Aozora to Kumorizora

Azure and Claude tells the story of a guy who can can control other people and make them commit suicide. Killing is a like a hobby to him, until he finds this suicidal woman. Due to her wish to die, it does not appeal to him to kill her. The story is a bit cliche, but flows smoothly.

The art in this manga is poor. It lacks a of details and you can not see much emotion in the characters. It is almost as if they are dead most of the time.

Overall it is fun to read. Enjoyment 7/10. Overall 6/10.

"Tell me if we could keep living in the future what kind of happiness would be waiting for us?"
With chapters being released as slow as the consecutiveness of Olympics, this one has a small but dedicated fanbase who'll read it through the winters.
A story about two 'Cleaners', and the story of their growth.
One random day like any other, an emotionless husk gets chosen to be an executioner. He does his job as naturally as breathing until he encounters a special target. A reflection to himself but in someway something more.
While the manga lacks the necessary amount of chapters to flesh everything out, the story is in no way rushed. The characters are given time to interact. They grow through one another, though neither has anything to offer. Going from longing for death to wishing time could go on forever.
The art is subtle. Not a stroke is wasted... It paints itself from the perspective of its protagonists, empty and slowly progressing from emptiness to longing.
Even though the slow updates may be a pain, worth a read. Really sad to see a manga with so much to offer be this undermined when worthless isekais get two seasons.

The art and the atmosphere is pretty good for me although not very detail but it really give forlorn feeling which is matching with the story.

The main downside for me is it is unknown why the cleaners agree to kill those people without even told yet that they are going to be killed if they don't.
It's like hey i can control people now and i'm told to kill certain people then let's do it.
They aren't even cruel or psychotic people to begin with, even azure know the consequence of disobeying by experience, not because someone told her.

Aozora to Kumorizora (Azure and Claude) is a manga written by Sugaru Miaki, whose previous works include LNs like Three Days of Happiness, Starting Over, Your Story, Parasite in Love etc., the first one being one of my favorite light novels. Being a fan of one of his previous works I decided to check Azure and Claude out and it's safe to say I wasn't too disappointed, and down below are my thoughts on said manga, judging by all the content we have on it thus far.



*** I just want to start off by saying that such a short manga like this can't really be reviewed without entering a bit of spoiler-ish territory. I have made sure to omit any conspicuous or obvious spoiler but there might be some light spoilers up ahead anyways that are needed to be addressed for me to get my point across. Skip to the very end if you just want to know what I think of this manga summarised in a short bit. ***



First of all, I think much like his previous works, this doesn't story really translate to manga very well, a light novel could've very much sufficed, but alas. The reason for me to say that is because stories like this manga's and Three Days' work well when you get to relate to the characters more, and I feel like a complete light novel or even just a couple of additional chapters of the same manga would be more successful at that than just a 17 chapter manga. And because because it was made to be a visual novel rather than just a novel, I feel like it suffers the same problem as Three Days' manga adaptation, which is it being rushed with its storytelling. And that brings me to one its gravest problems, the pacing. The pacing is really, and I mean really fast, so much so that at one point (around chapter 13-15, I think) of the series it feels like the story is sort of haphazardly trying to jumble its characters' growths and developments. It wasn't necessarily THAT damaging to my experience while reading it, but it did affect my enjoyment enough for me to grant it as a flaw. I feel like a few more additional chapters would've cut it.



As for the characters, the characters aren't particularly that special or interesting at the start, but after a few more chapters you'd probably tend to like them more, albeit bit of the their, the main two's developments don't feel very subtle and feel kinda on-your-face as they sort of speak out some of the changes they're going through, making everything kind of obvious and not as distinct as it was supposed to be. The main two characters have good connection, though as I said, since the manga is so short it feels really unnatural to me that they'd grow that much of a connection in such a short span. All that being said, I still really liked reading two depressive characters grow to like each other and themselves in a peculiar, dark manner.



However, I think the series' greatest strength is its storytelling. The plot is good, much like the author's most other works, your attention could be grabbed from the very first page or chapter. The supernatural elements of it maintain verisimilitude, though I feel like there is one "plot-hole" in the story, and that is the fact that all the cleaners shown in the series automatically resorted to making others commit suicide once they, the cleaners, got hold of their, the others' bodies. They're not cold blooded sociopaths, so what gives? Could it be that their mind is automatically set on the aim to "kill" other people? Could it be that making other's commit suicide with no repercussions is fun in this manga's universe? I do not know, but it sure does feel like a plot-hole. The job of the cleaners is never really explained too much but I feel like that's a good thing, as the job aspect is not the main focus at all, and keeping it a mystery works quite well, much like how the process of selling time, lifespan, health is done wasn't explained at all in Three Days. I can't say for sure where the story so far is going, but the story has reached its very end and I'd have no problem if it were to abruptly end on the 17th chapter (though that really is looking very plausible now, judging by the rate of chapters released).



Art-wise it's definitely not the best... not even remotely close, actually. The art feels poor at times and I even had difficulty understanding some of the panels. It's not detailed at all, save for handful of a few panels, and the characters look pretty bland, nor are their emotions conveyed out that much well. I'd say the art is average usually and below average at times.




Overall it was a pretty good and enjoyable manga, I'd recommend checking it out as it only has like a few chapters and can be easily speed-read through in a matter of a couple of minutes.




Overall score - 7/10, not a must read but still would recommend.


(Note: this is actually my very first manga review so I hope any mistake to be forgiven, and lots of thanks to you if you read the whole thing.)

Since this has no review I thought I'd chuck one down to help people that may want to get into this manga.

You may have recently seen a manga by the name of "Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta" climbing up the MAL rankings and cementing itself near the top of the all-time rankings. Aozora to Kumorizora has the same author as the aforementioned manga and in many ways, is similar in its tone and use of very light science supernatural elements combined with almost a Slice of Life feeling. I will try to avoid spoiling this interesting manga as much as possible and leave it up to you decide whether you want to start it.
Firstly is the story of this manga and while interesting, it does have its moments here and there where it gets lost in itself. Obviously the manga lacks the necessary chapters that are probably required to flesh it out and therefore I'm inclined to give it a chance until such a time when it is finished or nearing completion. With 16 chapters out so far, the story is interesting and captivating enough to merit a read with characters that open up on themes of death and the meaning and value of life itself. There's a few early twists and unexpected events to make this manga tick along nicely so that is a welcome addition.
The only other thing to talk about with this manga so far is its art style. I am of the mind that is unique in a sense but I'm not totally convinced on it. It may grow on me with more time but at this stage it is lacking the detail that I look for in character design especially concerning the eyes of characters but as I said before, this may change in the future.
Overall, this is a fascinating little read that I think many fans of "Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta" would enjoy with many themes and tones being borrowed to create a completely new world and fascinating characters.