Manga / Shadows House

The Lady and her soon-to-be "face".

Shadows House is a manga by Somato, author of Kuro. Starting out as a Slice of Life story, but gradually accumulating more elements of mystery and horror as it goes on, it follows Emilico, a young and cheerful doll who serves Living Shadow Kate. The manga has both a standard black and white version and a colorized version, with the colorized version getting a regular release, something very rare for colorized manga. The official English release is the black and white version.

The faceless family of Shadow nobles live in a vast mansion, attended by "Living Dolls" who spend much of their time cleaning up the soot endlessly emitted by their mysterious masters. As one of these Dolls, in addition to being her maid, Emilico is expected to become Kate's "face" once her mistress is old enough to be introduced to the other residents of the mansion. Emilico believes that all she needs to do is work hard and make Kate happy, but things in the mansion aren't that simple or pleasant...

The manga began serialization in the seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump in 2018, and is ongoing. In December 2021 Yen Press announced it had licensed the manga for release in North America, with the first volume released in July 2022.

An animated adaptation by CloverWorks was announced in 2020, premiering in April 2021, with a second season announced in September 2021 and premiering in July 2022.

Not to be confused with the video game series Shadow Hearts, or with shows like The Loud House or The Owl House either.

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Provides examples of:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The Star Bearers, somewhat; the Shadows in the children's building don't attend classes together, but if their faces perform particularly well, they're elevated to a leadership position and have the potential to be noticed by the Great-Grandfather. They're also allowed to know about their soot powers and the process of 'awakening'.
• Actor Allusion: Jad Saxton once again voices a doctor that is slammed into the chaos of dealing with a deadly outbreak of monsters.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Several instances in the anime.
  • The Great-Grandfather and his advisers, as well as Edward and his friends, first appear in The Stinger at the end of episode 3 (which adapts up to chapter 16). In the manga, Edward first turns up in chapter 22, the Great-Grandfather and his advisers in chapter 28, and Edward's friends in chapter 36.
  • Shirley as a morph appears far earlier in the story as part of the anime-original ending. This also ends up giving away the reveal that both Rum and Shirley survived the debut trials immediately after the debut ended, far earlier than when the manga showed it.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: The Robe doesn't appear in episode 4, which adapts the mini-arc that first introduced them; Rum instead gets spooked by the appearance of a faceless doll, which sends her running away. The announcement video for S2 revealed they would debut there.
• Aerith and Bob: Emilico and Rum stand out against a number of other more ordinary Western names. Rum did name herself, however.
• Alien Catnip: Suzanne and John loosen up a lot after drinking coffee in Chapter 125, prompting Shaun to wonder if they're drunk on it, and comes to the conclusion over-drinking coffee has an euphoric effect on Shadows.
• All of the Other Reindeer: The timid Rum is bullied by many of the other Living Dolls due to the fact that her Shadow barely acknowledges her. It's so bad that she talks to her pinky finger for company.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: The inhabitants of the mansion are all nobles (albeit with no actual titles used as of yet), and while some of the younger ones aren't so bad, the ruthless position-jockeying encouraged among their number turns many of them into this as they get older.
• Asteroids Monster: If the soot generated by the Shadows isn't properly cleaned and disposed of, it gathers together and starts spawning animate blobs called 'Scorches' (or 'Clingers' in the fan translation), that try to latch onto and kill the dolls.
• Awful Truth: The Living Dolls are actually human children who are mind-wiped by the Shadows. Furthermore, undergoing 'unification' with a Shadow kills them. Learning both of these drove the former pride of the Star Bearers, Christopher, to take his own life.
• Bifauxnen: The Shadow Maryrose wears a frilly shirt and breeches unlike the fancy dresses favored by the other female Shadows, many of whom think she's cool.
• Big Bad: The Great-Grandfather of the Shadows is building up to be this, using his soot to brainwash the dolls - and their Shadows by extension - into fawning loyalty towards him.
• Big Fancy House: The Shadows House is a gigantic mansion composed of two large buildings, each of which consists of many rooms and halls.
• Bittersweet Ending: The debut trials. Emilico gives Rum the courage to approach and befriend her Shadow, and makes it to the finish line with Kate in the nick of time...but Rum and Shirley don't. Shirley falls apart as a result, and Rum is taken away to be made into one of the faceless servant dolls.
• Black Comedy: Louise sculpting a Scorch out of soot in a world where soot regularly comes to life and creates havoc is a bit...
• The Blank: The Shadows look like nothing more than living silhouettes with clothes and hair decorations.
• Blank Slate: A Doll whose Shadow breaks apart is turned into one of these by being forced to drink soot-laced coffee for thirty days, wiping their memories and reducing them to a 'faceless doll' servant seemingly incapable of speech.
• Body Horror: The sight of what happens when a Shadow and Living Doll's fusion fails. A spidery black mass (the Shadow) squatting on the Doll's chest, its tendrils reaching up the Doll's upper body, both Shadow and Doll dead.
• Booby Trap: The corridor that leads to the children's wing exit shoots arrows at anyone who tries to leave without permission. As Maryrose found out, however, this was a Red Herring. The door only leads to a cliff, and the true exit to the Shadows House is in the adult wing.
• Brainwashed: The Living Dolls are given coffee laced with soot from the Great-Grandfather that makes them rapturously loyal to him. The soot of the other Shadows is also shown to pacify humans.
• By Wall That Is Holey: When Emilico, Kate, Shaun, and John accidentally cause the collapse of one of the walls of the Research Team's building, it falls in such a way that they're all standing where the window was - except for John, who breaks through it unharmed.
• Cast Herd: You take your cast and multiply by two because they all come in pairs of Living Doll/Shadow. But each Living Doll and Shadow are part of at least one team/clique; and if you know one of either the Living Doll or Shadow, you can remember their other pairing.
• Cerebus Syndrome: At first, the manga focuses on Emilico trying to better herself as a maid and her growing friendship with Kate. Once they have their first meeting with another Shadow, however, the twisted nature of the mansion begins to come to light.
• Chaos Architecture: It's subtle if you aren't paying attention, but the layout of the Children's Building has shifted dramatically over the course of the series. Notably, the view from Kate's room in Chapter 7, including the vantage from which Emilico sees Barbie and Barbara walking on the bridge, is impossible given the current layout seen in more recent maps.
• Clothing Switch: In a manga extra from the anime Blu-ray release, Barbara and Maryrose exchange outfits for fun, but Barbara gets annoyed that Maryrose's clothes are too big for her.
• Connected All Along:
  • As more of the Living Dolls' memories return, they come to the realization that they all knew each other prior to entering the Shadows House, having come from the same village and even gone to the same school. The lone exception is Emilico, who instead came from a traveling circus that was in town the day before the selection and eventually befriended Shaun, Lou, Ricky, and Rum after she was fired.
  • Kate and Emilico also met each other on that same day through sheer coincidence. It was Kate's sudden appearance that caused Emilico to mess up her circus routine, leading her to befriend the other children and make her way to the mansion.
• Contemplate Our Navels: Some time after Emilico and Shaun are freed from brainwashing, they have a chance together to imagine what freedom might look like outside the Shadows House, wonder what their lives were like before they arrived, and reconcile their identities between their roles as actual humans and Living Dolls.
• Corporal Punishment: Mia is on the receiving end of this from Sara, who is nowhere near as kind a master as Kate. Even worse, she's internalized the belief that it's a way for Sara to 'better' her when she makes mistakes, so at one point she brings the cane to Sara and requests it.
• Cross Counter: John and Shaun exchange a classic one during their brief scuffle to free Shaun from the effects of the coffee.
• Cutting the Knot: In the maze, Kate is imprisoned in a cage suspended over a bed of thorns which is slowly breaking apart. They'll lose the trial if Kate's clothes are dirtied or Emilico's face is damaged, and the crane holding up the cage is locked by a key Emilico doesn't have. So Emilico cuts through the thorns with the shears that were given to her by Ricky, and catches Kate in the flower cart she brought when she falls out. However, they only have ten minutes to get back to the start of the maze at this point, which would be impossible on foot. Their solution? Use the cart as a makeshift raft to traverse the maze's waterways and launch themselves over the walls with Kate's soot powers.
  • Much earlier, John is trapped in a box with a lock that can only be unlocked from the outside. This was intended as a test for Shaun, but before he even finds the box, John blows it up with his soot power.
• Death of Personality: Shadows merging with their Living Dolls, if successful, will have this happen to the latter. The Shadow's personality will be the primary personality, while the human underneath serves as a vessel and disguise, nothing more.
• Decadent Court: The adult Shadows, and even some of the younger ones like Sara and Patrick, get up to a lot of scheming in their efforts to be favored by the Great-Grandfather of the mansion. 'Weak' or disloyal Shadows are implied to be weeded out quite often, mostly through the debut trials.
• Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Lewis informs Thomas of what Edward is doing in the Children's Building, and does the same for Edward regarding Thomas, but ultimately he's Anthony's pupil, setting things up to serve his ends.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • When initially confronted with Living Doll Emilico, Kate wishes she'd got her name when they first met, so she could help her start to remember, unaware Emilico didn't have a name then.
  • Edward assumes Kate is a normal Shadow and Emilico is a dangerous influence on her, unaware Kate was born human, and as such isn't a mimic like the other Shadows, so her plans for rebellion are entirely of her own accord..
• Early-Bird Cameo: Shaun, Ricky and Rum first appear in episode 2 of the anime, during Emilico's first venture outside her and Kate's rooms (chapter 8 of the manga), while in the manga Shaun and Ricky first appeared in chapter 16, and Rum in chapter 17.
• Empathy Pet: A human and justified variation. Proper Living Dolls are supposed to carefully time their movements to match their Shadow's emotions, in order to act as their face.
• The Fair Folk: The original forms of the shadows, known as Morphs, are referred to as such. They're shapeshifters who normally lack an individual personality until they begin mimicking humans.
• Food Porn: The buffet of desserts from the first half of the debut.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Early in the story, Emilico asks Kate if she is human. Kate deflects the question. Much later in the story, it's revealed that she genuinely isn't sure herself due to the unique circumstances of her birth.
  • It's established early on that Kate hates how she stains everything she touches. This makes much more sense with the revelation that she was born human and only began emitting soot after she turned 12.
  • When Emilico finds out that she can see Kate's face using a powder puff, Kate immediately stops her, because doing so would reveal that her face is different from Emilico's.
  • Both of the anime openings featured a mirror motif along with Kate, hinting at her true nature as Kate Mirror.
• Funny Background Event: During chapter 59, while the gang is mapping out the gardens of the Children's Building, there are several panels where John can be seen picking up a stick and playing with it in the background.
• Gecko Ending: From episode 11 the story goes on an anime-original route so to not end the season in the middle of a quite large arc, though it's made in a way that allows the second season to continue where it left off in the manga.
• Gendered Outfit: Both genders of Living Dolls, when they officially become a Face, wear a similarly navy-blue uniform with fishnets covering their arms. Where it differs is that for girls they have a dress and a white frilled collar, while the boys have shorts and a white wing collar. Before they are officially recognized as a Face, the girls have a frilly blue and white maid outfit while the boys wear a green patterned vest with a white shirt and blue pants.
• Gilded Cage: It quickly becomes apparent that Shadows House is this, for Living Dolls and Shadows alike. Despite the luxurious facade, the house was designed so that no one save for the adults can ever leave.
• Gothic Horror: The story has many hallmarks of this genre, having a dark, mysterious atmosphere and taking place in a shadowy European mansion where mysterious beings made of soot are served by children they refer to as "Living Dolls". Main character Emilico and her assigned mistress Kate soon realize that things are not what they seem, and they gradually uncover several dark secrets hidden by the inhabitants of the mansion.
• Grand Theft Me: The Shadows and their faces are intended to eventually 'awaken/unify' by one absorbing the other. This enables the Shadow to switch into a human form at will. Also something of a Fusion Dance; while the Shadow's personality seems to be the primary one, the faces are trained to be loyal to the house so that the Shadow takes on this trait, since the Great-Grandfather's brainwashing soot doesn't affect them otherwise.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: The blonde Emilico is pure-hearted and kind to everyone.
• Hedge Maze: As the final step in determining their eligibility to debut, the dolls have to traverse one of these and return with their masters within a time limit.
• Hidden Purpose Test: During the debut trials, Living Dolls are asked if they know why the hall between two buildings of the house is quite long. The right answer is to not give one and state the "Living Dolls should not think any unnecessary thoughts" rule; the Shadows whose Dolls give the right answer start with a higher score than the rest of the group.
• Hit Me, Dammit!: John forces Shaun to hit him in order to snap the latter out of his soot brainwashing, but it takes some resistance before he starts hitting back.
• Human All Along: Turns out there was no such thing as "Living Dolls" at all. All the Living Dolls were humans who were taken from a nearby village and mindwiped using coffee.
• Humanoid Abomination: The Shadows, of course. They’re sapient soot who mimic other living beings, such as humans, and can absorb/merge the living being they're copying.
• I Don't Pay You to Think: “Living Dolls should not think any unnecessary thoughts.” The bigwig Shadows of the Great Grandfather's Third Floor even debate Edward's conduct of the debut where the Living Dolls have to think.
• Individuality Is Illegal: The Living Dolls are more or less forbidden to deviate from being exact clones of their shadows, and it's repeatedly stated that they shouldn't think about anything 'unnecessary'. Emilico's markedly different personality from Kate often gets her accused of being defective, and Louise takes offense at Ricky seemingly getting a crush on Lou. On the part of the Shadows, this is justified; the whole point of the current system is to have the Shadows bond to their Living Doll and be able to use them as their proper body, so if they are not on the same page there's a good chance the Shadow won't develop a personality, which was unfortunately Shirley's (seeming) downfall.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: Somato did a bonus chapter crossing over Shadows House with Kuro, featuring Coco and Kuro waking up in Shadows House. At least as far as Coco's concerned, it's All Just a Dream she has ten years after the main story of Kuro.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Living Dolls are actually children taken from other villages and brainwashed with the Great-Grandfather's Soot. They still retain their abilities and skills.
• Limited Wardrobe: Shadows, who are supposed to be the nobility, have a huge set of the same outfit. But they have to change thrice a day since their soot accumulates on their clothes as time passes.
• Living Shadow: The Shadows have the name and look, though they're actually fairy-like creatures made of living soot.
• Love Dodecahedron: John likes Kate, who can't stand him. Patrick has a crush on Emilico, and Sean may either like Emilico too or see her as a little sister, while she remains oblivious to both. Lou apparently likes Ricky, and Kate and Emilico share a close Pseudo-Romantic Friendship.
• Lyrical Dissonance: The opening theme of the second season "Shall We Dance?" is a pretty upbeat song, and the lyrics seemingly match the tune... But to someone who knows the story, the lyrics are actually horrifying, encouraging the listener to drink coffee whenever they feel doubt and to "stop thinking unnecessary thoughts" and "become one".
• The Masquerade: There’s actually a masquerade inside the masquerade. The villages near the Shadows House don’t realize the Shadows House is more than just a “helpful” family of nobles. And at the Shadows House itself, inhabitants of the Children’s Building don’t realize the inhabitants of the Great Grandfather’s Building are Shadows who merged with their Living Dolls.
• Meaningful Background Event: While Shaun and John explore the House with Kate and Emilico in Chapter 59, Shaun is seen playing with a stick. Later, it's revealed that the Morph that would later become Shaun was obsessed with a stick dropped by Kate, holding onto it even after taking human form.
• Men Use Violence, Women Use Communication: Kate and John break Emilico and Shaun out of their conditioning this way. Kate makes Emilico drink some water to flush the soot out of her, and then convinces her to think the situation through more. Meanwhile, John and Shaun have a fist fight to make the latter realize his humanity.
• Mind-Control Eyes: Emilico and the other dolls who drink Great-Grandfather's coffee have their pupils turn large and sketchy.
• Mirror Routine: Living Dolls are expected to do a version of this after their Shadow debuts, mimicking the Shadow's movements exactly and showing an expression befitting their emotions when they speak. It's more than a little unsettling in action given that the first example we see is Mia, a doll who Emilico had started to befriend, playing "face" for her Alpha Bitch Shadow, Sara.
• Non-Indicative Name:
  • The Shadows invoke the concept of a Living Shadow in their appearance, but instead of being silhouettes, they are biologically nearly identical to their Living Doll partners and can act independently. They appear to be connected to carbon: they emit smoke when irritated, leave ashes on anything they touch, and have soot-related superpowers. Also, ironically, by the House rules, it's the Living Dolls who are supposed to mimic their movements. The Shadows are revealed to be shapeshifting soot fairies called Morphs who copy human appearance and psychology while the Dolls undergo Death of Personality.
  • Living Dolls are told that they are highly advanced Ridiculously Human Robots who still need food and can be injured. When a Doll is beyond recovery it's treated as "broken". They are revealed to be Human All Along under brainwashing.
• Nonstandard Character Design: In contrast to all of the other Living Dolls, Barbie has a feral, fanged appearance with a large scar on her forehead. Barbie was badly injured when in one of Barbara's soot explosion at close range, which is why the latter is temporarily disqualified to be an adult.
• Ojou: The Shadow girls are all various types of this due to their aristocratic surroundings. Kate is closest to the classic type, Sara is a Royal Brat, Louise is Spoiled Sweet, and Shirley is reserved and lonely.
• Ontological Mystery: Every Shadow-Living Doll pair starts their life at the mansion on their own room, with little to no knowledge of how they came to be.
• Princely Young Man: John and Patrick, the two boys in Kate's debut group. John is earnest and gentlemanly, while Patrick is more of a Spoiled Brat.
• Raised as a Host: The origin of the Living Dolls - they're humans taken from villages near the mansion as children who have their memories wiped by the Great-Grandfather's soot. The Shadows that imitate them eventually fuse with their bodies.
• Really Royalty Reveal: Royalty might be overstating it but one such reveal occurs in Chapter 106. After spending the past few chapters regaining her memories, Emilico comes to the realization that she had met Kate before her admission into the Shadows House and goes to confront her mistress. Kate then reveals that she is a member of the Mirrors House who seeks to take back the Shadows House from the Great-Grandfather.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Kate calls out the Star Bearers for being manipulated by Edward.
• The Reveal: The Shadows aren't really human at all. The Dolls, however, are.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Scorches assembling to create Phantoms is not a naturally occurring phenomenon, because Phantoms are a lie Christopher made up to motivate cleaning. Maryrose created the monsters using her soot powers to cause chaos and hold off any children becoming adults.
• Shadow Archetype: Pun aside, Kate hypothesizes that Shadows imitate a part of their Living Dolls as part of their mimic nature, though not necessarily their surface traits.
• Significant Double Casting: Kate and Emilico notably avert this in the anime, being the only Shadow-Living Doll pair to not share a voice between them. Later chapters that were published following the first season's completion reveal that Kate isn't a Morph mimicking a human like the other Shadows, but rather is her own being separate from Emilico.
• Small, Secluded World: It takes several chapters for Emilico to even see parts of the mansion beyond Kate's bedroom. A glimpse of the world outside the mansion itself isn't seen until after the debut trials.
• Species Surname: All Shadow Masters are regarded as family, and while the manga uses Only One Name for everyone, volume summaries refer to Kate as "Kate Shadow" (Her actual name of "Kate Mirror" and her role as The Mole are revealed later on.), indicating that the rest of the House could be called in a similar manner.
• Stargazing Scene: In Chapter 62, Emilico and Shaun admire the night sky.
• Stepford Smiler: Mia acts like a Cool Big Sis to the other Living Dolls in her part of the mansion, but is viciously abused by her Shadow for failing to become a Star Bearer.
• The Stinger: Episode 3 has an after-credits scene with the Third Floor nobles asking Edward and his friends about preparations for the upcoming debut, and Edward thinking privately to himself about how this will be his big chance.
• The Symbiote: Under normal circumstances, Shadows are the Commensalism version; they mimic a living creature they spend a long time with, which is unaffected by their mimicry. When they imitate a human, they imitate their form and their ability to think. If a Shadow becomes unable to imitate properly, they typically can't return to morph form, and seem to die from emaciation.
• Theme Twin Naming: Of a sort - a Shadow is expected to give their doll a name like their own in some way, whether it be rhyming (John and Shaun) or a shortened version (Patrick and Ricky, Louise and Lou). Those who don't, like Kate and Emilico or Shirley and Rum, are viewed as strange. The Belle twins, however, are a traditional example of this trope.
• Third-Person Person: The Shadows tend to speak like this. Other than to show their status of nobility (a similar use to "I, [insert title]" in English), it makes the mimicry process easier and faster, as repetition of one's name convinces the Shadows to believe the identity is theirs. This is also listed as one of the rules, with Shadows required to refer to themselves using their names.
• Toast of Tardiness: Non-romantic version. Stella, one of the younger Shadows, is running with a piece of bread in her mouth because she's late for her debut... and crashes into Edward, her examiner. Her Living Doll Candy is running so close behind she crashes into Stella, and the two of them end up falling over backwards on the floor. The bread flies out of Stella's mouth and lands in Candy's.
• Town with a Dark Secret: Mirrorside, one of the villages that the Shadows provide with their soot charcoal, sends their children to work at the mansion in exchange. The children never come back and are made into the 'Living Dolls'. Additionally, the villagers themselves don't seem to be aware of this due to the soot smoke making them docile and obedient; in fact, they view their children being selected as the ultimate blessing.
• Unwinnable by Design: The debut trials are set up so at least one candidate will fail. Edward allows the dolls to take one item each from an assortment of gear into the maze...and Emilico only realizes when she reaches Kate that among them was the key to the crane holding up her cage. Fortunately, the two of them are able to find a way around it.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: To cure soot sickness, the best cure is water-induced vomiting. You can see the soot mixed with the water.
• Wham Line:
  • The final line of chapter 106, which flips everything we thought we knew about Kate and the Shadows House itself on its head.
    Kate: "My name is Kate Mirror. I came here in order to take back the Mirrors House."
  • Thomas revealing how Barbara's kept producing soot in chapter 136:
    Thomas: "Giving her poison and calling it a medicine for her wound was the correct choice! Wahahaha! This is how adults do things!"
• Wham Shot:
  • Mia talks glowingly about Sara to Emilico as the two of them take a bath...and then we see her back is covered in bruises.
  • Shirley disintegrating after she and Rum fail to complete the debut trials.
  • The Belles smashing the "coffee".
  • Robe being revealed to be Maryrose.
  • The other Robe being revealed to be Anthony.
  • An imp reverting to being a Morph with Shirley's cowlick, transforming into a ribbon resembling Rum's.
• Whole Episode Flashback:
  • Chapters 75 to 77 feature Barbara and Maryrose's flashbacks to when they were debutantes, illuminating certain aspects of current events.
  • Chapters 103 to 106 have the debutante class remember how they first met Emilico.
  • Chapters 107 to 114 recount Kate's origins, overlapping with the debutante class's story.
• Wrong Assumption: Maryrose assumes Kate is like her, a Morph who retains their memories from before becoming a Shadow, and so makes comments that hit Kate's feelings around her actual secret, that she's a Half-Human Hybrid who grew up human and turned into a Shadow, and is manipulating information to avoid drawing the attention of Shadows House, among other reasons. However, because Kate has yet to reveal her true secret at this point, the fact she doesn't contradict Maryrose cues the audience to think the other Shadow's hit on the truth.
• You Have Failed Me: And failures will be “disposed” one way or another. Sometimes to great cheer by everyone else.

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How nice!
How nice!
To be human. To be human.
How nice!