As a horror story, this is completely unstoppable--there are no "misunderstood monsters", no solution, no outcome with a brighter tomorrow. Even when things are going well, they're kind of fucked. The story, of an orphaned 12 year old girl named Midori in a freakshow in the Japanese countryside, is a bludgeoning tale of abuse heaped upon abuse. Any attempts Midori makes to stand up for herself are only met with more brutal treatment. She finds some respite in the form of a love affair with a dwarf magician,(according to what I looked up, the age of consent in Japan ranges from 13 to 18) but perhaps unsurprisingly for a grown man who takes an interest in a pre-teen, he turns out to be a control freak too.