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426
43
Finished
Jul 9, 1997 to May 31, 2006
8.3/10
Average Review Score
100%
Recommend It
3
Reviews Worldwide
I am writing this review to share my feelings about what this masterpiece Karakuri Circus. Why I love this manga ? Already the scenario is very well put together with a lot of revelation that make stepper. At the level of the characters are very well worked and are an endearing than others. The plot moves very well with no downtime. If you search for original shonen, do not hesitate and go read Karakuri Circus. At the universe and atmosphere of the manga, I really love the principle of putting the circus as part of the manga. However the manga does not speak that circus thatwe could believe at first sight.
I don't like this story, I don't like it at all. Why am I here writing its review while I'm supposed to sleep? This manga is one hell of a roller coaster. It pulled you in, and once you're on, it's a non-stop ride towards the end. The end is kinda weak, in my opinion. But overall it's still a good story. An old shounen story with a dark theme (and a lot of blood, seriously, blood is everywhere in this manga). You who like 90s kind of shounen and martical art would enjoy it. I did enjoy the ride, but tell me to read it again?No! No! NO!!! Because it hurts so, so much. Too much killing. Not that it's not neccessary, it fits with the gruesome theme of the story. But still too much, and it gave you hope, and took that hope away from your hands. I just realized, at the end, my hands are all full of emptiness, as the OP has stated. I really like Fujita Kazuhiro story because the plot is always unique. Karakuri has the best plot and story telling in all of his 3 works I've read (Gekkou, U&T, Karakuri), but I would recommend you try out Gekkou, his latest completed work. His story planning and character building has made great improvement (but there're still plot holes here and there).
Katou Narumi suffers from Zonapha Syndrome, a rare ailment that stops his breathing unless he makes people laugh. He's been forced to abandon his training in Chinese kenpo and return to Japan, where he now works as a clown. The only problem: he's not very funny. One day he meets Saiga Masaru, the recent inheritor of a huge fortune, who gives him the first laugh he's gotten all day. When he realizes Masaru is being pursued by assassins, he steps in to protect the boy, only to discover that instead of conventional weapons, the assassins wield huge, eerie puppets. They soon encounter the mysterious Shirogane, who controls a puppet of her own, and claims she was sent from France by Masaru's late grandfather to protect him. Their paths intertwine and diverge, splitting into two stories: Karakuri and Circus, puppets and performers, tears and laughter. The strange circus of living dolls that spreads Zonapha Syndrome, the human puppets known collectively as the Shirogane, and the puppeteers whose undying grudge set in motion both sides of this performance. (Source: Batoto)
This manga is really difficult to rate. It's like a completely different story starting at volume 4, a not very interesting one, but until that point it was really good. From the beginning of the manga it gives a strong sense that Narumi is the protagonist. He is quirky, interesting, and pulls all the action and gives energy to the story. The kid who is supposedly the protagonist is generic, not very interesting, and gets less screen time. But at the end of volume 3 it changes. What this means is, the manga starts ok, becomes very captivating, engaging, and excellent, with the culmination point atthe end of volume 3. After that point the manga becomes entirely generic, boring, and looses all energy. It feels like it suddenly turned from an engaging dramatic fighting manga full of action into almost a typical slice-of-life school manga about a kid, with the kid as the protagonist, but not an interesting protagonist. There is also the girl but her character (or more like, her lack of character) fails to keep the story interesting. Until volume 4 I became very engaged and then it stopped, I read the 4'th volume but it just wasn't very interesting in comparison. The action was just kind of going slowly and without a point. If I had to rate the first 3 volumes I would say it's a 9/10 Volume 4 was a 5/10 and I dropped it. Because of this, I find it difficult to give it an overall rating. I would rather not rate it at all, but if I must it will be an average of 5 and 9, that is 7 I think you won't loose much from reading only the first 3 volumes, because it's like a complete story of its own. So feel free to try it out.
