Line #17 Manga/KarakuriCircus


1	[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_karakuri_circus.jpg]]
2
3	''Karakuri Circus'' is a manga series by Creator/KazuhiroFujita (the same guy who did ''Manga/UshioAndTora''), which was serialized in ''[[Magazine/ShonenSunday Weekly Shonen Sunday]]'' from 1997 to 2006. 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).
4
5	Then he finds out that the men after the kid, Masaru, are not men -- they're dolls. Their controllers are hired by the relatives of Sadayoshi Saiga, the deceased CEO of Saiga Group, to which Masaru is the heir. Rescued by a mysterious silver-haired doll user named Shirogane, Masaru goes forth to find out just why the dolls and their controllers are after him.
6
7	A 36-episode anime adaptation by Studio VOLN and Creator/StudioLive aired from October 2018 to June 2019.
8
9	It has no relation to ''Manga/KarakuriOdette'' or ''Manga/KarakuridoujiUltimo'', although the main characters act and even look quite similar.
10	----
11	!!''Karakuri Circus'' provides examples of:
12	* AIBreaker: Automata in general can move way faster than a human's eyes can see. However, they were primarily programmed to be circus performers - either to make the doll Francine laugh, or to terrorize humans. As a result, their programming has a number of {{Logical Weakness}}es that can be exploited:
13	** An automaton will use its full speed for self-defense against armed threats, but will slow down significantly against the "audience" (humans) so that they can see their incoming death and have the time to be properly terrified. An unarmed [[BareFistedMonk martial artist]] such as Narumi and Liang-Ming Xia is classified as "audience", despite the fact that it can fight the automaton with their bare hands.
14	*** There's one specific aversion: [[spoiler:Narumi]], after getting heavy cybernetic enhancements, is no longer considered human, but a weapon.
15	** A puppet is considered a circus tool, not a weapon; this applies even to puppets that wield weapons. Therefore, Shiroganes use weaponized puppets so that they will be classified as "audience".
16	** Automata are always researching new ways to improve their funny performances. Therefore, when faced against a proper circus performer, an automaton will instinctively analyze the performance in every detail - which negatively impacts their combat performance even further.
17	* AlasPoorVillain: The automaton Sylvestre dies regretting his loneliness and its disdain towards humans. Its killer tells it that, if they had met under different circumstances, he would have been happy to be its friend.
18	* BookEnds: The first chapter begins with Narumi working in a bear costume for the circus to entertain young passersby. The final chapter ends with [[spoiler:Masaru, now a young man, living in some European country and working in a dog costume for a cafe, to entertain young passersby, but he does his best to protect many innocent people with the martial arts he learned from Narumi.]]
19	* CreepyHighPitchedVoice: Most of the lesser automata have almost-annoying high-pitched voices even before they reveal their monstrous true forms.
20	* CurtainCall: In the omake of the final volume, every character of the series takes one last bow to the readers in the circus before they disappear on the final splash page.
21	* DecoyBackstory:
22	** Early in the series, Eleonore claims that she accepted Shoji's request to protect Masaru because he saved her family from poverty. During the Interrogation Arc of the manga, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Sadayoshi]] fabricated this backstory when he [[spoiler:impersonated her father Shoji.]]
23	** Commander Faceless claims in his dying moments that he hates automata because one of them married his childhood friend against her will and killed her when he tried to help her escape. His backstory is eventually revealed to be a complete fabrication when he comes back alive and exposes himself as [[spoiler:the fourth and last identity of Bai Jin, the creator of all automata and the main antagonist of the series, who has survived for two centuries by possessing a young relative of his. Early in his original life, Bai Jin kidnapped Francine a day after his older brother, Bai Yin, married her. When she reunited with her husband, she killed herself because she couldn't live with her nine years of living with another man.]]
24	* FantasticMedicinalBodilyProduct: A Shirogane's blood can heal people if ingested, and might even grant long-term enhanced healing abilities. For automatas, however, it's essentially an acidic poison.
25	* FiendishFish: The cavern system near Kuroga Village has a giant underground lake that hosts the local god, a gigantic river fish who tries to attack Masaru while he makes his way out of the lake.
26	* FixingTheGame: [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots Automaton]] [[MeaningfulName Jack Gambler]] is a FatBastard who claims that he can only be fought by gambling against him in various games, and enjoys humiliating his opponents as they lose, boasting about his luck. However, as Ming-Xia finds out, luck means nothing against him, since he can actually control the result of each gambling game going on, so she just slugs him in the face with a Qi-powered punch while he's tossing the coin for the last bet.
27	* ForeignLanguageTitle: The series is written in Japanese but has the French subtitle ''Le Cirque de Karakuri''.
28	* HazyFeelTurn: [[spoiler:Arlechino, Pantalone and Columbine end up turning against the other automata, fighting for and alongside the humans they had previously been victimizing. Instead of coming from a change of heart, they are still fundamentally just following their programmed directives to obey Francine, but it's Éléonore giving them their orders now.]]
29	* HeroesFightBarehanded: Invoked. The main antagonists are the living alchemically-powered dolls known as automata. Unstoppable and deadly for any common mortal, they have a glaring weakness: since they're entertainers above all else, they won't use their superior speed or power against an unarmed opponent (audience, for them). The use of Chinese martial arts can disrupt their vital fluids and kill them, making them more vulnerable to bare hands than to conventional weapons.
30	* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:After all the dust has settled in the mansion explosion, it seems like both Narumi and Masaru have made it through. However, when Masaru turns his head back, he sees only Narumi's left arm remains.]]
31	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: While Shirogane is pretty average, Narumi is an enormous martial artist.
32	* HumiliationConga: [[KillerRobot Les Quatres Pionniers]], the main villains for the first half of the series, are eventually destroyed by the heroes. When the BigBad arrives, he has them rebuilt just so he can mock them for their failures. He doesn't give them new bodies like the other automata, so they are considered [[SoLastSeason antiquated]] and useless in battle. When they fight again, it's just to show [[TheWorfEffect how powerful the next enemy is]]. And while they used to be top brass, in the new hierarchy they are now bottom of the rung, something that even their previous automatic companions never fail to gleefully point out. This would normally be considered their just desserts, as they were depicted as cruel and merciless, killing humans by the thousands and holding mankind in contempt for their imperfections. However, the new villains [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains are far worse]], lacking even their redeeming qualities -- their loyalty to their mistress and curiosity toward human emotions -- and since they have their memories wiped and still take their new predicament in stride, the reader almost feel bad for them. Eventually, it's a mix of this situation, those qualities, and some contrived circumstances that lead them to [[HeelFaceTurn turn against their new master]].
33	* IncurableCoughOfDeath: The manga begins with Narumi's doctor explaining the Zonapha syndrome, which makes it painful to breathe until the sufferer makes someone laugh.
34	* MonsterClown: The Shirogane are dedicated to wiping out an entire group of evil clowns called, appropriately enough, the Midnight Circus. The clowns are actually automata powered by alchemy, and their clownish appearance is actually meant to invoke laughter in humans.
35	* OneSteveLimit: Zigzagged. Three characters, a puppet and two automata, share the name with the popular mask of CommediaDellArte Arlecchino. Namely, the first uses its French name Arlequin, the second uses the Italian one (Arlecchino) and the last one uses the English Harlequin.
36	* PhilosophersStone: The Soft Stone is used to created Aqua Vitae, "Water of Life", which is used in the creation of Shirogane. Among other things, it can grant supernatural resilience and long life, [[spoiler:especially if one dissolves oneself in it: whoever drinks the water afterward will inherit part of one's memories and personality]].
37	* PokeThePoodle: A pair of minor villains try to ruin the protagonists' puppet show. Not only do they fail, but the protagonists also work the few attempts into the routine.
38	* PunnyName: Shirogane-O are the Neo/New level of Shirogane. [[spoiler:When they reveal themselves as traitors, they drop the "Shirogane" part completely and simply call themselves "O"]].
39	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Arlecchino, Pantalone, and Colombine]] suffer a rather messy and undignified death while they are villains, but after being rebuilt and having a HeelFaceTurn due to new orders, they manage to die peacefully, having fulfilled the purpose for their existence.
40	* ReincarnationRomance: [[spoiler:Éléonore is the great-grandniece of the original Francine and inherited her memories from Aqua Vitae. Narumi inherits the memories of Bai Yin, Francine's husband, from Aqua Vitae after he disappears from Masaru's life. They become a couple at the end of the series.]]
41	* RestrainingBolt:
42	** Automata possess SuperSpeed but have the primary directive to bring terror to humans so that the "audience" (unarmed people) can see and fear them. This means that they cannot use their full speed against unarmed people: instead, they must move slowly enough to be seen by the average human. Additionally, puppets and bare hands don't count as "weapons" -- which means that automata can't use their full speed against puppeteers and martial artists.
43	** [[spoiler:"Les Quatres Pionniers" have another primary directive: to obey the automaton Francine. When Lucille uses a puppet with Francine's appearance and orders them to kneel, they immediately do -- even though their mistress is right there in the same room. It takes them several minutes to overcome their mental block]].
44	* StealthClothes: The Nakamichi family encounters the heroes as they wear stealth clothes; they were broke and desperate enough to resort to stealing. It becomes a BrickJoke when, after a long and dangerous action sequence ending with a car crash, they're arrested by a policeman who rebuffs their claims of innocence by asking why they're wearing those handkerchieves.
45	* ThanksForTheMammary: In a manga-only arc, Masaru gets accidentally drunk on saké and ends up groping one of the three older girls in the room with him, mistaking her breast for a door pommel. Soon enough, his male friend tries to make him vomit out the alcohol by jamming his finger in his throat while another girl holds him, but Masaru drops his head and he ends up poking the girl behind him right in her cleavage line.
46	* TrueCompanions: Narumi develops both romantic and filial feelings for Shirogane and Masaru respectively; when the latter two take off, they form a similar connection with Nakamachi Circus.
47	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:In a manga-only arc, a Shirogane's last words are that she regretted making the choice that allowed her to live for over two centuries.]]
48	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Masaru's relatives send elaborate, conspicuous, and highly destructive mechanical puppets to kill him, something that would be much more easily done with a sniper rifle.

Context Manga / KarakuriCircus