YMMV / Karakuri Circus

• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Why is George LaRoche frequently subjected to The Worf Effect? He's a Shirogane-O, therefore a cyborg. During the Battle of Sahara, it's revealed that Automata consider cybernetically-enhanced humans to be less "human" - which means that they'll be able to bypass their own Restraining Bolt and use more of their full speed against such opponents. So the Shirogane-O are more powerful than regular Shirogane, but unintentionally empower their opponents too. Of course, since most Os (with the exception of LaRoche) are actually on the Automata's side, this design flaw is irrelevant to them.
  • The cure of Zonapha syndrome is Éléonore singing. This makes perfect sense: the creator of Zonapha created it in order to force people to make others laugh, hoping that one of them would be able to make a certain person happy. If that particular person expresses joy, then Zonapha has no more reason to exist. That person was the automaton Francine, and Éléonore is extremely similar to both her and the original Francine.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The series was not too shabby in Japan, but when its French publisher stopped it, French manga fans on the Internet went utterly bonkers.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Fusae Nakamachi was a living one.
  • The time when Masaru and Shirogane spend time in Narumi's house. Narumi for one formed a filial bond with Masaru despite they have only met for a very short time.
  • 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.
  • Éléonore finally laughs and says the words she has always been seeking. "I love him. I love him so much."
  • The Stinger of the anime: We see a dark circus ring... then Arlequin and Olimpia, holding hands, rush in, bow... and the curtain rise, revealing all the members of the cast, good and evil, all joyfully smiling and thanking the spectators. Highlights include Dottore and adult Colombina carrying children on their shoulders and Eleanor holding hands with both Narumi and Faceless.
• Iron Woobie: Masaru. His mother was allegedly the mistress of the CEO of a big business empire and died when he was still in grade school. He was taken in by his father but bullied by his schoolmate because of his wealth. After his father died, he was given the inheritance that he does not want and became the target of his relatives who want him dead and his uncle who wants to kidnap him. When he finally has a Big Brother Mentor that truly cares for his well-being and a warm familial relation after such a long time of the abuse, the big brother disappears. And then he found out the reason for his adoption is to be his father's mind vessel to woo a girl and his grandfather wants him dead in the mistaken belief that his mind has already been taken over by his father. And he still finds a way to fight back and does not have any grudge against anyone that has wronged him.
• Memetic Mutation: "Gekkou", the first opening and third ending of the anime, is Bai Jin's Villain Song. ^Explanation Fans have noted that some of the lyrics (most notably "I want you to nod; even if it is just once / I want you to reach out like a mirror") disturbingly sound like it's from the perspective of the character in question.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Crossing with Heartwarming, when we find out Narumi is still alive.
  • "If you want you can call me...Shirogane!"
  • The first time Masaru Took a Level in Badass. In order: after having been beaten and tied up by his evil uncle, he sees Narumi and Shirogane about to get killed by a trap. He manages to pull a lever with his teeth to deactivate the trap, despite having two grown men trying to stop him; then he tries to escape his abusive uncle by jumping out of the window (which is at least a 4-story fall), preferring death to life in fear. He survives, accidentally knocking out a puppetmaster and saving Eiryo's life. He then tries to hire Eiryo as a bodyguard in exchange for a billion yen even though Eiryo was hired by the Saiga family to assassinate Masaru. Eiryo is legitimately impressed by his boldness, and the only reason he doesn't immediately accept the offer is that he's too honorable to betray his employers like that. Then Masaru shows him evidence that Saiga senior planned to kill them all — evidence that Masaru was hiding on himself the entire time, since the aforementioned beating, without his uncle noticing.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • 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.
  • Zonapha syndrome. At first, it's just hard of breathing unless you make people laugh. But then the second stage starts to break down your immune system. The ones who die at this stage are the lucky ones. Those who don't? The final stage completely locks your muscles up to the point beds are useless, leaving you frozen, your entire body constantly in pain, and worst of all, unable to die. 2000 children have the disease and the ones who made it to the final stage are stored in the basement, and the doctors have to take drugs just to keep on smiling due to no progress in curing it.

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