Puppet is a Taiwanese manhua by YinFu.
After losing his son Leaves 22 years ago, old woodcarver Bole Root is finally able to reunite with him by bringing him back to life in the form of a wooden puppet. Happy to be together again, father and son resume their family life for the first time in their small town.
Everything seems to be going well, except for the fact that there is a mysterious serial killer loose on town. It soon becomes apparent that things around town are not like they might seem at first...
Puppet contains examples of:
- Bad Liar: Fittingly as a reference to Pinocchio, Leaves is a terrible liar. Unlike Pinocchio, it's not because of his nose that characters know he's lying, but because he gets details wrong about things since he had been dead for 20 years.
- A Bloody Mess: In Chapter 3, Leaves is horrified when he finds Maple lying on the floor in what seems to be a pool of blood while Bole is holding an axe. It turned out that Maple simply bumped into Bole while the latter was holding red paint. This, for a second, makes it look like Leaves found out that his father is the serial killer in town.
- Creating Life: Bole can bring his creations to life apparently through sheer woodcarving skill alone, but it's noted that Leaves is the only one of them to have a soul. This is because, unlike his other creations, bringing Leaves to live involves magic that requires human sacrifices.
- Death of a Child: Leaves death 22 years before the story proper is what kickstarts the whole plot and prompts Bole to bring him back to life in the form of a wooden puppet. Losing him did a number on Bole, as he is seen in present-day willing to kill people in order to bring Leaves back to life.
- Expy: Detective Lestrade (full name Richard G. Lestrade) is an Expy of the character Inspector Lestrade from Sherlock Holmes.
- Family Theme Naming: All members of the Root family have names related to botany. Chapter 2 shows a few names of Leaves' ancestors, including "Bush", "Wood", "Green", "Oak" and "Tree".
- Fiery Redhead: Detective Lestrade is stated to be redheaded and shown to be quite short-tempered and aggressive.
- First-Episode Twist: The end of the first chapter reveals that the "vampire" who has been killing people around town and draining their blood is actually Bole, who needs human blood to keep Leaves alive as a living puppet.
- Foreshadowing: Bole goes with Leaves outside at night after they've been told that it's dangerous to go out since a "vampire" is out and killing people, but Bole doesn't seem worried despite his overall protectiveness of Leaves. This is because he is the killer, so he has nothing to worry about.
- Inspector Lestrade: The aptly named Detective Lestrade is shown to be investigating the mysterious murders that have been happening around town. He immediately distrusts Leaves as he meets him, saying that he can't be trusted since he's not a human being, arguing that Bole could use him to do bad things. He is right to suspect Bole, but for the wrong reasons. Bole doesn't seem to have any intentions to use Leaves to do bad things, but he is committing murders for Leaves' sake. Furthermore, his suspicions of Bole are unrelated to his search for the murderer, not connecting that they are one and the same.
- Knight Templar Parent: As the story goes on, it becomes apparent that Bole is really overprotective of Leaves. While some are natural reactions to having lost him once before (such as being worried about him doing errands around town all alone), he reacts overly violently when he believes Leaves wants to run away from home. Not to mention the whole "killing people to bring Leaves back to life" thing.
- Living Toys: Bole makes living toys, but Leaves is the only one who has a soul. This is because he is the only one created with some sort of magic that requires human sacrifices.
- Mayfly–December Friendship: Leaves and Maple were childhood friends before Leaves' death. After he is brought to life, they continue being good friends despite Maple being now in his thirties and Leaves being now an immortal 12-year-old wooden puppet.
- Super-Strength: Leaves is shown in chapter 3 to be able to chop trees on a single swing, likely as a side effect of being an Artificial Human.
- Tomato Surprise: The end of the first chapter reveals that Bole and the "vampire" that's been killing people around town are one and the same, and he's been killing people because he needs human blood to bring Leaves to life.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The villagers as a whole react to Leaves coming back to life after 22 years as a wooden boy with utmost normality.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Lestrade looks down on Leaves for not being human, refusing to even consider him a valid witness.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The plot of the story is heavily inspired on The Adventures of Pinocchio, with the added twist of the character taking the role of Geppetto brings his puppet to life not with the aid of a fairy, but rather with dark magic that requires human blood to bring Leaves to life.
