"Shadow House" is a Weekly Young Jump serialization and will be adapted into an anime series starting in April 2021. It's a heartwarming, suspenseful dark fantasy that unravels the hidden mysteries of the Shadows, a mysterious clan of all-black people, while depicting their interactions with the living dolls who serve them. Today, we'll be introducing the plot of "Shadow House" in order, through the six currently published volumes!
Shadow House Volume 1 Summary Part 1: A Heartwarming Opening!!
In a large, empty mansion, a clan of all-black people known as the Shadows live, behaving like aristocrats. Each of the many Shadows is assigned a servant and partner called a Living Doll. The Living Doll, Emilico, serves her master, the Shadow Kate, and her main job is cleaning the room. Shadows produce black soot just by being alive, making cleaning essential. Emilico is always energetic, cheerful, and innocent, but she's also clumsy and prone to mistakes, often causing trouble for Kate.
Volume 1 Summary Part 2
Kate is thoughtful and rarely shows her emotions too strongly. However, when she gets angry, she produces a lot of soot, so it's clear she's in a bad mood. However, she generally forgives Emilico. One day, Emilico spots the other Living Dolls outside her window and is given the task of cleaning outside the room. This is Emilico's first time outside the room, where she interacts with the various Living Dolls. Emiliko and everyone else, destined to become Shadow's face, faithfully adhered to various rules.
Shadow House Volume 2 Synopsis Part 1: Cleaning in the World Outside the Room!
Emiliko meets her squad leader, Rosemary, outside her room, and learns about the "Unveiling." She learns that the "Unveiling" is a ritual to test the compatibility between Shadow and the living doll, and that the living doll must have no feelings other than loyalty toward the Shadow family. During the spring cleaning, Shadow's soot caused malicious "stickiness" and its collective "ghosts" to go haywire, possessing Rosemary and causing her to fall ill with soot sickness (a condition in which living dolls become possessed by soot). Many incidents occurred.
Volume 2 Summary Part 2
Emiliko was accused of misbehavior after talking back to her boss, Barbie, while defending her colleague Ram, who was being criticized. She was then ordered to patrol the nighttime streets with Ram, a fellow colleague who is prone to making mistakes, and Sean, a somewhat rebellious colleague. While supposedly searching for the source of the ghosts, it was actually a form of punishment for defying their superiors. Thanks to Emiliiko's cheerfulness, the three deepened their bond without any tension. Then, a mysterious, robed Shadow appeared before them. Guided by the mysterious Shadow, the three successfully tracked down the source of the ghosts.
Shadow House Volume 3 Summary Part 1: The Unveiling Ceremony Begins!
The unveiling ceremony for Emilico and her friends finally begins. The four participants in the ceremony are Emilico's classmates, Luu, Ricky, Sean, and Ram. Their mission is to choose one of the presented tools and rescue its master, Shadow. Luu, who is not good at thinking and rarely expresses his emotions but has excellent observational skills; Ricky, who is arrogant but loyal and proactive; Sean, who is calm, intelligent, and strong; Ram, who is timid but actually has excellent calculation skills and a great memory; and Emilico, who is a bit of a dreamer but is always energetic and inspires those around her. They utilize their individual personalities and sometimes cooperate to complete the tasks.
Volume 3 Summary Part 2
However, the test was rigged by the examiner, Edward, and the test was monitored by special star-rated shadows as a spectacle. With Ricky's help, Luu's master, Louise, was rescued without incident. Ricky's master, Patrick, was anxious but trusted Ricky and waited for him. Sean's master, John, broke the rules and escaped on his own. Kate was pondering various ideas. This unveiling also revealed the individual personalities of the shadows.
Shadow House Volume 4 Summary Part 1: The Unveiling is Over!! And a Secret is Revealed!
The unveiling ceremony proceeded smoothly, with each living doll completing their tasks. However, the test for Kate and Emilico, intentionally designed to prevent them from completing it, proved no easy feat. Still, with the help of John and Ricky, whom they met along the way, they used their natural mental and physical strength to rescue Kate. However, given the distance, they knew they wouldn't be able to return in time. Faced with this dilemma, Emilico and her friends decided to use the wheelbarrow they had chosen at the beginning to build a coaster that would race down the waterway in one go. Kate's soot powers stabilized the coaster, allowing them to reach the finish line just in time. However, Ram and Shirley's body vanished just before the finish line, preventing them from reaching the finish line.
Volume 4 Summary Part 2
After the unveiling, the four excluding Ram were invited to a party where they were treated to a special drink as a token of their achievement. It was soot-laced coffee from the Great Grandfather, the leader of Shadow. Drinking this coffee caused the living dolls to become dominated by their loyalty to Shadow and his men. Shadow's true identity is a parasitic fairy called a "morph," skilled in mimicry and imitation, and the living dolls were tools used to give the morphs personalities. The coffee-based brainwashing was a system designed to prevent rebels from being born. These living dolls were human children. Shadow House was a facility where human children were kidnapped, brainwashed, and used as tools for Shadow.
Shadow House Volume 5 Summary Part 1: Kate Uncovers the Mystery of Shadow's Mansion
Kate realizes the system when she notices that Emiliko has become a completely different person, controlled by her loyalty to Shadow. After giving Emiliko a large amount of water to break the brainwashing, Kate resolves to rebel against the Shadow House system for Emiliko's sake. However, if she is found out, she will be punished. Kate's first priority is to make friends who will be on her side. Kate sneaks under the radar and tells John about it. John realizes that Sean has been brainwashed, and with a somewhat rough method, he manages to break Sean's control.
Volume 5 Summary Part 2
Kate and Emilico succeed in winning John and Sean over to their side, but the Shadow House's strict management system and frequent administration of brainwashing coffee make Kate wary of the starred Edward. Kate aims to gain allies and gain status by becoming a starred member. One day, Rosemary falls ill with soot disease again, and the residue that emerges from her transforms into a gigantic, rampaging ghost. Emilico manages to defeat the ghost using a large vacuum cleaner, but the twin's living doll, Belle, takes advantage of the confusion and smashes Grandpa's soot-laced coffee bottle. Everyone suspects that the twins are being controlled by someone, and Kate is the culprit. Kate declares to the star-adorned Shadow that she can solve the case and sets out to find the culprit.
Shadow House Volume 6 Synopsis Part 1: Who is the Culprit?
Kate brings together not only John but also Patrick and Louise to form a group of classmates to solve the mystery. Kate suspects the Shadows with the highest levels of soot, but John's investigation reveals that even high levels of soot are not enough to create ghosts. The most suspicious presence is the robed Shadow that Emilico and her friends encountered earlier. The perfume worn by the robed Shadow leads to the name of a surprising individual.
Volume 6 Summary Part 2
The culprits are revealed to be Marie Rose, along with Rosemary, who has contracted soot disease. They too have learned the mansion's structure and are plotting a rebellion. The reason Shadow and the living dolls are so brainwashed is because of a ritual that would unify them. This ritual would have been impossible to accept without brainwashing. The unified human essentially dies, allowing Shadow to take over their body. A former Shadow named Christopher committed suicide to save his partner, and Marie and her friends were also running out of time as their unification ritual was approaching.
Volume 6 Summary Part 3
Kate and John end up fighting Marie and her friends, but they manage to outwit her and hand them over to the Starbounds. Marie then escapes and attacks Edward and his friends, but the power gap between them and Shadow, who has now merged with him, is clear. In a desperate situation, Marie and the others jump out of the window. Kate's quick thinking and abilities create a cushion to catch them. Then, someone who witnessed this contacts Kate and the others. It's Anthony, Christopher's former living doll.
[Shadow House] Summary with Spoilers
Here's a summary of the plot of Shadow House! It starts out as a heartwarming gothic comedy, but it's actually a black company that brainwashes its employees. It's a story that unfolds like a shonen manga, and the more you learn about it, the more explosively interesting it becomes. I highly recommend it, so I highly recommend watching both the anime and the original manga! The Shadow House anime will start airing in April!
