Shiro no Keiyaku

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Story:
Shiro no Keiyaku is a sweet one shot reminiscent of the Little Mermaid. As far as endings go, it was quite lackluster though I did like the convenient twist at the end. I guess the ending really stuck with my like for romanticism.

You never make a contract with the devil due to the outcome always being in the devil's favor unless you can find loopholes. But, maybe love is a loophole enough?

Characters:
Since, this is a oneshot it's more story-driven than character driven. The devil plays both the bad and (the arguably) good guy, here. If I had to have a favorite it would be ... him.

Shiro is pretty cute. He instantly became infatuated with a human girl, that had shown him kindness when he was in the form of a bird. I liked how he was not clueless. Once he understood how humans were perceiving him, he began to use it to his advantage. He had a clever mind that one.

I liked the Old Man Crow. He definitely tried to look out for Shiro.

The girl was okay. Kinako really did have a big heart for animals and people alike. Her character felt a bit empty, but that's probably due to the length of the story.

Art:
I enjoyed the artwork, especially considering that this is an older title. The crows' human appearances were very cute looking. The outfits were casual and no patterns were used.

Relationship:
Uh, I guess Kinako liked him a lot more than I thought hehe.

Overall:
This is a nice read, but it doesn't have a love confession or kiss scene. Still, for some it's more fun to imagine what happens after the open ending.

Within the first few pages of this oneshot I was a bit confused seeing a boy and a girl interacting, thinking that it didn’t start from the beginning of the manga. The main character was supposed to be a crow that turned into a human later, but it was a unique drawing concept—in a lot of the scenes, the main character and even some other crows were drawn as miniature humans with crows’ wings. I suppose it made it easier to distinguish the black crows from each other, but for Shiro it made no difference. They were not human-like all the time; in a few ... scenes they were drawn as simple crows.

It gave me a thought, though. Drawing them looking like humans makes these animals more relatable to us. It makes us think that someone like Shiro really could act like a human if he appeared to be one. Additionally, it’s a silly idea to think an animal could fall in love with a human, isn’t it? I’ve heard of this kind of story before, but not with crows. That gives the plot some more humor rather than choosing some other majestic animal.

Other than the fact that he’s a crow, I find Shiro to be a different protagonist from the others. First of all, hardly any shoujo have male protagonists. Second, he’s a bit simple-minded with one goal he wants to achieve: capturing the heart of this human girl. He isn’t he smartest bird of the bunch, but he has the most courageous heart of them all. He shows sympathy for his tormentors and boundless adoration for a girl he has yet to know. It’s impressive how much he sacrifices to come into contact with her.

Of course, his contract with the devil is a burden for him. Given the kind of personality Shiro has, doing a bad deed every day isn’t an easy task, but it’s something he must do in order to maintain his human body and keep seeing the girl of his dreams. It’s interesting to see how far Shiro would go to keep himself a human and to grab her attention. Furthermore, putting a crow in a human’s body in this situation is so much like a boy trying to woo a girl without knowing how girls are, which keeps that familiar and innocent shoujo feel to it.

I love how the author intersperses comedic moments with more serious moments. In one instant Shiro’s mocking some of his tormentors, and in another he’s staring at the human girl from a distance with such longing. It’s great storytelling about a crow feeling out the ways of humans, how they feel and what they do. Also, seeing this girl from the eyes of a human is a different from seeing her as a crow. I suspect Shiro falls more in love with her every day.

This is definitely one of the better oneshots I’ve read, though it still doesn’t have the best ending. It makes slightly more sense than other shoujo oneshots and has decent artwork, but the story is the selling point. It’s good for a light read when you’re feeling in the mood for something short and sweet.