Shadow Star is probably the most well done manga I've read and could have a code name “100 ways how to mentally break young teens”. Cute monsters and young girls? Why not make their life hell and make them fight for their lives in a battle that is seemingly lost even before they try? Why not add a psychotic group of young teens that want to rule world with “cute” monsters of their own and give “cute” another meaning the most ugly and bloody way? That’s pretty much Shadow Star.

Story: 10/10
Everything begins when Shiina finds a weird creature, Hoshimaru (as she names it), and keeps it as a pet. Later, she meets another girl with a similar pet but, unfortunately, the said girl isn’t very friendly and is weird. Weird as in, if taking everywhere your own bunch of bushes to hide in was possible she would do it. Shiina somehow manages to make this always scared and hiding girl her friend. But it isn’t until they are attacked by a freak (of similiar age) who gives a new meaning to “cute pet”, that the story actually starts unfolding. They found out that their pets are creatures called dragon children and are emotionless tools of mass destruction. Of course they find out it the hard way. These dragon children need human souls in order to mature because they don’t have their own. They usually look like something from fairy tales to show us that maybe they weren’t so far from truth.
Story perfectly ties together in every way. Not to mention that it’s perfectly realistic and whether air or ground battles with military are nothing rare. Neither are deaths that by the end happen on a massive scale.

Art: 9/10
While art isn’t anything perfect or modern since it’s a bit older but it’s extremely realistic and precise. It fits the story amazingly. Character designs are also very well done and memorable (although I didn’t like Shiina much).

Characters: 10/10
While this have a very well done and solid story with unexpected twists, characters are about as strong. This manga goes as deep into characters’nature and mental health as possible. We have a big variety of characters yet none could be a stereotype or underdeveloped. Even side characters get their own nature that is just their own and recognisable. Main characters have it much more difficult because this manga doesn’t spare them any mental trauma since they are thrown into first fronts of a warfare at a very young age. I dare to say that character mental development and exploration goes as deep and in NGE but at a far larger scale yet it feels perfectly fluent. This doesn’t spare anyoe, whether it’s the villains or leads or side characters, everyone has a secret to explore and everyone has at least one mental breakdown to survive.

Enjoyment: 10/10
The reason why I started reading Shadow Star, was the anime that ended not even in the middle of the manga. I finished the anime within a day since I just couldn’t stop. Manga took me a bit longer because my parents forced me to do such useless stuff like eating and sleeping. Needless to say that even though I was scarred for life, this was the best manga I’ve ever read. Though, that might be because I have a weakness for psychological horror.

Overall: 10/10
This is truly a must read for everyone who enjoyed NGE and the character depth in it. Everything is either explained or hinted at well enough. This is truly a masterpiece and when I manage to gather enough courage, I’ll definitely re-read it.