|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||
|
|
Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane Personalities clash as the contestants rehearse for the Final Selection. Ryotaro is forced to choose between Kahoko and his ex-girlfriend Mizue. Len and Ryotaro cross swords over music--and Kahoko. Kazuki struggles with an increasingly painful crush. And Kahoko, now playing without magical assistance, feels she has more than ever to prove to the doubting Len. Can Kahoko and her friends channel their passion into music, or will it tear the group apart? There's a little suspension of disbelief required for this volume of La Corda d'Oro, in that Kahako, having lost her magical violin, is still fully intending to compete in the Final Selection portion of her school's music competition. She's no longer playing as well as she did, and the other music students are painfully aware of it, but she's not playing like someone who'd never touched a violin until the current school year, either. But I'll chalk it up to her muscle memory being able to recreate some of what she was doing when she played the magic violin and let it go. I do like that she's so believably in love with playing; her determination not to let go of her new passion and to put in the work required to keep it up goes a long way towards keeping me interested. And Kahoko's not the only one evaluating her music and her approach to it: Kazuki is finding that his crush on Kahoko is affecting his music, while Ryotaro contemplates his reasons for taking piano up again after letting it slide in jr. high. For all of the characters, the question of what to do after the competition ends is looming in their minds. Will they continue playing? Will music be only a passing thing that they put away when they leave school for the "real world"? The level of friendliness between the characters is another point of interest. For the most part, none of them come across as close friends, but there also doesn't seem to be any bitter rivalry. They're a group of people brought together by a common interest, who are discovering that some of them have more or less in common than they expected. It seems perfectly reasonable to think that some of them will remain friends when the competition is over while others will drift away, and I find that dynamic very believable. Volume 9 of La Corda d'Oro includes a page of translation notes. Review copy provided by VIZ Media. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
|
||||
 |
| home | reviews | news | features | about us | advertise | privacy policy | contact us |
