History Manga / ShadowStar

* ShootTheShaggyDog: The anime adaptation. Most of the cast goes insane and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dies in a generally unsatisfying fashion]], except for the [[BreakTheCutie main character]] and the vaguely established villains, who [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse vanish off the face of the earth]] around episode 10. Most of the plot points are LeftHanging, and noone seems to care much. The description that '[[StatusQuoIsGod nothing much has happened except that a few ineffectual people has died]]' fits the story like a glove, although this is because the anime only covers the first half of the manga, cutting off right before things start to get ''really'' bad. The manga, incidentally, may also count as this.

* AuthorAppeal: Kitoh ''really'' likes to draw bare feet. Every individual toe on display is lovingly detailed.

The story is told from the viewpoint of twelve-year-old Shiina Tamai, after she acquires the aforementioned shadow dragon, which she names Hoshimaru. Merely being in this creature's company inevitably draws other young people with shadow dragons to her. Shiina, unlike the others, is not telepathically linked to her shadow dragon, and Hoshimaru seems to have a will and personality of his own; meanwhile, not all of the other "dragon bearers" have good intentions, for Shiina ''or'' the world at large. While the anime is [[LeftHanging open-ended to say the least]], the manga leads towards an almost [[GainaxEnding Gainax-type ending]]. Unfortunately, the official English release of the manga was not only flipped and censored, but also incomplete. This leaves English viewers no way to officially experience the half of the story that the anime didn't get to, although some unofficial complete translations do exist.

The story is told from the viewpoint of twelve-year-old Shiina Tamai, after she acquires the aforementioned dragonet, which she names Hoshimaru. Merely being in this creature's company inevitably draws other young people with dragonets to her. Shiina, unlike the others, is not telepathically linked to her dragonet, and Hoshimaru seems to have a will and personality of his own; meanwhile, not all of the other "dragon bearers" have good intentions, for Shiina ''or'' the world at large. While the anime is [[LeftHanging open-ended to say the least]], the manga leads towards an almost [[GainaxEnding Gainax-type ending]]. Unfortunately, the official English release of the manga was not only flipped and censored, but also incomplete. This leaves English viewers no way to officially experience the half of the story that the anime didn't get to, although some unofficial complete translations do exist.

* BondCreatures: The dragonets.

** Unlike most Mon shows, the series doesn't assume that all the children who get cute monsters are [[ChildrenAreInnocent automatically good]]. Some of the children in ''Shadow Star'' have the same misanthropic worldview as RealLife school shooters, and are only too keen to use their dragonets to hurt people they consider undesirable.
** The children have a psychic link to the dragonets and share their pain during the battles, leading to physical and mental trauma.
** The military gets involved when the dragonets begin to threaten the population, and the kids are caught in the crossfire.

* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: A seriously dark take on the trope. To wit, in order to link with a dragonet, a person must go through either a high-grade trauma in order to, or simply realize by themselves, that [[spoiler:[[MaddenIntoMisanthropy they're better off without anyone else to hurt them anymore]].]] The degree of which varies by individual.

* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: In the manga, Tomonori's corpse and his Dragonet are found by the military and experimented on. Last time they're seen they're hooked-up to machines that keep Tomonori from merging with his Dragon and turned into an Otohime, therefore keeping them half-dead.]]

** By the end of the first volume, Akira revelas to Shiina that when a dragonet links with their partner, it happens psychically, in form of visions and disembodied voices. This is repeated a few times when Shiina meets other dragonet users, despise such a thing never happening between her and Hoshimaru. [[spoiler:This pretty much reveals that Hoshimaru is not Shiina's dragonet at all]].

* GovernmentConspiracy: There's one keeping the existence of the dragonets under wraps in the manga.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Played with; [[spoiler: when Hiro-chan finally breaks, she uses her dragonet to go on a bloody rampage, killing everyone who ever wronged her. Then she moves on to anyone who stands in her way or she simply happens to dislike. However, she remains [[DissonantSerenity eerily calm]] through the whole thing, even as she attempts to kill Shiina's father. She just seems repressed to the point of being ''physically incapable of articulating her anger'' and can only channel it though the monstrous Oni.]]

** [[spoiler:Aki]] may have been an awful human being, but seeing her beg for her life and repeatedly apologize to [[spoiler:Hiroko's]] Shadow Dragon as she gets [[spoiler:raped to death]] gives the viewer a small sliver of pity for her.

* SealedWithAKiss: The very last scene of the manga shows [[spoiler: the son and daughter of Shiina and Mamiko kissing, with the implication that they are the last humans left on earth, similar to Adam and Eve.]]

* ActionGirl: Shiina’s not afraid to step in when it counts, even if Hoshimari can’t link to her.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: No characters are truly morally good, even those who seem like that at first are utterly [[BreakTheCutie broken]],[[KillTheCutie dead]] or both by the end.

* SurpriseCreepy: Bet you didn’t expect an anime with such a cutesy opening theme to be this gruesome! And don’t even get us started on the manga!

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Satomi does this to Shiina when they first meet, just because she overheard her making fun of the name of her school. [[spoiler:Much, ''much'' later, ''Akira'' slaps Shiina to get her out of an HeroicBSOD]].

* DeathBySex: [[spoiler: Genderflipped, because ''Takeo'' is the one who dies soon after he and Shiina have sex.]]

** Sudo and Komori are both considered particularly nice boys by the people who know them superficially, but are the secretly (well, not exactly secretly in Sudo's case) sadistic egomaniacs with dire plans for the world.
** Finally, [[spoiler:Shiina herself. After having her best friend Akira die in front of her and her mother and boyfriend murdered by angry mobs, all of it one chapter after her father's HeroicSacrifice, she finally [[BreakTheCutie snaps]] and decides to end the world by sprouting gigantic hands from the earth and bitchslap every single soul to death.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: Satomi develops a murderous grudge against Shiina that started just because the latter ''made fun of the name of her school''. In the manga, Sudo shoots two delinquents to death just for throwing a bag of trash into a river.

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Subverted with Tomonori Komori. [[spoiler:It's revealed some time after his death that he had a sickly mother he was taking care of, but the reader already knows by then that the sickly were among the sorts of people he wanted to kill off.]]

* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: In the manga, Komori's corpse and his Dragonet are found by the military and experimented on. Last time they're seen they're hooked-up to machines that keep Komori from merging with his Dragon and turned into an Otohime, therefore keeping them half-dead.]]

* AGodAmI: Sudo certainly thinks he is.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In the anime, [[spoiler:Komori is killed when Hoshimaru replicates his own Push Dagger and spears him with it (as opposed to the broken plane strut used in the manga)]]. A bigger example from both versions would be [[spoiler:the way Aki Honda is killed by Oni, mirroring the way she tortured Hiro-chan]]. It's interesting to note how the anime plays this up ''twice''. While Oni merely used its claws in the manga, in the anime it transforms its finger into the shape of the infamous test tube before doing the deed.

* ImportantHaircut: [[spoiler:Akira gives herself one of these early on, after Komori tells her she's got beautiful hair.]] In the manga, [[spoiler:Shiina, after having used pigtails for a good part of the story, gets her hair cut to bob length upon entering junior high; by that time, we see that Akira has let hers grow again.]]

* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Sudo, Komori, and Hiro-chan except for Shiina.

%%* ManipulativeBastard: Sudo, [[spoiler: Takeo]].

* OffModel: The car chase scene in episode six of the anime. Sudo apparently drives three different cars, and the patrol car keeps changing.

* OlympusMons: [[spoiler:Sheol, a.k.a. the Earth itself]]

** [[spoiler:When Hiro-chan snaps, the first people she kills with Oni are her own parents]]. Also, [[spoiler:Sudo ''may'' be responsible for the "disappearance" of his parents and older brother]].
** [[spoiler: Komori might have allowed his ill mother to starve to death.]]

* ShoutOut: The chapter Komori appears is titled [[Music/TypeONegative Black No. 1]].

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Sudo and Komori both have their own plans that involve this.

* WeCanRuleTogether: Portrayed more credibly than usual. [[spoiler: Akira and Shiina receive offers from Hiroko (Shiina), Sudo and Komori (Akira). None go well.]]

* WhamEpisode: While Akira's introductory chapter/episode makes things quite a bit darker than they initially appeared, it's her and Shiina's encounter with Komori that sets the true tone of the series. Hiro-chan's arc and volume 10 of the manga deliver big whams, too.

Definitely [[JustForFun/IReadThatAs not to be confused with]] the sequel novel to the movie ''Film/{{Willow}}'', which is also called ''Shadow Star''. Nor with a certain [[Manga/Naruto ninja series] whose name is similar to its original title.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:At the end of the manga, Sheol squashes pretty much all of humanity to death, with the only survivors being Shiina and Mamiko.]]

Definitely [[JustForFun/IReadThatAs not to be confused with]] the sequel novel to the movie ''Film/{{Willow}}'', which is also called ''Shadow Star''.

* MamaBear: Jane Franklin's son Robert is an IllBoy who has been captured by the military alongside his dragon. His ActionMom joins forces with Takeo and Shiina, and she will NOT stop until she rescues her kid. [[spoiler: Heartbreakingly, she succeeds in getting Robert back... but the poor boy falls victim to his illness in her arms.]]

* CuteAndPsycho: Akira, to some extent, being a sweet and shy girl… Who‘s clearly suffering from the sexual abuse her dad has given her.

%%* GovernmentConspiracy: In the manga.

%% * MoodWhiplash