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When reading one shots, we often complain "Oh too short" or how the plot wasn't developed enough or how the characters were weak and slaves to the dialogue. But here is one shot where everything just... sits... really well. It’s barely 8 pages, yet you feel you've experienced an entire lifetime in the shoes of the protagonist, which is kind of the premise of the story in the first place.

Here the piano is personified into this very skillfully drawn girl dancer who dances every time someone plays her (the piano). This is evident right off the start, so it's not like reading the story will ... be confusing at the beginning. Her expressions are so tender and heart wrenching, that you can't believe she's supposed to just be a piano. Her lifetime right from the time she was first purchased, how she changed various hands and all her suitors (piano players) and their environment is what forms the plot, yet it seems to pack so much detail into each panel, the kind that normally takes a couple of pages in other one shots, so you're not left wanting at the end of 8 short pages.

The art oh oh oh the ART! It's not easily classifiable into emo or gothic or Lolita or edgy it's... just plain darn awesome! Exaggerated features suit the mood the story and the costume designs are charmingly detailed. Ditto for the actions and expressions. Backgrounds are drawn painstakingly and it shows. The tone of this story is not just plain black and white, but it includes yellow and red as well, and both colours are used to much advantage, so much so that this story feels like a piece of artwork I want to frame and put on my showcase rather than read once and leave in paper format!

I would definitely recommend this short one shot to any reader who enjoys a story well told. It doesn't fit into a particular genre, maybe slice of life... But the genre isn't always important when such a beautiful story needs telling, by the most original raconteur possible!

Yellow. A color with many meanings. Commonly associated with the sun, it is said to be a color of warmth. A color of hope. A color of life. The color of eternity. Yet, that is not the only connotation it evokes. Since man has always desired to stand as high and be as bright as that luminary; envy, jealousy and greed are also part of its widespread semantic spectrum.

Just like the color yellow, Nakamura Asumiko's "Perfect World" tells a multifaceted story about life, death and love.

A mysterious and beautiful, yet fatal disease called "Flowerblossomitis": Once infected yellow flowers start to sprout all over the ... victim's body. Quickly increasing in numbers the initially peculiar blossoms soon spread in all directions, eventually leading to their host's death. So far neither cause nor cure has been found. One day, in the otherwise ordinary life of a loving couple, a flower pops out of an index finger...

"Yellow" is not only Perfect World's theme, but its ink color as well. Yes, this One Shot is yellow. Black, white and various nuances of yellow – just like the ambiguous story of that couple. Although the basic artwort is rather minimalist, the aforementioned symbolism of the color is beautifully conveyed by its diversified utilization as an artistic means of expression. The reader will likely 'feel and understand the yellow'; that is to say the color itself tells part of the story.

For the most part the nameless protagonists appear surprisingly apathetic, albeit they do express their emotions at times. However, all of that constitutes art. It is calm and silent. It does not force any meanings or interpretations. It is up to the spectator and what he is willing to see in it - the meaning of the color. Which might even be the true protagonist of this story. Life, love, eternity, envy, greed. Everything is part of yellow. And everything is part of that "Perfect World".

It might be a plain little story and it is certainly not the most original out there. Often times, however, beauty can be found in the most miniscule things. For instance in a One Shot, which is as miniscule as life itself.

Hmn... I am A Piano...

When I looked at the cover of the manga, I thought "Ah... the girl looks kinda cute~ I'm gonna try reading that..." but when I was reading it, it was not going with what I was hoping for.

Though the characters were drawn pretty nicely (especially the girl/piano) It took me some deep thinking to realize that whenever the girl/piano would dance or sing with someone it would represent that, that someone is playing the piano (Sorry, if I made you confused) because piano = girl.

So I did not enjoy it that much =.=

But none the less the ending was kinda ... of heart warming =///=

You have to read the manga to find it out ^^

Hmn... do I really recommend this manga?~ I wonder~

If you like one shots with romance and drama then you might be interested ^^

Long Along Alonging, a short -paged story of a witty little girl that decides to become a vampire's apprentice.

Story: (8)
Amusing, to say the least! LAA manages a unique twist on vampires (Which is the apprenticeship in itself) which I really enjoyed. The ending, as surprising as it is, is one of the funniest endings I've seen in a while. For an 8-paged story to get me to laugh out loud is pretty amazing!

Art: (6)
Not a big fan of Nakamura's art. However, the character's blunt faces really helped with the comical effects at the end.

Character: (5)
Stereotypical, but what do you want? It's only EIGHT pages! ... Even then, we only learn one character's name and that's it.

Enjoyment: (8)
I laughed at the end, enough said. This little story is witty and was definitely worth my time. It handles a surprise ending, one of my favorites, very well and makes it comical!

Overall: (8)
It's short, it'll barely take 10 minutes to read, and will maybe manage to make you laugh at the end. Ask yourself if you don't want to read it!

TILL DAWN by Nakamura Asumiko

Till Dawn describes a once in a lifetime meeting between a caged bird and a thief who is in the brink of his death, and the romance that is sparked in the short time before he sets her free..

Honestly, i don't understand how can she(mangaka) create a better story in 8 pages than those long running shoujo manga do. Its bewildering!
Simply beautiful..