Ranked #846

Deadman Wonderland

If you enjoy fast paced action packed anime's, then Deadman Wonderland is most certainly one of the top choices for Spring 2011.

The story revolves around a main character called Igarashi Ganta whose sudden encounter with the "Red Man" turns his life from a jolly average middle school life, into a hell hole called Deadman Wonderland where inmates put on a show for paying audiences.

Beyond the dark and frightening atmosphere is a fast developing action/horror anime packed with enough twists to keep you on your toes and desperate for more, as it is impossible to predict the turn of events as i tried to do so myself. Each new twist draws you in deeper and deeper to the point where you crave for closure.

Audio and visuals for Deadman Wonderland are extremely effective in setting the right theme and environment for this anime. It gives off a eerie and dark aura easily putting you into the right mood for watching this type of anime. The characters are lacking a bit in development and hard to empathize with but with the series the way it is, there wouldn't be enough time even though it would be nice if there was more depth to each of the other characters.

Although short, Deadman Wonderland is more then enough to satisfy viewers including those who aren't too fond of the genre and is most definitely one of the more enticing series of spring 2011
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Sypnosis: Eight years ago, a tremendous earthquake hit Japan, destroying it’s capital. In order to raise funds for rebuilding, Deadman Wonderland, the first privately owned prison, uses it’s prisoners as amusement park attractions. Igarashi Ganta is accused of the massacre of his classmates. Falsely accused, Ganta is tried and sent to Deadman Wonderland where he sees the horrors that lie beneath this amusement park.

Story: 8/10
The story and concept itself is very interesting. Though, I may be biased since I am fond of anime in the horror/gore genre. Anyway, Deadman Wonderland tackles the truth, no matter how gruesome it is. Between the blood and death, you will not be able to turn your eyes away from the screen. The major factors in the story are revealed little by little, something I praise the mangaka for. While there are some plotholes and other things that may seem as a downside, I believe that it won’t matter that much, and if you find that the fact that this is overly violent or non realistic, then I say that you’re wrong. As I said before: It shows the truth as it is.

Art: 9/10
The art is attractive and surprisingly accurate. I have nothing more to elaborate on this subject.

Characters: 9/10
You will find yourself supporting the characters, feeling what they feel, crying when someone dies. The characters are introduced in such a way, that they will leave a big impression on you, regardless of their position in the story. All characters have their own unique pasts and traits, something you will come to enjoy.

Overall: 8.5/10
I think that anyone will enjoy this…if you are willing to sit through lots and lots of blood. It is really a beautiful story with deep meaning. Deadman Wonderland is a masterpiece
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Before the Spring 2011 season began, most of the talk seemed to revolve around "C" and "Deadman Wonderland". But all that talk died out pretty quickly, and by the time we were a few weeks into the new season, those two shows seem all but forgotten. I've not seen "C", but I can tell you that there's a good reason why "Deadman Wonderland" sunk so fast: bluntly put, it's a bit sh*t.

The show is about the main protagonist Ganta's adventures in the world's only privately owned prison, Deadman Wonderland, a place where dark secrets resides and sadistic experiments and gladitorial style bloodsports takes place. Oh, and the "Deadman" in "Deadman Wonderland" refers to the special prisoners who have gained special powers that allow them to use their blood to do weirdass stuff like turn into blades. And of course, the shady dudes entertain themselves by making these special prisoners duel one another.

The premises of the show is utterly preposterous. I know almost all anime require the viewer to suspend their disbelief to some extent, but "Deadman Wonderland" asks for way too much. Considering the inhumane things that goes on in Deadman Wonderland (the prison not the anime), it's a miracle that it's allowed to exist at all, privately owned or not. As if to mock the stupidity of the general public that exist in the show, Deadman Wonderland even openly flaunts its cruel treatment of prisoners. It does this through its facade... as a fricking THEME PARK in addition to being a prison, a theme park where the audience gets to see gory spectacles such as convicts running through dangerous gauntlets, with the less fortunate ones getting decapacitated and that kind of stuff. Believe it or not, it even has kids visiting on school trips. Everything the audience sees is real, but they get away with it because they tell the audience that it's NOT real. Cunning, eh? Yeah. Those gullible public... they'd believe anything you tell them, heh. Anyway, even ignoring the dubious practice of allowing school kids to see gory entertainment taking place in a prison (which would have real parents up in arms faster than you can say "Deadman Wonderland"), it's a miracle that they manage to fool anyone with the lame facade. So it's a miracle of titanic proportions then, that only the odd human rights group smells something fishy about Deadman Wonderland and comes along to protest occasionally outside their gates when they're bored.

Even after you look beyond the crappy premises, the problems never stop appearing. A lot of them stems from the fact that the characters mostly possess astounding observational skills comparable to the blind, and phenomenal thinking skills comparable to the retarded. The result is that the size of plot holes to size of plot ratio is similar to the size of eyes to size of faces ratio of the moe girls in "Clannad", as well as "twists" that are executed so badly that you can see them coming at least an episode or two in advance. I could go on and on and on about the catastrophic failings of the story, but then this might end up as the longest review ever. Plus, I need to pace myself and save some sarcasm for the remainder of the review, so I better move on now.

"Deadman Wonderland" (the anime not the prison) gives off quite a strong "Elfen Lied" vibe with its appetite for mindless violence. A lot of the time the story feels like it's being driven by the need for more violence. In fact it is so graphical that they frequently do things like blur out a serious wound or make the screen annoyingly dark (so dark in fact, that you can't actually tell what's going on a lot of the time), presumably so that they'd be allowed to even broadcast it. This leads to some odd scenes such as rooms that were brightly lit only moments ago suddenly becoming very dark when the blood starts to fly. I was kind of expecting the ending to be like "Elfen Lied" too, but it's not ... because the show doesn't even HAVE an ending. It just kind of finished leaving about three quarters of the plot strands still hanging.

Other similarities to "Elfen Lied" can also be found in the rather extreme, psychopathic characters, for whome we're apparently meant to feel sorry for after they show us a 5 minute "tragic" slideshow backstory that's complete horsesh*t. Given the characters in "Deadman Wonderland", you'd think the competition for "worst character" would be fierce - the painfully generic never-give-up type hero Ganta? The oh-so-original sadistic cute girl? The typical evil tyrant assistant warden? But no, the competition was blown away by the presence of one character, one who doesn't even need a hacked together backstory (mainly because they failed to explain it before the series finished) to win the "worst character" crown hands down. I am of course, talking about Shiro. Her character design is actually really cool, and was one of the things that attracted me to this series... and then she spoke, and things quickly went downhill from there. Perhaps the makers of "Deadman Wonderland" were trying to create the most irritating character ever, but I have a feeling that they were actually going for an "endearing little retard" type character, but accidentally ended up with "annoying little sh*t" instead. And how is it that hardly anyone found her presence to be strange as she wanders around the prison almost unopposed?!

The only the thing that stops "Deadman Wonderland" from sinking without a trace is the great production values. Some of the bloody action scenes are vaguely exciting to watch, though others are pretty generic. Its horror aspect can also be quite effective... or at least it would have been if the silliness of the plot did not constantly undermine it.

Aside from that, there's not much to see here. With its unreasonably senselss violence, unreasonably extreme characters and unreasonably bullsh*t story, the only fascinating thing about "Deadman Wonderland" is how it gets exponentially more stupid the more you think about it - it seems to contain stupidity within stupidity within stupidity. It's not every day you get to see such intricately recursive stupidity, and "Deadman Wonderland" pulls it off effortlessly. read more

Deadman wonderland is a story about certain special prisoners called "deadmen" that have inherited or rather gained the power to use their own blood and turn them into lethal weapons for killing.

The anime isn't that good. It lacks most of the manga and it even hangs up on episode 12. The characters and the idea itself was really good and the setting of a prison can really bring in the watchers. BUT THE BIG PROBLEM, they tried to fit the anime within only 12 episodes while the manga is already up to 45+ chapters and its still ongoing. It only takes half the story of the manga and they even took out some other characters. I'd rather read the manga than watch the anime. Its a real letdown since i was actually waiting for this anime.

Despite the current shortage of episodes. Its still a good anime to watch and sit down next to a bowl of popcorn and enjoy the blood and gore. The art is actually better than the anime on my point of view. The character development is really intriguing since i read the manga myself and really like Senji Kiyomasa(FANBOY'S). Overall the anime is interesting on the first parts but will leave you hanging after the last episode. But if you want to know more after the anime then I suggest to read the manga.
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Deadman Wonderland is a good series with a crazy idea, although actually pretty simple. It was a very enjoyable experience to watch, not like I expected. However, a major downside is the fact that it ends with a lot of loose ends, as if it could've gone on or done a second season.

The story becomes relatively easy to understand after a few episodes, although it feels extreme, which is unique. However, it felt more or less predictable, and didn't have many twists or events that leave you amazed. Still, even with such a strange concept, the creators made it really great. However, like I previously stated, it fails to bring a resolution to viewers, as the protagonist never did what he planned, and the ending was abrupt, with nearly no falling action.

The art was alright, although the setting remained the same for pretty much the whole series. I liked the art style of each character as well, although there wasn't much variety, since many wear a uniform or gear.

The characters are great, with not too many or too few amount of main and supporting characters. However, although each person has their own personality that really stands out, it is a fairly simple personality.

I enjoyed this series very much, far more than I had anticipated. It didn't turn out as just random fights with blood and gore, it had a plot to advance as well. Although there were not many long or epic battles, each episode wasn't filled with just random events, and I was entertained and did not get bored.

Overall, it was a good series with a lot going for it, and I recommend to watch it, since 12 episodes isn't too bad. However, I felt extremely dissatisfied with the ending, since the protagonist's goal was never near reached, and a lot was left open. read more

I've wanted to give writing a review a shot so this is the first one I have ever written and I decided to review Deadman Wonderland.

Deadman Wonderland is a raw and gritty anime that really deserves that R rating, but does Deadman Wonderland set itself a part from every other shonen anime? What is it that makes Deadman Wonderland attractive to viewers? Is it because the amount of gore and violence rivals that of just about any horror movie, or is there more to it? These are questions I found myself asking before watching Deadman Wonderland and found the answers rather quickly into the 12 episode series.

Story: 8/10
When I first started watching Deadman Wonderland, I thought that the only thing it had going for it was the massive amount of gore and profanity in the first episode. But the more that I watched the series, the more I saw a real plot begin to develop. The relationship between Ganta Igarashi and Shiro seemed very strange and unnatural at first but once the story started to delve deeper into Ganta's back story it really started to make sense. I could not even count how many times while watching this I was jaw dropped and confused by the vast amount of plot twists. While the story was very good it also progressed poorly and often left me wondering what was going on. Not only did the story progress poorly, but it also wasn't fully developed. The plot jumps all over the place and changes almost every three or four episodes. The worst part about the plot is where it left off, if this doesn't get a second season then this will be another anime that fell victim to not having a true ending. Even with all of the negative aspects to the story, I still give it an eight based on the true core of the plot.

Art: 10/10
The art quality in Deadman Wonderland was fantastic! The animation was very smooth and really helped set up the entire series. The dark colors gave it a very raw and gritty feeling that exposed the horrifying nature of the prison. The art played an integral part in the series and really set up the dark and somber tone throughout it.

Sound: 10/10
The music in Deadman Wonderland played just as big of a part in setting up the dark tone of the series as the art quality. The soundtrack really helped tell the story and was one of the best soundtracks I have heard in an anime. The music was really dark and creepy, it was almost as if the music was made for a horror movie. The music really made up for the parts that were lacking in the story.

Characters: 7/10
The main problem I had with the characters was that relationships were never really established and none of the characters truly developed besides Ganta. None of the relationships in the show were given time to develop which led to them feeling unbelievable and lacking a tight bond. Ganta's relationship with Shiro doesn't really makes sense until his childhood is explored and even then their relationship seems very confusing. His connection with Senji also seems very awkward and forced. I get that they share a bond based on respect, which isn't the first relationship that has been built on this, but it just doesn't feel right and is very rushed. Ganta's relationship with the resistance group also feels very rushed. He is only a part of the resistance for like a day or a couple of days and yet he has a great amount of faith and loyalty in the people that he has just met? It just doesn't feel natural. Moving on to character development which is very weak throughout the series. Ganta is the only character who I truly felt developed throughout his time spent in prison. The fact that he is just a frightened and cowardice child in the beginning who matures into a strong person who wants nothing more than to be able to protect his friends is great. I loved that, but because the anime is so short, none of the other characters get developed in the process.

Enjoyment: 9/10
I felt that this series was very enjoyable if you are either a fan of gore or aren't bothered by it. If you can't stand to watch very graphic and cringe worthy scenes than you most likely won't enjoy Deadman Wonderland. I thought that while the gore was overused, it also played a necessary part in displaying the terrifying nature of the prison. Not only was the gore necessary, but it also made the viewer sympathize with the protagonists of the series. The horrifying torment and abuse that the Branches of Sin users went through was very tragic and heartbreaking, especially for a character like Nagi. I highly enjoyed Deadman Wonderland for the disturbing portrayal of not only the life inside of the prison, but also for the corrupt people behind the whole thing. I felt that it sent a relatively real message about how people in charge often abuse their power.

Overall: 9/10
In the end, I felt that Deadman Wonderland was very much worth the watch and was very well done. As I have stated, I feel that the lack of character development, rushed plot, and the fact that the series felt unfinished at the end really are what kept this anime from being a must see classic. It would have been best if the creators had waited for the manga to finish in order to prevent the series from being left on a cliffhanger and gotten a fully developed plot. Instead we are left with an incomplete series that many people will view as “okay”. I gave Deadman Wonderland a nine because I found it to be highly enjoyable and one of the best core plots I have experienced in a shonen anime. Even though the plot did skip around a lot, it was a fundamentally great story that wasn't developed properly. In conclusion, I would highly recommend Deadman Wonderland to anyone who is looking for a more mature themed anime that is very unique and original. read more

Deadman Wonderland; what comes to mind?
In brief, I like to say that if you think this is scary or gruesome; well same with me.
To tell you the truth, I cried on many parts of this anime. Read the manga too and you will see something horrific!
I give it a 9 due to some of what I seen before this. I spent too much time on dark anime/manga over the recent years. And this made me realize similar art from recent anime. I will not give any SPOILERS!
Watch it in Mexican, Japanese, English, whatever appeals to you!
'Tis this show can do many emotions to the viewer themselves.

Take an action show for example; like Naruto and what you maybe watching that involves anime. This also can be confusing on parts. But, like I said in Baccano!; DO NOT DROP IT!

A tad bit scary, gruesome, confusing, sad, and so much to put on.

I recommend it for anybody who just watched; Mirai Nikki, Death Note, and Another.

PEACE! read more

Every other review is calling this show unique. It isnt. It is just
Battle Royale in a prison. While at least BR established a setting of a crazy future fascist Japanese govt to justify everything, here were given zip: just a psycho society that "is what it is" and we just gotta roll with it. I dont buy that for a second. Cutting corners from the get go is a big nono when trying to create a believable setting. This is as far from believable as it gets. While insane, Battle Royale's setting was wholly substantiated and explained.

SPOILERS AHEAD! They are necessary and hilariously stupid.

So the story....

Its like everyone in authority is blind and stupid. How can a kid do THAT (tear all the kids to pieces and destroy a class room)? Even if everything is so fucking cool after he is sentenced why the hell does story have to be so stupid and nonsensical?

I mean...I am wrong to expect storytellers to try anymore with this stuff or what? The parents at the kid's trial were all scowling and upset and mad at that kid but do none have the brains to ask "wtf is goin on here?" This is nonsense.

The kid could have been put into that death camp amusement park in other, more believable ways right?? Ways that made some sense?

Maybe if it was a govt and police and jury conspiracy or something.....
Maybe if just two kids were shot or something...
No, whole class full of kids torn to pieces and room destroyed by a scrawny little boy and nobody thinks it makes no sense. Cops, judges, parents, inmates etc...

The boy's defense attorney is a crackpot too. We never see a defense and the boy just loses. Right...

So we find our protagonist in the death camp amusement park. There is this overgrown monster dude ex-karate-champ-inmate who runs the joint... or something. "Im gonna win that race and get the money! Right gang?" "YEAAA " his typical gang responds." He beats up our guy and another guy and then were in this crazy race with death traps.

The race...what the hell is this mess? I am supposed to believe that all these inmates have been here forever and NOBODY knows that this race is going to kill 99% of them?? Even the macho big gang-leader karate dude is like "F this." The god damn race is held so often so how does noone know what it is like? Just stupid.

Oh yea, the one light at the end of the tunnel has our main guy gain superpowers and is followed around in the death camp by this cute all-white female naive inmate. Not explained as of now but really I do not want it explained. It seems they would mess that up badly.

Should I not expect good storytelling anymore? Should I just enjoy the entertainment of it all? Right? Anime...at least Highschool of the Dead was awesome and never took itself seriously. Battle Royale had infinitely more logic behind the actions of its characters. This is just a stupid knockoff...as of ep2.
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I finished Deadman Wonderland yesterday, and I enjoyed it very much. So I decided to write this small review, in order to convince some people to watch this.

Story (9) - The story is about a high-school student, Igarashi Ganta, whose friends get murdered by a Man In Red. Ganta ends up being blamed by the murder, and he gets sent to a special prision - Deadman Wonderland. But this prision is no normal prision, if you don´t eat a special candy every 3 days, you die by a poison that is connected to a device they put on your neck. Ganta will find more about his powers in his time there. Pretty good plot here.

Art (8) - The art was good for the anime it was: a survival game. There´s not much else to say here, but I actually liked it.

Sound (9) - A great opening, a decent ending and a superb OST. If you see the anime, there will be one OST that will always play on your mind when someone talks to you about Deadman Wonderland. You will know what that OST is when you finish the anime. The sound in this anime was great, and in the battle scenes the soundtracks were beautifully used.

Character (8) - As they are in prision, and are forced to fight for their own survival, many characters end up losing their minds and going crazy. This almost happened to the main character, Ganta. He fights not only for himself, but for his friends aswell. His final goal was to leak information about the prison to the outside world. Shiro is the female main lead, and she saves Ganta many times during this short anime, although Ganta also saves her once. She is shown to have some kind of special power, but the anime ended before we could learn more about it. I like how they show some of their past together as the anime progresses. So overall, we have a nice team of main characters.

Enjoyment (9) - As a survival game fan, I enjoyed this anime very much. The fights were awesome, I liked the main characters, and not even one episode was wasted, since there was always a fight in most episodes. The anime got even better after we learn about the Deadmen.

Overall (9) - Well, I recommend this anime to any people who like survival games, it really is a unique anime with a great plot, and I ended up becoming a fan od the anime pretty fast. It was short, and it´s "incompleted" since the manga still goes on, but I have hopes that we see a second season someday, although thats not very likely. read more

Deadman wonderland is not the best anime that you are ever going to watch but that completely does not mean you should not watch it. this is my first review so try not to be too harsh

Now lets get started, Deadman wonderland is a kind of anime that you will not see a lot. The story is very interesting and compelling. Throughout the whole thing you are rooting for the protagonist and you want him to succeed, even though the story ends kind of abruptly does not take enough from the experience for it to be a big deal, and there is always the manga that takes it further. Story 9/10

The art in this anime is some of the best art style i have seen in a while. The art is slick, flashy and very very nice to look at especially when there is and intense part of the story but in some parts it may look a little bland with all the jail scenery and the black colors like black and grey. Art 9/10

The sound in deadman wonderland is also top notch the sound effects of people being torn apart in the carnival corpse makes you cringe and ambient sounds throughout the world are very nice to listen to. And much like the art it suffers the same fate with the jail scenes and how it just becomes more bland and you feel like you have seen and heard this kinda stuff before. Sound 9/10

One of the only and biggest downfalls (although not a really big one) is the fact that the protagonist is not one of the bravest characters you will ever see, but the character that picks up the slack for the main protagonist is the other main character names Shiro. She is one of the most weird funny and enjoyable characters of this anime even though you may be disappointed at first with the main protagonist there is no need to worry because there are many different characters that have an interesting back story. Characters 8/10

My overall enjoyment was very very high while watching this anime all the episodes leave you with such feeling that you need to see what happens next in the story and it just has an addictive pull for you to want to watch the next episode and the one after that. Enjoyment 9/10

Overall the anime has its good things and its bad things one of the things that disappointed me the most about it though was its length i believe it could have been much longer and they could have put more material in it. the story and great and compelling except for its few hiccups here and there, the art is top notch besides the bland parts in the prison, sound is the same thing with the art, very good but gets held back a bit in the prison scenes, the characters are enjoyable and interesting besides when you first meet the main character, he comes off as quite a wimp at first but that quickly changes, it has a very addictive feel to it where you want to see what happens next, overall i loves this anime and i think you will to. It is great and i could not recommend it more highly. Overall 9/10 read more

I have to say when I saw some AMVs and I read the synopsis I was sold. A prison run not by the government but by a organization. Where people have to fight or survive in order to pleasure the visitors. It reminded me so much of films like gladiator but then in a new setting. I loved the storyline.

Story:
Well the story starts really awesome, people getting murdered and the main character getting accused of these murders. After that he is sent to a prison. This prison is not our everyday prison, this prison is for the people who are sentenced to death. There are rules in this prison hard rules and those who do not obey them will get killed. These people know they are going to die one day, but they can live in luxury until they die if they play it right. These people can join the Karnaval and attend races in order to win tickets to buy food (witch they don't provide in this jail) and much more benefits. It is survival of the fittest.

The problem I had with this story is; that this boy who is wrongly accused wants to take revenge. A nice start for a story but the way he is prosecuted is totally left out. The things he gets accused of are so unrealistic that it makes me wonder why everyone believes that he did it. Well that apart the story starts to kick of when we see people dieing and trying to survive in this hard prison. Were gangsters rule and guards take abuse of people.

The story develops itself way better halfway the series, we get to see more blood and gore and more fan service. The story is pretty awesome. Although the big fights are lame, yes very lame we ought to see more and maybe this will happen if a season 2 comes out (witch I'm pretty sure of)

Characters:
The main character is a pain to watch, he is weak scared and not that clever he also looks a bit stupid (at least I did not like the way they drawn him). But that aside the main character did just enter a brutal prison so his reactions are most likely pretty normal. And I have to say that at some point he does grow balls and becomes a lot more relaxed than he was first.

His companion is a girl, and something here seems odd, we see this girl is strange yes. But in this jail there are no girls allowed. It is the male section. But no one ever wonders why there is a girl 24/7 next to the main character, not even the guards. Well that aside this character is mostly weird and well I did not like her very much. You also don't get that much information about her, but she is a nice twist to the story and probably very important in the second season.

The other characters are pretty awesome, but I cannot tell you anything about them since I will ruin your story experience.


Verdict:

The characters are decent in this anime, they are not memorable like Light or Lelouch were. But it is a decent short anime of 13 episodes with lots of blood and gore and lots of fan service if you like that. The anime is brutal (for example we see how they remove an eye) and it is something I never saw so that's nice. But the story isn't that strong it takes really long to get to the point they want to go. And then they stop with a huge cliffhanger witch could also provide as a real ending. But if it does then, well then they failed at ending the anime properly.

The music is amazing tough so if you don't want to watch the anime just check out the OST. But overall it wasn't that much of a good experience. It is a anime you want to see if you have seen all the good ones already. I heard that the manga continues and that it is much better. I hope they make a season 2 and I think that after that season I can adjust my opinion, this anime for now leaves to many gaps open.

Note:
(This anime is censored on most anime sites so you won't see blood or fan service I had to see it without the blood and gore for most of the episodes. If you want to see it with blood and gore I advice you to buy the anime on DVD, since I cannot find a site were they show everything, and that sucks cause the blood and gore is mainly what the anime is about).

Cheers Lucid
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Oh my god, this anime was so fucking stupid!

I was going through a dry spell around the year of 2011, so I wasn’t watching much anime at the time. Therefore, I missed out on Steins Gate and am now in the process of catching up to it. However, around the same time that anime was airing, another anime aired that people have been calling one of the worst manga adaptations around. It was only through Toonami picking this series up that I even heard about it. I never heard the dub, but I sure hope they didn’t put in the same amount of effort they did for Master of Martial Hearts, because no matter how much effort you put into making shit smell good, it’s still shit. Or to put it more harshly, Deadman Wonderland is worse than sitting through Battlefield Earth twice in one day.

I knew it was going to be bad going into the anime, but I created my accursed policy of sitting through 13-episode length shit if I can, and now I’m facing the consequences. To be fair, the anime doesn’t start off all that bad. It creates a decent premise and hook with a main character named Ganta that is framed for murder and thrown into a torturous prison called Deadman Wonderland, a place that even the Joker would find frightening. The inmates are all violently crazy, but so are the guards, so you’re screwed either way, kid. And then things go bad when Ganta is given an annoyingly insufferable female sidekick named Shiro, who to be fair, isn’t really useless, but her character type makes me want to punch her in the face.

But at least she got emotion out of me. All of the other characters, and that includes Ganta as well, are about as dull as Russell Crowe. Oh, the character types themselves are pretty good. Ganta is a whiny weakling, which is a good character to put into an ax murderer hell. But the problem is that this anime doesn’t make his weak status relevant to the actual plot because it doesn’t bother to study his character, making him really bland. This anime has insane psychopaths, one of my favorite character types, but all of them don’t have any substance or charisma to them, making them a chore to sit through whenever they blab or shift personalities. Okay, there’s the slice guy, who apparently got his own OVA, but aside from him, none of the characters have anything resembling a personality. I can’t even bother to remember most of their names.

The plot is cluttered too. Whoever storyboard edited this anime needs to get his brain checked, because the entire story felt like it was made up as it went. After the decent beginning, the middle became a cluttered mess that really didn’t amount to anything, and the conclusion was worse than taking Ron Jeremy’s dick up the ass. As messy a premise as Angel Beats’ story was, I still enjoyed it because it had comedy and some camp value to it. There was none of that with this series. Once in a while, the series will make me laugh in a “did they really do that?” kind of way, but the story takes itself too seriously for me to enjoy it the same way I did Future Diary. Oh, and concerning Angel Beats, remember how people were complaining about the fact that the side characters didn’t get any real focus? Well, Deadman Wonderland is a good anime to use in order to convince people that giving side characters who won’t matter in the long run actual background doesn’t work unless they play a large role in the story. All of their backstories felt shoehorned into the plot, and because the characters usually became irrelevant, I didn’t need really need to see all that. What was the point? Oh right, it’s because the anime is made up as it goes along, and it's edited to shit.

Also, I’m sorry, but what is wrong with all you people who glorify the violence in this show? That’s like glorifying Sniper Elite V2′s option to shoot enemies in the balls. Or glorifying Glee for putting a lot of MJ songs in the Michael Jackson tribute. The amount of violence censorship this anime had was laughable, but it also highlights just how immature the violence actually is. And before you ask me why I hate the violence, it’s because I have seen real violent anime: Baccano, Future Diary, Black Lagoon, Samurai Champloo, Fullmetal Alchemist, Darker than Black…stuff that knows when and where to use violence. Peter Jackson, before he became the Lord of the Rings guy, created some pretty bloody stuff in his days, but he added the right amount of camp value to it in order to make it entertaining to sit through. This anime literally shoves violence in your face the same way Shuffle shoves its panty shots. It was there just to be there. It didn’t add a single thing to the story. I have complained about the fact that the current movie industry lacks balls, but anime takes it too far in the opposite direction without understanding what I mean by that. To top it off, the fight scenes aren’t even good. They’re poorly shot, poorly edited, and you could literally see the plot armor surrounding Ganta whenever he fights someone. And as the final nail in the coffin, I was not kidding about the ending to this series. It wraps up the way a TV pilot does. So basically, all that violence had no payoff at the end.

So in conclusion, fuck Deadman Wonderland. How anyone could think this would be a good addition to Toonami is just confusing. Maybe if the series was more of a character study or a satire on prison abuse, this anime could have worked. Or at the very least, it should have taken its premise a little less seriously, because then, at least I could have accepted all the crazy stuff that happens. But Deadman Wonderland didn’t do that at all, and what we’re left with is an anime so bad that I felt the need to put it in my Worst Anime list.

Note: Yes, I know this anime is based on a manga that’s currently on hiatus. I don’t care. That fact doesn't help the anime in any way. read more

I started watching Deadman Wonderland because the idea of being put in prison and having to compete in deadly games seemed like it would be pretty scary and intense. The show starts out really well by setting up the plot and adding in a lot of mystery and conspiracy, but I think it fails in delivering any closure. Instead there are just a lot of unanswered questions. This is one of those shows that had potential to be something amazing, but didn't exactly get there.

Story (C+) - Well, what I imagined the story to be was a little different than what the actual story was throughout the whole series. A kid named Ganta is falsely accused of murder and sent to a prison called Deadman Wonderland. It turns out that this isn't a normal prison. Everyone has to compete in deadly games in a kind of amusement park style. Naturally, Ganta is confused and scared and doesn't know what to do. We also find out that in order to survive, the prisoners have to eat candy which can only be bought by participating in the games and earning money. If they don't eat a certain amount then a collar on their neck will poison them. This is the basic premise of the story.
All of that sounds really interesting, and for the first few episodes we see Ganta being forced to do things he doesn't want to do while trying to solve the mystery of who murdered his friends and framed him for it. Everything was going pretty smoothly until all of sudden Ganta meets a resistance group made up of prisoners who want to escape Deadman Wonderland. So about halfway through the show Ganta and his new friends start planning a way to escape. This is when I started to realize that some parts of this show don't really make any sense.
First of all, I'm supposed to believe that this "prison" is allowed to make their prisoners compete in games that could kill them? Not only that, but the outside world believes that Deadman Wonderland is an amusement park, and they watch the prisoners kill eachother during their deathmatches. But that's not even the best part. We're supposed to believe that the public has NO IDEA that the people they're watching kill eachother are actually from jail....last time I checked the prison was called Deadman Wonderland...so if the Amusement park is called the same thing then why would the people not know what was going on??? Plus, if the inmates were GETTING KILLED right in front of their eyes, then I really don't understand how they couldn't know. The other thing that bothered me was the candy. I thought the candy was going to be a big deal, but no. They talk about it for like one episode and then we never see it again until episode 12...
The other thing that really got on my nerves was why everyone was able to roam around the prison like they were on vacation. This is supposed to be some high-level security prison. I mean, there's all this technology (it's like 2020 or something), they even have to wear collars! Yet everyone walks around, going into eachother's rooms, and conversing with eachother like it's nothing. Um, what? That makes no sense. They shouldn't even be able to get together to plan an escape, let alone leave their own rooms whenever they feel like it. Stuff like this REALLY bothered me because one minute you're forced to participate in a deathmatch, and the next minute you're able to go blow up part of the building without any consequences. Do they not have surveillance cameras????
Then there's the whole branches of sin thing. It's some power that lets you manipulate your blood. Only people called "deadmen" can do it. It looks pretty cool for awhile...but I just don't think it was used enough. I thought the whole point of the story was to show Ganta in jail trying to figure out who killed his friends, while trying to stay alive by surviving all the deadly games and becoming stronger. He fights in like 2 deathmatches the whole show...pretty dissapointing. There's a lot of violence and blood too - which is pretty intimidating at first. But seeing how easily the prisoners can walk around the jail and go hide in a broom closet or something made everything less scary.
Like I said before, the second half of the show is mostly Ganta trying to escape, which pretty much goes nowhere and advances pretty slowly. A lot of the plot development from the first half is completely abandoned in the second half. It's like a completely different story. A lot of episodes dragged on without much character or story development. I'm guessing this show will have a sequel because the last episode ended on a pretty lame cliffhanger. Overall, I liked the idea of Deadman Wonderland, and for a little bit it was on a roll. The story just deviated too much and focused on things I didn't care about when it could have been answering questions and actually developing the plot.

Art (B+) - The animation is good. Everyone looked distinguishable, and the movements are nice and smooth. Sometimes the locations seemed a little bland and dark. I guess there's not much color to add to a prison, but yea. I thought everything was done well, but there was nothing groundbreaking or breathtaking. Still very good though.

Sound (B) - The music isn't...the best. There wasn't really that much to be honest (or atleast not much that stuck with me). I was kind of expecting more, especially for a show that's supposed to be somewhat suspenseful/intense. I actually really liked the OP and the ED though. I thought they both fit nicely. All the voice actors did a good job. Romi Paku did great, as always. Overall, I was expecting more music, but for such a short series they did good enough.

Character (C) - I guess 12 episodes isn't really enough to introduce a lot of characters and also develop them. The only person that we really get to know is Ganta. He's quiet guy who cries a lot (but I'm sure I would too if I were in his position) and he starts out pretty weak and helpless in the beginning....well actually he kinda stays that way. I was always waiting for him to become stronger and get more confidence in himself, but that didn't really happen. Instead, whenever he was about to lose he randomly got powerful and beat people. That cycle happened a lot of times. First he would complain about how weak he was, get beat up, and then he would suddenly think about how he didn't want to lose and then somehow win. I was okay with him winning, I mean I was rooting for him the whole time, but he did come off as a little bit pathetic. I still liked him though and I think he's a pretty likeable character. Hopefully he'll get a lot stronger next season.
The only other character that we really get to see is Shiro. She's this weird albino girl that wears this skin tight suit. She's pretty amusing and random, and she's Ganta's best friend throughout the show. She's also really likeable. Shiro apparently has more to her than meets the eye, and seems to know some things about Ganta's false imprisonment. Shiro is a mysterious character who adds a lot of suspense and questions for the viewer.
Like I said, other than these two there's not really any other character to get attached to. There are a few other ones that seem like they'll be important to the story later, but there's just not enough development of them. One thing about the characters that I would have liked was an explanation of why they were in jail in the first place. I mean we know Ganta's innocent, but what about Shiro?? What did she do so bad that put her in jail?? What about the people in the resistance? Are they all innocent too?? Do they even deserve to escape? Hopefully those questions are answered.

Enjoyment (C+) - I wanted to like Deadman Wonderland more than I did, mostly because I really liked the premise of it. The whole idea of Ganta trying to figure out why he was framed for murder while being thrown into this nightmare of a prison sounds really good on paper, and maybe the manga delivers better than the show, but I was pretty underwhelmed. There are definitely some parts of the show that are enjoyable. There are some decent action scenes and every episode usually ends with the viewer wanting more. The branches of sin look pretty cool, and I liked how Shiro was really good at beating people up. But with so many unanswered questions and important aspects of the story completely ignored, it's hard to really enjoy it without getting a little frustrated.

Overall (C) - I think I'm being a little nice to this show because in all honesty they could have done a much better job with it. I'm not sure how the manga is, but I know it's gotta be better than this. I gave this show a solid 7/10 because I think the story - while incomplete - is definitely interesting enough to watch. With only 12 episodes I'm sure it was hard to fit in a lot of details, but then that makes me wonder why they didn't just make the show longer. I really like the idea of Deadman Wonderland, but the execution could have been much better. Hopefully season two surpasses it. read more

Among other things, anime is know for being pretty violent, especially compared to a lot of other animation. Deadman Wonderland is Manglobe's contribution to the long line of series that specialize in hyper-violence. With a grim outlook on people and a sadistic tenancy to put its characters through the wringer mercilessly that matches its visceral violence, Deadman Wonderland is an unrelenting bloody nightmare. However, while it does succeed at shocking audiences, it sacrifices not only well structured narrative, but a sense of humanity. The end result is a satisfyingly lurid, but hugely uneven storm of blood and violence.

Right from the beginning the setting and circumstances of the story fill us with dread. Our protagonist Ganta Igarashi witnesses the mass murder of his middle school class by some super-powered being, and then sent to prison for the grizzly crime. The prison he is sent to, the carnival themed Deadman Wonderland, is hell on earth. The murderous inmates and ruthless guards seem to have it out for Ganta; the warden himself is responsible for fabricating evidence against him. On top of all that Ganta is developing a horrifying ability to weaponize his blood. Ganta's world has fallen apart, he is subjected to cruelty which exceeds torture, and this misery seems inescapable. The show exudes this hopelessness with every frame, and really this is the shows greatest strength. The world of Deadman Wonderland is as harsh and cruel as you will find.

Backing up the grim atmosphere are the some strong technical merits. Deadman Wonderland is a dark and vividly gruesome nightmare; the things it depicts are as incredibly unpleasant: blood is spilled, limbs are ripped off, and eyes are gouged out. Yet it is impossible to turn away. Even when there is not any violence, however, it is clear a lot of effort was put into the visuals. The prison looks like a colorful, but ominous carnival, complete with creepy looking animal mascots. The inner halls of the prison are cold, dark, and oppressive. The character designs are just as good as the background work; the designs are good and the faces are especially fun to look at when characters are going crazy. Likewise the animation is good, it looks fluid when it needs to show off, and shortcuts in animation are taken where they are least noticeable. The soundtrack does its job well, although aside the heavy guitar used in the brutal action scenes, the music is not particular memorable.

The gleeful sadism of the show comes at a heavy price. There are not many characters that come across as likeable. Most of them are either certifiably insane or cold and heartless; possessing the ugliest of traits, and as such they are hard to feel for. Ganta is neither insane or heartless, but he is also a pretty boring lead, spending most of his time lamenting over the hell his life has become or how weak he is. Granted, he is reacting to his current situation the way a sane person would, but his struggle is not all that engaging because of his constant whimpering and lack of personality outside the usual male lead tropes. Which is a real problem, because the show desperately wants his struggle to be compelling. The only exception is Shiro, the mysterious and cheery albino girl that befriends Ganta, though she squarely falls into the hyperactive childish girl archetype. Her cheery disposition is the only ray of happiness in an otherwise very miserable world. This isn't to say she is a very well written character, she can get annoying and like all the other characters in the show lacks complex emotion. However, her bright demeanor does make her stand out, and her darker character traits add a little intrigue to her.

The character are not the only problem here, however. There is also Deadman Wonderland's plot. A lot of what happens in the show is kind of preposterous, if not downright unbelievable. It is more than a bit of a stretch that a prison would be allowed to put collars on inmates which would kill the wearer if they do not consume a special candy in a certain amount of time. It is even more unbelievable that a prison would be able to publicly execute inmates on an obstacle course in front of an audience that include young teenagers stupid enough to believe it is all special effects. All of this is done for shock factor in Deadman Wonderland, and it brings into question if the show has any understanding of humanity at all. Sure, people do shocking and horrible things, but they are not the mindless, bloodthirsty, and voyeuristic herd that this show depicts; and it is insulting in more than one way to the viewer to present them as such. This mistake in depicting people is not exclusive to Deadman Wonderland, in fact it is pretty prevalent in gore-fests. On top of that, the story does not know where it is going; ultimately coming to a sudden stop that is guaranteed to satisfy almost no one.

As exceedingly violent and bleak Deadman Wonderland is, it is also entertaining. There is a kind of sick enjoyment of seeing the nightmarish atrocities of the show that is just undeniable. There is a thrill in receiving a shock, and this show definitely delivers on shock value. Still, it doesn't excuse the lack of human understanding which is prevalent in both the characters and plot. And it definitely does not excuse the meandering story line which ultimately goes nowhere. While it can be a gory fun, in the end Deadman Wonderland doesn't provide anything exceptional in the world of gore-fests.
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Allow me to start off by saying that the reason why I began to watch Deadman Wonderland was because of how amazing the manga adaptation was. Because I had set my expectations for this anime so high I was consequently pretty disappointed with its turnout. With that being said, let me jump straight into the review.

Story(8)
As you may or may not know, Deadman Wonderland revolves around the main character Igarashi Ganta whom is framed after a mysterious character, later known to be the antagonist called the Red man, slaughters his entire class. He is unfairly charged for murder of his classmates just because he is the sole survivor and is sent to Japan's first privately owned prison, Deadman Wonderland. After this life changing experience, Ganta soon learns that he has gained an unbelievable ability that allows him to shoot his own blood (in the anime called "branches of sin"). Ganta uses his power to survive through the prison defeating other deadmen (other characters that can also use branch of sin) in brutal carnival corpses to one day hope to face the red man and gain his revenge. The story was something I really enjoyed about the series but because the anime is only 12 episodes long, it only contains the first arc (up to chapter 20 +/- in the manga). That being said, a lot of stuff was rushed in the anime making it not as great as it should have been. There are a lot of mysteries yet to be answered after the 12 episodes which hint a second season. But after seeing the first, you may not want to even see another season.

Art(8)
I dont really have much to say about the art other than it wasn't too bad. It has a decent amount of blood and violence which honestly was all I really liked about the show itself (besides the story). The blood was gruesome and the colors blended nicely with the atmosphere. The characters were also drawn nicely so thats pretty much all there is to say about that.

Sound(7)
The opening to the series fitted the anime very nicely. It did a very good job of setting the tone for the anime and gave you an early idea of the horror and psychological mental atmosphere the anime contains. I thought the voice acting was well done and the background music was fine throughout the series.

Character(6)
Ok so here is where the series begins to lose some major points. Let's start with the main character, Ganta. Ganta is just a pathetic, whiny, and weak character. Because the anime only had 12 episodes and had to rush everything, it didnt give the main character any time to grow. There was little to no character development and it was just hard to fall in love with the main character. Not to mention all the other characters in the anime had even less screen time. Deadman Wonderland had a good cast of characters with great potential but sadly none of it was shown.

Overall Enjoyment(7)
Overall, this was just another average anime series. I really do feel bad for all the manga fans of the series because this anime had a lot of great potential to be amazing. But hey, its only 12 episodes and if you enjoy blood and gore then it isnt really a bad choice to just kill the time. read more

Because of Deadman Wonderland being a great manga, people expected more for the Anime, some say that the anime did exclude details that the manga offered which I proved to my self (being that I watched both the show and read the manga up to date). But easily caught the interest of the viewer which is a very important to making an TV show or any story for that matter.

Even if some of the details are missing, the anime still delivers the feeling of the manga in my opinion, it is a very well structured story topped off with very unique but memorable characters, great visuals, fight scenes that keep building up in action and awesome sound effects.

The story had great unexpected twists that were really surprising (which I wont spoil for you) and included a lot of emotion and character to the story which is my favorite thing about Deadman Wonderland. The story basically explodes with color and character.

In my opinion The reason why people were disappointed in the anime was because that there was to much expected out of it.

So is Deadman Wonderland worth the watch? "HELL YEAH!" The anime is a great way to get the basic concept of the story and if you want to have a larger intellect of the story than read the manga, trust me they are both really good.

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Overall an anime with great animation, style, and a deep interesting plot. Unfortunately it got about half the episodes it needed, making it little more than a 12-episode trailer for the manga.

The story deals with some very interesting themes and has many surprising twists that keep you asking questions. However, the ending cuts off about half of the ongoing plot threads, leaving many questions unanswered. They even start new arcs in the second-to-last episode that never get resolved. There was honestly huge opportunity for an epic ending that would put FMA to shame here, but it was pissed away.

The animation and art is high-quality, the music and voice acting are also top-notch thanks to the incredible folks at Manglobe.

The characters are varied and interesting, but never get enough screen-time or development because of the rushed nature of the show. You have badass incarnate who's afraid of girls, a psycho monk who's trying to free people from the material world of suffering, and a sweet-loving albino girl in a bodysuit who hides a dark secret.

If you're looking for a fast-paced action anime to pass the time, this is a solid choice, but it doesn't stand on its own as an anime, so you'll be forced to read the manga when it's over. read more

Deadman Wonderland is a show that doesn't hold back when it comes to content. I feel it's along the lines of the Elfen Lied house of storytelling, using shock and violence not as filler, but as a driving force for narrative. Focusing on Ganta, aka Woodpecker, is just a normal boy, until his entire class is murdered. After being falsely accused, and then being beaten multiple times because of it, he finds himself in Deadman Wonderland, a sort of Jigsaw/Death Race/ Running Man hybrid of violent contests in the name of entertainment. That's all I'm going to say story wise, due to not wanting to spoil anything, but it's definitely a series worth watching if you enjoy watching shock plot. read more

Deadman Wonderland is a dark and shocking anime. It is gory and unsympathetic to it's characters. Usually.

The first couple of episodes are very well done. These episodes got me hooked on the series and I immediately started to read the manga after viewing them. I am up-to-date on the manga, and because of this, I am more disappointed in the series finale than I would be if I hadn't read much of the manga. So many loose ends were not tied up at the end, though it would be impossible to tie them as this series is only 12 episodes long. The part that many viewers were hoping to see was not included in the anime. Perhaps there will be a second season, though.

Anyway, on with the flaws. Many people will say that the characters were the biggest flaw. I'm not sure about this. The characters were pretty one-dimensional, yes, but the anime wasn't focused on them. This anime focused on the story. The very twisted story. So yes, the characters were weak but I don't think that they break the series. Then again, you are either going to love or hate the main character, Ganta. He is a wuss. Though, he is easy to sympathize with, as he is a kid thrust into a horrendous world. His constant whining is annoying, though, and he does not develop very much through the anime. Hopefully, he wont grind your gears too much. I really enjoyed most of the other characters. They were stereotypical, yes, but they all had their dark secrets that made them a bit deeper and more twisted. Shiro, the main female character, is definitely the most interesting. Sadly, though, she doesn't really get to shine in the anime, as the series is so short.

There are some absurd moments in this anime. Then again, many anime are outrageous. Just don't be expecting every detail to make sense.

The worst thing for me, there is no sense of change in this story. Everything remains bleak. There are a few warm-hearted moments, but they are shattered quickly with more blood-splattering. This is enjoyable, in a twisted way, for many of us viewers, but it just gets predictable after so many times. If the series were longer, perhaps we could have seen some real progress.

Onto the positives!

This series is all about shock-factor. Is this actually a good thing? Well, it depends on the person. I loved watching every twisted moment in this series, and there are a lot of them. Even though it does get predictable, the producers pull off every gasp-inducing moment pretty well.

The plot itself is actually pretty cool. It is perfect for all the madness that goes on. I realize that I'm making this anime sound absolutely horrific. Depending on who you are, it can be. But it does have some heart if you look hard enough, and it isn't nightmare-inducing. I suppose it is really just shock-factor.

I enjoyed the art. The animation is smooth and the character-designs go perfectly with their stereotypes. Some very nice visual effects are used in many of the scenes, so that is nice.

I loved the sound of Deadman Wonderland. Every voice was perfect for each character. Ganta's voice actor was especially great and is probably the saving grace for this character. Seriously, I think that Romi Paku was perfect for the role. The music used through-out the series wasn't overbearing and it usually worked. The themes are forgettable, though. The opening music, One Reason, is very pleasing to the ears. The lyrics are all in clearly-spoken English, and the song is really just perfect for the series. Even if you do not like the series, I can almost guarantee that you'll love the opening.

I really enjoyed this series, but it is very lacking. The plotholes, the one-dimensional characters, the predictability... They are all very annoying. But I do recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a short little horror-story. read more

Ok this on my personal opinion. I'm not too picky about the anime and the differences to the manga. Most animes aren't similar or they spinn off in their own stories. Like ao no exorcist and kuroshitsuji for example.
The real major flaw is the ending. That's it
Story 9
The story is quite good its not something you expect everyday a 14 yesr old and sentenced to death. For a few flaws that may contain spoilers. I cannot say. Some things you see coming, others not. Opening spoils a lot.

Art 8
The arts not the best but its not too bad. It csn give off he right vibe that the events should impact. But a few animator flips it can be some what off at times.

Sound 10
I love the opening a lot its great and the. Ending is ok, the osts are abit random bt unique and compleely work.

Character 9
The characers. Are about as you would susoect not too bad b nt exactly great. Some will appeal some and ohers appeal to others, variattion.

Enjoyment 10
I really liked it to be honest is my own opinion.

Overall 9
I. Was nice to watch hough not a 10 read more