is a supernatural manga by Clamp, a creative team made up by Satsuki Igarashi, Nanase Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi and Mokona. It consists of three short stories, framed by a man's encounter with the titular character in the snow. The character design of the title character originated in a postcard in the team's newsletters, and later appeared in a preview page in the March 1992 issue of Bar Pretty, when only the concept had been finalized. Completed on a "tight" schedule, A preview poster for the manga appeared in the March 1992 issue of Bar Pretty, the magazine's final one, depicting Shirahime. At that point, the characters and story type were undecided, although the concept had been determined. Shirahime's character design had been used earlier on a postcard in the group's newsletter; at the time, they had considered using the character in a future story dealing with folklore.

In North America, Tokyopop licensed Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales for an English-language translation. It published a hardcover edition on December 9, 2003, and a softcover edition on June 15, 2004. After Tokyopop returned the license following the closure of its North America publishing branch in 2011, Viz Media republished the manga digitally on January 13, 2015. It has also been translated into French by Glėnat, and German by Egmont Manga & Anime. In 2007, it was licensed in Indonesia by M&C Comics.

Reception

In a retrospective piece on Clamp's works, Animefringes Lesley Smith described Shirahime-Syos short stories as "breathtakingly beautiful". Sequential Tarts Sheena McNeil enjoyed the collection, praising it as "both brilliant and beautiful"; she highlighted the "unique" artstyle and frame story.

References

  • Shirahime-Syo at Viz Media's official site