History Literature / HalfWorld

* BrickJoke: White Cat mentions the only thing Lilla is good for is boiled, drizzled with teriyaki sauce and served on rice. At the end of the book, he orderis a take-out meal of boiled eel on rice.

-->Maybe, maybe not, Yes, no, maybe so, yes no maybe so

* BrickJoke: White Cat mentions the only thing Lilla is good for is boiled, drizzled with teriyaki sauce and served on rice. At the end of the book, he ends up ordering a take-out meal of just that.

* CatsAreMean: White Cat is a grumpy, ill-tempered cat who mocks the protagonists on more than one occasion. Granted, it has good intentions, it's just so disdainful.

* BrickJoke: White Cat mentions the only thing Lilla is good for is boiled, drizzled with teriyaki sauce and served on rice. At the end of the book, he ends up ordering just that.

->Maybe, maybe not, Yes, no, maybe so, yes no maybe so

* CallBack: Yes, no, maybe so, yes no maybe so

In 2012 a sequel called ''Darkest Light'' was released, continuing several years after the first book. The protagonist themselves is a '''huge spoiler''' for ''Half World'', so be prepared for unmarked spoilers.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Half World is totally black and white because [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience colours are used to dictate spirits and the living]].
** SplashOfColor: However, anyone alive, from the Realm of Flesh, will retain their colours and shine brightly in the greyness. Half Wolders become coloured when they become spirits.

* HellHotel: the Mirages Hotel.

''Half World'' by Hiromi Goto is a DownTheRabbitHole ComingOfAgeStory. There are three realms: the Realm of the Flesh, the Realm of the Spirit and Half World, a sort of purgatory where dead souls live out their traumas until they are ready to pass to the Realm of the Spirit. The realms were originally together, but got separated somehow. Melanie is a [[HolyChild child born impossibly into Half World]]. Her mother flees to the Realm of Flesh to raise Melanie. When her mother gets kidnapped by the sinister Mr. Glueskin, Melanie goes on a [[TheQuest quest]] to Half World to save her and [[SaveTheWorld the world]].

* ImAHumanitarian: It's revealed that [[spoiler: eating living things is how you extend your Half Life and delay when you're thrown back to your breaking point.]]
** The girls in the library capture the main cast with the intent to eat them.
** [[spoiler: Karu's brother forced him to eat so that he'd snap out of his trauma. But this caused Karu to go crazy and eat his own brother.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Gee thinks this almost word for word when he [[spoiler: realizes he just tried to strangle Cracker.]]

* VillainousCrush: Ilanna loved Mr. Glueskin, so she entices Gee to return to Half World [[spoiler: so he can become Mr. Glueskin again.]]

* RubberMan: Mr. Glueskin, with the added ability of being able to detach pieces of himself.

* [spoiler: BittersweetEnding]

* BittersweetEnding

* FourIsDeath: Door Four in the Cassier Connector leads to Half World, and floor four of Mirages Hotel [[spoiler: is how you get back to the portal to the Realm of Flesh]]. Ms. Wei explains this trope in ''Half World''.

** The pile of rags that was offhandedly mentioned in ''Half World'' is now explained and serves as {{Forshadowing}}.

* BilingualBonus: Gee calls Ms. Wei popo, which is Chinese for 'grandma'.