From the same author of Aria comes this story of budding growth and maturity. In the first chapters of Colori Colore Creare (which translates from Italian to Colors Color Create), we meet a young preschool-aged girl named Aka who lives in a cafe with her grandfather in a veiled off city known as Onobori. Early in this first volume, Aka goes on an adventure and meets a hungry black cat. When Aka gives the cat an onigiri, it transforms from a small black cat to an incredibly large black one. Soon after that, we meet a traveling teacher (or guardian of sorts) named Nodoka who reveals that she’s been assigned to Onobori to look after Aka and thus their adventures together begin.
Sometimes Calm Is Good
If you’re familiar with Amano’s previous work, you know exactly what to expect with this first volume: calm, calmer, calmest. I’m not even sure Amano is capable of writing particularly gripping stories (which I mean as a compliment). Instead, Amano tends to write simple, slice-of-life stories that feel like they’re going nowhere until suddenly they find their point and that’s what you get with this series debut.
Over the course of a couple hundred pages, nothing really happens. We meet characters, we watch them walk around the town, Aka makes a couple of new friends, and that’s about the extent of the excitement. If that’s what you’re looking for on a particularly rainy (or even not-so-rainy) weekend, this is the perfect cozy read for you.
That Artwork, Though
While Amano might not write stories that are filled with grit and intrigue, she does know how to create artwork that captures the imagination. Throughout this volume, there are many fantastic one-panel scenes and visual gags, but the real selling point is the inclusion of some fantastic two-page spreads that pull you into this fantastical world.
When the black cat (later named Kurocha by Aka) becomes bigger, you see it in full display; no trying to cram its size into a single panel, but instead we get to see exactly how large the cat becomes in comparison to the pint-sized preschooler. These little details really help pull the readers into the world even if there are still many details yet to be filled in.
In The End, Though…
If this were an anime, I would’ve checked out almost immediately as there are very few inciting incidents. Nothing to really keep the brain engaged or even really spur me on to find out what happens next.
However, as a manga, this was a wonderful first volume that readers can pick up and put back down without any fear of losing what’s happening in the story. That’s actually precisely how I read this volume; I picked it up, read a chapter or two within an hour, and then put it back down to read again later when I needed to rest my brain from the horrors of the real world.
Kozue Amano has done it again with this series. Peaceful, tranquil, and calming, the first volume of Colori Colore Creare won’t keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what’s going to happen in the next chapter or even the next page. Instead, it’ll lower your blood pressure and remind you that there is still beauty in the world around you as long as you’re willing to look for it.
You can buy Colori Colore Creare Volume 1 from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org, and your local comic store.
Credits
Story and Art: Kozue Amano
Translator: Andria McKnight
Letterer: Skylar Rutan
Editor: Louis Yamani
Designer: Dan Bura
Publisher: Titan Manga
Thank you to Titan Manga for providing a review copy. Receiving this copy had no effect on the reviewer’s opinions as expressed here.
Article edited by: Cynthia Caraturo
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