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EP. REVIEW: Karakuri Circus

This turn is especially odd because Shirogane getting injured was such a critical plot point back at the Karakuri Castle – it was specifically why Narumi “died” in the fire protecting Masaru, yet her having Aqua Vitae in her blood would suggest that this situation was completely contrived.

Until now, the manga chapters adapted are 1-30, 39, 98-102, 106-115

She seemed to think that if Masaru licked her blood, he'd acquire her healing abilities. Did he?

Having no legal way to access the entirety of “Karakuri Circus'” manga, I cannot verify the veracity of claims I've seen online that the Karakuri Circus anime has reached in only seven episodes what the manga took around a hundred chapters to cover, but I would certainly believe it.

I haven't had too many issues with the anime's compressed storytelling before, and while I understand how Karakuri Circus may feel less developed and satisfying to fans of the source material, I think the show is doing a solid job of adapting 43 volumes of manga into only 36 episodes, at least so far.

I can't deny that these narrative shortcuts make me wonder how much more satisfying the more evenly-paced version of this tale must be.

We learn that Shirogane is also a wielder of the healing powers given by Aqua Vitae, which becomes apparent when she takes literally dozens of Vilma's knives to her body, including one that gets lodged at least five inches deep into her skull. Perhaps all the talk about Narumi becoming a little-“s” shirogane should have clued me into this already, but it seems like a sloppy way to introduce such a significant aspect of big-“S” Shirogane's character. This turn is especially odd because Shirogane getting injured was such a critical plot point back at the Karakuri Castle – it was specifically why Narumi “died” in the fire protecting Masaru, yet her having Aqua Vitae in her blood would suggest that this situation was completely contrived.

Japanese representations of American geography often don't look like the originals. In Uchuu Kyoudai. Houston seems like a rather compact city with good public transit, but it's really a sprawling metropolis where cars are essential.

The first third of this episode gives us one of the most glaring examples yet of Karakuri Circus stumbling over the amount of material it's had to adapt in only nine weeks. It's a hot mess of mashed-together plotlines and hastily assembled exposition, and while it is technically coherent enough to get us from Point A to Point J, it sure is hard to ignore that we're skipping too many letters in between.

The episode begins by revealing that Guy, who's found battered but still breathing just outside Nakamachi Circus, is Shirogane's former teacher, the first person she remembers knowing and the one who brought her to be trained as the so-called "puppet who wields puppets".

Francine also happens to look identical to Shirogane, which works out just fine seeing as Bai Jin bears an eerie resemblance to Narumi. From here on out, it's pretty obvious where the story is going, but I happen to be a sucker for stories about reincarnation romance (you can blame Xenogears for that), so I was more than happy to watch these familiar-looking sweethearts fall in love. Even though they share our heroes' faces, they're incredibly different people – Bai Jin is much more inside his own head than Narumi, at least until he meets Francine, and Francine is a spirited vision of cheer and enthusiasm. Masaru and Shirogane's heartfelt exchange from the beginning of the episode does prime us for this unusual sight, though – our Éléonore could very well have been just as cheery if she hadn't had her entire childhood torn apart by a weird puppet cult.

Nodz wrote:

Until now, the manga chapters adapted are 1-30, 39, 98-102, 106-115

40-97 is one big cut, I wonder if they are trying to trim as much early on so they can adapt as much as possible in the future.

Might have missed it, but when in the episode did it suggest that Francine was raped over those 10 years?