10 Dance Volume 4
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
Suzuki is so conflicted by his feelings for Sugiki that it's affecting his Latin dancing. But when Sugiki tries to teach him how to connect better with his female partner, he ends up strengthening the connection between the two men instead. As they grapple with their feelings for each other, an unexpected rival steps into view. Suzuki begins to realize what dancing truly means to him, but if he pursues his dream, will it cost him his relationship with Sugiki?
Poor old Suzuki is going through it with his feelings in this volume as he's trying to figure it all out and soon. Alongside coming to terms with his feelings, he also gets a bit of a wake up call/helping hand when it comes to his motivation to win and drive to succeed thanks to another dancer and rival that makes an appearance.
Suzuki spends a lot of this volume doing some self reflection and because of that we get to see some of his childhood, how he started dancing and so on which I was particularly interested in. This volume not only moves things in to place with the relationship, allowing Suzuki to come to terms with things so that it can progress forward, but it fleshes out his character a lot more. We also get to see some more of the relationship between he and his dance partner Aki, how they were paired together and the bond between them which I appreciated as well!
This volume takes the time to get the characters heads in to the right places for the upcoming competition, motivating them and getting them psyched up for it and it's sure to be a tense one! Now that Suzuki is ready to win, and determined to I can't wait to see him fight for what he wants!
10 Dance Vol 3
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
As if learning the moves wasn't hard enough, Sugiki needs to master a crucial element if he's to succeed in Latin Ballroom: sex appeal. Suzuki takes a personal approach in teaching him the art of seduction, but what happens when the student learns too well? And Suzuki has problems of his own: With the 10 Dance competition on the horizon, he must raise his Standard rank, or risk losing the chance to compete at all. And just as the pair starts to understand their relationship to each other, a secret from Sugiki's past threatens to undo everything.
The tension between the two dancers is stepping up right from the beginning, and they finally bond a little bit as they find some common ground. I have to say this volume had me laughing at how blunt it was at some points!
For the most part though, nothing much really happens in this volume. It's definitely one of the slower ones, more building up towards stuff than anything. We see them bonding, getting closer as they continue to work together, supporting each other and Sugiki is manoeuvring something behind the scenes that I'm sure we'll see come out in the coming volumes. We also get some more depth to the characters as we get more background and insight in to both of them.
While some things are set up for the next volume and the future of the series, the romance builds up more and more with some tension and then finally a moment that will change the dynamics of their relationship so far as things start to heat up!
10 Dance Vol 2
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
While Shinya Sugiki's learning to move to the sensual beats of Latin Ballroom, Shinya Suzuki's finding it tough to master the waltz, especially without the help of music. Suzuki can't help but resent Sugiki's passionless, critical training; but when he flies out to England to watch Sugiki compete on the international stage, he realizes there might be more to that stoic demeanor. What's more, when their eyes meet in the final dance, a feeling settles in Suzuki that he doesn't understand, and can't easily shake...
We have some progress on multiple fronts this volume, first off...thank God Sugiki's friend manages to help him out by getting him to put music on during practices, so he and Suzuki can make some progress. Speaking of Suzuki, he's still struggling with the Waltz and now completely baffled after Sugiki says he's his inspiration but things do start to go smoother for him.
The contrast between the two of them never fails to amuse me, especially when we focus back more on the Latin dance.
This volume lets us embrace a new setting, one familiar to me and anyone else who's ever watched Strictly. This volume also kicks off the romance as it, or at least the flirtation starts to come in to play slightly in this volume with Suzuki's determination to make sure Sugiki can only see him...and the odd moment or two. Plus Suzuki has a little battle with his feelings finally start up after a certain moment at the dance competition. I did wonder when everything was going to start as this series has so far been a lot more chill on the romance front than others I've read, and I am loving the pacing to the romance so far, and it's still not in your face.
We also get some insight in to Sugiki's past as well as why exactly he's never won first place, along with the injustices in the Ballroom Dancing community which ticks Suzuki right off, and let's just say....his protectiveness popped out. There's also some insight in to he and his partner but mostly? This volume kicks off the romance or at least the feelings building up!
10 Dance Vol 1
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Shinya Sugiki, the dashing lord of Standard Ballroom, and Shinya Suzuki, passionate king of Latin Dance: The two share more than just a first name and a love of the sport. They each want to become champion of the 10-Dance Competition, which means they'll need to learn the other's speciality dances, and who better to learn from than the best? But old rivalries die hard, and things get complicated even further when they realise there might be more between them than an uneasy partnership...
I was super curious about this series, because I was excited to see a series with a focus on dancing and I was curious as to how that would be drawn. I did watch Welcome to the Ballroom when it aired but it didn't hold my interest for long and I wasn't a fan of the art style. While the art style for 10 Dance is, again, not one I particularly enjoy...it was easy to move past it and the costumes and dances themselves were beautifully drawn!
The basic gist of this is that Sugiki challenges Suzuki to the 10 Dance, and at the 10 Dance they have to do all 5 standard dances and all 5 Latin dances for each round and they basically have a year to teach each other the 5 dances that they specialise in....and their dance partners!
Sugiki is the dancer who specialises in standard. He appears quite cool and composed, he's a World Champion...but in second place because it appears the competition is rigged. Suzuki meanwhile has Latin as his speciality and he has a bit of a fiery temper. His awkward blurting was hilarious though, and he himself is a National Champion. They strike me as quite opposite to be honest, but alongside all of that Suzuki's father hates Sugiki's mum because they both have dance schools. Despite being enthralled by his dancing years ago, Suzuki has hated Sugiki since he found out about that animosity and the hatred and rivalry between the two dance schools.
I am quite intrigued by the both of them, Sugiki seems quite rigid whereas Suzuki is a lot more loosened up than him and they embody the types of dance that they're best at. They're both determined, and so far they haven't given up easily! I'm not only intrigued by the two of them and to see how they'll get on with the dances and so on...but I'm intrigued by the world of Ballroom Dance.
There's another character we see a lot called Urashima, he's a reporter who covers dance and he's a fan of Sugiki's. Thanks to him we learn a lot about ballroom dancing and how things stand with our main characters careers, he basically fills in a lot of background information which is a nice way to do it and slot it in with the plot seamlessly. But I was fascinated by what we learned about dancing throughout the volume from he and the two main characters.
This is a great first volume, it has its funny moments, we see the main characters start to work together and become closer and closer and Suzuki gets more serious about learning standard. The relationship is already starting to develop but we also get a crash course in Ballroom dancing, which is much appreciated because it's smoothly slotted in so you understand everything!
