Storm Fairy

by Osamu Tezuka

Storm fairy is a collection of three short stories by legendary mangaka Osamu Tezuka.
In Storm Fairy , an empress flees her burning castle to the nearby forest where she encounters a
mischievous forest fairy who grants her wish, for a seemingly small price. It’s not until much later, after
she’s given birth to her daughter Ruri, that the empress realizes the true weight of her deal with the fairy.
Now the princess, with a face as ugly as sin, must live the rest of her life from behind a mask. When a
malcontent discovers Princess Ruri's curse, he plots to overthrow the emperor by masquerading his
own daughter as the princess, mask and all. Ruri also meets a lowly ronin and a beautiful fairy who make
it their mission to return her to her rightful place on the throne.
In “Kokeshi Detective Agency,” fearless little Pako goes around solving spooky mysteries while her dog
Moll does his best to protect her. Oddly enough, Taro, Pako’s scaredy-cat older brother, is forced to
accompany Pako on all these scary adventures.
In “Pink Angel,” a sunset cloud named Pink spends an awfully lot of time on the surface helping those
who are unhappy or in need. Unfortunately, the rainclouds Sir Brown and Sepia don’t take kindly to
Pink’s meddling.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Japan, Fantasy

Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the God of Manga."

Reviews

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ abstract and entertaining storylines that read like fairytales. The first and last stories were my faves.

[Jena · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute collection of stories by Osamu Tezuka of Astro Boy fame, mostly aimed at a young girl audience. I enjoyed it for the most part, although all of the stories felt like they dragged (however, these were originally published in magazines so they weren't all meant to be consumed in one sitting back-to-back). The first story is a fairtytale following a fairy, princess, and a jonin. The second story follows a few adventures of a young girl and her brother who investigate things that appear to be supernatural but have a logical explantation. The third story follows a cloud-girl who travels to earth to help various humans.

The art was joyful with some nice humor sprinkled in.

I didn't notice anything overtly racist in this particular collection, but there is a disclaimer in the end about how the publishers preserve and translate comics as they are, including any racist depictions. I did some research and some Osamu Tezuka comics do contain more overt racist caricatures, stereotypes and depictions so that's worth noting to new readers. More info on that can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Association_to_Stop_Racism_Against_Blacks

[Maria Fernanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Kokeshi Detective Agency" was really fun and cute, but I could do without the other two. 50s Tezuka is super dense, it makes the experience of reading it kind of exhaustive. But it's also the cutest art style Tezuka ever used, so maybe it's a fair trade-off?

[Bri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another collection of Tezuka's work I snagged from Kickstarter!

P.s. Only a teeny spoiler I'd say, but just in case!

I liked the uniqueness of the stories in this one, but they dragged on something awful. I feel like it would have been better broken into smaller chunks, with some sort of obvious pacing in between stories.

I think I enjoyed Pink's the most (but that might just be because it was shorter...) and felt like one of the 'bad guys' learned their lesson more-so than some of the others in the other stories. Plus I liked the idea of clouds being their own unique, magical selves. Pink's adventures with the Princess and Sayuri, respectively, were fun and interesting!

Either way, other than the length and lack of 'breaks,' I really enjoyed the Storm Fairy collection!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The three stories in this book were serialized in girls' manga magazines in the late 1950s. The first, "The Storm Fairy", is about a beautiful fairy who tries to help a princess whose identity was stolen by a scheming courtier. The fairies play tricks on the palace, while a swashbuckling ronin samurai helps the Princess Ruri despite not believing her story. The second, "The Kokeshi Detective Agency", is classic serial detective comic featuring the fearless little girl Pako and her giant hair bow. The last is "The Story the Clouds Told: Pink Angel" is a sweet story of a cloud girl named Pink who uses her powers of transformation to help humans despite other cloud beings not wanting her to interfere.

The books feature Tezuka's classic adorable art style and I think it's wonderful these stories from girls magazines have been preserved and translated into English. They aren't the greatest or deepest examples of his work, but it's sweet to think of little girls in the 50s reading about fairies and princesses, heroines and samurai.

[ribbonknight · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this collection of short stories somewhat more than usual for Tezuka. There were a fair amount of woodland creatures so the Disney style feels more appropriate than usual.

Some fairy tale elements here, where people can trade faces or transform at whim. Many of these short stories were serialized, so are episodic. The dialogue is pretty shallow and so are people’s personalities, but for the 1950s, it feels sophisticated and original enough.

There’s a note in the back about racist depictions in the manga, although its lack of specificity make it difficult to appreciate. I’m fine with the decision to publish as-is; the manga-ka is dead and they can’t discuss it with him. However, they insist there was no racism in his heart; I don’t think you can have it both ways lol.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 3 out of 5]

First story was okay but a little long and plodding and the second one was a mile-a-minute. Both enjoyable in their own way but I really couldn't connect with the last story and barely made it through. A cute collection, less dark then some of Tezuka's other work.

[Laura (ローラ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet selection of fairytale-esque stories.

[Berslon Pank · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know these were serialized but even when I took breaks they seemed to drag on and then end very abruptly. The detective one was my favorite.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rare collection of Tezuka stories aimed at girls! My favorites were the stories about the detective girl who's not frightened of anything, and investigates mysterious circumstances wherever she finds them. The art holds up well - cartoony, but engaging, and the plots aren't too hard to follow, although "Storm Fairy" gets a bit convoluted due to its length.