I received this book from Netgalley/publisher in exchange of an honest review.

So this is part 1 of the Tanz graphic novel, I can only hope that the next part also gets translated as I would love to continue reading about Uli (which I kept reading as Uil, which means Owl in Dutch) and see how he continues with things and if he and Anthony can be together.

Meet Uli, a fantastic dancer who is pretty enthusiastic about everything in life. However the world is just recovering from a big war and not everyone is sharing Uli’s enthusiasm. I was just hoping that Uli would stay enthusiastic, would make his dreams, would impress everyone with his interesting dances. I loved that he was gay or at least LGBT. I loved seeing him fall in love. I loved him taking his chances, I am often used to the MC’s being the ones who are being flirted with, but Uli is flirting and clearly making his intentions clear. YES! I loved the romance scenes we at times see, they are flowing and beautifully shown. It was like a dance, perfectly in sync with what this book is about.
I loved that Anthony got Uli thinking about NY, about seeing a Broadway musical for real. I loved seeing Uli try to make sense of what to do, and if he should go. Of course, given the book I knew what he would choose, now it was just waiting for him to go!

The book is broken up in parts, in months and years to be specific, at least in the beginning, when Uli heads to New York everything happens in March/Spring it seems, and where Uli is at the moment. Each part would make itself known with a picture of Uli, the place, and the date. I love that this was done. It made it easier to follow, plus it is good to see that time passes. Sometimes you don’t notice that, or it is not easily to notice.

I loved that the war that ended 7 years ago still makes an appearance. We see Berlin still in shatters, we see various other cities in Germany broken. Uli also clearly has memories and nightmares about things that happened when he was a kid (seems he survived a bombing). There are conversations and discussions. We see a world that tries to make the best of things, tries to go back to normal.
There is also talk about racism when Uli meets a guy named Anthony who has a hard time with things because he is coloured/black. And yes, I did think it was tactless of Uli to go to the first black dancer he saw to ask about Anthony. But, given the time, I can also forgive him a bit.

The art was quite good. Colourful, bright, full of movement and more. I loved seeing the dancing scenes it was like they were truly dancing. I hope that this doesn’t sound too weird, I am just trying to find the correct words for it all. I am definitely a fan of the style. I was at first worried I may not like it, but I shouldn’t have worried. This was great!

All in all, I enjoyed this graphic novel a lot. Dancing, memories, LGBT romance, and finding a place to belong and to dance. I would recommend it.