Holiday Review #7: AFTER SCHOOL ETUDE

There was also plenty of BL to choose from this year, but when I saw the cover for this one I knew I had to talk about it.

AFTER SCHOOL ETUDE (Hokago no Etude), by Hirune Cyan.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

Minobe has the build of a great ballet dancer, but his technique has always been somewhat lacking.  That's why he hopes attending a private arts high school will help him improve.  Soon after starting, he encounters Shun, a sophomore with incredible technique and a surly attitude who only recently left the ballet program for modern dance.  The two end up paired together for practice, and Minobe finds himself drawn just as much to Shun's beautiful body as he is to his beautiful dancing.  As Shun helps Minobe inject some emotion into his dancing, Minobe helps Shun break down his emotional walls.

STORY:

While After School Etude is clearly very interested in the ins and outs of ballet, there are moments of melodrama here that almost feel like a throwback to the BL scene of the 2000s.  It's not enough to detract from what is otherwise a very nice love story, but it can be jarring if you're not expecting it.

Shun and Minobe certainly make for an engaging pair.  Shun is very much a tsundere (albeit one with a provocative streak), but Minobe is so earnest and smitten with him that Shun's attempts to push him away just slide right over him.  This might have gotten a bit tedious if not for the fact that the two have some mutual respect for one another as dancers.  Shun is blunt in his criticism of Minobe, but he can see the potential within him.  Meanwhile, Minobe is absolutely blown away by the expressiveness and technical finesse of Shun's dancing and strives to imitate it.  When combined with Minobe's sincerity and persistence and a healthy dose of teenage hormones, you get the start of a decent romance.

It's not one without its troubles, though, and that's where the melodrama comes in  Slowly but steadily, it's revealed that Shun is being routinely and roughly molested by one of his teachers.  Learning this goes a long way towards explaining why Shun is the way he is: his moodiness, his precocious sexuality, and even his attempts to distance himself from ballet (and his abuser) by moving to a different school track.  It also serves as motivation for his relationship with Minobe, who serves as a far more sincere and age-appropriate alternative who also helps Shun rediscover his love of ballet.  Unfortunately, his abuser also has a spiteful, jealous streak and is not afraid to act on it.  Maybe this is just paranoia born from reading too much turn-of-the-millennium BL , but my fear is that this is going to lead to a rape storyline (aside from the statutory one already going on).  It would be a needlessly dark direction in what has otherwise been a fairly down-to-earth story, one I've seen play out far too many times in 20 year old BL books.  I sincerely hope that Hirune Cyan resists that temptation.  They don't need to indulge in such material to keep their readers engaged.

ART:

Y'all remember Yuri!!! On Ice, right?  Of course you do.  I certainly did when I first saw that cover.  You cannot tell me that wasn't inspired by Yuri and Viktor (and in particular, the drunken dance-off ending from Episode 10).  The poses, the hair color screams of it!  The mangaka says this series was based on an original doujin they made, but I have to wonder if was originally meant as more of a fanfic-style AU.

After all, both figure skating and ballet involve a lot of handsome, well-toned men leaping and moving about elegantly.  Cyan certainly puts a great deal of effort into capturing the beauty and strength of Shun and Minobe's dancing, and this along with the trivia notes between chapters proves that they did their research.  It also helps that their art style is just very attractive and elegant to begin with.  Even the smut is well-handled: well-paced, not overly indulgent, with only a minor concession to censorship by leaving the dicks as mere outlines.

RATING:

After School Etude is beautiful BL series about the power of love and dance and how it helps its leading couple overcome their hang-ups.  So long as it stays on course and doesn't indulge in its darker elements, I could easily recommend this one to others.

 This manga is published by Seven Seas.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 3 volumes available.  1 volume has been released and is currently in print.

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