What do you think?
Rate this book
なるたる [Naru Taru] #7
Shadow Star 7 - Victim's Eyes, Assailant's Hands
Bonding with cuddly extraterrestrial creatures with wondrous powers should have been a dream come true for Tokyo teens like Shiina and Akira, but these cute E.T.s can grow into fearsome Shadow Dragons, and when coupled with troubled teens, can become monstrous threats to Mankind. An underground movement of such delinquents tries to recruit the two girls, and the government begins to grow suspicious that the two girls may well be involved with this dangerous cabal. But back at school, the two friends have more mundane, but no less troubling, issues. Akira and her friend Hiroko become singled out for mean-spirited schoolyard harassment - but when Dragon Bearers become targets for torment, the tables may turn with lethal results!
208 pages, Paperback
First published June 22, 2001
28 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 30, 2016
Piccolo salto temporale dopo gli eventi del sesto volume.
Akira è in prigione, Hiro è morta, il padre di Shiina è vivo. E sopratutto, Shiina si è gettata nello studio, mettendo da parte pare Hoshimaru, arrivando a venire iscritta alla Banda. Dove finisce col trovare la sua vecchia conoscenza, scoprendo infine l'identità dei suoi nemici... nemici che ormai sono però alleati del gruppo segreto governativo, grazie alle macchinazioni di Sudo.
Lo scontro tra Shiina e il gruppo di Sudo si avvicina...
Akira è in prigione, Hiro è morta, il padre di Shiina è vivo. E sopratutto, Shiina si è gettata nello studio, mettendo da parte pare Hoshimaru, arrivando a venire iscritta alla Banda. Dove finisce col trovare la sua vecchia conoscenza, scoprendo infine l'identità dei suoi nemici... nemici che ormai sono però alleati del gruppo segreto governativo, grazie alle macchinazioni di Sudo.
Lo scontro tra Shiina e il gruppo di Sudo si avvicina...
December 7, 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.
November 17, 2023
Just when I thought I was getting a handle on this series, I go through a good spot of blind rage, emptiness, and then terror.
Just like that. It got me good. I totally understood why she'd want to kill. What was done to her was atrocious. But then they also created a monster, didn't they?
Abuse creates abusers. It's a story as old as time.
Just like that. It got me good. I totally understood why she'd want to kill. What was done to her was atrocious. But then they also created a monster, didn't they?
Abuse creates abusers. It's a story as old as time.
July 18, 2013
My ratings for these volumes are for the entire series in general which I got to read past what scant offerings the United States got thanks to some truly amazing, dedicated scanlators who not only translated the remaining volumes of the series but also inserted the censored portions from what the United States did receive. I'm afraid because these are fan translations you'll have to "pirate" them to see them ("pirate" in quotations because a dedicated, self-contained translation with no legally available alternatives I really don't think counts as piracy in this regard).
So, my impression, it has strong characters, a good art style, a story that continuously drops twist after twist, convincing arcs, an interesting mix of awe and wonderment with deeply depraved horror. You do feel for these people and their situations and you want to read to see what happens.
So why one star? Because it seems that Kitoh went out of his way to make a truly grabbing tale and then just throw it right the fuck out the window as it nears its end. It is a story that leaves you feeling appropriately drained, but to an extent that after it's over feels like parody. It's bad enough having child characters meet their end by graphic, painful rape and dismemberment, then we have to nuke the entire world. What remaining characters are left are then killed off in a mass vengeance spree which culminates in the rageful protagonist, now aware of the full powers she possesses, eliminates the remaining members of the world population. The detailed sidestories, flashbacks, characters development, all of this is tossed away with no point, coming away with nothing from any of this. As I closed my Windows Photo Viewer of the last slide I felt empty, having wasted my time with a story that Kitoh seemed to stop caring about some time down the line himself. It's the same sort of conclusion I got from watching the anime Gilgamesh, though that one was at least consistent in its perpetual bleakness and didn't indulge in violent child rape scenes.
Ending the world seems to be a popular choice of an ending for anime/manga from what I gather, though I haven't read enough to comment on this. I don't have a problem with this in principle, but in the worst case scenarios it renders your story a waste of time if you're gonna do so without context or addressing any of the developments you worked toward earlier. Bokurano, another Kitoh story, while I have my own issues with it, is a much better story, tackling heavy themes with more finesse, its bleakness less gratuitous and cynically throw-away, and has an amazing concept in of itself that it explores to its fullest possible extent as it develops whereas here it feels just like a forced 'mon deconstruction with more disgusting violence and hopelessness for its own sake, all the worse since it's at the expense of something really initially promising.
So, my impression, it has strong characters, a good art style, a story that continuously drops twist after twist, convincing arcs, an interesting mix of awe and wonderment with deeply depraved horror. You do feel for these people and their situations and you want to read to see what happens.
So why one star? Because it seems that Kitoh went out of his way to make a truly grabbing tale and then just throw it right the fuck out the window as it nears its end. It is a story that leaves you feeling appropriately drained, but to an extent that after it's over feels like parody. It's bad enough having child characters meet their end by graphic, painful rape and dismemberment, then we have to nuke the entire world. What remaining characters are left are then killed off in a mass vengeance spree which culminates in the rageful protagonist, now aware of the full powers she possesses, eliminates the remaining members of the world population. The detailed sidestories, flashbacks, characters development, all of this is tossed away with no point, coming away with nothing from any of this. As I closed my Windows Photo Viewer of the last slide I felt empty, having wasted my time with a story that Kitoh seemed to stop caring about some time down the line himself. It's the same sort of conclusion I got from watching the anime Gilgamesh, though that one was at least consistent in its perpetual bleakness and didn't indulge in violent child rape scenes.
Ending the world seems to be a popular choice of an ending for anime/manga from what I gather, though I haven't read enough to comment on this. I don't have a problem with this in principle, but in the worst case scenarios it renders your story a waste of time if you're gonna do so without context or addressing any of the developments you worked toward earlier. Bokurano, another Kitoh story, while I have my own issues with it, is a much better story, tackling heavy themes with more finesse, its bleakness less gratuitous and cynically throw-away, and has an amazing concept in of itself that it explores to its fullest possible extent as it develops whereas here it feels just like a forced 'mon deconstruction with more disgusting violence and hopelessness for its own sake, all the worse since it's at the expense of something really initially promising.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
August 10, 2016What's truly horrific about the abuse portrayed in this volume - in spite of the mons inspired science-fictional premise - is its plausibility.
Although this particular volume in the series will go unrated, please make no mistake - as harrowing as it can be at times, this has been an excellent manga so far and I think this volume is one of the best in the catalogue.
Although this particular volume in the series will go unrated, please make no mistake - as harrowing as it can be at times, this has been an excellent manga so far and I think this volume is one of the best in the catalogue.
July 4, 2009
The last volume from Dark Horse.. and just when things became so interesting.. damn.. I hope this awesome series will get better release in english someday without the flip format and stupid censorhip.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews