History Manga / KarakuriCircus

A manga by Kazuhiro Fujita (the same guy who did ''Manga/UshioAndTora''), placed in relatively modern-day Japan. The manga employs an unusual "choice-based" style, where it shows the two decisions a character can make at a pivotal point in a pair of boxes, a fancy arrow pointing to the decision made. The first decision is by Narumi, a sick Kung-Fu champ who decides that his job, passing out circus flyers, is more important than helping a young boy FIND the circus. He changes his mind when a group of well-dressed thugs attempt to kidnap the boy, as he rushes to save the day (still in his bear costume for work).

* [[YoungerThanTheyLook Younger Than She Looks]]: When one meets Taranda Liselette (a brilliant animal tamer) one would assume she's around Shirogane's age...she's actually 14.

* ShesGotLegs: After going over UshioAndTora, it definitely seems like Mr. Kazuhiro is a leg man...

A manga by Kazuhiro Fujita (the same guy who did UshioAndTora), placed in relatively modern-day Japan. The manga employs an unusual "choice-based" style, where it shows the two decisions a character can make at a pivotal point in a pair of boxes, a fancy arrow pointing to the decision made. The first decision is by Narumi, a sick Kung-Fu champ who decides that his job, passing out circus flyers, is more important than helping a young boy FIND the circus. He changes his mind when a group of well-dressed thugs attempt to kidnap the boy, as he rushes to save the day (still in his bear costume for work).

Of no relation to KarakuriOdette. Or to KarakuridoujiUltimo....although the main characters act and even look quite similar...

* [[Bifauxnen]]: Shirogane as the Snake King.

* TheMessiah: Is Masaru even capable of hating people anymore? Sure, he gets mad, but Jesus did too. Plus he forgives a man who nearly got everyone he knew (a small group, but still) killed for the sake of money...and then ''saves his life''. For two different men like that.

* KnightInSourArmor: Narumi a bit, [[spoiler: moreso after Guy resurrects him. He became even [[ItGotWorse worse]] after the Battle of Sahara]]

* [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair You Gotta Have Silver Hair]]/[[EyesofGold Eyes of Silver]]: All Shirogane. Apparently this is the side effect of the Aqua Vitae. For unknown reasons Narumi's transformation is much more slower than anyone else. [[spoiler: His hair start to turn into silver during his visit to China. At the start of the Battle of Sahara, only his left bang is silver. After his remaining limb changed to the puppet parts, majority of his hair became silver. When he finally escaped from the Desert, All of his hair changed into silver color like the rest of the Shirogane. The strange thing is, only his right eye is turned into silver]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Bai Jin aka The man with black Robe aka Saiga Sadayoshi aka Commander Faceless.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Narumi,[[spoiler: After the Battle in the Sahara Desert when he discovered that the Francine Puppet at there was a fake, making all of previous HeroicSacrifices of his comrades were in vain.]]Masaru,[[spoiler: When he discovered that he was actually a vessel for his father, Saiga Sadayoshi's [[BrainUploading Mind Transfer]] trick ]]

* TookALevelInBadass: MASARU. Oh my GOD, Masaru.

** Also Narumi, he was mistaken for a 28 years old adult by another Shirogane when in fact he is only 19 years old at the time.

* TranquilFury: Guy, He described that there are two types of anger. One is [[UnstoppableRage exploding violently like a volcano]] and another is [[TranquilFury burning silently like a furnace]]. His is the latter one.

* UnstoppableRage: Narumi when facing the automatons. But it all starts in

* NightmareFace: Certain automatons. Honorable mention goes to Paulman and Anzelmas' henchman, whose mouth peels open to reveal a second, skinless mouth underneath. The machine gun inside is almost a relief.

* Wouldn'tHurtAChild: Vilma, most of the protagonists with Narumi leading.

* AwesomeByAnalysis: Masaru becomes this, hijacking the bad guys's massive battle dolls, and mimicking ''the exact right motions'' to control them - ''after one glimpse'' [[spoiler: Even moreso at the later arc where he revealed that he inherited the memories of the BigBad of the series with an ability that can dismantle the complex mechanical parts of the Automatons and the Puppets in a matter of seconds.]].

* ArtificialLimbs: Arlequin wields a detached left arm as a weapon. [[spoiler: It turn's out that it's not his - his is attached to Narumi. During the Battle of Sahara, all Narumi's remaining limbs were replaced by the puppets parts from other fallen Shirogane.]]

* DudeLooksLikeALady: Knife-Wielding Vilma. The reader isn't known about this fact until someone gives him the male pronouns.

* KnightInSourArmor: Narumi a bit, [[spoiler: moreso after Guy resurrects him. He became even [[ItGotWorse worse]] after the Battle in Sahara Desert]]

* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:Narumi and Eleanor, Saiga Souji and Angelica, Bai Yin and Francine]]

* PhilosophersStone: The Soft Stone.

* ReincarnationRomance:[[spoiler: Narumi, who inherited Bai Yin's memories from Aqua Vitae]] with [[spoiler:Shirogane/Eleanor, who was the blood relative with Francine and also inherited the memories from her via Aqua Vitae.]] Oh, Did I mentioned that they all also look alike with their counterpart??

* ArtificialLimbs: Arlequin wields a detached left arm as a weapon. [[spoiler: It turn's out that it's not his - his is attached to Narumi. The detached arm actually belong to Olympia.]]

* MadeOfIron: Narumi, for one. [[spoiler: He breaks a fricking car! Literally after the Battle in Sahara Desert, [[UptoEleven all of his remaining limbs were replaced by puppet parts that can crush things with its raw power]]]]

* ShownTheirwork: All Kempo moves that Narumi used are actually the real movesets in XingYi Quan. Especially the Five Element Fists, You can easily spot which of them are Splitting Fist, Drilling Fist, Crossing Fist, Crushing Fist and Cannon Fist respectively.

* Showntheirwork: All Kempo moves that Narumi used are actually the real movesets in XingYi Quan. Especially the Five Element Fists, You can easily spot which of them are Splitting Fist, Drilling Fist, Crossing Fist, Crushing Fist and Cannon Fist respectively. This is because Kazuhiro Fujita himself had learn Chinese martial arts during his university day

* Showedtheirwork: All Kempo moves that Narumi used are actually the real movesets in XingYi Quan. Especially the Five Element Fists, You can easily spot which of them are Splitting Fist, Drilling Fist, Crossing Fist, Crushing Fist and Cannon Fist respectively. This is because Kazuhiro Fujita himself had learn Chinese martial arts during his university day

* AwesomeByAnalysis: Masaru becomes this, hijacking the bad guys's massive battle dolls, and mimicking ''the exact right motions'' to control them - ''after one glimpse'' [[spoiler: Even moreso at the later arc where he revealed that he inherited the memories of the Big Bad with an ability that can dismantle the complex mechanical parts of the Automatons and the Puppets in a matter of seconds.]].

* Big Bad: [[spoiler: Bai Jin aka The man with black Robe aka Saiga Sadayoshi aka Commander Faceless.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Narumi,[[spoiler: After the Battle in the Sahara Desert when he discovered that the Francine Puppet at there was a fake, making all of previous [[HeroicSacrifices]] of his comrades were in vain.]]Masaru,[[spoiler: When he discovered that he was actually a vessel for his father, Saiga Sadayoshi's [[Mind Transfer]] trick in order to get Shirogane's love.]]

* KnightInSourArmor: Narumi a bit, [[spoiler: moreso after Guy resurrects him. He became even [[Itgotworse worse]] after the Battle in Sahara Desert]]

* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:Narumi and Eleanor, Saiga Souji and Angelica, Bai Yin and Francine]]
* Showtheirwork: All Kempo moves that Narumi used are actually the real movesets in XingYi Quan. Especially the Five Element Fists, You can easily spot which of them are Splitting Fist, Drilling Fist, Crossing Fist, Crushing Fist and Cannon Fist respectively. This is because Kazuhiro Fujita himself had learn Chinese martial arts during his university day

* ReincarnationRomance:[[spoiler: Narumi, who inherited Bai Yin's memories from Aqua Vitae]] with [[spoiler:Shirogane/Eleanor, who was the blood relative with Francine and also inherited the memories from her via Aqua Vitae.]] Oh, Did I mentioned that they all also look with their counterpart??

* AwesomeByAnalysis: Masaru becomes this, hijacking the bad guys's massive battle dolls, and mimicking ''the exact right motions'' to control them - ''after one glimpse''.

* ArtificialLimbs: Arlequin wields a detached left arm as a weapon. [[spoiler: It turn's out that it's not his - his is attached to Narumi.]]

* KnightInSourArmor: Narumi a bit, [[spoiler: moreso after Guy resurrects him.]]

* MadeOfIron: Narumi, for one. [[spoiler: He breaks a fricking car!]]

* {{Nakama}}: Narumi develops both romantic and filial feelings (respectively) for Shirogane and Masaru; when the latter two take off later on, they form a similar connection with the circus men and animal tamer.

* CompleteMonster: Find out how Zonapha's Syndrome came to be.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Crossing with Heartwarming, when [[spoiler: we find out Narumi is still alive]].
** [[spoiler: "If you want you can call me...Shirogane!"]]
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Guy's Mommy Complex, for one.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Fusae Nakamachi was a living one.
** [[spoiler: When Narumi saves the teacher and kids.]]
** When the Nakamichi Circus does their puppet show in the park, there's an old man observing the whole thing without emotion. At night, the old man is up and about on a bench, pretending he's a tight rope walker and having a happy time doing so.

* MemeticMolester: Look at [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/karakuri_circus/v02/c001/18.html this]] page. Now tell me you can't think badly of Zenji.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[CompleteMonster The what now?]]

* NightmareFuel:
** The puppet trap, which drags the controller in as well. To make matters worse, it's Shirogane who distracted Narumi so long that he couldn't help the guy.
** The crazed, evil puppet circus attacking the French town. Can't list any examples or I'll hurl.

* InfantImmortality: Played with until the French village gets attacked by the evil circus. See NightmareFuel...

* NightmareFuel: The puppet trap, which drags the controller in as well. To make matters worse, it's Shirogane who distracted Narumi so long that he couldn't help the guy.
** HighOctaneNightmareFuel: The crazed, evil puppet circus attacking the French town. Can't list any examples or I'll hurl.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: One can wonder why Masaru's siblings feel the need to send in elaborate, consoicuous, and highly destructive mechanical puppets to do a job that would be much more easily done with a sniper rifle...

* CuteShotaroBoy: Masaru.