for the dance team in high school but never went back after the first practice because I was too intimidated, I admire Kaboku's determination and passion to learn to dance. He just wants to feel FREE, and it's just a relatable feeling I was all in my feels reading this entire volume.

This wasn’t what i was expecting.
But I really enjoyed this manga
Kabu was the best character in this manga
I love how the author show how Kabu feel so uncomfortable talking because of his stutter but find a way to express himself through dancing.

Thanks to netgalley for providing me this arc in exchange for review