Narutaru: Mukuro Naru Hoshi Tama Taru Ko
Shadow Star☆

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Shadow Star (Narutaru) is a unique blend of Supernatural, Military, Action & Drama with a really promising story, which was let down by the way things concluded. Just like this mangaka's other works, Shadow Star revolves around kids but that doesn’t make it any less disturbing.

It all begins when an energetic young girl named Shiina Tamai discovers a star-shaped creature, whilst visiting her grandparents over the holidays. Ever since then she becomes involved in some strange and dangerous incidents, involving other kids who have similar creatures to hers. It is later explained that these things are known by the term Dragon Child/Shadow Dragon and the ... kids themselves are mentally linked with their respective Dragon Child, allowing them to do what they want with them. Shadow Star is just one of those manga where you are left in the dark about all the important stuff and it just shuffles between Military and Dragon Child issues. Although when it does explain things, the explanations can leave you with a feeling of bewilderment. At least it is possible to grasp an understanding of what this manga is all about and the story finally gets interesting, but being drawn back into confusion is inevitable once it reaches the halfway point. After the sudden change in the story, it just feels like trying to understand this confusing premise all over again.

The manga revolves mainly around a bunch of kids/young adolescence, all different in some way, but they share the same bond of being a Dragon Child bearer. Shiina Tamai is just one of the kids the manga focuses on and just like all the others, the reader will become familiar with their family & social life, as the story progresses. There are various other characters that come into play as you advance through the story, but not only can some be hard to figure out, there are also those who's motives aren't made clear.

Just like with Mohiro Kitoh's other works, the artwork of this manga has a similar style. Nonetheless this comes with its problems; the details of the characters are very inconsistent and some of the character designs lack any distinctive features so you can find yourself constantly wondering, "who is this again?" The military hardware and the Dragon’s designs are about the only note worthy thing about the artwork, having a lot of thought and detail put into them along with the scenery.

Overall Shadow Star is certainly a great read but when reading it; expect to experience lots of confusion whilst trying to comprehend the purpose behind the story. The story itself has a simple structure where each volume focuses on its respective arc. Though there are a few complications along the way and by the end you will be left with a bunch of unanswered question like: why are only kids Dragon Child bearers? And what was up with that ending? We’ve all heard the term "Kids can be so cruel…" Well that term is put into practice with some really intense and disturbing moments. If these words have put you off from checking out this fine manga, then there’s no point in giving it a try.

^_^

Narutaru was beneficial enough to have been made in an era where deconstruction series was gaining traction. If it were to made now, it'd probably be labeled as edgy without any mention of the actual quality of the story. It's notable that the genre being deconstructing is the Mon( Digimon, pokemon, etc) genre. Unlike magical girl and mecha shows of today, Mon anime are still generally fluffy and childish so a darker take on the genre was definitely in order.

Everything seems to be pretty standard at first. Protagonist Shiina meets a shadow dragon she names hoshimaru and quickly bonds with it. They go flying ... together and have fun adventures. For about one episode. She meets a boy who wants to use his shadow dragon to kill anyone he deems useless to society to create a better world. His sick grandmother is on the list. Things end badly and Shiina soon loses her innocence.

To give a little backdrop on the creator Morioh Kitoh, he's pretty much a nihilist that rivals gen urubuchi in cruelty. His other works include a giant robot that steals the life force of children to destroy the multiverse and a psychic who mass murders anyone who drives irresponsibly. He's that type of guy.

The manga is definitely a character-driven tale that dwells deep into the psyche of highly disturbed children. You have Akira who has depression and suicidal tendencies, Aki Honda who raped a girl with a test tube and the girl in question who snaps and goes in a killing spree. You could say that all of this bleakness is a bit too much but honestly, it felt refreshing. Mon series are generally really cheesy with bland one more characters and a story that only exists to sell merchandise. Narutaru breaks the mold and presents characters who are multi-faceted and lifelike. Contrary to popular belief, children aren't always innocent and they can be just as cruel as adults.

One major gripe I have with the manga is the art. Morioh sure can write but his art really isn't winning any awards that are for sure. Character designs are bland and minimalist. I admit the military paraphernalia is drawn in extensive detail and the dragons have cool designs but that's about it. There are other manga artists that can do sketchy manga art perfectly but Moriah isn't one of them.

I also wasn't too particularly fond of the second half of the manga. It drops elements of deconstruction and character drama to replace it with military affairs. I understand the writer is a military nut but having chapters littered with walls of text of JSDF members reacting to the shadow dragon was just so tedious. It would've been better if the plot focused solely on the children and how their actions affect their environment.

I highly recommend anyone who's curious to please read the manga. It's dark but not pointlessly dark. It's a thought-provoking social commentary on the nature of humans and how far their cruelty can go. There's an anime adaptation that isn't as good buts still a fun watch. Even if it's unlikely I'd to see the anime get a remake with a bigger budget and completely adapt the manga.For similar works, check out bokurano, devil survivor and selector infected wixoss.

All the other reviews for this manga are positive, and I honestly can't understand why. The only thing I didn't think was total trash about this manga was the art, and that was "meh". Really, nothing is worthy of praise in this mess of a manga.

Characters - 4/10. All of them are unlikeable (except one or two). And NONE of them have any meaningful development. This wouldn't be that big of a deal (I mean, how many series has character development for side characters) except for the fact that whole volumes are dedicated to some characters, and still they don't develop. Of course the ... MC doesn't develop either.

The story - 3/10. Terrible, terrible storytelling. Reading through, my biggest impression was that the author couldn't decide on WHAT to focus on. And since he can't decide what to make of the manga, it fails to be anything. As a character study it fails because the author switches between characters way too much, and nothing seems to have a lasting impact on any of the characters. Also, the situations the kids are put in are so bizarre and extreme they are nigh impossible to relate to. As a fighting manga, it fails because the "enemy" seems to forget about their plans to capture/ attack the protagonist after one fight. They just.... forget. There was also hints of it trying to be a coming of age tale, but again it switches between characters way too much, and protagonist doesn't get any character development. Besides all of that, there are many plot holes and random stuff that happen in the manga for no apparent reason. So... yeah. The whole manga is pretty much just a bunch of weird characters interacting with each other, for 12 volumes. And all of it is pointless, too. Seriously, you can read book 1, skip to book 12, and you wouldn't be missing a thing; when the finale comes, you'll be just as confused as anyone else that read the whole thing.

All in all - 4/10. Narutaru is pretty much a pointlessly violent, incoherent version of Evangelion. But if you reeeeally want a dose of kids suffering in pain and misery, read Bokurano by the same author (he's obsessed with psychopathic kids). It has the same agony, but the story is infinitely better.