Pandora Hearts

To young Oz Vessalius, heir to the Vessalius Duke House, the perilous world called the Abyss is nothing more than a folktale used to scare misbehaving children. However, when Oz's coming-of-age ceremony is interrupted by the malicious Baskerville Clan intent on banishing him into the depths of the Abyss, the Vessalius heir realizes that his peaceful life of luxury is at its end. Now, he must confront the world of the Abyss and its dwellers, the monstrous "Chains," which are both not quite as fake as he once believed.

Based on the supernatural fantasy manga of the same name, Pandora Hearts tells the story of fifteen-year-old Oz's journey to discover the meaning behind the strange events that have overtaken his life. Assisted by a mysterious Chain named Alice, whose nickname is "Bloodstained Black Rabbit," and members of a clandestine organization known as "Pandora," Oz begins to realize his existence may have more meaning than he could have ever imagined.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Break, Xerxes Main

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Nightray, Gilbert Main

Toriumi, Kousuke Japanese

Alice Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Vessalius, Oz Main

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Rainsworth, Sharon Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Nightray, Elliot Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi Japanese

Vessalius, Jack Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Nightray, Vincent Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Will of the Abyss Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Echo Supporting

Hirohashi, Ryou Japanese

Nozaki, Keiichi Producer

Chino, Takatoshi Producer

Matsunaga, Yuuichi Producer

Iwasaki, Atsushi Producer

Reviews

Jan 6, 2026

maya_kotori

Recommended

Pandora Hearts was honestly such a captivating experience for me. From the very beginning, the story pulled me straight into its mysterious, dark, and beautifully layered world. The atmosphere is so unique, a mix of fantasy, gothic elements, and emotional storytelling that kept me completely hooked the entire time. The characters were one of the biggest highlights. Each of them has depth, secrets, and a past that slowly unfolds in a way that makes you care more and more as the story goes on. I loved watching their relationships develop, and some moments genuinely hit me harder than I expected. Even though the anime ... doesn’t cover everything from the manga, it still left a strong impression on me. The world-building, the music, the emotional tension. Everything worked together so well that I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterward. For me, it’s easily a 9/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 19, 2025

irlgutter

Mixed Feelings

The plot had good ways it could have gone. And just knowing that had made me content.
It may be 25 episodes however with how they went about going into things it honestly felt like the lore and plotline of a 12 episode season. There were so many questions left unanswered.
You could get attached to some characters fairly easily but a lot of characters weren't delved into that would have been nice to delve into.
After episode 5-6 It got rather odd with some factors which sort of gave it a fever dream type of feel which is commonly not good.

A majorly refreshing thing about Pandora Hearts ... is the plot. It's not something overused or common, hell it's one of it's own. And generally speaking that is just amazing.
The first bits that did make sense were amazing, it was a darker supernatural feel, but as that went on you could tell the director kind of went 'limp' in a sense. Despite that, if you were just to watch those episodes I am sure you'd be hooked on it and enjoy the plot.

Generally, if they had it better planned and had a better ending this would have been a ten for so many people, not just me.
PS ; I apologize if there's any odd things or odd wording in this. It's my first review and also done at 1:50 am whilst half asleep.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 19, 2022

Resting_Bonfire

Not Recommended

Pandora Hearts

I have to make one thing clear in advance, if you want to watch "Pandora Hearts" but at the same time you are a manga reader, do yourself a favor and read the manga.

The anime adaptation of Pandora Hearts includes the first 3 arcs and thus roughly the first 35 chapters. The last 3 episodes are filler episodes with an alternate ending.

Although I was mostly entertained by the anime, this is one of the worst manga adaptations I've seen. The pacing was almost non-existent, and some episodes dragged on for ages. Tension was completely undermined thanks to that, of course. Even some ... of the most important moments from the manga seemed almost like minor dialogue. As for the ending, there are good and bad ways to present an alternative ending. And here, probably the worst possible was done. It would have been better to just declare the anime over from the Ludwig arc on, rather than allow such a disaster.

[Story 6]

Nonetheless, this adaptation contains a lot of original material from the manga, which still delivers the same content despite atrocious pacing. Pandora Hearts is one of the few anime/manga whose main focus is based on storytelling, twists, and buildup. This show has an immense amount of hidden detail and foreshadowing for future events, which turns the entire plot picture upside down the more of it is revealed.

In the adaptation, unfortunately, we only see some of the setup, which seems relatively minor without the resolution. Almost nothing about the Abyss, the characters, and the "truth" was revealed in the anime and remains hidden until the end, for the anime-only viewers.

[Characters 5]

By the end of the anime series, the characters have developed only minimally and most of their important moments and developments are yet to come. However, even here you notice how multi-layered the characters are even though they seem like stereotypes at first. Oz (whose entire existence is a collection of plot twists) is a relatively interestingly written protagonist, since, among other things, all of his character traits and problems are resolved by the end. Again, we already saw many of his self-conflicts based on his childhood and how he tried to overcome them. In a more or less self-critical and yet rational way.

Alice. The tsundere is a gluttonous, arrogant protagonist who is more a wild animal than a human being. Which, thanks to her background and her eternal existence in the Abyss could hardly be otherwise. She is the most boring of the protagonists but has enough character to be average.

Gilbert has his moments of brilliance, though later in the manga. In the anime, he only seems like a sidekick.

Most of the side characters all have their respective character arc and important relevance to the main plot, as their fates are related to each other and the truth behind the story. And some side characters, are closer to the "real" plot than one would think at the beginning.

[Animations 3]

Environments have very little detail, especially from the middle on. The dynamics are non-existent and the freeze-frame battles are immensely monotonous. Pacing is near-record poor, a single dialogue is delayed to 2-3 minutes, and fights that barely lasted 5 pages in the manga are at least 5 minutes here.

[Music 6]

The osts are quite appropriate for this kind of story and very apt in style. The intro is also well done and fits perfectly.
The biggest flaw here is how the osts are placed. In some episodes, the music plays even though nothing happens at all and in other scenes, it is missing. Imagine the character walking up the stairs with nothing happening and the main theme playing in the background.

[Conclusion 4]

You can watch this anime, especially if you are new to the anime scene and have little experience or comparative material. For anyone else, I definitely can't recommend this anime. The manga, on the other hand, I can. Despite a disappointing ending, the manga was a very interesting experience with a very well-thought-out plot.


[Enjoyment 5]

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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