Manga 24183 Coda

Gender bender. 2 guys. Ballet. 3 things that made some warning bells go off in my mind, but surprisingly this is a pretty solid, enjoyable series that hardly has the time to drag on and portrays ballet in a very attractive light.

Having 2 guys dancing together ballet may come off as bizarre and possibly make someone think twice of how innocent it is, but in reality it handles very well the interactions between all characters, while it manages to give snippets of their past circumstances to make them relatable enough. It starts off with Haruichi, who likes ballet but hides it out of fear of ... his father’s wrath, being forced to dance while cross dressed with Yuri, a ballet dancer with a trauma. Their deal will end once they perform on stage, but in the meantime they learn to work together, various characters pop up and fill in the blanks or help the story along, but all in all, everyone helps each other face their fears indirectly. For a short story as this, it manages to capture a coming of age vibe, although a bit lacking due to the length.

The characters are likable and their interactions are fun. The cast remains the same with few additions, but only one of them really follows the boring cliché of “I am a tsundere and I just came to mess things up” but thankfully that does not last long. Apart from the weird premise, they all seem like normal, relatable kids with some great comedic scenes. The art is really simple and generic, yet detailed. The thing that makes it special is how natural it makes it seem. For example, when they dance, you can almost see it in your head and the expressions really show through. I guess you could say it is deceptively simple!

I consider this a solid 7 (even though in the back of mind I think 7 is a bit low, but I know it does not deserve an 8) because the balance between the story, comedy and characters was pretty well done and I thoroughly enjoyed the dance scenes. I wish it had more character development and not just the key points, but while I was reading, I did not really think something was missing. It is a really fun, light read for someone who likes ballet.