Have you ever heard of an anime about circus performers fighting to the death? Yeah, me neither, until I stumbled upon Karakuri Circus. As a fan of shonen anime, I was pleasantly surprised by the unique concept of this series.
Karakuri Circus is definitely over the top. But that’s what makes it so damn entertaining. You have to let go of any expectations of realism and just enjoy the ride.
Both the anime and manga of Karakuri Circus are finished. The anime adaptation, which ran from October 2018 to June 2019, wrapped up with a clean ending.
It has some major strengths and weaknesses, so let’s take a closer look at the anime and see if it’s worth checking out.
Is Karakuri Circus worth watching?
Opinions are very divided on this one. Some folks absolutely loved it, while others thought it fell short of the source material. Personally, I think this anime is creative, and the story is full of interesting ideas and moments.
But it feels like they breeze by too quickly to really hit you with the impact they deserve. And the same goes for the characters – there are so many of them, but few get enough screen time to shine.
Despite having some flaws, Karakuri Circus anime is worth watching. It’s like a diamond in the rough, and if you can get past the rushed pacing, there’s a really interesting story to be found here.
The art is very well done in the anime. It has this old-school feel to it that I love. Every scene and characters are so detailed and unique that you can tell the animators put a lot of effort into making them stand out.
So, if you’re a fan of shonen anime and don’t mind a few flaws, I’d say give it a shot!
Is Karakuri Circus anime adaption faithful to the manga?
There are moments when the anime shines and delivers, but then there are times when it falls flat on its face. As someone who’s read the manga, it’s clear that the adaptation cut out a ton of content to fit the story into 36 episodes.
The anime adaptation of Karakuri Circus is not very faithful to the manga, as entire arcs are skipped over, and the introduction and development of many characters are nonexistent.
The main story and character objectives are there, but it rushes through so much material that it feels more like an abridged version of the story than an adaptation.
To make matters worse, some characters are randomly thrown at you with little explanation or context. I found myself feeling confused about a lot of things because many explanations were simply not given.
How many seasons of Karakuri Circus are there & will it continue?
Karakuri Circus was a super popular manga series that had a great run for almost a decade. It finally came to an end on May 31, 2006, after the publication of a whopping 426 chapters.
In 2018, a Japanese animation studio called Studio VOLN decided to adapt the series into an anime television series.
Karakuri Circus anime has a single season with 36 episodes, which aired from October 2018 to June 2019 and concluded with a clean ending, indicating that it’s unlikely to get another season.
The anime had a continuous run from 2018 to 2019, although some sites have broken down the one season of 36 episodes into three seasons of 12 episodes each.
Karakuri Circus Plot
Karakuri Circus is a story of three people from different backgrounds whose lives become intertwined as they uncover the secrets of an ancient tale full of love, betrayal, and a never-ending war between humans and puppets.
Karakuri Circus follows the story of Narumi Katou, a middle-aged man with a rare disease that can only be cured by laughter. He crosses paths with Masaru Saiga, who is on the run from his own family members.
As it turns out, Masaru is the new owner of his father’s company, and some family members want him dead to get their hands on his inheritance.
Narumi, being the good guy that he is, decides to help the kid and finds himself battling against some superhuman puppets controlled by his pursuers.
Just when things are looking bleak, a white-haired girl named Shirogane appears out of nowhere and joins the fight, summoning her puppet from Masaru’s suitcase. And that’s just the beginning of this wild ride!
About Karakuri Circus
Karakuri Circus is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiro Fujita. It was serialized in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine from July 1997 to June 2006, with its chapters collected into 42 volumes.
The story is centered around a young boy named Masaru Saiga, a young boy who inherits a massive fortune and aspires to become a puppeteer, Narumi Kato, a kung-fu expert who suffers from Zonapha syndrome (a strange illness that stops his breathing unless he makes people laugh), and Shirogane, a silver-haired woman and Masaru’s caretaker who controls the puppet Harlequin.
They must fight against the battling automatons (auto-mannequins) and save the world from the Zonapha syndrome.
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