Title: Shirahime-Syo Volume(s): 1 Creator(s): CLAMP Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: Tokyopop MSRP: $19.95 Genre(s): Fantasy Rated: Teen (13+)

I've been wondering something recently: Why is CLAMP able to create long series that are compelling and deep, yet they can't for the life of them create a short story that is any good? As you well know the last one shot story by CLAMP I read was “Miyuki-Chan In Wonderland,” and I was FAR from impressed with it (I gave the book a D- grade, which is about as close to abysmal as you can get on this site)! Some of my friends liked the book though. I started to wonder if there was something about the book I was missing, and wondered if I shouldn't give it another chance. Well after reading this I can safely tell you that I believe that I am right about Miyuki-Chan and that my friends are wrong, and this book proves my case. This book is called “Shirahime-Syo,” which means Snow Goddess. Makes sense since the whole book is about snow.

The story opens up with a man climbing up a mountain for some unknown reason. When he gets to the top of the mountain he see's a woman just standing there looking at the sky. When he asks the woman what she's doing at the top of a a hard-to-climb mountain whearing no warm cloths (Sorry, I couldn't resist the sarcasim), she simply tells him that it snows when the Snow Goddess weeps...and then we move on to the next story in the book (And I thought the first story in Miyuki-Chan was rubbish). The next stories aren't much better though. The second story is about a wolf that kills a girls father, and the girl must avenge her father so she goes out to kill the wolf, but then the wolf saves her life, and she begins to realize the wolf isn't so bad after all (Please). Then we have a story about a guy who leaves his girlfriend behind for unknown reasons, but she promises she'll wait for his return, and then he comes back when he's old and grey hoping she'll still be waiting for him (Loser).

And then the final story has some guy trying to find his way home where his (still living) girlfriend is, and some bird helps him find his way home (Whatever). If it sounds like I'm not describing the stories in this book properly then that's where you'd be wrong, I'm describing the stories EXACTLY they way they go in the book! Like “Miyuki-Chan In Wonderland” none of the stories in this book are told well at all, but what's worse is that this book asks the readers to cry over characters we don't care about. The reason this book plays on the whole Snow Goddess thing is because each of these stories end in tragedy. Yet none of the characters in these stories are worth crying for, how can you feel sorry for someone who you spend a whole 20 pages with after all? I don't doubt that you can make a good short story with good character development and an emotional ending though.

After all Hojo Tsukasa made a short story with great character development and an emotional ending with only 30 pages worth of work (For the record that short story is “Gift From An Angel,” and it can be found in issue 24 of “Raijin Comics”), and it was still a great story. However that just makes this book REALLY pale in comparison as this book is 130 pages long and it can't build up any character development or emotion to save it's life...oh I'm sorry I forgot, this book is about DEATH! Silly me, I really should have remembered that. Again, I'm left wondering how CLAMP can write long stories and make them interesting but they can't write an interesting short story to save their life? If I ever meet them I'll have to make sure to ask them that question. At this point this book would have gotten an F, but luckily for CLAMP Tokyopop presented this book in a way that pretty much makes me give the book a (slightly) higher score.

For starters the book is in hardcover with a cover sleeve, which means that this book SHOULD last you forever, which is really nice (I think)! Also Tokyopop printed all the color pages in color instead of converting the color pages to black & white, so it's published exactly the same way as it was published in Japan. Another plus in my book. Also this book is bigger then the standard manga book that is printed in America, and so the (Absolutely wonderful art) looks that much better because of it, and I don't care how affordable and accessable pocket sized graphic novels are, books like these prove that while they do serve their purpose, in the long run the art just doesn't look nearly as good as it does when the pages are bigger!

There is also a regular soft cover version of this book being published, but if you're going to buy this at all it's worth it to fork over the extra $10 and get the premium treatment, as the differences are great. Other then the great presentation from Tokyopop though this is a pretty awful and boring book by CLAMP. The artwork is good as usual, but even hardcore fans of CLAMP will find it hard to defend this title as the book just doesn't tell a good story, doesn't give us memorable characters, and just doesn't work as a whole in any way. Tokyopop's smart to have released this book with the premium treatment. Without it the book wouldn't have sold nearly as well as it did, it just makes me wish Tokyopop would do things like this with their GOOD titles instead!

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -