I was browsing for new anime to watch and i found out this gem that not only is relatively new but i think it's way underrated as well. The anime i am talking about is called Karakuri Circus and aired at October 11 of 2018. Till now it has 7 episodes out but generally speaking it will have 36 episodes in total. Yep you heard right, 36 episodes not 12 or 24.
The studio behind it is called Studio VOLN not a very famous one and quite small i would say. They only have 5 anime under they resume from those 5 the 3 of matter. The other 2 were just 1 episodes anime so you could say it's more like a test for them. The only known anime they made is called Ushio to Tora which is also an awesome anime if you want my opinion and i suggest you go watch that too.
Plot & History
While i was searching for anime to watch i kept thinking why i haven't seen one that is related to puppets. You may think what's wrong with me :P but bare in my mind that Japan has a tradition in puppets that are called Karakuri. As you can see by the tile of my post the anime has the exact same name so it is revolving around that matter (imagine how happy i was when i found it).
History
Briefly, before i start explaining the plot let me tell you what the karakuri puppets mean for Japan. Karakuri puppets are Japanese mechanized puppets or automata made back at 17 century and was mainly used for entertainment purposes. They had 3 different purposes for them, theater which is purely entertainment as i said, festivals which can be religious festivals sometimes and also in their houses but back then at rich houses.
It was so popular that for some years it was the only form of entertainment and the only thing you could find in theaters. That's why if you watch a theatrical play today in Japan it will be way different than everywhere else and it seem more robotic, mechanized because they are still influenced by the Karakuri theaters!
Plot
The protagonist Masaru has inherited a big fortune from his father but people and relatives wanna obtain that fortune are ready to do everything they can in order to get it. Masaru is a kid and trying to get away from the ones that wanna catch him only carrying with him a big bag that his grandpa told him to always have with him and also to search a certain person.
Soon enough he meets Narumi who is dressed as clown and seem to have a rare syndrome which called Zonapha syndrome. The syndrome cannot be heal and the only way to deal with it is make other people laugh at specific times or he gonna face extreme pain and even death. That's why he is dressed as clown and try to make others laugh. Narumi meets Masaru by trying to make him laugh and as soon as some mysterious men try to abduct the child he protect it with his martial art knowledge.
While fighting he discovers that these are no ordinary humans, as a matter of fact they are no humans at all, they are puppets that looked like humans and are controlled by someone. Some things happen and they end up in a circus in where Shirogane is that she is sworn to protect Masaru. Masaru gives the bag to her and inside is a huge puppet that only Shirogane can control perfectly. So expect many fights between humans and puppets or puppets with puppets!
Conclusion & My Thoughts
Generally speaking the animation is good although the manga is pretty old. The fight scenes are awesome and you can expect to see some blood too. The protagonists are all very cool and have different personalities that are developed in each episode. The whole puppets fights are in a whole other level for me. The only drawback for me is that the anime seems to be progressing pretty fast. I haven't read the manga so i don't really know whether that's true or false but still is seems to me it moving too fast. I will rate it given the 7 episodes i have seen cause till is ends either it would give much or the opposite.
My Rating would be 7/10
images 1 2 3 4 5 6
