Miriam Bonastre’s Marionetta is a captivating fantasy webtoon by. The story follows Julia and Kamille, two friends who find themselves entangled in the eerie world of a circus. As they navigate this strange environment, they encounter a variety of peculiar characters, including mimes, clowns, and individuals with mysterious third eyes. The plot thickens as they uncover dark secrets and face unexpected challenges, all while trying to find their place and purpose within the circus. Without further ado, let’s get into Marionetta Chapter 1-8.
Julia and Kamille’s Destiny
Marionetta Chapter 1: A Dark Turn
In Marionetta Chapter 1, Julia and Kamille rush to catch the bus. The driver scolds Julia for being late, but when Kamille takes the blame, he cheers up and forgives them. Julia, annoyed, wonders why the crowd is louder than usual, only to learn it’s the last day of the circus. She criticizes the crowd for attending a circus on a weekday, while Kamille expresses a desire to join them. Kamille persuades Julia to go with her, and Julia reluctantly agrees, preferring to accompany her rather than let her go alone.
At the circus, Kamille eagerly drags Julia away from the crowd, with Julia struggling to keep up. Just as Julia considers leaving, she loses sight of Kamille and finds her volunteering for a magic show. Annoyed, Julia waits on a bench, but it quickly becomes overcrowded. Finally securing a bench to herself, she regrets coming. She then sees kids bullying a clown and, fed up, yells at them, causing them to flee. The clown thanks her, but she looks down on him for not handling the kids himself.
Kamille, searching for Julia, bumps into a masked man who helps her up. A masked woman with him reminds him they are in a hurry, and they walk away. Kamille, smitten, follows them, hiding when the woman looks back. She watches them enter a tent and, gathering courage, follows to ask for an autograph. Inside, she finds a beheaded girl holding her head. The head, still dripping blood, says, “Oh, you poor girl.” Kamille tries to flee, but hands drag her back. She promises she saw nothing, but the man interrupts, asking her age. He removes his mask, revealing a third eye, and says, “You were young, but you saw too much,” concluding Chapter 1 of Marionetta.
Chapter 2: Julia Sets Off To Find Kamille
Marionetta Chapter 2 opens with Julia looking around for Kamille. She sees the beheaded girl (no longer beheaded) and asks if she has seen Kamille, describing her. The girl tells her she had left on the bus an hour ago and Julia is disappointed.
The next morning, Julia gets ready for work. Her father scolds her upon finding out she went to the circus. She says it was awful anyway and leaves for work. As she leaves she thinks of how awful it had been to go back home alone last night. She plans to wait till tomorrow to scold Kamille since it’s her birthday today. She gets to the bus stop and is surprised to not find Kamille there. Going to work, she hopes she will show up any moment and finally realizes she won’t.
Upon reaching back home she makes up her mind and goes off to find Kamille. Just as she turns, she bumps into Kamille’s mother. The moment Julia sees her, she asks where her daughter is and if she’s sick. Her mother says the last they saw her was when she left for work the other day. Knowing where she might be, Julia leaves for the circus.
Catching up to the circus carriage, Julia screams at them to return her friend. The driver warns her to stay away from the cliffs, terrified she’d fall to her death. However, she plows on, determined, and ends up falling down the cliff. She gets up, rubbing her head, and finds the circus carriage mere inches away from her, no sign of stopping. She braces for impact and opens her eyes slowly upon no crash. Marionetta Chapter 2 ends with Julia finding herself in an unknown place.
Marionetta Chapter 3: The Contract
In Marionetta Chapter 3 Julia, shocked, refuses to believe she’s dead. She runs around, determined to find a way out, but sees that her feet is not touching the ground. Suddenly, a letter appears before her. A contract gives her 1 year of life if she lives with the circus and kills the ringmaster within the year. If she fails to do so, her life will end permanently after that year. As she reads it, she begins to fade away and, realizing she has to make a decision, signs the contract.
The moment she does so, her head throbs and she ends up in a dark place. Something drips onto her shoulder and, as she looks up, she finds a huge woman’s face, looming over her. She screams and runs over the broken wooden tiles. One gives way under her weight and she falls yet again. Landing in the main circus area, she looks around to find the driver and the beheaded girl, among others, watching her. The driver hugs her, glad she made it back. Having had enough, she pushes the man away and starts yelling at them for pulling their tricks on her. She screams at them for making her see and feel things that weren’t real and the beheaded girl interrupts her. She tries to calm Julia down and explains that she is dead, as is the rest of the circus troop, concluding Marionetta Chapter 3.
Chapter 4: The Circus Troop
Marionetta Chapter 4 opens with Julia yelling how dead people don’t go about juggling in glitter. The other girl tries to explain but Julia yells, “STOP FOOLING AROUND ALREADY!”. Making everyone jump back. She points to the beheaded girl (Dotty) and asks her why she said Kamille got on the bus. Dotty immediately says she had lied, smiling sweetly. Just then Kamille appears and Julia runs to her. She takes her hand, determined to get out of the awful place. Kamille and Dotty try to explain they cannot get out but Julia brushes them off.
The two make it to a window and Julia pushes it open, only to find they are high above. As she wonders what to do, Kamille pushes her from behind. She only has a moment to feel betrayed, before she realizes she is not falling, but merely hanging mid air. Kamille tells her they cannot get out ever, and goes away. Julia calls after her but is interrupted by the masked man from earlier, saying her friend is right. Marionetta Chapter 4 ends with the man introducing himself as Sahed, the illusionist.
Marionetta Chapter 5: The Ringmaster
In Marionetta Chapter 5 the guy says how it’s nice to have two cute girls join their circus. This maddens Julia and she yells she ain’t joining and neither is Kamille. Sahed laughs at that and Julia demands to know what’s going on, still hanging in the air. Sahed tells her to look out of the corner of her eye to see the string attached to her, holding her to the carriage. When she doesn’t believe him, he says he sees it clear as day, revealing his third eye. Terrified, she gets back in just as Sahed asks if she’s scared of him.
Once inside, she curls up, exhausted, wondering why Kamille looked so disappointed in her. Dotty approaches her, apologizing for being so blunt before. She suggests talking to Tonny to understand everything and Julia, wanting to know the truth, follows her. Dotty says Tonny’s full name is Anthonn Gremminger, the circus ringmaster. Realizing, Julia tells her she signed a contract, and the other girl assures her they all did. Confused, she wonders if they all have signed up to kill the ringmaster. Just then Dotty takes her inside his room and the ringmaster turns to face her. Julia immediately recognizes him as the wimpy clown as does he, concluding Marionette Chapter 5.
Chapter 6: Conditions
Marionette Chapter 6 opens with Julia wondering what this guy is hiding. Angry, she asks him what he did to make Kamille join them. Tonny claims to know nothing and asks how she ended up here since he didn’t make her sign a pact. The ringmaster says, “It was Sahed wasn’t it?”. She quickly says, “Yes! It was three-eyes!”
Angry, Tonny storms towards the door, wanting to give Sahed a piece of his mind. The door suddenly opens, slamming into Tonny’s face. An old guy appears and apologizes, saying he just wanted to return the belongings of the new girl. Julia sees Kamille’s present in his hand and thanks him. Dotty reminds Tonny he must reassure the new girl. He tells her how she died but signed a pact with Sahed to extend her life. He then explains newcomers sign pacts with him and not anyone else, which is why he was surprised to see her. Tonny says a person can extend their life for as long as they want as long as they follow the two conditions. One, to stay in the circus, and two, to work for the circus. He confirms those are the conditions she signed up for and Julia pauses before agreeing.
Trying to console her, Dotty and Finn tell her of all the marvelous things they do but Julia barely hears them. Tonny apologizes for her ending up in such a situation but he promises he does his best for everyone to enjoy their lives. She asks for Kamille and Dotty says she’ll take her to her room. As she gets up, Tonny asks what she could do for the circus, and gives her time to think it through.
Marionetta Chapter 7: Uncanny Roommates
In Marionetta Chapter 7, Finn and Dotty try to cheer Julia up as they take her to Kamille’s room. She screams when she sees her mime roommates. Dotty says they are the best roommates since they don’t make a sound. Julia sees Kamille and rushes over to her. At her silence, she asks if she’s upset with her and asks her why. Frustrated, Kamille asks why she came. Shocked, she says she came to rescue her. Julia insists she’ll find a way at which Kamille says she’s mad that Julia too got stuck there because of her. Kamille then says she doesn’t dislike the place, which shocks Julia. She says she was looking for a way to get out and not go home and she found it but Julia should be home with her father.
Remembering, Julia hands out her birthday gift, wishing her well. She opens the box to find a mushroom puppet inside. Kamille loves it and says she will sew clothes for it. Julia then asks if she got a role for the circus and when the other girl says no she suggests they could make puppets together. As the two girls get excited over that, Sahed appears at their door, saying he’s glad they made up. He asks if Anthonn filled her head with useless crap and if that’s why she seems happier. The girl with him chides him and the two walk away. Julia notes she too is a three-eye and is unnerved at how many three-eyes this place has. Kamille quickly gets out and says she has errands to run.
That night, Julia struggles to sleep, her mind racing with thoughts of her contract, the three-eyes, and Anthonn, hoping it is all just a nightmare, concluding Marionetta Chapter 7.
Marionetta Chapter 8: Kamille’s POV
In Marionetta Chapter 8, Kamille is wondering where Sahed and Raina are, wanting to be close to them. The chapter then shows events from Kamille’s POV.
At her home, her mother tells her they are finding suitors for her since she has to get married by 23 as per law. Kamille hates the idea and her mother tells her they’ll be coming tomorrow. In her room, the thought of marriage and kids freaks her out and she thinks of running away. Realizing she won’t have anywhere to stay, she decides to take care of things the next day. After work the next day, Kamille begs Julia to go for a walk, not wanting to go home. However, Julia says she has to make dinner, leaving Kamille no choice. Seeing the suitors, Kamille runs off to her room, terrified of marrying a boring guy.
The next night is the night of the circus and she is presented with a contract. She notes how Julia would have freaked at the sight of three-eyes but she thinks it’s hot. Sahed asks her to read the contract and before he can explain the conditions, Kamille signs it, shocking everyone. Sahed takes her to the ringmaster and kills her, making her a part of the circus forever, for which she is glad. The scene then shows the present where Dotty asks if she and Julia made up. She then asks if Kamille would like to join their bonfire party and the two go off, concluding Marionette Chapter 8.
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