Deadman Wonderland

Strange things can happen to a person when they're in prison so the general rules of thumb are to keep a low profile, stay out of the way of other people, and avoid dropping the soap in the shower. For the inmates of Japan's only privately owned prison (which for some reason is run as a theme park and is built on Ground Zero of the Great Tokyo Earthquake), the ablutive antics of their fellow "guests" are the least of their worries, especially when the warden takes the term "punishment game" to a whole new level. The stage is set. The "Running Man" style collars ... are on. The next event is a lethal variation of Takeshi's Castle.

Welcome to Deadman Wonderland.

Based on the manga by Kataoka Jinsei (story), and Kondou Kazuma (art), the story begins with middle school student Igarashi Ganta, a fairly normal teenager with a reasonably mundane life - going to school, hanging out with friends, etc. All of that changes when his entire class are slaughtered while still in school, and as the only survivor he is found guilty of mass murder and sentenced to death. He is sent to Deadman Wonderland to wait out the time before his execution, but the powers that be in the prison have their eyes on Ganta so he must now navigate a labyrinth of conspiracies, greed, betrayal, murder, revolution, gladiatorial combat, and enough blood to make a clan of vampires drool.

Which immediately brings up the first problem with this series.

At its heart Deadman Wonderland is nothing more than a bloodier version of the common or garden shounen tale, but bolted onto the framework concept is a plot that has been worked over far too many times, so much so that it's highly predictable and almost barren of any original thought. Far too much importance has been placed on making the content "cool" in an effort to appeal to viewers who just want violence, blood and explosions, and with the added yet pointless melodramatic scenes designed to elicit audience sympathy, the storyline never really picks up enough narrative pace to maintain the viewer's interest. There are also a few critical errors that anyone with a basic understanding of investigative techniques would immediately spot and question, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Now this may confuse some people because Deadman Wonderland does have a lot going on in each episode, so an explanation is probably in order. This anime uses an event driven plot rather than a character driven one, and because of that the protagonist and his fellow inmates are simply along for the ride. They become nothing more than reactionary elements in the storyline, and in an effort to compensate for that the author and his adaptation colleagues have thrown as many different ideas at the series as they could. In truth, the only thing holding the entire narrative together so that it could be considered a story instead of a collection of random events, is Ganta, which gives an idea of the scale of the problem.

That said, Ganta isn't really terrible, but the nature of the plot ensures that his characterisation remains linear and one dimensional, and while it may appear to some that he matures as an individual, this is actually a forced measure that serves only one purpose - to make his win against the next big bad opponent a bit more believable. Unfortunately, Deadman Wonderland isn't really about developing the characters in any meaningful way, and this is borne out by the fact that the supporting cast only get a few paltry flashbacks even though some of them have a lasting effect on the storyline. The oddity is that probably the most intriguing character is Ganta's childhood friend Shiro, a resident of Deadman Wonderland who isn't a prisoner. She is an anomaly who appears to have a childlike personality, but her very presence in the storyline, together with her looks, is enough to set alarm bells ringing for anyone who knows the trope about mysterious white haired characters.

Given that this is an adaptation of a manga there's automatically a severe limitation placed on design, but Manglobe have done their best with what has been given to them, and the results are actually pretty good. The animation is smooth and there are some nice visual effects scattered throughout the series, the character movements are fluid and have a natural feel, and the action set pieces have a visceral edge to them that the manga lacks. There are a few issues though, but these lie in the smaller details as there are some design influences from other works (Ganta's likeness to Renton Thurston from Eureka 7, which is also a work by the Kataoka and Kondou). In addition to this, there's a tendency to fall back on certain stereotypes (the rather obvious musclebound oaf who likes nothing more than fighting strong opponents), which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can get tedious to see certain character archetypes all the time. Thankfully these niggles aren't really enough to prevent viewers from enjoying the series, especially if one is able to move past the rather slapdash storyline.

Seriously, would it kill anyone to use some real world stereotypes, maybe something like the bad tempered little guy who doesn't know how to fight properly but makes up for it in sheer ferocity?

Deadman Wonderland has a rather eclectic variety of background music on offer that ranges from dramatic heavy metal blended with techno, to a few simple notes played on a piano. The quality of the audio, both the music and the effects, is surprisingly good, and the choreography shows that some thought has gone into the implementation and timing of each track. The opening theme is a heavy metal piece called One Reason by DWB (featuring Fade), that has been set to a well designed sequence that utilises a three colour base, in this case red, white and black. The end credits feature a slow moving ferris wheel accompanied by images of many of the characters from their lives before they became inmates of Deadman Wonderland, all set to the tune of Shiny Shiny by NIRGILIS.

To be perfectly honest, this anime doesn't really test the abilities of Paku Romi (Ganta), Hanazawa Kana (Shiro), or any of the other cast members to any great degree, but part of that is due to a relatively lackadaisical script. The dialogue lacks a degree of intuitiveness that can make conversations seem forced, and while the cast are capable seiyuu in their own right, they seem to struggle with several scenes in an effort to get the emotion across to the viewer. It's never a good thing when an actor or actress tries too hard, and this fact is borne out during a number of conversations in the series.

But then, that's pretty much the story of Deadman Wonderland - it tries too hard.

On the surface this appears to be a rather slick production with some high quality audio and visuals, but no amount of beautification can hide a plot that is more focused on currying favour with audiences than it is with actually telling a story. The narrative can often seem like a train wreck (i.e. bits flying off everywhere, people screaming and running for cover, etc), as many of the plot elements have simply been attached without any real thought given to integrating them into the story proper, and this is why many events can feel like they're nothing more than fillers. In addition to this, the idea of weaponizing blood isn't actually new as Wei Zhijun from Darker Than Black can blow things up using his blood, while Saya from Blood + must use hers to kill Chiropterans.

That said, one has to remember that the story itself is incomplete as this is only an adaptation of the manga up to a point, and this is one of the reasons why there are inherent issues that have yet to be resolved. Unfortunately that excuse cannot cover certain flaws that really do stand out, the chief among them being Ganta's conviction. The series makes a point of showing a confession by him and this is given as proof of his guilt, but what happened to all the witness statements? What about the forensic evidence like the direction in which the windows exploded, or the angle of the attacks on the classroom? While the viewer clearly knows that Ganta is innocent, the apparent ease of his conviction is dependent on his confession, but nothing is mentioned about the physical evidence from the scene of the crime.

Deadman Wonderland looks and sounds great, and if all you're after is a series that has lots of violence, blood, weird characters and a storyline that requires you disengage your brain, then this may be for you. The series may have it's problems, but the concept is interesting even if the implementation leaves a lot to be desired, and it does retain a degree of entertainment value for its action set pieces.

In essence though, Deadman Wonderland is nothing more than a potato that has been painted by Michaelangelo - it looks stunning, but it's still just a potato.

Hold up your hand if you've heard this story premise before.

Naive, innocent and painfully average teenage boy is thrown into a violent game of life-or-death, having no choice in the matter. He is forced to fight, and discovers he has a mysterious, hidden power. Over the course of the show, he learns to control that power.

You can put your hand down now.

While the story to Deadman Wonderland is, of course, not going to be winning any awards, it still does make an attempt at telling it. The entirety of the plot revolves around the many characters in the infamous Deadman Wonderland prison, a place where ... you can trust no-one, where death roams around every corner and ironically, where the people are very boring. If I had a dollar for every character in this show with a tacked-on, forced, and extremely underdeveloped back-story, I would have enough cash to supply the pen and paper to write better ones. Even Senji Kiyomasa (The Crow), a character that got an entire OVA post-season, feels underdeveloped. I do not care for any of these people, and most importantly, don't like these people. It's amazing that a series like this with such a long list of characters manages to fail to capture my interest. I recommend that you tune in for the fights and the plot developments, and tune out during the back-story segments.

The first episode starts off like an episode of the 1990's American television show, Goosebumps. A generic high school boy named Ganta is thrown into an absurd, nightmare-esque situation where every person in his class is killed violently in a mass murder by a figure affectionately nicknamed by him as ''The Red Man''. Being the only survivor, the police officers and detectives put their brilliant minds together to come to the conclusion that Ganta killed everyone, based on the evidence of being the only person found alive. Terrific. The only apparent evidence suggesting he did it is a 30 second recording of him laughing off the murders as nothing. This hardly believable work of CGI is the only piece linking him to the murderer, and suddenly, it's off to prison, on a death sentence. Super.

Once there, he learns of the dark secret behind the prison. Morals go out the window as Ganta is forced to participate in childish games to survive. Apparently this is still an episode of Goosebumps. He forms a close friendship with a creepy, pale girl named Rei, uh, I mean Shiro. Stuff happens. People die. Shinji, no... Ganta does a complete 180° in character development, and by the finale of the season, he is back to a snivelling, pathetic mess. We are introduced to characters who get killed off episodes later, with no back-story. At all. The show is an under-cooked mess, and as for the ending, disappointing.

The art was handled by Manglobe, the animators for The World God Only Knows, and Samurai Champloo. The art style is very reminiscent of their work on Ergo Proxy. Nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done. The animation in the opening, especially some of Shiro's segments, is pretty neat. The art is uncomfortably inconsistent, often very lazy during the dialogue and slower scenes, and well done during the action scenes. At least it's not the other way around.

The sound is nothing special. Overused, cliché blood splatters and other shock-value sound effects are rife throughout the season. The opening song is a very cheesy and teenage hard rock number, which ultimately got on my nerves on the mere second viewing. The closing however, is something else. A gorgeous song that invokes some powerful and melancholy emotions about life before Ganta was forced into the prison. The background music throughout the series is fairly forgettable, excepting a bittersweet piano melody that I heard often during the slower scenes. Regardless of that, nothing outstanding.

Overall, if you desire to watch it, watch it. It's an incredibly average story, with many flat, bland characters (excluding Shiro, the only character in the entire season who I was genuinely infatuated with. She is very reminiscent of Lucy from Elfen Lied). Don't take this show seriously. It's zany, heavily-stylised, nonsensical and very gory. It relies on basic shock-value and gross-out moments to capture the audience's attention, but ultimately, comes across as childish and edgy. They are a few moments that made me smile, though. Just know, if you're not planning to watch it, you're not missing out on anything special. If you did enjoy it, hope you like waiting for season two. It's either that or the manga.

I really want to like this show, i've made every effort to enjoy this show, but i can't quite bring myself to recommend it.

Deadman Wonderland is the story of Ganta, a young man sharing a staggering resemblance to Eureka Seven's Renton (same mangaka) who is wrongly imprisoned in the futuristic Deadman Wonderland, a theme park were the convicts serve as the attractions.

The first thing that became apparent is that 12 episodes was never going to be enough screen time to do this show justice. The first few episodes drive us through the series of event's that lead us to Ganta's imprisonment, now i personally ... had wrongly assumed the wonderland would be a dark and dreary affair, initially this is not the case, the prison is futuristic in appearance, lots of shiny scientific looking facility's and park itself looks like an amusement park all bright and cheery. We're introduced to the idea that the convicts are given a battle royal style neckband which will deal them a lethal dose of poison should they not take the antidote candy every 3 days, these candy's can be earned via participation is the wonderlands various death themed activity's, i would have assumed this to be the basis of the show, as we're introduced and grow to know and appreciate the cast and the environment.

Sadly not to be, Ganta (far to) quickly discovers he had some strange new powers and is declared a Deadman and moved to G block, the dark drab place i was expecting from the beginning, and all the stuff about antidote candy and the rest of the park is forgotten, now i've not seen Ganta consume any more candy, i''ve lost track as to if only 3 days are supposed to have past over the course of the entire show, or if it's a highlight real of months, and they just got bored with the idea? Never really touched on again, so thanks for that.

The show then drives us head long into the Deadman universe, as quickly as possible attempting to introduce us to the Deadmen (those with similar powers to Ginta) through altercations with Ganta and then the Undertakers, a Bleach Captain styled band of throw away Nemesis's for the Deadmen.

The whole thing never really has a chance to catch it's breath and never really shows us enough interaction or actual screen time for the various characters to give them any depth or real significance in the show. By the 10th episode we've still got the major character's such as Crow refusing to assist poor Ganta, and rightly so, they've met exactly 3 times ever.

I'm at a loss of what to say about the characters, Ganta's kinda pathetic throughout and plenty whiny, and just doesn't get the time to grow, Shiro's random switches between psychotic and adorable are fun and all, and the various Deadmen we've seen so far have all been pretty cool, in the 10 minutes or so screen time they've had to share with god knows how many throw away characters, all of the under takers seem pretty cliched, but what can you do. I'd honestly say the cast has allot of potential, but your certainly not going to see any of it realised, if this is the first and last season.

The art and sound, are really good, i love the opening, and this was most of the reason i started the show, i was intrigued by the opening sequence, and it perfectly sets the tone. No complaints on the voice acting, i thought Kana Hanazawa did a stand out job as Shiro, nailed the character for me. Art although not setting any new ground, is all high end, and i suppose is the up side to such a short show, i'm not going to go crazy over it though, i've no doubt it's the main reason this show still average's an 8+ rating while genuinely good shows like Fairy Tail sat below the 8.0 mark for months and months.

Enjoyment wise, i just expect more from a modern show, the bar has been set really high, by the popular shounen crop of recent years, and this hasn't got there. I really wanted to like this show, my intrigue lasted a good few episodes, before i finally realised no significant ground was ever going to be covered. It's by no means a bad show, but it's one that needed to spend longer setting up the atmosphere and building up some suspense.

In conclusion the manga folks really should have held out for a better adaptation offer, this has by no means done justice to what i'm sure was good material.

Have you ever been framed for something that you believed you wouldn't have the capacity to do, and were punished for it? That unlucky scenario is shared by Ganta, the protagonist of the 2011 anime Deadman Wonderland. Deadman Wonderland revolves around the horrifying trials Ganta has to go through after he is sent to a prison camp sharing the title of the anime. The themes used in this anime include finding hope in a hopeless situation, and moving on from your past.


Story: 5 – The story of Deadman Wonderland primarily revolves around the main protagonist Ganta, and the many horrible things that occur in ... Deadman Wonderland. The story relies on blood, insanity, and intense moments to keep itself going, leaving proper story-telling at a bare minimum. As you can tell by the synopsis, the story concept (deathmatches) isn’t very original either, and often comes off as cliche. The anime switches its focus around 3/5ths into the series, but the speedy pacing and lack of originality leave the audience unable to properly settle into the show. As with other shounen anime, dues ex machina and plot armor take full effect in Deadman Wonderland, rendering life/death situations trite and unnecessary. Due to the show’s cancellation, the show remains unfinished and so the ending suffers as a result. Deadman Wonderland doesn't appear to run on story, instead running on finding different ways of torturing the characters involved in it.


Art: 7 – The production studio responsible for this series, Manglobe, are also responsible for shows such as Ergo Proxy, and Samurai Champloo. The character designs are slightly bland, excluding Shiro’s design which symbolizes her strange appearances on the show. The art used in this show is somewhat dull and colorless, clearly emphasizing the color red. The animation is somewhat above average, and is especially evident during the battle sequences. Overall, despite the good animation, the art department takes a hit for its general blandness.


Sound: 7 – The opening song used for the anime , “One Reason”, is a medium-paced hard rocking piece, easily exuding the dark and gloomy feel of the show. The ending song, “SHINY SHINY”, on the other hand represents Ganta’s life before the events of the show and is a lot more cheery as a result. The insert songs used are usually metal-themed, matching the dark tone of the show, but are easily forgettable. The music in the show generally does a good job of being in the background. The dub, done by Funimation, did a pleasant job in the voice-acting department matching their characters effectively with well-acted vocals.


Character: 6.5 – Like the story, the characters of Deadman Wonderland are hit or miss. The protagonist Ganta is your typical (sym)pathetic, spineless, yet good intentioned kid who just happened to be put in a horrible situation, however, I will give him credit for developing a backbone by the end of the series. Shiro’s role in the story is the mysterious inmate who provides comic relief to an otherwise dark and cruel show and because of that, she easily became my favorite character. A lot of the supporting characters each have their own backstories told through flashbacks given during certain parts of the anime. Some of these characters end up being fairly well-developed while others are shafted for the more important characters. Due to the general cruelty of the show, there is a possibility that you will end up not caring much for the characters, as a lot of their time on the anime is limited.


Enjoyment: 7-7.5 – Deadman Wonderland is a pretty entertaining anime. The sheer amount of craziness inside the Wonderland keeps the audience on its toes and interested in watching the story unfold. If you enjoy blood and gore, then you will definitely enjoy watching Deadman Wonderland.
Overall 6: Deadman Wonderland is a flawed anime with a clear focus, to shock and titillate. Due to the clichés, unfinished ending, and done to death concepts, the show may come off as underwhelming and hard to take seriously. However, I recommend Deadman Wonderland to those who like their anime, short, zany, and not too serious. Just don’t go into the show expecting a complex storyline and really interesting characters.


Overall 6: Deadman Wonderland is a flawed anime with a clear focus, to shock and titillate. Due to the clichés, unfinished ending, and done to death concepts, the show may come off as underwhelming and hard to take seriously. However, I recommend Deadman Wonderland to those who like their anime, short, zany, and not too serious. Just don’t go into the show expecting a complex storyline and really interesting characters.

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.

NOTE: The “pro-con” list at the bottom will be something new I’m trying out, and thus may not stick to if it’s deemed unnecessary or “bad”. Feedback is appreciated.
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“People fear death because they don’t ‘understand’ it, and we’re afraid of strangers because we don’t ‘know’ them. Not being able to understand the one you love… is the worst fear of all…”

I’m actually a big fan of battle royals, and after watching Btooom! I felt like I wanted more of the “psychological killing games”. I soon found (and still do, by the way) lots of people recommending Deadman Wonderland to MAL users who liked Btooom, saying ... they were both very similar in their concept, setup, and overall execution, and thus, I started watching Deadman Wonderland...

Story: (6 / 10)
Now, I’m unsure if it’s because I haven’t read the manga, or if the anime simply tries to make too many things happen at once, but the story could be really confusing at times, seemingly trying to focus on way too many elements of the story at once. At its core, Deadman Wonderland is about a boy who has everything taken away from him, receives a mysterious power and in imprisoned and forced to fight to survive, and eventually escape.

These are all good elements of a story (in my opinion), as long as they’re done in a somewhat good way. To me it felt like the story was (probably because of the many different focuses) sort of “sloppy”, not really explaining anything as they go along, and just simply moving way too fast.

The worst thing, however, is probably the fact that I’m either misunderstanding this completely, or there’s actually no real ending (no closure, not even a real showdown). So to me, the story just felt overall very meh, even if the concept was nice.

(To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into too much detail, but early on in the show, there’s a scene where some prisoners have to run a sort of lethal crash course, in order to win an antidote for a poison that keeps the prisoners in check, and honestly I think the series overall could’ve benefited from simply revolving around something like this (even though I know this is obviously based on the manga)).

Art: (7 / 10)
Even though the story and execution might have been somewhat sub-par, the art really stood out. The art is beautiful, and the animation is smooth and very well done. Character is also pretty good, but something that bugged me was that the “branches of sin” felt somewhat... “underwhelming”, in terms of animation. Some of them actually looks a lot like each other, and overall it just feels like they could’ve been made in a much cooler, better looking way.

Sound: (7 / 10)
Deadman wonderland admittedly has a pretty good cast of voice actors, who all (mostly) do a good job in portraying their respective characters. One obvious (would-be) selling point for me is the fact that one of the main characters, Shiro, is actually voiced by Hanazawa Kana, and I believe she did a good job in portraying the “innocent” side of Shiro. Other than her, I thought the voices were good enough, but really nothing amazing, and there were a few ones that just felt “stale”, if you will.

As for the music, an interesting thing that was pointed out to me is that Deadman Wonderland actually has the OST size of a 24 episode series. I’m not really known for paying very much attention to background music at all, unless it’s very prominent, and so I can’t really add much to this myself, as there wasn’t really any track that I felt stood out to me, or lingered with me afterwards. Granted, there were a couple of tracks which were made quite prominent, especially during some of the fighting scenes, but these all just kinda faded away as soon as that scene would finish. However, the way the OST sizes importance was explained to me, was that since this is only a 12 episode show, and it features so many songs, you never really hear the same song played more than maybe a couple of times, as each scene brings a new piece of music.

Characters: (6 / 10)
I’m on the fence about whether this deserves a 7 or not, but ultimately I’ve decided to rate it 6, because of the fact that no characters really feel as fleshed out as I would like to. There’s basically no character development at all, and even with the added backstory scenes of some (albeit secondary) characters, most of the characters just feel like they’re there for the sake of being there...

A lot of characters feel very “mysterious”, as if they later wanted a big reveal of various twists and whatnot regarding said characters. Unfortunately, this never happens, and what we’re left with is an undeveloped, “mysterious” & unrelatable character.
As an example of the character development, Ganta (the series main character) starts out as your typical “wimp”, who has just lost everything and thinks he’s worthless in every way. Now, in most shows with this type of character, he would usually develop into something more “badass” later on, overcoming his guilt/sorrow/angst or whatever’s holding him back, but this never happens in Deadman. Granted, there are individual scenes where he seemingly overcomes all this and moves on to becoming a new person, but then it ends and he’s still the same “wimp” as he was several episodes ago.

The worst part is probably that they introduce a lot of these “mysterious” characters, some which even only show up a couple of times, but we don’t find out anything about these characters, and it all makes the show very hard to get into.

Enjoyment: (5 / 10)
Honestly, this show was a major letdown for me. It really does have a good concept, and very well done art, but all the things mentioned above (especially the story) makes it all fall apart, making for a not so pleasant viewing as you’d hope for. It had its cool moments, as well as some funny ones, (but even though it tries, it sort of lacks in the sadness department), and in the end it’s all just a mess.

Conclusion:
If you like me, found this show as a recommendation after watching Btooom, or something similar, I’d advise you to either stay away completely, or at least go in not expecting something like what you were promised, because that’s certainly not what you’re going to get.

Pros:
+ Nice concept
+ Great soundtrack
+ Very well done artwork & animation
+ Hanazawa Kana
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Cons:
- Messy story
- Undeveloped characters
- “Stale” fighting scenes (most of it is just talking to each other, but they never actually get anywhere)
- Not as much variation in the “branches of sin” as there could’ve been

I remember reading the Deadman Wonderland manga when it was first scanlated in '07. It is a great manga, it actually kept me religiously reading it until the release pacing got weird. When news of the DW anime came out, I was ecstatic. A Deadman Wonderland anime, finally!
But when it finally came out, I was disappointed. The DW anime does not deliver an as powerful punch than its manga adaption.

Story: 8/10
Deadman Wonderland is about a boy named Ganta Igarashi who is accused of murdering his whole class and is sent to "Deadman Wonderland," a prison of many secrets. Throughout his stay at this ... prison, Ganta must survive in games of manslaughter and discovers a mysterious power called the "Branch of Sin."
The anime adaption of DW stays true to the manga. The plot is unique, but it may remind you of series such as Battle Royale. Seeing as the anime is set for 12 episode, I don't believe you will see as much content as you expect to see, and you will still probably be craving more.

Art: 6/10
The art in the anime adaption of DW is very much the same as the manga. Animation wise, the series is pretty bad. The animation is very boring and movements are not fluid and the colors are not that appealing.

Sound: 7/10
Opening song is not that great, although it very does relate to the anime. Don't know whether this is just me, but I enjoyed the ending song. It's been a while since I've heard Nirgilis. The music played during the show foreshadows impending events and raises the mood for what is happening. Sound effects used during action scenes are not note worthy .

Character: 8/10
Characters in DW are very unique. Although Ganta is your typical shounen hero, the sadistic prison warden, mysterious girl in white, the law abiding prison guard, the normal prisoner who gets mixed in this whole mess, and G block; All of these characters make for a crazy cast in this series.

Enjoyment: 7/10
The anime is not as enjoyable as reading the manga. The same things happen, making it very predictable. For those new to the series, they will be surprised at how the story unfolds.

Overall, this anime is definitely NOT one of the best this season. It is a nice addition, but if you really want to enjoy Deadman Wonderland at its fullest, read the manga.

I found myself intrigued by Deadman Wonderland’s title alone, as I was perusing the interwebs for a good horror anime. This anime is well marketed in the states, considering I’ve seen it all over Netflix, Hulu and Crunchyroll but I never took the plunge until now. What I found was well short of my expectations, and a series that had so much going for it but squandered it horribly.

We’ve all seen this premise before. Innocent kid from a Japanese Middle School is thrown into a ridiculous series of events, eventually finding out that he possesses magic powers which he somehow masters within ... a few hours and blasts his way to victory. Deadman Wonderland had an opportunity to divert from the stereotype in its carnival prison setting, but missed the marked several times. Ganta, the main protagonist’s class is interrupted by the appearance of a demon of sorts, killing everyone in an explicitly violent manner. Ganta is left speechless and is seemingly chosen by this demon when it places a red gem into his chest. The scene transitions to him being instantly interrogated by police and then is transported to a court room where he receives a death sentence. Seems a little over the top, even for anime standards. Where were his parents? Why’s his defense attorney the same guy who runs the prison?! He seemed to be completely alone in his life, despite only being about 14. I get it, it’s an anime… but with a realistic setting, at least throw me a morsel of believability. I found myself almost laughing at the ludicrous chain of events.

In any case, Ganta is transported to the same prison his class was slated to take a field trip to, “Deadman Wonderland”…. Doesn’t exactly sound like a place I’d take the kids to. However, this is no normal prison; inmates wear collars that slowly inject a lethal poison into their bloodstream if they don’t take an antidote encapsulated in the form of candy every 72 hours. Oh, and the only way to get said candy is to purchase it using cast points earned from completing events in the carnival. Talk about annoying. The story escalates as Ganta learns more about a mystery power his body contains and about the interesting inmates in Deadman Wonderland, all the while trying to figure out how to escape the madness before his Death Row takes its toll. Not to mention the mysterious skin-tight-suited albino girl he meets along the way.

There are so many beaming issues with this plot it’s ridiculous. After the initial messed up event Ganta participates in, before a packed audience, the workers state how they have to be on their best behavior for the upcoming inspection team. Did no one see the inmates being decimated not a day earlier?! And did no one think that was a tad too much to expose the general public to? All the inmates seem to want to escape, but has anyone thought about how to remove the poison collar devices?? There are too many to list, I could go on and on for hours. I understand 12 episodes was not nearly long enough for the writers to get their points across, but I think a high school creative writing student could’ve posed a better plot, or at least ways to tie up the loose ends. Not to mention that the story neither ends on a cliffhanger nor a moment of closure. Oh, plot holes, how I love thee.

I can’t find very many redeeming characters from Deadman Wonderland. Ganta is at least somewhat believable with his frightened demeanor, but that’s all he has going for him. He doesn’t have very many likeable attributes, and other than his childhood memories of playing with a certain girl… nothing about his past is explained. I had a better time understanding Owl as a character than Ganta, at least the writers made sense of his history with Deadman Wonderland. Of course, it has to be said that Ganta does grow as a character throughout the show, but due to the small amount of episodes, it felt forced in a way… like someone was saying, ‘You’d better man up in hopes for a second season, or your story’s about to end!”

And then there’s Shiro. Man, oh man am I getting tired of this character trope. It’s the oblivious and innocent girl who can mysteriously unleash monstrous amounts of power on a whim, but is in love with the main protagonist, even though she probably wouldn’t realistically even remember him. Not to mention the unnecessary fan service slipped in with the occasional cute pouty face or the skin tight outfit with a red spiral pointing to her nipple. What the hell is that all about anyway?

The supporting cast is slipped in decently at least. Whether it’s the muscle bound Crow with a soft Senpai side or the clever and militant warden, desperate to uncover the dark secrets behind Deadman Wonderland’s true existence. There’s also the seemingly innocent Yoh-kun and his sexually messed up sister. None of the character’s plot lines are ever fully explored though, and a lot gets tossed to the side to focus entirely on the main arc. Owl and Gengaku were pretty much the only characters that stood out to me, and their backgrounds for how they ended up in Deadman Wonderland are scary enough.

The animation in Deadman Wonderland is actually pretty good. The action sequences leave a lot for the eyes to ogle, and the characters look worn and terrifying in some instances. I did notice some laziness during slow scenes, but nothing exceptionally bad. The gore is taken to a whole new level, reminiscent of other violent series I’ve seen before, and the opening scene in the middle school sets the bar for shock value. In the instance the anime is rewatched in the future, I can’t imagine it could look outdated in any way, due to the lack of CGI entirely. What to say about the intro? I initially despised it, but as I kept watching the show it grew on me and I actually ended up enjoying it. It reminds me of the music style I was into in high school, being slightly nostalgic in that fact. I also like the way the characters were edited into the intro without spoiling anything about the plot. Sound effects were okay, decently strewn together, and some of the music seemed ominous and creepy as hell as it added to the overall feel of the show.

Unfortunately there isn’t a higher score I can give this anime. So many unanswered questions and unbelievable story progression make Deadman Wonderland fall into a trap that is hard to get out of. If a second season was ever released, I would more than likely watch it, but I’d start off initially skeptical due to the unfulfilled feeling I was left with at the end of the first. Too many stereotypes that could’ve been broken in this series, but it didn’t quite do it for me. If you like shock and awe, and don’t have the attention span for too many episodes, Deadman Wonderland is at least worth a look. That being said, I hope you enjoyed the review!

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.

Okay, so this my first review on this site. Sorry in advance if it isn't the best or if any one disagrees. Don't worry there are no spoilers.

Before beginning Deadman Wonderland, I had read several reviews and didn't have the highest expectations because many people had given it around 6 stars. So naturally, when I watched the first few episodes, and I couldn't disagree more. I was like: This anime is the shiz.
It was so promising, left so many questions and had me on the edge of my seat. It couldn't be that bad, could it?
It was when I hit around episode 6 onward, that ... I completely understood what they meant.
Talk about disappointment.
It became super messy, adding the most uninspired characters I had ever watched. Like, don't get me wrong, I didn't hate them all, in fact I liked the protagonist (despite him crying half the time) and I liked Shiro and their other friend, but the others... not to sound heartless, but they could all die, and I wouldn't care less. They were so one dimensional and generic.
I haven't read the manga, but from just watching the anime, I felt as though they were trying to squeeze in as much backstory as possible, trying to make things really emotional about how inhumane this 'Wonderland' is. It worked to some extent, mostly because it was kinda just sick, but seemed almost unnecessary when placing these backstories on such bland characters. For the main part, the direction they took was kinda just wrong. LIKE Y U FOCUS ON THIS AND NOT THE PROTAG'S STORY OR HIS BACKSTORY????
At least every time the protagonist cried it reminded me of Edward Elric.

Overall I give this anime a 6 because of it's fall from grace. Such potential was lost and now I think I should just read the manga because it's probably a lot better than this.
If you like blood and gore and all that jazz, sure, why not watch it? But if you are looking for an anime that will hit you in the feels for the long term, not the best choice.

If you like bloody violence and white girl butt, Deadman Wonderland was made for you. I was hoping the season finale would redeem a rocky last couple episodes, but it’s pretty much a mess. Some thoughts and my “cool” list.

Instead of the good and fair critique I’ve become known for, I’ll just take a note from Nichijou and list, “Things I Thought Were Cool!” and I’ll also add a, “Things I thought Were Terrible!”

Things I Thought Were Cool!

Shiro was cool and she’s easily my favorite insane character of the Spring 2011 season. I enjoyed her character, and I’m not above saying I greatly enjoyed looking ... at her boobs and butt all season. Although on a serious note, albino people aren’t attractive in real life. It’s true, look it up. It’s like anime has moe-fied albinism. I can’t imagine this series without Shiro though, seriously.

The entire opening sequence is excellent. The song, animation and design were all put together beautifully. I enjoyed all the animation overall. The characters and most importantly, the fights, all looked good. I enjoyed a lot of the grimy-ness of the characters and the dirtiness of the prison, especially in contrast with the pretty shows like Hanasaku or Denpa Onna.

I thought the lack of rainbow hair was cool. Besides Shiro and Kanako with their white locks, the show had some good hairlism (hair+realism). I just made that up, but I could see that one taking off.

Hummingbird was pretty cool. Crow was cool, but all his homoerotic scenes of girl-hating and being topless with Ganta were not so cool. His consistent slicing up of dudes was cool though.

All the action in DW, in a slice of life and drama filled season, “seemed” cool. Although the action wasn’t always that great, it always looked cool. I’ll lump the violence and gore in with the action as well. While the censoring was surely “terrible”, all the amputations and bone-breakings were cool. The violence along with some rape and drug use made this show pretty shocking at times. Guitar Hero (featured in my terrible list) even drops the F-bomb quite a bit.

There were some other cool things, but even more than things I thought were cool, there were…

Things I Thought Were Terrible

The overall character design, and not just looks, but everything from origin stories to personalities through to their special abilities or “super powers’ if you will. I hated Guitar Hero. I hated Daida, the 3rd grader. I hated Owl. I hated the “super good with computers” guy.

The show had some nice grown up themes and more mature plot style devices, so all the “super cool” character designs, for me, felt like an insult. I don’t need an evil priest who uses guitar guns or a little girl who uses a giant sword. They were terrible.

Ganta I wasn’t thrilled with, but I understood the need for a weak-ass lead, but I thought Romi Park (Edward Elric, Toshiro from Bleach), was a terrible choice to perform his voice. I enjoy almost all of the seiyu’s former roles, but the whiny-bitchy tonal quality along with the whiny-bitchy character design, was just too much whiny-bitchy for me overall.

While I thought the action was cool, I could use a little less shounen dialogue during the fights. More fight, less talk. Too much talk while trying to survive is terrible. Unless talking is your super power I guess.

Does Cool kill Terrible? Or does Terrible kill Cool?

Unlike the actual show, there’s no killing here. As evidenced by the scientific list above, Deadman Wonderland definitely has its merits. I’m not going to rail on the show, but I’ll just say that story isn’t told in a very tight, consistent way. It also feels very rushed. At first it just felt like a quick, fast moving show. Now that it’s over, it ended up just feeling rushed, as if they tried to squish 20 episodes worth of material into 12.

I will be watching a second season however and waiting eagerly for Eating Cookies With Shiro, coming out on Blu-ray soon!


[Thoughts about final episode removed due to spoilerish tendencies: go to http://moemonster.com/2011/07/02/deadman-wonderland-episode-12-finale/ for full unedited review]

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.

I have got to hand it to this anime. And by that I mean literally give it my hand because I'm afraid they're going to cut it off like they did the rest of the characters in this show. All joking aside, let's talk about the Wonderland.

I feel this anime could have had the potential to evolve into a burgeoning 48 episode Shounen or something, but it's unfortunately just the main 12 episodes and a single backstory episode on one of the characters. Even without reading the manga, I could tell that some severely important details were left out that really just leads to a ... disassociation with the characters. While I won't deny some of the premises were really cool, the faults of this anime really lie with whatever sorry bastard decided they could fit a fictitious Japanese universe + character development + plot in a mere 12 episodes. These factors combined lead to a notoriously disappointing "resolution." Also, the main character's voice makes me want to shoot myself.

DW is an anime about a boy, Ganta, unjustly accused of slaughtering his entire class and sent to an amusement park high-tech prison that would give Amnesty International a fit. Once there, he befriends a white-haired retarded-genki-girl creatively named Shiro as he fights for his life in a sort of private gladiator arena and proceeds to be exploited by everyone he meets. Wait, that came out wrong… let's just say he's fooled by everything and everyone.

Story: This anime is only twelve episodes long, which helps to illustrate what happens when you try to park a bus in your garage. Adapted from a manga, there ... is not enough time to explain everything or give side characters some depth. As a result, we have several animated paper bags running around with Tragic Story post-it notes stuck on them. Of course, the story is not really the main selling point for this anime. You are watching this for the gore fest and flying limbs and buckets of superpowered blood. So, by the time this ends and major plot points are left unresolved you don't really care.

Characters: We start off with innocent Ganta who after a certain point it is in a state of perpetual shock and spends a lot of time crying. That is quite understandable: after all, he is surrounded by psychopaths and sadists, like a mouse in a room full of cats. He doesn't get very annoying, props to the seiyuu, and grows a bit of backbone by the end. Speaking of annoying, we soon meet retarded Shiro who is less intelligent than a dog but physically stronger than the Hulk. And runs around in a body suit so tight it must give her an awful wedgie. Shiro remains constantly annoying and occasionally frightening. The rest of the characters have their (twisted) charms but their backstories are too rushed for us to care. Musclehead inmate Senji is perhaps the most appealing character and wisely kept to a minimum or else he would have easily upstaged Ganta as the main. Finally, the villains are all sadistic , sociopathic cartoons but they are fun to watch as they try to grind poor Ganta to the ground.

Animation: Stylishly done by famous Manglobe studio of Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy fame, now fallen on hard times and reduced to animating moe-tard shows to put food on their table. The opening sequence especially is beautifully done and the fight scenes follow with some nice details here and there. Visually, there are no complaints, it is a feast for the eyes (uh… maybe not quite the right expression in view of a certain episode).

Music: Personally, I am fond of the opening song and I've only put it on repeat for about 2000 times. It's in English, by the way, and thankfully not in Engrish. The background music is also very good, with some haunting arrangements very well fitting the mood and splatteriness of it all. Some would say such a good music score is wasted on a mediocre anime like this. I think they may be right.

Overview:
After all the shock value is spent and the gore fest is over, this is actually a mediocre anime. It certainly isn't a keeper but if you like splatters and dismemberments and pretty, bloody pictures then give it a go.

What a trainwreck. Might as well start with the premise, which is the best thing Deadman Wonderland has going for it. Ten years ago, a massive explosion/earthquake engulfed and destroyed Tokyo. Ganta Igarashi, a survivor with no memories of the tragedy, has led a normal life until one terrible day a sinister being dressed in red kills everyone in his class and shoves a red stone into his chest. Summarily convicted of slaughtering his classmates on the basis of a confession he doesn't remember giving (due process for the win), Ganta is sent to Deadman Wonderland, a maximum security, privately-owned prison ... that raises revenue by forcing its inmates to perform in lethal games for society's enjoyment. As if this weren't twisted enough, Ganta soon begins to unravel Deadman Wonderland's dark secret.

Sounds pretty good, or so I thought. And really, for the first half or so, the show has a nice pace, quite a few layers, lots of refreshing profanity, and enough gore to make it 2011's Elfen Lied. In episode 1 the wonderfully dark and ruthless Chief Guard Makina asks the new inmates if they have any questions, to which one responds, "How big are those titties?" and she says "G." That pretty much sums up the mood of the show: over the top, profane, and often absurd. This is by no means a bad thing if the story is good, but around episode 6 things start to fall apart.

This was the first time I thought, alright, they're trying too hard. Overkill on the language, too fast-paced, and too many characters and new events. Maybe it's just the 12 episode curse, but it's hard to do drama when you've barely finished building things up before you go in for the shocker climax. And unfortunately, we see this time and time again in Deadman Wonderland, especially with the slew of characters that are thrown at us in the second half. People start sacrificing themselves, or just acting insane. The writers apparently realized this was an issue, but they chose the odd strategy of showing a character do something completely random, followed by a few minutes of their background to explain why that just happened. About halfway through the show also decides to go from original thriller to typical Shounen, where the fights are 70% empty speeches about friendship and the value of life and 30% action. No thanks. I have to admit I sort of thought this might happen, because Ganta is one of the whiniest, annoying characters I've witnessed in a long time. Part of this is due to his voice - do not watch this in English! I'm sure I've heard Greg Ayres's voice before and thought it was fine, but he really should never be cast as a main character again. Romi Park, on the other hand, is a pretty good fit for Ganta, but regretfully Ganta's insufferableness runs much deeper than his voice. I get that he is a teenage boy who has been thrown into this absurd situation, but he never really grows up or stops pouting, despite repeated promises that he will. At least Shiro, Ganta's quirky, unnaturally powerful albino friend who seems to know him from the past, adds a bit of comic relief and quite a bit of mystery, but she's not complex enough to carry the show on her own and doesn't start to develop until the final couple episodes.

It's obvious by the end that the writers were banking on the prospect of getting a second season: just get through these 12 episodes, and I promise we'll tell you a good story. We'll tell you what actually happened ten years ago, why Deadman Wonderland really exists, why in the final episodes we've introduced this new guy who is insane and also the strongest of all the deadmen but gets literally no development, etc., etc. I didn't even need to look it up to know this was based upon an incomplete manga, because it was so painfully apparent. It was also really unfortunate, because like I said in the beginning, this story has a good premise. Alright, I'm done whining. Clearly I've been watching Ganta too much. I'll finish with a couple other nice things about the show: the OP is not a half-bad song, even for someone who isn't a fan of hard rock, and its animation is promising. The animation overall is also very good; I especially liked how expressive the characters' faces were, as it really brings out the pain and grief. I guess that's it . . . I'm sure Deadman Wonderland is a great experience for some people, and at only 12 episodes, it's not as if I'd argue against watching it. Just realize that if you're looking for plot and character development, you're in for a disappointment.

I was hoping for a new Elfen Lied, but this was mostly a big disappointment. Basically just another shonen, but with the lights turned down. That in itself wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but all the good things about Deadland Wonderland are obscured by the many flaws. All in all, I don't regret watching it, but there are way better options out there for all the genres this series claims to be.

Regarding gore and violence, there are a couple of strong scenes, but they are few and far between. Fans of Gantz and Elfen Lied will not be impressed.

The artstyle is great and frame ... by frame it looks really good. Problem is, the animation is stiffer than I'm comfortable with. The animators really just put in work where absolutely necessary. Thus, the character speaking will move and behave normally, while all around him freezes in place. Even wind blowing in the hair is obviously reserved for the one in focus. Bah. At least the fighting scenes and special effects got the love they deserved.

Character design is fine for a shonen. Hair colours, wierd clothes and weaponry in abundance.

The intro song is pretty good, if you can get past the emo engrish lyrics. Ending song is well produced but didn't hook me. The background music is varied and unusually well done. No repetetive midi plinky-plonk to be heard. The japanese voice acting is average or slightly above.

Story-wise, it's a mixed bag. Mixed with cliches, that is. The "kid turns into super hero but struggles with his own insecurities" and "mysterious magic girl with a challenged intellect and hot body" are staple commodities in anime and it takes something more special than this for me not getting bored of it. The grand plot is a bit compelling in all its wierdness, but a lot is left to the imagination. A good 2nd season would hopefully be able to bring this score up a notch or two.

Most of the cast has a lot of potential, but not much of it is realised as the plot just drags all of them with it with no time for anyone to really shine.

As a huge weeb, I enjoy most shitty animes. Unfortunately, this was not a shitty one I enjoyed.

All the potential was quickly ruined by the borderline autistic pale bitch. I have no clue what her purpose was. Maybe there was a reasoning behind her character but unfortunately the series ended in the middle.

Fuck Deadman Wonderland and all of you who enjoyed it. Thanks.

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

Deadman Wonderland a interesting title for what I thought was a rather mediocre anime. While the anime doesn't have any flaws that destroy it, it leave you rather perplexed. Wondering if thats really the end.

Story: 5/10

Where have we seen this before a weak character experiences a traumatic event and gains special powers. Nothing new to see here. Although these powers are moderately interesting I feel that they were not properly demonstrated in the anime. Another gripe I have with this anime is the fact that the story goes nowhere. I am left asking for more.

Art: 7/10

The art here is nothing special but it is still ... good. The characters are animated well and the fight scenes look nice. No complaints here.

Sound: 7/10

If you are unfortunate enough to have watched the english dub you will be stuck with the annoying voice of Greg Ayers for the lead character Ganta. While the dubbing is good I simply find his voice insufferable and hate listening to it. This doesn't mean he was a bad choice for Ganta it just means I personally don't like it. The rest of the cast is dubbed fine though and their voices are good.

Character: 6/10

Most of the characters in this show have little to no explanations behind them they are just seemingly added in then a generic sad backstory is given so you pity them. No characters really stand out and the only one I was able to remember besides Ganta and Shiro is Crow.

Enjoyment: 4/10

I did not enjoy watching this at all. From the annoying dub to the shitty story. The bland characters and the sparse battles I was left wondering where did they go wrong. I was also left confused and had to resort to going on to the Deadman Wonderland Wiki to understand this show.

Overall: 6/10

This show was ok at best and was not worth my time. If you are truly interested watched but be warned it will be a long 12 episodes. If you are interested in the concept I would recommend the manga at least then everything is properly explained and there is a true ending not the bullshit we were given here.

Before I start off with this review, I will start by saying that I've read the manga of Deadman Wonderland and loved it. When I heard that there was an anime series for it, I got excited, but I was a bit disappointed.

Deadman Wonderland is a 1-cour series, meaning it only had 13-16 episodes. The manga itself has around 56 chapters, which could equal around to about a 2-cour series, 24 episodes or longer. But, I understand, that at the time when Deadman Wonderland was airing, that all chapters weren't released. That's fine. But to this date, we still haven't got a second season. ... Trolls?

Story: 7/10

The story itself is actually pretty good. Igarashi Ganta is framed for murdering all of his classmates in a tragic accident, when in reality, it was some Red Man that murdered all of his classmates. I mean, we even saw him dragging someones head across the floor. Is that murder? Nah. Seems fine.

The Red Man struck some weird shit into Ganta. It was some red thing, but to me I call that the "Red Deadman Converter Thingy", The Red Man struck that into Ganta and shit went down after that.

Ganta faced court the day after, or month, I don't know and he was found to be guilty. So, he went to a prison called Deadman Wonderland which is a prison filled with Deadmen, which are people with the power to wield weapons using their blood. Cheating, yes I know.

He meets a lot of prisoners there (what? really? not like its a prison.) and becomes friends with like 3 of them, the others are dicks.

Art: 8/10

The art is okay. It sticks to the art style of the manga, so I really do not mind it at all. I think it sticks to the art style of the manga, I cannot remember. They both look similar, so who cares.

Sound: 6/10

The opening of the anime is good, and some background music tracks are good. Everything else... eh...

Character: 6/10

There's not enough character development in this series, except maybe just Ganta's development. None of the other characters really developed that well, considering how well they were handled in the manga.

Overall: 5/10

The anime was a huge disappointment after reading the manga, which I loved. I know I shouldn't compare the two (Manga and Anime) but I do. Should I compare? Yes, I actually think I should. Adaptions to Manga are generally not that good but anything in my list that is above a 6 is good. So, Deadman Wonderland is not that great of an adaption.

The manga of Deadman Wonderland is much better. If you'd like the ending not to be a trolly piece of shit, then read the manga. The manga is a great series and is one of my favorites til' this day. These have been my opinions and I have no idea if I've convinced anyone to watch/read it. If I have, congratulations. You should really read the manga. It's a great series.