History Manga / BlackParadox

** TheChick: Maruso. A seer and possibly the only unambiguously good character, she's soft-hearted and empathic, tries her best to save Piitan when his condition gets worse, and is the one who keeps the others alive and united. She also takes the role of Suga's love interest before Suga betrays her.

* LighterAndSofter: While still contain a lot of [[BodyHorror Ito's]] [[CosmicHorrorStory trademark]], the story actually is much lighter on the scare and is more plot oriented.

* {{Doppelganger}}: Taburo keeps seeing his, and believes that seeing it means that he's going to die. It eventually manifests as a shadow thay serves as his gateway to the other side

* EyeScream: When Baracchi starts producing paradonitw jewels from her birthmark, her eye is pushed aside.

** TheLancer: Baracchi. She collaborates separately with Taburo and Dr. Suga to use the Paradoxial Night. She's well-connected, suave, and intelligent, and only when her fellow schemers work with her does the plot go smoothly. The moment when they abandon and betray her, the plot goes south, even when it doesn't seem like that at first.

** TheChick: Maruso. A seer and possibly the only unambiguously good character, she's soft-hearted and empathic, tries her best to save Piitan when his condition gets worse, and the one who keeps the others alive and united. She also takes the role of Suka's love interest before Suka betrays her.

* LiterallyShatteredLives: Early in the story when Maruso is attacked by Robo-Pii-tan and Reflection-Barachi (whose true identiy she is oblivious about, believing them to be the real deal), Marisou instinctively grabs a nearby rock and hurls it at the latter. Cue Reflection-Barachi smashing into bits.

* XanatosGambit: At the end of the story, Maruso hatches the plan for her and the other Black Paradox members to keep serving Dr. Suga, while also unaffiliating themselves with the paradonite project, realizing that no matter what they try to do to stop him, he will still make doorways into the Spirit World, and see himself as righteous for doing so. Plus, even if people do discover what paradonite really is, they'll still use it anyway due to its effectiveness as an energy source, and because of it already being used on a widespread scale. Maruso realizes that the best course of action is to collect the parodonite, and preserve a good fraction of it to prevent total extiction, and protect their own souls when they find them. In the end, Dr. Suga will still be exposed publically, and meet a grisly end, regardless of if everything entirely goes to plan.

When four individuals, using the pseudonyms "Marisou", "Taborou", "Piitan", and "Baracchi" gather to commit suicide after meeting on a website called Black Paradox, they plan to go quickly and painlessly. However their plans seriously derail, as their first trip... isn't assembled properly, and their second attempt accidentally leads to the discovery of a doorway to another world, a world hosting precious stones. These stones are incredibly valuable and strong, and the riches they bring do a lot of good for the four's lives. However, their true nature becomes a pressing issue as more and more doors to the other world start to open and the Black Paradox four are forced to retrieve them...

* ApocalypseHow: Marisou predicts that humanity will cause its own extinction by using up all of their own souls.

* BalloonBelly: When the jewels build up in Piitan's stomach faster than he can vomit them up, his stomach distends grotesquely, which is played for horror rather than laughs. [[spoiler:Especially when he explodes.]]
* BittersweetEnding: Despite Marusou predicting that the harvesting of Paradoxical Night will stop before the human race goes extinct because of it, and that technology will be revolutionised by Paradoxical Night, many people ''will'' die from the exploitation of their own souls.

** On par with Ito's other mangas, as the Paradoxical Night jewels come out of various parts of the friends' bodies. Then Dr. Suka starts cultivating the tissues to keep the gateways open and allow them to expand.

* CastFromLifespan: [[spoiler:At the ending, it's revealed that this is what will happen to humanity as the cost of rapid technological advancement. As the Paradoxical Night stones are the souls of humans, using them as energy will burn out the life of the humans themselves to the point of extinction. Though, as Marisou's future sight has seen, humanity will survive this, only because they will realize this effect before too long.]]
* TheChewToy: Piitan and [[spoiler: robo-Piitan]].
* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler:The stone Taborou randomly found lying on the ground and hit, re-energizing the Piitan robot turns out to have been the original Piitan's soul all along--this is how Piitan-bot survived entering Paradise and the Baracchi-bot didn't]].
* {{Doppelganger}}: Taborou keeps seeing his, and believes that seeing it means that he's going to die.
* TheEeyore: Piitan [[spoiler:and robo-Piitan]].

* EyeScream: When Baracchi starts producing Paradoxical Night jewels from her birthmark, her eye is pushed aside.

** TheLeader: Dr. Suka. While arriving in the plot later than the other 4, he nevertheless has the most contribution toward the plot, finding the function of Paradoxial Night, making the gateway toward the spirit plane, and being the public face about the matter. [[spoiler:It's exactly because he's the most conspicuous that humanity will hate him immensely when they realize the [[CastFromLifespan affect of using Paradoxial Night]] as an energy source.]]
** TheLancer: Baracchi. She collaborates separately with Toborou and Dr. Suka to use the Paradoxial Night. Well-connected, suave, and intelligent, only when her fellow schemers work with her is the plot going smoothly. The moment when they abandon and betray her, the plot goes south, even when it doesn't seem like that at first.
** TheSmartGuy: Taborou. He's the main brain of the first scheme in using Paradoxial Night as a precious stone. He's also the first one who knows about the main power of stones, the one who suggests the get-rich-quick scheme, [[spoiler:and is savvy enough to quickly see that something is wrong with the plot and pulls a ScrewThisImOuttaHere]].
** TheBigGuy: Piitan. His contribution to the plot is being the gateway and continuing to enlarge it. He's the go-to guy to throw into something strange or unknown to see what's happening, and he's the main guy to get the stones for most of the story. [[spoiler:Being a robot is a plus.]]
** TheChick: Marisou. A seer and possibly the only unambiguously good character, she's soft-hearted and empathic, tries her best to save Piitan when his condition gets worse, and the one who keeps the others alive and united. She also takes the role of Suka's love interest before Suka betrays her.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: It is predicted by Marisou that Suka will at first be deemed as a revolutionary figure for discovering the uses for paradonite...only to then be tortured for leading humanity on a road to extiction.

* LiterallyShatteredLives: Early in the story when Marisou is attacked by Robo-Pitan and Reflection-Barachi (whose true identiy she is oblivious about, believing them to be the real deal), Marisou instinctively grabs a nearby rock and hurls it at the latter. Cue Reflection-Barachi smashing into bits.
* LivingShadow: Taborou is haunted by his own shadow. When he turns especially paranoid, he hides in complete darkness so his shadow can not exist. [[spoiler: As such, this becomes his door into the other world.]]
* MadOracle: [[spoiler:After Dr. Suka chains poor Marisou to her bed, her psychic intuition goes into overdrive, and takes her sanity with it, until the tumor is removed from her brain.]].
* MissingReflection: In chapter 1, Marisou eventually realizes that Baracchi has no reflection in the mirror. [[spoiler: Because this Baracchi ''is'' the reflection.]]
* NecessarilyEvil: [[spoiler:Paridonite will cause a massive energy and technological revolution that will aid humanity, yet will also slowly drive humanity extinct due to being their souls. When the others suggest simply not harvesting the stones, Marisou explains that if they do so, Suka will simply find/make more openings to Paradise. But, she notes, Suka will eventually be destroyed by his own breakthrough and they can protect their ''own'' souls (and implicitly enough to keep humanity extant as well), as long as ''they're'' the ones doing the harvesting]].
* NothingIsScarier: What did the doctor see of Piitan's pylorus that freaked him out so bad? We never see. [[spoiler:Presumably, he saw the afterlife.]]
* PerpetualFrowner: Piitan.
* PowerWalk: At the ending. [[spoiler:The four main characters, after witnessing personally the spirit plane and gaining understanding of the Paradoxical Night's true nature, listening to Marisou's foresight of humanity's destruction and Dr. Suka's inevitable bad reputation in the future. They're then called to do their job of taking more Paradoxial Nights. Keeping the knowledge to themselves, they stoically walk out of their room to exact their revenge by proxy toward Dr. Suka.]]

* ReplacementGoldfish: The Piitan everyone else interacts with in most of the story is his robot double; the real Piitan dies when his portal explodes out of his belly. [[spoiler:Given that Piitan's soul is moving the robot, it's more BodyBackupDrive.]]
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Robo-Piitan and robo-Baracchi.
* RobotMe: Piitan helps to design and build a robot modeled after himself. Ironically, when [[spoiler:Piitan]]'s own Paradoxical Night gets whacked by Taborou with a hammer, this trope becomes all the more apt.
* {{Seers}}: Marisou has a limited ability to see the future. It seems to come from the tumor in her brain. [[spoiler:When Dr. Suka removes her tumor from her brain, the operation instead 'clicks' her brain into place and empowers her further into TheOmniscient.]]

* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Baracchi produces the first Paradoxical Night stone she retrieves from here.
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Whenever Piitan vomits up one (or more) of the jewels.
* XanatosGambit: At the end of the story, Marisou hatches the plan for her and the other Black Paradox members to keep serving Dr. Suka, while also unaffiliating themselves with the Parodonite Project, realizing that no matter what they try to do to stop him, he will still make doorways into the Spirit World, and see himself as righteous for doing so. Plus, even if people do discover what paradonite really is, they'll still use it anyway due to its effectiveness as an energy source, and because of it already being used on a widespread scale. Marisou realizes that the best course of action is to collect the parodonite, and preserve a good fraction of it to prevent total extiction, and protect their own souls when they find them. In the end, Dr. Suka will still be exposed publically, and meet a grisly end, regardless of if everything entirely goes to plan.

* PeekABangs: Baracchi's hair perpetually covers one side of her face. Marisou realizes that the first Baracchi she meets is actually a mirror double when she has a different side of her face covered than she describes.

* TheChewToy: Piitan and [[spoiler: robo-Piitan]].

* HoistedbyHisOwnPetard: It is predicted by Marisou that Suka will at first be deemed as a revolutionary figure for discovering the uses for paradonite...only to then be tortured for leading humanity on a road to extiction.

* HoistedByHisOwnPetard: It is predicted by Marisou that Suka will at first be deemed as a revolutionary figure for discovering the uses for paradonite...only to then be tortured for leading humanity on a road to extiction.

* XanatosGambit: At the end of the story, Marisou hatches the plan for her and the other Black Paradox members to keep serving Dr. Suka, while also unaffiliating themselves with the Parodonite Project, realizing that no matter what they try to do to stop him, he will still make doorways into the Spirit World, and see himself as righteous for doing so. Plus, even if people do discover what paradonite really is, they'll still use it anyway due to its effectiveness as an energy source, and because of it been already being used on a widespread scale. Marisou realizes that the best course of action is to collect the parodonite, and preserve a good fraction of it to prevent total extiction, and protect their own souls when they find them. In the end, Dr. Suka will still be exposed publically, and meet a grisly end, regardless of if everything entirely goes to plan.

* XanatosGambit: At the end of the story, Marisou hatches the plan for her and the other Black Paradox members to keep serving Dr. Suka, while also unaffiliating themselves with the Parodonite Project, realizing that no matter what they try to do to stop him, he will still make doorways into the Spirit World, and see himself as righteous for doing so. Plus, even if people do discover what paradonite really is, they'll still use it anyway due to its effectiveness as an energy source. Marisou realizes that the best course of action is to collect the parodonite, and preserve a good fraction of it to prevent total extiction, and protect their own souls when they find them. In the end, Dr. Suka will still be exposed publically, and meet a grisly end, regardless of if everything entirely goes to plan.

* XanatosGambit: At the end of the story, Marisou hatches the plan for her and the other Black Paradox members to keep serving Dr. Suka, realizing that no matter what they try to do to stop him, he will still make doorways into the Spirit World, and see himself as righteous for doing so. Plus, even if people do discover what paradonite really is, they'll still use it anyway due to its effectiveness as an energy source. Marisou realizes that the best course of action is to collect the parodonite, and preserve a good fraction of it to prevent total extiction, and protect their own souls when they find them. In the end, Dr. Suka will still be exposed publically, and meet a grisly end, regardless of if everything entirely goes to plan.

* XanatosGambit: At the end of the story, Marisou hatches the plan for her and the other Black Paradox members to keep serving Dr. Suka, realizing that no matter what they try to do to stop him, he will still make doorways into the Spirit World, and see himself as righteous for doing so. Plus, even if people do discover what paradonite really is, they'll still use it anyway due to its effectiveness as an energy source. Marisou realizes that the best course of action is to collect the parodonite, and preserve a good fraction of it to prevent total extiction, and so that they can save their own souls. In the end, Dr. Suka will still be exposed publically, and meet a grisly end, regardless of if everything entirely goes to plan.

* XanatosGambit: At the end of the story, Marisou hatches the plan for her and the other Black Paradox members to keep serving Dr. Suka, realizing that no matter what they try to do to stop him, he will still make doorways into the Spirit World, and see himself as righteous for doing so. Marisou realizes that the best course of action is to collect the parodonite, and preserve a good fraction of it to prevent total extiction, and so that they can save their own souls. In the end, Dr. Suka will still be exposed publically, and meet a grisly end, regardless of if everything entirely goes to plan.

* XanatosGambit: At the end of the story, Marisou hatches the plan for her and the other Black Paradox members to keep serving Dr. Suka, realizing that no matter what they try to do to stop him, he will still make doorways into the Spirit World, and see himself as righteous for doing so. Marisou realizes that the best course of action is to collect the parodonite, and preserve a good fraction of it to prevent total extiction, and so that they can save their own souls. In the end, Dr. Suka will still meet a grisly end, regardless of if everything entirely goes to plan.

''Black Paradox'' is a six-chapter {{seinen}} manga by horror master Creator/JunjiIto (author of ''{{Manga/Tomie}}'', ''{{Manga/Uzumaki}}'', and ''{{Manga/Gyo}})'', released in 2009.

* DrivenToSuicide: The four friends, which kicks off the strange events.

* YourCheatingHeart: Dr. Suka is romantically involved with both Baracchi and Marisou behind each other's backs.

* MissingReflection: In chapter 1, Marisou eventually realizes that Baracchi has no reflection in the mirror. [[spoiler: Because this Baracchi *is* the reflection.]]

''Black Paradox'' is a six-chapter {{seinen}} manga by horror master Creator/JunjiIto (author of {{Manga/Tomie}}, {{Manga/Uzumaki}}, and {{Manga/Gyo}}), released in 2009.

When four individuals, using the pseudonyms "Marisou", "Taborou", "Piitan", and "Baracchi" gather to commit suicide after meeting on a website called Black Paradox, they plan to go quickly and painlessly. However their plans seriously derail, as their first trip... isn't assembled properly, and their second attempt accidentally leads to the discovery of a doorway to another world, a world hosting precious stones. These stones are incredibly valuable and strong, however, their true nature becomes a pressing issue as more and more doors to the other world start to open and the Black Paradox four are forced to retrieve them...

''Black Paradox'' is a six-chapter {{seinen}} manga by horror master Creator/JunjiIto, released in 2009.

When four individuals, using the pseudonyms "Marisou", "Taborou", "Piitan", "Baracchi" gather to commit suicide after meeting on a website called Black Paradox, they plan to go quickly and painlessly. However their plans seriously derail, as their first trip isn't...assembled properly, and their second attempt accidentally leads to the discovery of a doorway to another world, a world hosting precious stones. These stones are incredibly valuable and strong, however, their true nature becomes a pressing issue as more and more doors to the other world start to open and the Black Paradox four are forced to retrieve them...

[[caption-width-right:350: The path to the afterlife can be more abstract than death.]]