History Manga / Kuro

* BodyHorror: Kuro can do some really weird stuff.
** What happens to the monsters' victims. It's only been demonstrated on animals so far, but one can fill in the blanks for what happens to a human.

* CharacterTitle

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:The readers' reaction to the ending was pretty much a universal "what?". What seems to happen is that Kuro kills every named character except Coco, but it turns out to be AllJustADream. Kuro then sacrifices himself to turn Coco back to normal, and his body crumbles away as a result. But then somehow, in the middle of what's supposed to be the happy ending, where Coco is cured of her self-deception and is surrounded by all her friends, Kuro shows up once again as a normal cat. So, is the happy ending a hallucination and Kuro really ''did'' kill everyone? But that doesn't quite make sense either, since the only people in the mansion were Maria and Milk, yet we also see Kuro kill the doctor and Brenda. It's just one big MindScrew.]]

* PuppeteerParasite: When monsters die as a natural part of their life cycle, they expel a bunch of black worm-like creatures from their dead bodies. This worm infects a host, gaining control of the host's body and feeding off of it for nutrients. Eventually, the host will become "Possessed" (i.e, the host ends up becoming another monster). So far we've only been shown what happens when a worm infects a dead animal. The townspeople assumed that Kuro was a Possessed, however [[spoiler:Doctor theorizes that Kuro is the result of a worm infecting a gravely injured but still living animal, resulting in a sort of previously-unseen symbiotic relationship, wherein the host body undergoes dramatic physical changes while also retaining its memories.]]

* WeirdnessCensor: Coco doesn't seem to notice that Kuro is not a normal cat and apparently can't see the monsters. {{Justified}} in that Coco didn't receive the vaccination that'd allow her to see the monsters [[spoiler:and because she actively denies anything is strange about Kuro.]]
* YouthfulFreckles: Sesame.

* {{Bishonen}}: Coco's father as seen in flashbacks.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Has one in the form of the author's subsequent manga, ''Shadows House''. [[spoiler: They may also take place in the same universe.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:The readers' reaction to the ending was pretty much a universal "what?". What seems to happen is that Kuro kills every named character except Coco, but it turns out to be AllJustADream. And then Kuro sacrifices himself to turn Coco back to normal, and his body crumbles away, but then somehow, in the middle of what's supposed to be the happy ending, where Coco is cured of her self-deception and is surrounded by all her friends, Kuro is there and he's a normal cat again. So, what, is the happy ending a hallucination? And Kuro killing everyone is what really happened? But that doesn't quite make sense either, because only Maria and Milk were at the mansion, but we also see Kuro kill the doctor and Brenda. It's just one big MindScrew.]]
** [[spoiler:The epilogue clears things up a bit. It seems the monstrous part of Kuro merged with Coco so they would always be together but she could live a (relatively) normal life.]]

* {{Hikikomori}}: [[spoiler:Coco seems to be starting to become one, having stopped going to town and drawing the curtains over the windows.]]

* MyBelovedSmother: Milk's mother is like this, at least as far as anything to do with the mansion goes. [[spoiler:Since she only survived the previous mayor/flower gatherer's ill-fated attempt to expand the mansion grounds because she showed up late for her job as a maid there, and actually saw one of the victims being killed, she has a fair reason]].

* NoodleIncident: Some "incident" happened at Coco's manor when her parents were still alive, or possibly even before they were born. Whatever happened caused the townspeople to become deeply mistrustful of the manor. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler: the town mayor had ordered the land adjacent to the manor to be taken back from the monsters. Those woods were cut down and the land was treated to keep the monsters away, but when a celebration was held on that land, the monsters found a way to massacre a bunch of villagers, including the mayor. That land was sealed off, but for many people, the manor is still a grim reminder that they aren't as safe as they like to think.]]

* PuppeteerParasite: When monsters die as a natural part of their life cycle, they expel a bunch of some sort of black worm thing from their dead bodies. This worm infects a host, gaining control of the host's body, as well as using it for nutrients. Eventually, the host will become another monster. Afflicted parties are called the Possessed. So far we've only been shown what happens when a worm infects a dead animal. The townspeople assumed that Kuro was a Possessed, however [[spoiler:Doctor theorizes that Kuro is the result of a worm infecting a gravely injured but still living animal, resulting in a sort of symbiotic relationship that has never been witnessed before where the host body undergoes dramatic physical changes but retains its memories.]]

* TheSymbiote: [[spoiler:Doctor theorizes that a black worm formed a symbiotic relationship with the original Kuro, when the cat was seriously injured but not dead.]]

* TraumaInducedAmnesia: The doctor thinks that the reason why Coco is so upbeat is because the she's forgotten the "accident". Coco herself never shows any inclination to wonder where her parents are. Brenda discovers a large build up of dust in and around her parent's room, which, compared to Coco's otherwise immaculate house, implies Coco has been subconsciously avoiding anything about her parents. [[spoiler: However, Coco appears to be aware of what happened but is in deep, deep denial.]]

* WeirdnessCensor: Coco doesn't seem to notice that Kuro is not a normal cat and apparently can't see the monsters. Justified in that Coco didn't receive a vaccination that'd allow her to see the monsters and [[spoiler: she is aware of Kuro's strangeness but is in denial.]]

* [[spoiler:{{Yandere}}:]] [[spoiler: Downplayed with Milk. She sees Kuro as an obstacle preventing her from achieving a closer friendship with Coco and tries to kill it. Coco doesn't take that very well.]]

* DavidVersusGoliath: [[spoiler:After what we've seen Kuro do to other monsters, the horror of seeing little Milk come after him with a knife lies '''not''' in how''she'' might harm ''him''. Also, the doctor and his pistol when he's attempting to defend her from Kuro's anger. They're both lucky Coco showed up]].

* [[spoiler:{{GainaxEnding}}:]] [[spoiler:The readers' reaction to the ending was pretty much a universal "what?". What seems to happen is that Kuro kills every named character except Coco, but it turns out to be AllJustADream. And then Kuro sacrifices himself to turn Coco back to normal, and his body crumbles away, but then somehow, in the middle of what's supposed to be the happy ending, where Coco is cured of her self-deception and is surrounded by all her friends, Kuro is there and he's a normal cat again. So, what, is the happy ending a hallucination? And Kuro killing everyone is what really happened? But that doesn't quite make sense either, because only Maria and Milk were at the mansion, but we also see Kuro kill the doctor and Brenda. It's just one big MindScrew.]]

''Kuro'' is a supernatural mystery manga by Somato (who would later go on to create ''Manga/ShadowsHouse''), which ran in ''Tonari no Young Jump'' from 2011 to 2016.

The manga focuses on a young girl named Coco and her pet cat named [[CharacterTitle Kuro]], living together in a large mansion on the outskirts of town. The story details their day-to-day life and their interactions with friends from town. However [[SurpriseCreepy darker things]] hide in the background, with monsters prowling in [[DontGoIntoTheWoods the forest]], Coco's [[DarkAndTroubledPast mysterious background]] and Kuro being no ordinary cat...

* MulticoloredHair: Coco's hair is black with purple highlights/tips.

''Kuro'' is a SliceOfLife manga by Somato, starring a young girl named Coco and her pet cat named [[CharacterTitle Kuro]], living together in a large mansion on the outskirts of town. The story details their day-to-day life and their interactions with friends from town. However [[SurpriseCreepy darker things]] hide in the background, with monsters prowling in [[DontGoIntoTheWoods the forest]], Coco's [[DarkAndTroubledPast mysterious background]] and Kuro being no ordinary cat...

* MyBelovedsmother: Milk's mother is like this, at least as far as anything to do with the mansion goes. [[spoiler:Since she only survived the previous mayor/flower gatherer's ill-fated attempt to expand the mansion grounds because she showed up late for her job as a maid there, and actually saw one of the victims being killed, she has a fair reason]].

* DavidVersusGoliath: [[spoiler:After what we've seen Kuro do to other monsters, the horror of seeing little Milk come after him with a knife lies '''not''' in what ''she'' might do to ''him''. Also, the doctor and his pistol when he's attempting to defend her from Kuro's anger. They're both lucky Coco showed up]].

* HairDecorations: Coco has a big pink bow on the right side of her head.

* PurpleEyes: Coco, fitting with her mysterious circumstances and association with the supernatural Kuro.