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なるたる [Naru Taru] #1
Shadow Star 1 - Starflight
Young Shiina Tamai becomes involved in a struggle between rival extraterrestrial factions vying for control of Earth after she discovers a starfish-like creature that she names Hoshimaru.
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 19, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 27, 2014
This review is for the entire 12-volume series.
Although it's notorious for becoming quite graphic in later series, it's very slow-paced and is not exploitative in any sense. If you want gore and sex, there are countless guro, horror and hentai manga that will provide much more than Shadow Star. Nothing really shocking happens until about the 7th volume which is censored anyway in the Dark Horse release.
Anyway, this series is completely unique. A real puzzle. It never, ever went where I expected it to, and I had a lot of expectations, given the familiar setup. The pacing and plotting were so utterly unusual that it actually becomes somewhat confusing and it seemed to consciously avoid crowd-pleasingly dramatic plot developments. There are many, many characters and they'll come in and come out of the story seemingly arbitrarily, playing completely unexpected roles in the plot. For instance, there are a lot of subplots that seem very important at first but are resolved in a volume and the relevant characters are never seen or heard from again. Also, . Anyway, I can't understate how bizarre the plotting and pacing is. I've never read anything like it. Most events seem almost arbitrary.
I will reiterate that this is a very slow-paced series and could be quite frustrating for some. Truly dramatic moments are very few and far between. Most of it just seems to meander along with its huge cast of characters (many of which happen to look almost the same) towards some unknown goal. I will say that it's worth sticking with. Though unlike other plot points, the ending itself was not entirely unexpected, it is very satisfying.
Despite the slow and deliberately unsatisfying pacing, this is an amazing series. Despite the initially familiar concept (kids with magical creatures), it is completely unique. Kitoh also does an excellent job at maintaining thematic unity throughout and expressing his complex ideas uniquely and subtly. Perhaps my favourite example of this is when Norio the cross-dresser gives his life to save his best friend Takeo. He loves him unrequitedly and has a secret but biologically impossible wish to bear his child. As he gives his life for Takeo, his dragon also dies, briefly forming a large foetus on its side as a representation of his secret wish and his love for his friend. It's gorgeous. Yes, moments like these are rare in Shadow Star, but they are very potent. Although most of the series is very unemotional and lacks cheap dramatic plot developments, once in a while it is truly heart-rending.
Anyway, if you have a lot of patience and an appreciation for originality and thematic complexity, go ahead and read Shadow Star. It might be a bit of a slog but hopefully you'll appreciate it in the end.
Although it's notorious for becoming quite graphic in later series, it's very slow-paced and is not exploitative in any sense. If you want gore and sex, there are countless guro, horror and hentai manga that will provide much more than Shadow Star. Nothing really shocking happens until about the 7th volume which is censored anyway in the Dark Horse release.
Anyway, this series is completely unique. A real puzzle. It never, ever went where I expected it to, and I had a lot of expectations, given the familiar setup. The pacing and plotting were so utterly unusual that it actually becomes somewhat confusing and it seemed to consciously avoid crowd-pleasingly dramatic plot developments. There are many, many characters and they'll come in and come out of the story seemingly arbitrarily, playing completely unexpected roles in the plot. For instance, there are a lot of subplots that seem very important at first but are resolved in a volume and the relevant characters are never seen or heard from again. Also, . Anyway, I can't understate how bizarre the plotting and pacing is. I've never read anything like it. Most events seem almost arbitrary.
I will reiterate that this is a very slow-paced series and could be quite frustrating for some. Truly dramatic moments are very few and far between. Most of it just seems to meander along with its huge cast of characters (many of which happen to look almost the same) towards some unknown goal. I will say that it's worth sticking with. Though unlike other plot points, the ending itself was not entirely unexpected, it is very satisfying.
Despite the slow and deliberately unsatisfying pacing, this is an amazing series. Despite the initially familiar concept (kids with magical creatures), it is completely unique. Kitoh also does an excellent job at maintaining thematic unity throughout and expressing his complex ideas uniquely and subtly. Perhaps my favourite example of this is when Norio the cross-dresser gives his life to save his best friend Takeo. He loves him unrequitedly and has a secret but biologically impossible wish to bear his child. As he gives his life for Takeo, his dragon also dies, briefly forming a large foetus on its side as a representation of his secret wish and his love for his friend. It's gorgeous. Yes, moments like these are rare in Shadow Star, but they are very potent. Although most of the series is very unemotional and lacks cheap dramatic plot developments, once in a while it is truly heart-rending.
Anyway, if you have a lot of patience and an appreciation for originality and thematic complexity, go ahead and read Shadow Star. It might be a bit of a slog but hopefully you'll appreciate it in the end.
September 29, 2016
Tempo di rilettura per questo bellissimo manga di Kitoh.
Conosciamo Shiina, la protagonista, che pare la quintessenza dell'ottimismo, della vitalità, della forza.
E Hoshimaru, il suo "cucciolo di drago"... ma quella che potrebbe prendere una direzione tipicamente da storia manga fantasy vira subito verso tinte più fosche.
Una principessa dall'aria aliena, due misteriosi ragazzi che sanno di draghi e ossa che spariscono nel nulla dopo un combattimento, un'altra ragazza con un cucciolo come Hoshimaru ma con un legame ben più profondo tra i due.
E il calamaro, violento e potente, col ragazzo che vi è sintonizzato.
Moltissimi spunti per tenere viva l'attenzione del lettore, in attesa di sapere qualcosa di più su draghi e ragazzi.
Conosciamo Shiina, la protagonista, che pare la quintessenza dell'ottimismo, della vitalità, della forza.
E Hoshimaru, il suo "cucciolo di drago"... ma quella che potrebbe prendere una direzione tipicamente da storia manga fantasy vira subito verso tinte più fosche.
Una principessa dall'aria aliena, due misteriosi ragazzi che sanno di draghi e ossa che spariscono nel nulla dopo un combattimento, un'altra ragazza con un cucciolo come Hoshimaru ma con un legame ben più profondo tra i due.
E il calamaro, violento e potente, col ragazzo che vi è sintonizzato.
Moltissimi spunti per tenere viva l'attenzione del lettore, in attesa di sapere qualcosa di più su draghi e ragazzi.
June 11, 2021
Alright, I'll do a review for the whole serie as a whole, although my rating will reflect the single volumes.
This manga serie...has issues. Psychological issues.
It's like mixing digimon with Lord of the flies, give it extremely flawed and possibly nazi-level phylosophy monologues, and sprinkle it all over with emotionally unstable teens who believe that the solution to everything is murder.
I was told this comic was a "deconstruction of the 'mon' genre" , but of course I was highly disappointed in that as it's not really that at all in the end. It's just cynism made into ink and paper.
All in all, it's not a read I reccomend unless you want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This manga serie...has issues. Psychological issues.
It's like mixing digimon with Lord of the flies, give it extremely flawed and possibly nazi-level phylosophy monologues, and sprinkle it all over with emotionally unstable teens who believe that the solution to everything is murder.
I was told this comic was a "deconstruction of the 'mon' genre" , but of course I was highly disappointed in that as it's not really that at all in the end. It's just cynism made into ink and paper.
All in all, it's not a read I reccomend unless you want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
September 1, 2024
(vol 1-12)
July 17, 2024
This review is for the entire series.
I started this series as a young woman circa 2003 and never finished it. Images of the young main character flying on her starfish monster like a surfboard always stuck with me. As a much older woman I sought this series out to finish it.
I regret doing that.
Shadow Star, or Narutaru, is often described as a series that starts out like Pokémon and ends up like Evangelion. That description isn’t too far off, but Evangelion is by far a better coming of age narrative of frustrated youth that ends with the world remade. Shadow Star has less character development, poor pacing, lacks over all cohesion and any sense of humor or joy. And there’s also the ‘ick factor’.
Shiina Tamai is a young tom boy being brought up by her freight pilot father. While swimming one day under a partially submerged Torii Gate, she discovers a strange Star Fish like creature with a silly face who saves her from drowning in surprise. She befriends this funny animal, naming him Hoshimaru, and disguises him as a cute backpack.
Shiina meets other young people, “Dragon Bearers”, who are similarly bonded to strange creatures, typically called “Dragon Children”. Some of these dragon children are similarly shaped oversized star fish. Some are huge monstrous beings that seem a cross between organic and inorganic. The creatures can fly, swim, and are nigh indestructible. They can change shape and generate all sorts of weapons and gunnery. In short, they are powerful and can get very violent. Think this is Pokémon? Think again. To transform into an "Adult Dragon", the dragon bearer either dies or is willingly absorbed into the dragon child. This results in unique beasts that float through the sky or drift in the deep sea, separate from humanity, now seemingly immortal. Strangely, all other dragon bearers besides Shiina have a telepathic connection to their dragon child. Shiina and Hoshimaru simply seem to have a non-verbal friendship.
The other dragon child owners Shiina meets range from damaged to deranged. Akira Sakura is a girl slightly older that Shiina with a damaged starfish-type dragon child. Akira is suicidal and depressed, and clings to Shiina, and it is eventually revealed Akira was molested by her father. Tomonori Komori is a boy who threatens both Shiina and Akira and offers human genocide as a solution to the worlds problems and his dragon child takes the form of a giant flying blade with an eye. Naozumi Sudo is a psychopath who potentially murdered his parents. Along with his companions, Bungo an Satomi, he plots societal collapse while pondering who he plans to choose to keep around as the master race.
And now the 'ick' factor. Takeo is the 'good' teenage male character, a dragon bearer with a dragon child that is never seen, and is deeply interested in impregnation. For Takeo, sex is for procreation and he sires five children with three unwed high school age girls (he somehow pays all their rents). One dragon bearer, a feminine boy names Norio, is sexually assaulted and tortured while Norio must remotely manage his dragon to save his love interest, Takeo. While being disemboweled off frame, Norio ponders his love for Takeo and his deep sadness he could not bear him a child. As Norio bleeds out, his dragon child, named Vagina Dentata, forms a human-like fetus before collapsing. Bullies threaten another girl with shoving a glass test tube up her vagina and then kicking her in the stomach. The revenge the bullied girl extracts is even worse. A strange young girl, Mamiko, wanders around naked, or preferably in a simple dress without underwear, that she coldly lifts up to anyone who asks. There is something deeply unpleasant here while the themes of coming of age, sexuality, and procreation are explored by a middle aged male author using characters all under eighteen. It always seems abstract and unemotional, albeit extremely graphic.
Through aerial dogfights and dragon child attacks, Shiina grows up and goes to high school. She discovers that her beloved Hoshimaru is not her dragon child, it's actually bonded to Takeo, who has been protecting her all along because she is somehow "special". Eventually, Sudo and his cohort have dealings with the Japanese Self Defense Force, and get access to Japan's nuclear weapons. Jump-starting nuclear war, Sudo finally reveals to Shiina that Shiina's dragon child is "Sheol", the earth itself. Sheol has two shadow bearers, Shiina and another girl with no background named Mamiko, each representing Yin and Yang, Dark and Light. They must judge mankind and decide the fate of the planet.
In a final chapter that rushes to it's cynical ending, Shiina admits her love for Takeo and they have sex on his hospital bed. Unrest from nuclear fall out leads to the murder of Shiina's mother and Takeo (Hoshimaru is unable to absorb Takeo and become an adult dragon), and Shiina chooses to restart the earth from nothing, destroying all humanity in the process. Shiina's child by Takeo and Mamiko's child by rape are the new Adam and Eve on a new shore, left to restart humanity under the shadow of a Torii Gate.
This... just isn't what I wanted from the cute cover of a young girl flying on her starfish companion. I don't know why the author chose to start his very adult manga with an eleven year old character. Important characters like Akira show up and then disappear for eight volumes. I had trouble telling characters apart. The art is crisp, and the dragon designs are great, but there is so much gore and projectile fighting I just... lost interest. I didn't care about any of the characters. If you want a coming of age manga story that deals with heady psychological themes, with fan service, Evangelion is your pick, and I'm sure there are several other similar choices printed since Shadow Star. Skip this one.
I started this series as a young woman circa 2003 and never finished it. Images of the young main character flying on her starfish monster like a surfboard always stuck with me. As a much older woman I sought this series out to finish it.
I regret doing that.
Shadow Star, or Narutaru, is often described as a series that starts out like Pokémon and ends up like Evangelion. That description isn’t too far off, but Evangelion is by far a better coming of age narrative of frustrated youth that ends with the world remade. Shadow Star has less character development, poor pacing, lacks over all cohesion and any sense of humor or joy. And there’s also the ‘ick factor’.
Shiina Tamai is a young tom boy being brought up by her freight pilot father. While swimming one day under a partially submerged Torii Gate, she discovers a strange Star Fish like creature with a silly face who saves her from drowning in surprise. She befriends this funny animal, naming him Hoshimaru, and disguises him as a cute backpack.
Shiina meets other young people, “Dragon Bearers”, who are similarly bonded to strange creatures, typically called “Dragon Children”. Some of these dragon children are similarly shaped oversized star fish. Some are huge monstrous beings that seem a cross between organic and inorganic. The creatures can fly, swim, and are nigh indestructible. They can change shape and generate all sorts of weapons and gunnery. In short, they are powerful and can get very violent. Think this is Pokémon? Think again. To transform into an "Adult Dragon", the dragon bearer either dies or is willingly absorbed into the dragon child. This results in unique beasts that float through the sky or drift in the deep sea, separate from humanity, now seemingly immortal. Strangely, all other dragon bearers besides Shiina have a telepathic connection to their dragon child. Shiina and Hoshimaru simply seem to have a non-verbal friendship.
The other dragon child owners Shiina meets range from damaged to deranged. Akira Sakura is a girl slightly older that Shiina with a damaged starfish-type dragon child. Akira is suicidal and depressed, and clings to Shiina, and it is eventually revealed Akira was molested by her father. Tomonori Komori is a boy who threatens both Shiina and Akira and offers human genocide as a solution to the worlds problems and his dragon child takes the form of a giant flying blade with an eye. Naozumi Sudo is a psychopath who potentially murdered his parents. Along with his companions, Bungo an Satomi, he plots societal collapse while pondering who he plans to choose to keep around as the master race.
And now the 'ick' factor. Takeo is the 'good' teenage male character, a dragon bearer with a dragon child that is never seen, and is deeply interested in impregnation. For Takeo, sex is for procreation and he sires five children with three unwed high school age girls (he somehow pays all their rents). One dragon bearer, a feminine boy names Norio, is sexually assaulted and tortured while Norio must remotely manage his dragon to save his love interest, Takeo. While being disemboweled off frame, Norio ponders his love for Takeo and his deep sadness he could not bear him a child. As Norio bleeds out, his dragon child, named Vagina Dentata, forms a human-like fetus before collapsing. Bullies threaten another girl with shoving a glass test tube up her vagina and then kicking her in the stomach. The revenge the bullied girl extracts is even worse. A strange young girl, Mamiko, wanders around naked, or preferably in a simple dress without underwear, that she coldly lifts up to anyone who asks. There is something deeply unpleasant here while the themes of coming of age, sexuality, and procreation are explored by a middle aged male author using characters all under eighteen. It always seems abstract and unemotional, albeit extremely graphic.
Through aerial dogfights and dragon child attacks, Shiina grows up and goes to high school. She discovers that her beloved Hoshimaru is not her dragon child, it's actually bonded to Takeo, who has been protecting her all along because she is somehow "special". Eventually, Sudo and his cohort have dealings with the Japanese Self Defense Force, and get access to Japan's nuclear weapons. Jump-starting nuclear war, Sudo finally reveals to Shiina that Shiina's dragon child is "Sheol", the earth itself. Sheol has two shadow bearers, Shiina and another girl with no background named Mamiko, each representing Yin and Yang, Dark and Light. They must judge mankind and decide the fate of the planet.
In a final chapter that rushes to it's cynical ending, Shiina admits her love for Takeo and they have sex on his hospital bed. Unrest from nuclear fall out leads to the murder of Shiina's mother and Takeo (Hoshimaru is unable to absorb Takeo and become an adult dragon), and Shiina chooses to restart the earth from nothing, destroying all humanity in the process. Shiina's child by Takeo and Mamiko's child by rape are the new Adam and Eve on a new shore, left to restart humanity under the shadow of a Torii Gate.
This... just isn't what I wanted from the cute cover of a young girl flying on her starfish companion. I don't know why the author chose to start his very adult manga with an eleven year old character. Important characters like Akira show up and then disappear for eight volumes. I had trouble telling characters apart. The art is crisp, and the dragon designs are great, but there is so much gore and projectile fighting I just... lost interest. I didn't care about any of the characters. If you want a coming of age manga story that deals with heady psychological themes, with fan service, Evangelion is your pick, and I'm sure there are several other similar choices printed since Shadow Star. Skip this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2012
I'm oversimpifying, but Shadow Star is what would happen to Pokemon if it were in the horror genre... Junior high aged kids have these creatures with special powers. Sadly, not all kids are nice or well adjusted. Some of them are pretty terrible people.
I like the manga (and the anime series) a lot, but it's pretty brutal content-wise. A lot of stuff ends up happening out of panel or off screen. Not so much in this volume. But later on? Watch out.
I like the manga (and the anime series) a lot, but it's pretty brutal content-wise. A lot of stuff ends up happening out of panel or off screen. Not so much in this volume. But later on? Watch out.
January 31, 2008
this is a really GREAT BOOK!
May 29, 2019
Dondequiera que he visto este manga (y su anime) mencionado, la gente dice que sólo aconseja su lectura si estás dispuesto a terminar emocionalmente quebrantado y a ser testigo de mucha violencia y temas incómodos... ¡Lo cual lo vuelve perfecto para mí! ♡
Durante una visita a la isla donde viven sus abuelos, Shiina es rescatada de ahogarse por un peculiar ser en forma de estrella de mar, quien realmente es una "cría de dragón" y desea irse a casa con ella. La niña no tarda en volverse amiga suya y decide nombrarlo Hoshimaru.
Hoshimaru puedo permanecer debajo del agua sin la necesidad de respirar, es capaz de volar a grandes velocidades y sus extremidades se estiran tanto como él lo quiera. Shiina está feliz de poder tener un amigo así... Y todo marcharía bien de no ser porque existen otros niños con dragones que están dispuestos a asesinar y torturar con sus bestias con tal de ver todos sus deseos hechos realidad.
Es cuestión de días para que Shiina y Hoshimaru se enfrasquen en batallas que podrían decidir el destino de la humanidad.
De momento no he visto la gran cosa, pero ya comienzo a sentir mucho cariño por Shiina y Hoshimaru (a quien amaría tener como almohadita o cojín ♡ ), y ya quiero ver qué cosas tendrán que enfrentar para poder llorarlos.
Sea como sea, es una lectura rápida y que me ha mantenido picada.
Durante una visita a la isla donde viven sus abuelos, Shiina es rescatada de ahogarse por un peculiar ser en forma de estrella de mar, quien realmente es una "cría de dragón" y desea irse a casa con ella. La niña no tarda en volverse amiga suya y decide nombrarlo Hoshimaru.
Hoshimaru puedo permanecer debajo del agua sin la necesidad de respirar, es capaz de volar a grandes velocidades y sus extremidades se estiran tanto como él lo quiera. Shiina está feliz de poder tener un amigo así... Y todo marcharía bien de no ser porque existen otros niños con dragones que están dispuestos a asesinar y torturar con sus bestias con tal de ver todos sus deseos hechos realidad.
Es cuestión de días para que Shiina y Hoshimaru se enfrasquen en batallas que podrían decidir el destino de la humanidad.
De momento no he visto la gran cosa, pero ya comienzo a sentir mucho cariño por Shiina y Hoshimaru (a quien amaría tener como almohadita o cojín ♡ ), y ya quiero ver qué cosas tendrán que enfrentar para poder llorarlos.
Sea como sea, es una lectura rápida y que me ha mantenido picada.
June 30, 2022
[•••] A monster invasion nightmare story.
I am the first to admit that overwhelmingly dark tales are not my scene, but SHADOW STAR very much lodged itself in my brain.
There is such a striking quality to its world, characters, and atmosphere that never really left me. The best I can describe it is to say that it reads like a half-remembered traumatic experience from your own young teenaged years.
My only real regret are all the waking nightmares this manga has caused me!
[This is a review for the entire series, not just volume 1.]
I am the first to admit that overwhelmingly dark tales are not my scene, but SHADOW STAR very much lodged itself in my brain.
There is such a striking quality to its world, characters, and atmosphere that never really left me. The best I can describe it is to say that it reads like a half-remembered traumatic experience from your own young teenaged years.
My only real regret are all the waking nightmares this manga has caused me!
[This is a review for the entire series, not just volume 1.]
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2023
I heard some things about this manga, that it will kill you, emotionally, so of course I had to check it out and see just how damaging it can be.
It's a manga, after all. JUST HOW BAD COULD IT BE?
So far, I'm safe. It's kinda cute, just a few hints of darkness and/or cruelty, but it does have potential for sweetness. And then, there's all the flying. That's pretty cool.
Let's see how bad this is going to destroy me.
It's a manga, after all. JUST HOW BAD COULD IT BE?
So far, I'm safe. It's kinda cute, just a few hints of darkness and/or cruelty, but it does have potential for sweetness. And then, there's all the flying. That's pretty cool.
Let's see how bad this is going to destroy me.
January 11, 2017
Read this as a kid, and thought it might be fun to go back and check it out, since I remembered very little of the story or plot. Let's just say it was not as fun as I was hoping it would be. This is a very strange story, surprisingly dark, and uncomfortable. Our main character, Shiina, seems completely out of place here--she's too chipper, too sweet for what promises to be a very dark tale, and I'm not sure I want to be there when her spirit is broken.
Not an awful book, per se, but not my cup of tea. However, because of my insatiable curiosity, I might try book 2, just to see where the story goes, but honestly, there is just too much on my to-read pile to worry about that right now.
Not an awful book, per se, but not my cup of tea. However, because of my insatiable curiosity, I might try book 2, just to see where the story goes, but honestly, there is just too much on my to-read pile to worry about that right now.
March 14, 2015
This review I write is for Narutaru as a whole, not only the first volume.
It is an interesting manga with interesting characters, but suffer from a certain lack of pacing/focus. The influence of Anno and Evangelion is clearly felt, but I don't think this deconstructionist approach, which sometimes disregards linearity and structure, was wholly beneficial to the story. The ending felt rushed and I wish he had explored things more.
But in general, it was a good reading, not amazing, good.
It is an interesting manga with interesting characters, but suffer from a certain lack of pacing/focus. The influence of Anno and Evangelion is clearly felt, but I don't think this deconstructionist approach, which sometimes disregards linearity and structure, was wholly beneficial to the story. The ending felt rushed and I wish he had explored things more.
But in general, it was a good reading, not amazing, good.
December 6, 2025
A dark take on the Pokémon and Digimon genre. This saga gets real dark as the story unfolds. Don’t be caught off guard by the subversion of the pocket monster genre. What starts as an action girl series winds up in a weird place reminiscent of Evangelion. Only half the story made it into the English translation. I’m uncertain if it was the strong material, lack of sales or the loss of licensing that brought about its premature end.
September 15, 2015
I enjoyed reading vols. 1-4 of this sort of adult-subversion-of-Pokemon story (also known as Nartaru). Its a shame only volumes 1-7 were ever translated and released in English, as I'm never going to be able to complete the series and get deeper into it.
I highly recommend Bokurano by the same author though - fantastic series and ~fingers crossed~ it looks like its all going to be released.
I highly recommend Bokurano by the same author though - fantastic series and ~fingers crossed~ it looks like its all going to be released.
December 16, 2014
I really truly loved, and enjoyed this volume much more than the anime version!! Even though the Anime wasn't finished... I love Hoshimaru, Shiina, and Akira the best. I've never finished this series before but I have a feeling it'll exceeded my expectations!
January 2, 2008
this book is kinda confusing
but i think people should read this book
even i don't really get it but i still like it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but i think people should read this book
even i don't really get it but i still like it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 30, 2011
Ahhhh!!! J'ai adoré! Mais pourquoi avoir arrêté la parution en France?! ;_;
September 10, 2016
rating for all volumes
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews