Karakuri Circus may be a bit of a mess at times, but one thing for sure is it’s never dull.  Or at rest, for that matter.  This show just keeps motoring along at high speed, dropping new plot bombs and inserting new characters faster than you have time to digest them.  That isn’t my absolute favorite narrative style if I’m honest – even with thrill ride-type series I prefer to have a chance to breathe and digest once in a while.  It’s basically working now, but I don’t know if this formula will hold up well for 36 episodes.

Still, there’s been a bit of a zigzag pattern for episode quality and that meant Karakuri was due for an up week.  And I think it delivered one, with one of the more entertaining episodes of the run so far.  We start with the Narumi narrative, picking up where we left off last week.  Basically, Narumi lays waste to the Midnight Circus forces, including their ventriloquist dummy.  What’s interesting here is that they seem surprised that Narumi isn’t a normal human – which is a bit puzzling in that we get strong hints later in the episode that shirogane are all enhanced beings.

Narumi is the heart of Karakuri Circus in many ways – it’s tough to see his reaction when the kids he’s just saved cower in fear over what he’s just done.  But Narumi never feels sorry for himself – you have to give him credit, and he’s rewarded for his essential goodness with a hug and heartfelt thanks from Tom.  The betting here is that Narumi is being set up as a future adversary for Shirogane and Masaru – otherwise it doesn’t make much sense to have him lose his memories – and that’s going to be even harder to watch, if it happens.

Meanwhile, Masaru and Shirogane are on a summer tour with the Nakamichi Circus – though said circus is too poor to actually rent a space to perform.  So their tour basically consists of Nakamichi and his sons doing construction work while Shirogane busks for change as a clown, but despite that she and Masaru seem to be quite enjoying the life.  Shirogane even makes a new friend – Vilma Thorne (Inoue Marina) with whom she shares a circus background and a coincidental connection to ZONAPHA Syndrome.  Unfortunately they also share an interest in Masaru, and one that’s not mutually compatible.

I’m not entirely clear how we get from Vilma having a younger brother (Jim) who dies from ZONAPHA to her being an assassin-for-hire – can it really be as simple as “I wanted to make money because Jim’s illness bankrupted the family”?  Then again they are American, so bankruptcy due to illness would be perfectly normal.  In any event Vilma’s skill is a knife-thrower – it’s her circus shill but it’s also her murder method, and she waits until Masaru is isolated at night before she moves in for the literal kill.  Fortunately Shirogane gets back (seriously, just is the zoo even going to be open this late?) just in the nick of time, and the battle is on.

What are we to assume based on Shirogane and Narumi both having miraculous healing powers?  Is this something all Shirogane are given, or do these two both just happen to have taken Aqua Vitae?  If it’s the latter, does it lose impact over time – as implied by Narumi’s healing seeming to be more powerful?  That Masaru would spare Vilma’s life even after she tried to kill him was totally in character – and he’s doing it for Shirogane’s sake as much as Vilma’s, anyway.  But this business with Masaru drinking her blood is quite the twist – despite the rather low-key way it was presented.  I guess with a plot like Karakuri Circus the outlandish has become so expected that even the cast have become blasé about it…