The Other Side of the Clouds follows a mysterious young girl named Mayoka as she moves to the strange seaside town of Kumogaura. She has come to the town in search of something, but it remains unclear what exactly she’s looking for and whether or not she’ll find it. As she searches, she meets many new friends along the way, but only time will tell how they are related to her journey.
The Good
I think that the greatest part of this book is that it lives up to the expectation of its name. With a title like The Other Side of the Clouds, I hoped for something that was whimsical and made me curious and this book does exactly that. The way the protagonist so willingly leaves for a town in a faraway place where she presumably doesn’t know anyone, and then openly interacts with and accepts the cast of equally unknown characters, is delightful. This adds a layer of tension beneath the calm surface that you’re presented with that I found really intriguing.
The mangaka’s light art style adds to this calm, yet somehow also tense, scenario. To my untrained eye, the artwork is both precise and rough at the same time, and this provides a soft tone to the story that really draws the reader in. I appreciate a story that is visually calming to look at, but suggests that there may be something darker going on underneath—I would be lying if I didn’t say that I live for that kind of contrast and the angst that it can provide. The work of the letterer, with the sound effects in particular, also blends very nicely into this aesthetic. And since there are a few Japanese sound effects still in the book, I feel comfortable saying that they did a great job matching the style.
The Bad
I’m not personally a fan of saying that there are things about a book that are bad. Ultimately, a lot of comments that end up in sections like this are about personal preference and that doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s anything wrong with whatever’s being discussed. That being said, there were a few things about this volume that weren’t stylistically to my taste—none relating to the actual story itself.
I think my biggest issue was with how the translator’s notes were handled. Given how important many of the names are to the story (including the name of the town itself), I think that the translator’s notes provide a lot of value and important context to readers who don’t understand Japanese. Unfortunately, they were hard to read. There’s no symbol to indicate that there even is a translator’s note until you reach the part of the page where the note is written. What that means is that when you get to the translator’s note, your eyes have to wander around the page and look for the passage it’s referencing. On the flip side, it also means that you don’t get the important contextual information immediately when it would be the most useful. I love translator’s notes, but I wish they had been implemented in a more reader-friendly way.
The Verdict
The Other Side of the Clouds is a gentle yet mysterious book from Glacier Bay Books, a publisher that does wonderful work bringing indie manga into English. The production is high quality and it’s obvious how much time and effort the team put into making sure that English readers get the best experience possible for each book—this volume is no exception. I think that anybody who wants to read more indie manga can’t go wrong with this title.
I expect that my issue with the translator’s notes won’t be a serious problem for anyone used to reading manga, and it definitely shouldn’t deter anyone from picking up the book. I know that I still enjoyed this volume, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next one!
You can buy The Other Side of the Clouds from Glacier Bay Books, Silver Sprocket, and Sendai Books!
Credits:
Translation: Matthias Hirsh
Lettering: Tim Sun
Editing: emuh ruh & zhuchka
Proofreading: zhuchka
Book Design: emuh ruh
Publisher: Glacier Bay Books
A special thanks to Glacier Bay Books for providing us with a review copy of this title. Receiving a review copy of manga has in no way altered the opinions expressed in this article.
Article edited by: Cy Catwell & Chris Brailsford
Big thank you to our supporters
From their continous support, we are able to pay our team for their time and hard work on the site.
We have a Thank-You page dedicated to those who help us continue the work that we’ve been doing.
See our thank you page
