Shiroi Kumo

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This one shot is a 10/10 masterpiece. I clicked on White Clouds by complete accident and I can’t describe how glad I am to have read it. I know others have said it, but I simply can't think of another word to describe it besides amazing. White Clouds was simple but so touching and beautiful. Very few mangas can capture the realistic and down-to-earth feeling so elegantly. There are a handful of admittedly great series, but still, nothing comes close to the amount of emotion White Clouds pulls from me.

In 16 pages, it is the only manga to ever make me cry.

The story is delicate ... but genuine and touches on the real aspects of life and death. It’s both sad and sweet, but with a hope that we will meet with our loved ones again some day. The simple, airy art style really contributes to the feeling it was aiming for and having the dog Shiro narrate makes for a rather unique perspective. I can see why this is an award-winning one shot. I’ve read it so many times and I can't make it past the third page without tearing up each time. I’ve never lost someone really close to me but I can just feel the emotion seep through the pages. It’s such a quick read, but the impact of the story is unforgettable and the fact that 16 extremely simple pages can do so much makes this a classic in my eyes.

(TLDR Review at the bottom, as always, thanks for reading in advance.)

Going to answer some questions quickly. A lot of talking around this manga, at least here on MAL as of this post date, is based solely on the one chapter "Shiroi Kumo"/"White Clouds", from reviews telling you that, to discussions discussing on the one chapter. However, there are legitimately 14 chapters to be read.

Going to make this slightly short, and I will be referring to the entire manga as "White Clouds"

Stroy - 8
Art - 8
Character - 7
Enjoyment - 8
...

White Clouds is a manga that would undoubtedly fit the suitcase full of hidden gems. Not much attention to it though it is a piece that doesn't deserve to be brushed over. The manga revolves around surreal and quite dark natures of life. It genuinely feels like it has a sole purpose to simply leap into the human psyche, nature, ego, and just question or varnish the irrational actions of man all onto the page of a manga. One of the deepest things I have seen in a while. With the medium, be it manga or anime, also riding the horde that is the outlook of human life, White Clouds still manages to elevate its amplitude far up, it is no dime in a dozen. It also has a unique selling point. Ties in with its art, its collection of stories, and themes it tries to reach out or query. It does pretty well with the psychology grasping of us as people.

With all the stories of White Clouds, I think the logistics of the manga is one to not forget, as I have explained so with the story, the characters tail a path similar. Characters in this manga, however, tend to be more attentive to how we act, and how we shouldn't. As I went on with before about the surrealism and the dark natures. The hand-in-hand synergy between the story and the characters starring each seem to spring off an ironic realism regardless of what breaks what galactic convention. We have a real-life example of a story, and we have the people that react to it accordingly, and not accordingly. This may be true for pretty much every story you come across though Shiroi Kumo seems to have utilized this function in a much better way, showing the two sides of what is to be expected and what is not to be. Basically, some really well thought out characters.

Despite it being part of a horde of what the psychology, drama, fantasy, whatever you may call it genres offers, it is a manga that I would say is allowed to walk the red carpet, though chooses not to. As for how a hidden gem should be.

Art-wise is where I really thought that manga could emphasise everything before you could even read it. The first chapter "Once Upon a Time" radiates these eldritch particles for the atmosphere, setting up slightly more and less dark chapters for later on. Kinda like those dementia anime with complete neglection of logic and order, though White Clouds retains a remnant of the matter. The art comes off as quite child-like too as if it were a children's picture book, an art style I will never get tired of. Simple, and slightly illusive, to immerse into.

I really enjoyed the manga and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who comes along to read it. I have talked about psychological aspects are psychological, though I would say that there is the odd one chapter, namely "Hoppie's Bear" that is quite happy, it is one of my favourite chapters along with "Grape Picking/Harvesting". So there is a bit for everyone that White Clouds give. Quite short too, so if you are getting into manga or want something small to read. White Clouds is a great option to choose from.

Overall - 7.75 (8)

During my trawls through various manga on the internet I've managed to come across some absolute gems, both as series' and one-shots. Only a few have tempted me to actually want to write a review for them though, and only one manga (so far), has actually compelled me to write one.

That manga is White Clouds.

As some people have noticed, I like odd anime and manga (especially comedies). White Clouds manages to fulfill the odd part, but not in the way you'd expect.

The manga is the work of Hisae Iwaoka, and it adopts a very unusual art style which is more reminiscent of some surrealist western ... cartoons and comics. Although this may be off putting to purists who like their manga just so, I found the style to be quite nice (and a little quaint), and it worked surprisingly well in the context of the story.

One thing that surprised me about the manga was Iwaoka's impacting use of white space, and the fact that some panels were removed in favour of a line of text. This actually helps heighten the emotion and atmosphere in the manga, and I'm rather pleased to see such techniques being used in a one-shot.

The story in White Clouds is, for want of a better word, unusual. Not unusual from it's actual content, but from it's perspective. The story, you see, is told from the perspective of the family pet (a dog). This may seem odd at first, but it has been done before (Massugu ni Ikou and Shiawase Sou no Okojo-san are two anime that adopt this format). That being said, the story is actually very touching.

I won't go into detail about the story though, as the manga is only 16 pages long so I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

With this being a one-shot manga, there is little scope for character development. However, I found myself sympathising with the characters by the end of the manga, especially the dog. There is a great deal of simple emotion packed into the 16 pages of the manga, and a sense of calm throughout, mainly brought on by the narration from the dog.

This is a very simple, touching, and bittersweet story, and will appeal to anyone who's ever owned (and loved), a pet. The art style may not be to everyone's liking, but my advice is just to accept it and follow the story, as it is a very rewarding read.

It's a rarity for a one-shot manga to display the kind of quality and story telling I'd expect from such noted series as YKK, Mushishi, Kino no Tabi, and the like, yet this one delivers the goods. It's a bittersweet story that's told from an unsual perspective, and because of this it has a very different atmosphere to other similar manga.