シャリオット by ソウマトウ

As I mentioned in other reviews on this blog, it's not uncommon for dōjin authors to eventually move into the mainstream world of mass published manga - I'm sure most readers of the medium will be familiar with stuff like CLAMP and so on. Today I'll be reviewing a short dōjinshi by one such authors, whom I have actually discovered first as a published mangaka, and then as a dōjin creator...

 シャリオット is a short (36 B&W pages) manga by ソウマトウ (under the name まよいばし), who might be known to some as the creator and artist for the 3-volume series 黒  (2014-2016) - which, if I remember correctly, has been at least partially scanlated into English.

A little girl, cheerful and caring in spite of devil horns on her head (hint hint) runs a tiny circus troupe, consisting of herself and three... malformed shadow creatures is probably the most accurate description. Her success soon rouses the jealousy of a competing youn entertainer, who will stop at nothing to steal the protagonist's spotlight. The latter, however, hides a dark secret, one that will ensure no crime goes unpunished...

Let's get the art thing out of the way first since, to be honest, there is very little to criticize. ソウマトウ's artwork is nothing short of amazing, super-detailed, dynamic, and appropriately cute even when dealing with blood, guts, and dismemberment. Given the wintery setting, the B&W works fairly well, though the artist's often excellent coloring is missed on the cover - which, by the way, is a totally different color in real life. Disregard the pic included.

The story, setting, and atmosphere... well, they're alright, I guess. If you enjoy Tim Burtonesque creepy-cute, slightly gotic, loli guro stuff, you're going to love the everliving crap out of this dōjinshi. I'm not part of this fan club, so the story kind of fell flat for me. We must also consider that シャリオット dates from 2012, and ソウマトウ has come a long way since then, as his traditionally published work demonstrates.

Overall, a stellarly drawn and decently plotted outing. If you want to check out ソウマトウ's best work, however, I really invite you to take a look at 黒 , which features the same excellent art along with a much stronger story and setting.