Deadman Wonderland

There was a trend back in the Good Old Days of anime (as in you only thought they were Good because you weren't Old enough to know any better) of hyper violent OVAs. Deadman Wonderland feels like a tread back to those days. It has the over-exaggerated violence, the ridiculous amounts of blood, the awkwardly crowbarred in sexiness and, most noticeably of all, it’s utterly shit.

Time has changed a few little aspects though. The OVA market of old has turned into the late night 12 episode anime series of today. This means it has more space to tell a coherent and fulfilling story, a capability ... which Deadman Wonderland approaches by totally ignoring it. 12 episodes are enough to tell a neat story with a beginning, middle and end. It gets the beginning right, tossing our protagonist into a scenario in which society have become so totally ignorant of the prison sector, so that even when hell is being created right in front of their eyes, they think it’s an elaborate piece of CGI.

However, upon reaching the 'middle' segment, Deadman Wonderland tosses that whole story aside and becomes about super powers. Instead of developing the characters introduced in the beginning, it decides to quadruple the size of the cast, each and every single one having a hastily constructed backstory introduced right in the middle of a fight to the death that ends up having either little or no relevance to the actual battle happening in the present day. Neither does Deadman Wonderland get the 'end' part right either. This is partly due to the fact this is an ongoing manga, but plenty of other adaptations of ongoing manga have managed to construct some sort of conclusion in their respective stories. Usually this is in the form of the main character growing and learning something (see Arakawa, Spice and Wolf or Genshiken), which Deadman Wonderland tries to do, but royally cocks up because the main character has fuck all personality.

Yes, this is something else that comes with modernity. Instead of the macho men that spout 'witty' quips like they're in an American first person shooter game (that is, when they ever talk at all), Deadman Wonderland sports a bland spineless teenage boy as its main character. To be fair to Ganta, he does actually do something other than make reaction noises while other characters monologue exposition at him, as is the trend in certain other modern day anime. He reacts to situations by either whining, crying or sobbing. It really isn't much of a personality, as any bland male would react to the cartoonish level of hell that exists in that prison in a similar fashion, and he really has nothing beyond that. There is chance for him to grow into a hero, and Deadman Wonderland tried to do that. Other characters would spout lines as to how much he's grown a spine and standing up for himself, but I failed to see that myself. He started off as a crybaby who could shoot off magical blood bullets when he felt threatened. By the end, he was a crybaby who shot off magical blood bullets when he felt threatened, except this time he could shoot off his magical blood bullets even faster than before. That's not character development! That's like saying a character has developed because he is now slightly better at picking his nose.

Another thing the late night 12 episode anime has changed from the hyper violent OVAs of old is, now that they're on TV, they need to be censored. I can't really criticise Deadman Wonderland for this though, which is a shame because it's a really easy target. The gun that shot black balls of censorship through people’s chests was one of the most unintentionally hilarious things I've seen all year. But if you were to watch the dvd release, the censorship would (presumably) be removed. It would be like criticising it for the screen being upside down because you watched it while standing on your head. It's not the anime's fault you watched it that way. But the fact that it needed the level of censorship it has tells us how much blood and gore there is. Often the gore has no point other than to show how sadistic the anime is. It's really just repulsive and juvenile, like a child who tries to show everyone what a big man he is by killing the class rabbit.

Deadman Wonderland is like a modern day MD Geist. It's aggressively stupid and only appeals to those teenagers and manchildren who think sheer bloody mindedness is what is required to make something cool. People might defend this by saying a hyper violent anime is preferable to the insipid harem moe nonsense of the modern era, which is a load of cowpat. They are both as brainless as each other, just appealing to different sorts of immature mindsets. If you gave me a choice between Deadman Wonderland or, say, Fortune Arterial, I'd instead choose repeatedly slamming my fingers in a car door.

Deadman Wonderland is a a series that showed a lot of promise after a couple of episodes, but ultimately falls to the 12 episode only bug. While the series has an interesting concept, and a great deal of shock value, it falls flat on execution.

Our story involves around Ganta, a typically middle school kid who is framed for the murder of his classmates, who were really killed by what he refers to as "The Red Man". He gets sent to a private prison known as "Deadman Wonderland", which is more like a gladiator holding place than a prison. His goal is to find the ... Red Man and kill him. Oh, he also gets this weird blood power which allows him to use his own blood as a weapon.

The main issue with the show are the characters. Ganta is a kid in a brutal world, but he does not show any real growth at all. Shiro on the other hand is more like a flaw to Deadman Wonderland itself. Her upbeat and rather innocent personality almost represents hope in the show.

Besides Ganta and Shiro there are not many characters worth mentioning. Crow, is probably the coolest character in the show, but only gets a side character spot.

Another problem is that the pacing seems off. There are a few pick me up moments near the start of the show where the viewer can latch onto and think there's hope, but those are totally gone as the show progresses and it basically turns into a suffering with the main character ordeal. On top of this, the closing episodes reveal several things that are never resolved (but does leave room for a second season)

The art and sound are good. Maybe not the greatest ever, but not distracting at all. Voice acting is fine too, I can't really think of a character whose voice annoyed me. There is one character, Mockingbird, whose voice is questionable, but you only see him a few times.

This is a series that will probably hook you after the first couple of episodes and drag you into it and then you'll be more or less obliged to complete it. Deadman wonderland is not a terrible show, but offers little in the way of substance. It's just lifeless.

I'm somewhat masochistic. Typically when I find something that I think that I will dislike I will drop it after giving it a shot once I'm sure there's nothing I'll enjoy. However, when something is so bad that I am stupified at how many flaws I find in the writing of the show and how poor the characters are in terms of consistency, I somehow enjoy how much I can hate the show in question while watching it. This is somewhat of a disclaimer to say, that unlike most people, I didn't watch the series to enjoy any of its positives, but enjoy ragging on ... its negatives. Which might kill some of my credibility since I don't find credibility in a wholly negative or positive review for anything, and might've made me oblivious to the strong points of the series. I will attempt to find some positives in the series, regardless, but I could simply be oblivious to some of them due to how much of a bad experience the show was.

Deadman Wonderland is a good choice for you if you're looking for edgy fun and if you're the kind of person, like me, that enjoys observing the peak of how atrocious the writing of a show can be. However, it's a bad choice if you can't ignore the flaws and inconsistencies in the writing of a show, because there's just so many of them.

As an action series, Deadman Wonderland looks good because of its good production values. As a matter of fact, the good production is what did not make the series a complete botch, since I kinda enjoyed its soundtrack. However, as far what happens in the action bits, there's not a lot of meat to go around, with the battles being very one sided towards a certain group unless the character gets a powerup. They are either meant to express gore, or they're meant to express certain shounen-isms. I know the show doesn't have the shounen tag, but the manga is tagged with all the tags this was supposed to be. I'll list them all as I review the series, so no need to check the manga. The shounen-isms I talk about are "I GOTTA USE ALL MY POWER TO PROTECT MUH FRENS" and "I CAN BE STRONG TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!". However they are not implemented well and they're often nonsensical to happen and they feel like a writing asspull, often seeming just like the writing got pushed into a corner and then "wait this needs to happen ugh this character can bleed at supersonic speed now hahaha". There's just a lot of things that adapt to the convenience of the plot as the series goes on, and as a result of such, random power-ups, or specific characters get depowered, with often not as much as an explanation. The supersonic thing ain't a joke, characters need to use their power at that speed so they will not be deactivated by certain weapons. Powers which could've been used at previous points in the series to obtain a different result. And characters that are clearly stronger throwing the fight because... yeah, I guess, right?

As far as the gore goes, well... silly you would ask, eh... hmm, uh heh... it's censored. And it's censored because there was never a release of Deadman Wonderland that would be uncensored outside of Japan. For what it's worth, the censorship doesn't really make things unable to be misinterpreted, but...

You might wonder why would a series that is considered horror be shipped as horror and be censored, since that is a clearly bad choice for anything in the horror genre. I mean shock value is important in a horror series, as you need to be unnerved to be scared. That's because this series isn't actually a horror series. Its writing doesn't really present anything that should be horror outside of the gore. The characters don't act any bit more terrified than characters from other shounens, there isn't really any torment inflicted on the main character other than that required for him to get into the circumstances of the plot. Any emotional damage he should've received is just dulled away to the point where he has a stronger reaction and impact to a person losing his eye than his entire class and his two best friends being killed in front of him. Honestly, the only thing I can see this series is as edgy, rather than horror, because it presents a lot of gore and none of the tension to back it up, where you are constantly in danger, simply because the writing is just awful and the main character doesn't suffer any real consequence, emotional or physical. He's as much a shounen protagonist as a protagonist can be.

One of the genres that the tags are missing on the anime release is the shounen tag. The series has generic shounen tropes such as "the power of friendship and its value", "I can do it if I try, and that gives me a power-up.", "A weak boy who powers up as the series goes on because of his friends" and other such shounen things. I doubt anyone would argue it's a shounen and there isn't really anything to criticize in a show because it's a shounen, other than it being genericly shounen. However, why would you be a horror shounen? Why would the power of friendship and being determined matter when you're supposed to be in a situation where you're supposed to be horrified. Why wouldn't you use his friends being fucked over, since they're there, to torture Ganta, to express fear and terror through him in the series? Again, because this is a shounen, and this limits your capability to do the same things a horror series would normally do, which are the opposite of determination in the face of adversity, that being desperation. Thanks for airing in Shounen Ace, Deadman Wonderland. What a scary thought. Ganta has friends and people he isn't close to, die. As long as he gets over his bests friends dying at the start of the series.

The Sci-fi tag on the series is right, however, but not every element of the series is science fiction. In order to not mislead you, the cause of the powers is not explained by science and while the technology such as robots and lasers are present in Deadman Wonderland, the characters have the power manipulate blood due to "blood holes" which are basically red black holes. There might be a scientific explanation for the powers, however, it does behave very much like a supernatural series. Science fiction series tend to have some sort of pseudo science explanation that kinda limits the amount of bullshit they can use since they have rules. But Deadman Wonderland has no rules, so it can bullshit whenever. So note that the series is not only sci-fi, but supernatural. The sci-fi plays very little into it, and for the most part the powers are strictly supernatural, with some pseudo science applied around it.

The most important and last tag of Deadman Wonderland is drama, which is a missing tag for the anime. The drama is undoubtfully the thing is the most atrocious about the series. In order to give you an example of how bad the drama is built into the show, I'll give you the series premise as an example. Ganta is a character who is falsely accused and brought into a prison on "death" row. Ganta has witnessed the death of his entire class and his two best friends. Now after such a traumatic event, you would expect the character would have some form of emotional distress but Ganta almost vomits once from shock and like, is a little sad for a while, then he shounens it up and decides "I WANT TO LIVE BECAUSE...???" and afterwards once more characters are introduced he is like "MUH FRENS ARE IMPORTANT". Now you need to understand, that Ganta, moves on from one of the most traumatic events a person can experience, then after he is falsely accused he is moved in a place where he is treat like utter dogshit and death is often an option. And then he moves on. Like it's nothing. He gets a little beat up and then he gets a power and suddenly, even though it hardly mattered even before moved on, now he acts almost constantly fine. The biggest consequence on Ganta after experiencing this tragedy is that he wants to kill the person that commited the act. After witnessing a tragedy, he is placed in a place where he is constant danger... and then he moves on without any reason than he wants to live... Even before this, he seems to be more pissed off at the idea he was flasely accused than his friends dying, since he barely shows any emotion in regards to what happened to them.

Why would he just suddenly want to live? I mean, your friends are dead, you saw them murdered, everyone thinks you did it, you're likely gonna be killed and tortured. Wouldn't you at least be depressed? Wouldn't you at least be angry and constantly showing a lot of emotion or simply just shut yourself off? Or would you act like a teenager of who's dog died? Be a little sad and then be like, yeah okay. His portrayal is so horrible that his personality and behaviour is almost a joke. There is no way anyone would act the way he does after experiencing the events he had. And Ganta is just one example out of many. For the sake of not spoiling any plot threads from the series I won't go into detail about anyone else, however, in order to dramatize the series, the show often does flashbacks to show us why x character is fucked up and behaves that way. Which is pointless when the character barely has plot relevance and you're not really gonna bring up again. I mean, the series seems to have ended in a way that pretty would guarantee a second season... but none was made. So a lot of characters that got focus could've been intended to have had an actual role in the future of the series. But the role they had so far, they almost felt like throwaways, that once they ever done with, they were just to be discarded and never to be looked at again. For a series that aspires to be a drama, that's really bad.

The story is pretty much an excuse to bring edginess at every point. The characters are either forced to compete in death games in the amusement park so they can survive or they are forced to fight each other and the loser will lose an organ. It tries to make us understand why the people went insane and behaved that way, but really, they're that way just to be edgy. The series doesn't have any other point a shounen wouldn't have, mostly bringing up that kindness and friendship is important. It isn't unique in term of message and theme, and just tries to feature people that went insane because of trauma, with a protagonist that was oblivious to all of it. The characters more often than not experience a form of insanity that makes them want to kill stuff and be edgy and then all of a sudden, they're sane enough to have their behaviour change. These violent mood swings were ridiculous to see as the characters are poorly executed, the story had a really generic point in a setting that shouldn't even make it with a lot of inconsistencies in the mix to be added and logic gaps.

For instance, how would a teenager who was injured enough to be hospitalized, be capable of hiding a weapon that was strong enough to cause an explosion in a classroom. Even with his confession, that shouldn't be enough to jail him as he was physically incapable of executing the course of the action described. Also why would the warden of a jail be allowed, the jail he was sent to, be able to act out as his lawyer? Why would a prison have to undergo a people's rights inspection, when people come out for entertainment there and prisoners definitely don't seem to have their rights respected there, as they are used for the entertainment of others at the price of their safety? Now their safety matters? And there's more and more and more that I could just list but I think I made my point.

As I've said at the start of the review, it's got good production values. Except for the censorship that filthy westerners deserve, the series has solid animation. What I especially in Deadman Wonderland was the soundtrack. despite the E D G E lyrics of the OP, it's got some really good sounding rock pieces.

The only factors I can recommend this series on are the E D G E factor. And the fact that you might be capable of consuming it in the same way as me, and that is enjoying the series for its abundance in flaws. There's no other factor I can recommend it on. Steer clear if anything I described is below your standards. I mean look, edgy stuff can be entertaining, I watched series because I considered edgy but, I liked them in the context where they either didn't try to explain themselves, or at least they were plausible to some extent. But in Deadman Wonderland's case it even seems unaware of what it's doing. So yeah. Have fun.

Ok, so I've just watched the last episode of this anime, so how do I rate it?

Here's how:


Story: Good 7.

Good in the sense that this is totally a unique anime, sure there anime like this where the protagonist was jailed, but not a lot has this kind of genre that involves, Sci-Fi, mystery, horror, action, and drama which were combined with blood, gore and raw violence (damn censors). Ok, so the muchacho (Ganta, the male lead) is a pussy, but hey! It’s the blood, gore and the raw violence that are the stars in this anime. To recommend any other anime for this one ... would be an understatement, co’z this anime is only at par with other shows like “Death Race” and “Prison break” to were it features life in an hellish prison were everyday it is a fight for survival long enough that someday you’ll be able to get outta there either by parole or by escaping.

Art: Mediocre 5

Geezzz, I don’t know which illustrator I should compare this to, but I really hate the way the muchacho (Ganta) and the chiquita (Shiro) were drawn.

Sound: Good 7.

Well, I’d say that for a pussy Ganta’s voice is a match for his role, for a retard (hey! I like called her that) Shiro’s voice played up to it. As for the treacherous prison warden, Tamaki, I’d prefer that he should have had a more gayish tone, and as for the head of the prison security Makina, oh, oh, oh, her masculine voice played well.

Character: Fair 6.

Hummm, I think it’s "FAIR" enough that I describe each main charcter in this anime as to why I gave such rating, here goes:

Ganta Igarashi- At one point I sympathized him, co’z shit like that does happen to some unlucky fellow in real life, but then again it pisses me off as to how slow is it for him to accept the fact that he’s in that situation and he has to do anything to keep his sanity intact, I also hated that he’s oblivious that the very one who got him in that mess was standing near him all along.

Shiro- Ok so it seem that she’s some kind of lab experiment, a very deadly lab experiment, I like her cuteness and the way she’s friends with Ganta, but, I really hate that she’s the one who send him in hell (I’m talking about the prison). If there will be a season 2 it is possible that she and the muchacho (Ganta of course) will have to face off.

Tsunenaga Tamaki – I can’t say if he’s a retard or has some fetish with children’s toys, but man, he is one evil SON OF A B**** of a antagonist .

Chief Guard Makina – Aside from having boobs, her character exhibits a typical “S & M” dominatrix kind of thing, however it is difficult to say whether or not she’s one of the good guys or not.

So, what’s up with the “FAIR” rating in this portion? Well such rating only applied to these characters, and since this anime has a hanged ending there is still a lot to getting to know the other characters in this anime……..and that’s that.

Enjoyment: Good 7.

Thought, the blood, gore and raw violence were the stars of this anime, there it is the mystery that surrounds the characters that makes it enjoyable in a sense that one would be curious to find out as whether or not if the mucahcho will be able to escape to freedom, though, what happen is not what one would expect still there is a mystery of whether there will be a season 2 of this anime.

Overall: Poor 3.

Why? Ok, since this anime left us hanging, I think that it is “POOR” enough that we were also left to wonder if there will be a season 2, and if there will be one, can we expect that the muchacho will break out or will something else would happen to him and the others. But you know this anime has a bit of slice of life in it, which in reality it does happen which involves inmates in correctional facilities all over the world.

Yangires and Yanderes usually fascinated me in any anime title because of their potential to influence any story. Ever wondered how to make one for the short-term? It is quite simple.
Watch or stay inside Deadman Wonderland. Just as the title suggests, its abuse of Deus Ex Machina, unlikeable cast, unexplained details, unnecessary deaths, insane laughter, and butchered accelerated, not fast-paced, story will turn you into a crazy psychopath, laughing maniacally like Light Yagami from Death Note. Amusement parks could start appearing in your dreams to cope with your psychological disorders. The only way to avoid this is zero expectations, inexperience in the otaku world, ... and ignorance. I am serious.

Biased and crazy? Since I completed this recently, I am and still have some sanity left. Let us begin exploring this madness before I laugh like the main characters in the given links.
Light Yagami: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDmb4YQqizQ
Lelouch Lamperouge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGJbYpeDMZg

Production values are medium at the very least. They are not outstanding but unquestionably (YMMV) fitting. The opening and ending themes brought me out of my misery whenever I watch this so I never skipped them and watch the preview of preceding episodes. They both start and end the show well every time. Voice acting is fair as well. The style and quality of the art are normal like most of Shounen titles with extra focus on their supernatural abilities. I don’t have any negative issues with these factors at all.

For the rest, this is where it all falls. The main character Ganta Igarashi survives a quick massacre done by the Red Man but is arrested in a very unreasonable manner with no public support at all, not even his own relatives, and receives a death sentence. He goes to Deadman Wonderland, a questionable private prison where prisoners are guinea pigs for the audience’s entertainment. Just as any teenager, he is in shock because his previous life is gone for good. His characterization is a mix of Shinij Ikari, Shiro Emiya, and Madoka Kaname. He runs away but never quits in certain lost situations. He is unskilled and charges without thinking. His behaviour and comments are foolish in important situations. Without others, he is completely screwed. As such, he should have died in the first week of his stay but the writers played similar cards to Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica: audience sympathy and Deus Ex Machina. It is used in most, if not all, of the episodes. He even made something similar to Naruto’s Rasengan and fired it. It always amazes me how he escapes his situations because he has absolutely no chance of survival especially the first event he participated in. There are only a few things you could do whenever a Deus Ex Machina are invoked for Ganta’s survival: cover your eyes and ears in disappointment and fear of being stupefied, laugh hysterically, throw a tantrum, drop this anime.

Shiro is the avatar for some of the Deus Ex Machina. She is extremely powerful, childlike, and faithful to Ganta. Appearing out of nowhere and instantly solving about half of his problems, she is god-like. Without her, the torture would have ended a lot earlier, saving us from psychotherapy. More details could spoil the story so I’ll stop here.

For the supporting characters, they are all fine but lack the focus on characterization. Certain characters suddenly show up such as Mockingbird, introduced in the last quarter. The flashback about the major villain in the last episode (not sure if it was ep. 11 or 12) is arguably unnecessary since it does not majorly influence the story anymore. Senji is the only likeable character in this series. If he was the main character, then it is definitely a more interesting although still typical since it is Battle Royale. His match with Ganta is questionable though.

The side stories with Tamki and Makina is the only interesting part as far as storytelling goes. Exploring the deeper secrets of the hidden section of the prison or political conflict regarding the confidentiality about the Deadmen, are far more interesting than Ganta’s retarded struggle. Besides that, there is no ending and the final arc is full of Deus Ex Machinas. No more unnecessary deaths, cheated unescapable situations, Plot and Character Induced Stupidity! Don’t waste good ideas and the success of the manga adaptation.

12 episodes is simply not enough to cover all of their background and motives. Some lack detail and some are too late. If the staff wanted to make another season of this, it should be a faithful adaptation, not a butchered animal for leftovers.

Thought I'd see something really interesting, read synopsis, researched everything on it, and at the end was a total disappointment.

Deadman Wonderland is an anime that no captive anything, the plot is slow, boring and without any appeal to make it interesting, and further accompanied by characters with no charisma and silly Intelligence, and no relevant moments that will make those demanding or those looking for a good squirm with rage when they are watching. At the end of it all is a very weak anime in every way and really does nothing to save this disappointment of falling into the abyss.

The Nu Metal song in the beginning could’ve been a good sign of things to come. The anime could’ve been the visual version of Nu Metal – loud, heavy, violent, stupid and a lot of fun. Too bad it’s closer to early Drowning Pool than Mushroomhead or Slipknot. A lot of stuff happens, but nothing is fun.

The warning signs are in the first episode. Ganta (‘gangsta’ minus two letters) has no personality. Brief slice-of-life tell us nothing about him other than that his taste in women is generic, his best friend is more extroverted than him and that he’s nice.

He’s a bland stand-in for the ... viewer. He’s defined by the most vague attributes – he’s nice, he wishes good for everyone and he feels a little weak. It’s a nice suit the viewer can insert himself into and feel better at the end at overcoming the pain along with Ganta.

A character defined by being normal and good-willing can work. The writers would have to be aware that this is his purpose, though. They will have to make sure his normality is constantly contrasted (because normality is in itself empty) and that his goodwill is active. This worked for Danganronpa.

Ganta isn’t Naegi and there are no one here as mad as Daganronpa’s students. We never get an insight into how the events actually affect him. Then again, the events are meaningless acts of cruelty. All Ganta can do is be depressed for a while, inner-monologue about how weak he is and then stand up to protect his friends.

Wasn’t this what Sakamoto did in BTOOOM!? The major difference between the two is that Sakamoto had less people to talk to, so he also inner-monologue’d during fights.

Shiro isn’t much better. Her personality is amusing but runs out of steam before you notice it had any steam in the first place. Yuno is an obvious comparison, and Shiron is everything Yuno satirized. She exists to please Ganta and to help him. She doesn’t have anything beyond this.

Yuno was defined by being a yandere. The fact she needs someone is the center, not the someone she needs. Without Ganta, what can you do with Shiro? She walks around, acts cutsy and solves problems for Ganta.

It’s possible that the manga develops her differently. There’s a big twist thing that’s not revealed in the anime but is elaborated upon there. In this anime, she’s our hero cute female sidekick.

The creators also can’t be imagnative with their cruelty. Buckets of blood are spilled and people get shot in the head. Many were abused in their past. It never builds towards anything. Everyone just suffers.

In order for us to understand suffering, we need to see the difference between one kind and another. We need to see how different characters approach the situation. Many in Future Diary had a difficult past, but they took it differently. They weren’t just senseless psychos. It affected their desires and worldview in a way that’s connected to their personality. There is a difference between Yomotsu’s rough justice, Tsubaki’s hatred, John’s megalomania and Yuno’s obsession.

Violence is just tossed here. It’s something to cheer for. How can you take a show seriously when everyone is so sadistic? The world is cruel, but it’s also strange. Stories from Holocaust survivors are more shocking not just because they’re real but because they’re going somewhere.

Humans adapt. People who live in harsh circumstances adapt or die. In the most intense times in the army I didn’t have time to inner-monologue. In this anime they just monologue. The reason the pain of Danganronpa‘s cast was believable was because they had more than pain in their lives. The show made it clear each of these characters could stand on its own.

None of the characters of Deadman Wonderland can exist outside the anime. They’re all tied to the emotional core of doom’n’gloom. Without senseless violence they don’t exist. Characters who need senseless violence are senseless.

It’s ironic how the series tries to say something about brutal entertainment. The whole set-up is violent entertainment taken to reality. It’s an interesting concept, especially when we deal with prisoners. The rights of criminals and what to do with them is a controversial issue.

It seems the anime’s answer is that we should massacre them in entertaining ways. If this was supposed to be a critique, it should’ve made the violence truly shocking. Violence is shocking not when it’s extreme, but when it has some sort of meaning. This is why Yukki killing a bunch of orphans is more jarring than any ‘difficult past’ story here.

Yukki’s violent rampage was a result of a person who is sure he can bring everyone back to life. It’s an embodiement of ‘once people become easy to copy/resurrect their life lost value’. The Deadman Wonderland is brutal, but also cool. The people are using weapons made of blood. The race has them dying in all kinds of ways. The camera always lingers on the body so we will get a clear image of it. It’s pornography now.

I could’ve forgiven this if the series wasn’t so pretentious. I love aesthecized violence, and you can use it to give commentary on it. Borderlands is both violent and comments on violence in video games. What exactly Deadman Wonderland is trying to say about our relationship with violence is unclear. People are cruel, so?

If it was more stylish, if the focus was more on the violent games than the psycho-drama thing it would’ve been better. There are some cool visual ideas. The race scene could’ve been fun, but instead it’s a celebration of gloominess – brutal violence with no energy that’s still pornographic. It’s just unpleasant.

It’s actually hypocritical. The series points to us how disgusting brutal entertainment is, but the show itself is nothing but brutal entertainment. Its violence only exists for our pleasure and the cruelty isn’t deep. It’s like how in the Saw films, Jigsaw talks about how we should appreciate life but forces others to kill.

At least it’s better than BTOOOM!. The series does reach some kind of conclusion. The grand story doesn’t end but they create a central enough arc that does. The setting and characters are also wild enough to be entertaining occasionally. People are getting their heads split open, there’s a loli with a sword-whip-thing and weapons made of blood. It’s pretty fun.

It does have a weird relationship with sexuality as expected. It’s not drowning in fanservice, but the female cast is hanging around with more nudity than practical. Shiro has a skin-tight custom that makes her look naked, another girl is half-naked and the camera literally pauses so we could stare at some G-cups. These type of anime generally fail at sexuality, but despite the occasional moment Future Diary was mainly concerned with the personalities. Danganronpa also never sank to these lows. Sexuality is fun but not when it’s off-topic. Why is the sexual features of every female character is emphasized? At least there’s a dude with killer abs here.

At least the people in the sound design knew what they’re doing. There are some guitar riffs and industrial beats. It’s the perfect soundtrack. There are even Cannibal Corpse-like blast beats during the Carnival Corpse. If only they had a better anime to fit these cool beats to.

Deadman Wonderland is occasionally fun, but it’s closer to BTOOOM! than to . If doom, gloom and sadism are impressive you then you find some enjoyment here. I wouldn’t even recommend it for people who are into violence. The brutality is never stylish, never cruel in a way that stays in the mind. It’s halfway there and the result is just unpleasant. It’s a bad Nu Metal song – full of angst, noise, ‘brutality’ but no fun or depth.

2 killer lolis out of 5

Story: 1/10

The story of Deadman Wonderland started off promising, in a way. A teenage boy is sentenced to death, and sent to prison after being falsely accused of mass murder, and now has to participate in dangerous games hoping to postpone his death by obtaining antidote pieces of candy. It looked cool, and even though it didn’t make any sense that people actually believed a teenage boy could have been able to slaughter his entire classroom in this way, the story had something going for it.

But soon the story goes in a whole different direction, and we find our protagonist Ganta running down some hallways ... and fighting some guy in some arena, with some typical shonen power, the “branch of sin,” that is somehow reason for the board of the prison to throw him into some fights. Some people that somehow got online access to this fight are discussing some things that do not matter and the loser of the fight loses a body part for some reason. Why does the board of the prison use prisoners that have branch of sin for this and doesn’t the show expand on the other prisoners? Why is none of this information leaking out? Why does no visitor to the ever notice that people actually die in these games, while some of which are attractions for visitors to see? These questions are never expanded upon. There is no logic behind anything in this show, it’s mostly just mindless gore and violence.

The story gets even worse down the road. One day, while roaming around the halls (because that is totally what prisoners on death row do), our protagonist suddenly finds this rebellion that is only thrown in the story for the sake of being “the rebellion," and for no reason at all they have their own lounging room, complete with furniture, electronic devices, and entertainment, in what is supposed to be a DEATH ROW PRISON. They screw around for a little, trying desperately to make us believe that they’re characters that have an actual purpose, and eventually, they get interrupted by an undertaker: an anti-branch of sin fighter. What is that? Why are they in the prison fighting against prisoners with the branch of sin? Not important at all. All that matters is that they fight the main characters and have weird huge weapons. Deadman Wonderland tries so hard to be edgy, it even throws in an acid-spewing spider robot to lead the characters into harm’s way.

Everything that has any kind of potential in this show gets thrown out of the window. The moment of fail that takes the cake is when somebody brings up the candy pieces that the prisoners have to obtain to survive after those pieces having been absent for several episodes. In the meantime the viewer had actually forgotten that they even existed and goes like “Oh, right, those things were a key plot element at one point. Why were they never brought up again?” Turns out the main character has about eight of them now, despite no information being given to the viewer about how he got them.
I’ll spare you the other plot holes, because I could be writing about them all day; simply know that the story of this show is ridiculously illogical and is best summarized with the words “missed potential.” The ending (if it can be called an ending) illustrates this too, by being the most anticlimactic ending I have seen in years, dissatisfying and pissing off its viewers as an extra slap in the face of everyone who coped with the show until its ending.


Characters: 3/10

Not much to say here. Ganta is a Shinji clone with no substance, Crow is a typical badass guy for shonen standards that would’ve done a better job as a main character than Ganta, Shiro (who I haven’t even mentioned because of her dullness and unimportance to the story) is the most clichéd character in the show, being the cheerful-but-vulnerable type girl, and most of the other characters are either there to slaughter or be slaughtered. The only depth we get is some background information on the two most insane people in the show, and the only point of this information is explaining how said characters got insane.


Animation: 7/10

The animation of Deadman Wonderland is the only good thing about it. The action scenes were brought alive quite beautifully, especially those with the Red Man in it, and the opening is pretty neat. Animation is fluid, use of color and light is good, and character designs are up to standards. Pretty great job from Manglobe.


Sound: 5/10

The soundtrack of Deadman Wonderland is not that bad. No tracks really stand out, but each track fulfills its purpose and the soundtrack generally gets the job done. The opening song is alright, the ending song is boring, and all the other songs from this score lie somewhere in between.


Enjoyment: 1/10

I absolutely hate Deadman Wonderland. It could have been decent, but its story started making less and less sense every episode to the point where it was not even slightly believable or interesting anymore, and its characters didn’t do anything to help. This show voids itself of logic for the sake of being gory and dark and it frustrated me in every sense of the word.


Overall: 3/10

Deadman Wonderland is a steaming pile of crap and should not be seen as anything else. Spare yourself the pain of watching this if you have an IQ above 80.

From time to time, anime viewers are presented with a pseudo-intellectual show which excels in both soundtrack and animation but lacks other, more important traits such as a coherent story or interesting characters. In 2011, Deadman Wonderland aired and it follows this formula to a great extent.

The anime's premise sounds fairly intriguing: Shows in which the protagonist has to escape some sort of facility always have a great amount of routes it can take. In this case, it is combined with the popular Battle Royale trope due to which the potential viewer probably has high hopes towards the anime. Unfortunately, Deadman Wonderland is not able ... to fulfil these expectations. There are many issues with the logic the show and its characters want to apply which make it easy to see many plot holes and conveniences. The reason why the protagonist, Ganta, is convicted is because he allegedly slaughtered his entire class. However, there is no evidence other than him being the sole survivor that point to him being the criminal. Of course, one could claim that the court has been bribed but this does not explain why the whole world seems to think that he is the murderer. While it might have been possible for this anime to be a good show the viewer can simply enjoy without having to think a lot, it tries to be edgy and tense and consequently results in nothing but pretentiousness.

The anime tries to combine several characteristics other popular anime have, such as the aforementioned prison setting, a childhood friend, gore, super powers, contrived plot twists and tournaments. This, combined with a protagonist who is basically a toned down copy of Neon Genesis Evangelion's Shinji, is apparently what the writers think makes a good anime. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Everything the anime presents seems to be loosely tied together without having any impact apart from being nice to look at. What is more, a majority of the events occurring in the anime do not seem to be of any importance whatsoever. They do not contribute to the story's progress or the protagonist's development. In fact, the setting, which is built in the anime's first half, seems to become more and more irrelevant as it goes on.

Not only the protagonist is a generic character but also the supporting cast has no remarkable traits and merely consists of annoying children and other bothersome characters. There are anime where you cannot decide who to root for because both sides have understandable reasons to win. In this case, it is similar with the unfortunate exception that you want both sides to lose because of how horribly written every character is. While it is interesting to see what varieties of abilities they have, you do not feel connected to them since they lack any form of characterisation and the viewer consequently does not sympathize with the characters when they die.

That being said, thanks to decently entertaining battle scenes, the fights between the characters are somewhat enjoyable, but still very predictable. In most cases, they end due to someone developing super human strength for no apparent reason.

As mentioned above, the soundtrack is remarkably good. Not only does the background music fit the anime very well but the opening theme has to be one of the catchiest songs there is. Since Romi Park and Hanazawa Kana voice the anime's main characters, there is nothing one could complain about in the cast either. The animation is also very fluid and the art style fits the setting without a doubt.

In other words, if you want to watch an anime with cringe worthy, melodramatic moments that heavily relies on shock value and has hardly any positive characteristics other than its soundtrack, you might enjoy Deadman Wonderland. However, since this probably is not the case, I ultimately cannot recommend this anime and suggest that you watch something else instead.

I've heard a lot about Deadman Wonderland for quite sometime now, and when I finally got the chance to sit around and watch it, I was nonetheless excited due to the fact that I had heard so many good things about it.

However, in my opinion, this anime was nothing but a pathetic let-down. The art style was not appealing to me, and the plot was just empty to me. Not a single episode excited me, and I didn't feel any attachment to the characters or the series itself.

The character development is poor. We didn't really get to know Ganta Igarashi's life and ... character before his class was suddenly killed and he was blamed for it. Not only did this damage his character, but it also damaged the plot because it seemed too rushed. Even when he was placed within Deadman Wonderland, his character and life before imprisonment was poorly-written.

Overall, I think that the anime is horrible. Having heard such good things about the manga, I think that the anime had a lot of potential but the production staff didn't do a good job.

Remember Lance Armstrong? The guy who managed to cheat perhaps every single fucking organism on the planet? What I am going to present you is the anime version of him. If you don't know better, Deadman Wonderland will come to you as a pretty good anime. However it is perhaps the worst anime adaptation of all time.

Now where do I start? I myself don't know seriously. But I guess that a brief introduction will do a whole lot of good for you guys who don't have a clue about it. Simply put it is a horror survival anime with some action. Now let me state ... that this show requires you having well developed testicles since the blood, gore and the themes present are not for everyone.

Ok lets begin. Simply put, this anime is a fucking piece of garbage. A colossal waste of time. Now I hear you say, 'The premise looks very good and and many people have said that it is good!' Unfortunately the people who recommended you this anime don't know anything about the source material which is perhaps one of the best manga I have ever read. It basically spits on the manga and shows it the biggest middle finger possible.

Now I will focus on it's story. Incomplete anime in my opinion are equivalent to the offspring of Hitler and Mussolini. But what gets my blood boiling is how much damage it does to the manga. The anime was used as a promotional thing. But how do you promote a fantastic work with the worst adaptation ever? Its fucking incomplete. It leaves you asking why you ever watched it since you could have spend the time changing your pathetic life and making yourself a better person.

The art's pretty good. Animation is top notch and I have no complaints here.Battle scenes don't' cut any corners. Visuals complement the anime very well. Overall I think the animation is pretty solid stuff.

Now give me a moment to tell you about the opening. Its the best fucking opening I have ever listened to. Its called One reason and there is no reason for you to not to listen to it. It's a rock song with excellent lyrics. Mother fucking excellent lyrics. Listen to the complete version of the song and you will appreciate how well it describes the feelings of the protagonists. Along with Lain's Duvet and Mirai Nikki's Kuusou Mesorogiwi, it is simply the best opening I have ever listened to.

But before that let me tell you about the animation which accompanies the song. It's fantabulous. Sexy. Mesmerizing. Amazingly well made.

Now you are probably thinking what a hypocrite I am. In the beginning I was bashing this anime and now I am praising it. But the previous paragraph was the last positive paragraph I have for this anime before I get back into my rage mode.

Deadman Wonderland has decent characters. But no character development whatsoever. Whiny boy stays whiny. Before you attack me saying that it is only 12 eps long, a good anime can completely flesh out it's characters in 6 episodes. And then there are Mockingbird and Shiro. You want to know more about them. But the anime proceeds to give you the biggest cock block of all time.

About the manga. I shouldn't do this on an anime review but I have to do so. The manga is all round excellent. Everything is superb. Read it. Like right fucking now. Then see the anime( please don't) and you will understand the disservice done by it.

I apologize if this review came across as a rant. I sincerely tried my best not to make it look like one. Maybe it was on the border. But I had to say something about it. It's a mess. If it would have been longer with around 30-40 episodes and adapted faithfully, I would praised the living shit out of it. But I find myself criticizing it instead. My advice to you would be to read the manga and forget that this anime existed.

Deadman wonderland, the amazing first season of a series that would never be. Chained to mediocrity not by its art, characters, or plot but by its lack of continuation. Leaving the viewer wanting so much more yet painfully asking "that's it!?"

Deadman wonderland is quite an interesting and entertaining anime. An anime with lots of promise for the road ahead. Its characters are portrayed very well, being dynamic with conflict and exciting yet with much mystery as to their full motivations and backstory. The story is captivating and entertaining to watch unfold, yet also holds an air of mystery as to how the story will end, ... what conclusion we will find, and why the events of this story are taking place. (Not to mention the animation is quite good. However, admittedly I've never been one to focus heavily on animation. To me, it's always more of a bonus if a great plot has good animation to go along with it, but it's not a requirement for a spectacular story.) It draws the viewer in exceptionally well, getting you completely immersed in the story and world being built. As the final episodes come to a close, I along with many others imagined how the plot would continue, how our questions would be answered, and how this great spectacular start to a story would end, only to quickly find out it would never come to an end, another season would never be made, and that the 12 episode anime is a stand-alone. which is why this anime scored so nothing but slightly high-end mediocre in my eyes.

Deadman wonderland was presented as a pilot, in other words as the first season of a series. It would have done this job extremely well, however, due to a second season never being greenlighted, this 12-episode anime acts ts as just a beginning of a story with no middle, conclusion or end. It almost feels unfair to judge the only season of deadman wonderland as a stand-alone title because it's clear that this was not the (honestly quite talented) writer's intention. It is clear the anime was supposed to continue on, the cliffhangers, unresolved mysteries, and questions at the end of the 12th episode prove this completely. However, there would never be a continuation of the story, and the series would come to an abrupt end after its short first season run time.


In total, deadman wonderland is a story that could have been one of the greatest, maybe even a 10/10. As a first season, it was amazing, but due to it never receiving another season as intended it ended up being another abandoned project.
A true shame for something that could have been so great.


If on the odd chance that over a decade later they finally decide to make the second season I would gladly remove this review, but as it stands I would not recommend this anime unless you hold hope that the anime will someday continue. Hope sadly I do not have to make this anime, in total, just OK. Not good, not bad, just OK and a general waste of time.

Seeing as deadman wonderland has brilliant reviews and is so commonly favored by blue exorcist lovers, this anime had plenty of promise for me. Sadly I was very disappointed.

Story 2/10 although the story idea was brilliant, it was played out terribly. For an anime with a battle royale element, their into as much fighting as you would expect. Their where loads of gaps which where never rounded off and most of the characters that appear to have a big part of the story are ether not even mentioned again or dont have as big of an influence as you would think. The story doesn't really ... amount to anything and you do not get a sense of satisfaction at the end.

Art 10/10 1 of the only 2 things I liked about this series. Animation is fluid and consistent apart from at some occasional point but was very well done. ]I did not personally like the appearance of the main character partly because he reminds me of astro boy but that's a personal opinion.

Sound 8/10 the only other thing I loved about this anime, the intro song is just fabulous and the sound in general is great, one off putter would be the English vocals for the main guy, his voice is really irritating.

Characters 1/10 despite their being some interesting characters in the series, they are bland and predictable. Character development? I don't think this even crossed the writers mind as their is little to no development. The characters at the end are more or less the characters you meet at the very beginning, just a tiny bit more bad ass.

Enjoyment 2/10 idk, you just keep expecting something brilliant happen but what would have been the super exciting parts are played out in a very dull way. I did enjoy the battle scenes but they didn't even hit a 4 on my thrill-o-meter plus the pretty pathetic protagonist doesn't change so fight scenes get a little dull after 4 or 5 episodes.

Overall 2/10 despite my personal distaste for this series, it would be unjust to give it a 1 as as I said, the art was fabulous and their where some epic battle scenes but apart from that, I can safely say that this is the first series that has under 200 episodes that I got bored of half way through I would behave dropped it but as mentioned earlier, I kept thinking something brilliant was going to happen but it never came.

The anime begins with the most forced motivation I have ever seen in an anime. Nothing about the first episode makes any sense. No court in the free world would sentence a child that harshly regardless of his crime. Above that, the evidence didn't add up in the slightest. The faked confession didn't even play part in the trial, this was released after the sentence. And in what world does a "bomb" cause cut wounds anyway.

But lets say the trial never happened. Lets just say everything went like it should or that it was actually properly explained.

The deadman wonderland attraction park is a farce. The ... modern world wouldn't stand for it. There is a clear distinction between seeing special effects and somebody getting impaled on spears. There would be investigation upon investigation on such an show. Not to mention SEVERE censorship.

Now once again, lets say somehow the world accepted this "running man" kind of entertainment. The anime still wouldn't make sense.

How does a high school student make it through such a gauntlet without being the first to die? From what we see he isn't exactly the brightest, nor is he the captain of the track club.
The way he summons his "powers" is a completely idiotic way of doing things. It would cause severe injury and permanent scaring. The physical pain alone would be a serious issue. There would have been better ways of doing this part.
The main villain is never touched on in the first season. The entire first series can be shrugged off as simply "setting the mood".
The characters in this anime lack any form of common sense, instead of going around the problem they go right through it. And not very well either.
Giving a character back story right before they die. This doesn't make me care about them, its just another excuse to make the audience "feel bad" for whoever dies. Its a major flaw a lot of anime share.

There is so much more that could be pulled into question, i however don't feel the need to put myself through that anime again. These are the things I pulled from the top of my head.
I'm sure there is a lot more to moan about but i'll leave it at that.

I gotta say, i liked the battle near the end. It wasn't anything special, but compared to the bullshit you sit through in the rest of the show it was quite good. The anime itself simply isn't enjoyable. There is no payoff and there is nothing calling me back for the second series. Any anime with more than a single season should at least have a worthy cliffhanger in between.

Its a battle-royal/kill-count anime with a horrible story and a cheap execution going for nothing more than shock value. And it even fails to deliver on the shock value. Censoring the gore beats the point of there being any. There are things that are just better off left implied.

In the first episode, what appears to be an attempt to portray Ganta as "in shock" after the massacre of his class-mates seems a bit weak, and everything following that until the show's namesake feels rushed through. As a result, the events of the beginning don't really deliver much impact. Assuming what seems obvious, that this wasn't meant to be a major event so much as it was a necessary stepping stone into the actual story, I merely hoped that the show would come to deliver a little more. As things went forward, continuously introducing new characters and giving them only minimal ... depth, it never really did succeed. I did still find myself becoming slightly entertained, however, as it drew a bit closer to the conclusion. I can't really single out things that I liked about the show because nothing really grabbed me as particularly great.

What a miserable series. Some of that doubtlessly by design; after all, the synopsis keys us immediately to a story focused on a kid who gets wrongly accused of killing his entire class and sent to an awful fight-to-survive prison. This is not intended to be uplifting. But some of it just feels like general ineptitude. Several recurring locations where the lighting is so dim that the animation is dark, murky, indistinct. Characters that never really develop—or when they do, the transformation is unbelievable. A story that introduces too many ideas without bringing resolution to any of them; I'm assuming this was intended to be ... longer than one season, but that doesn't mean the non-ending is forgivable.

Which is all a shame because I love a lot of the general ideas being riffed here. I'm into prison narratives, I'm into theme park narratives—this should be my jam. I love the nasty fight-to-survive aura that underlies most of the series. Unfortunately, the settings—aside from a few specific scenes—largely shy away from either feeling like a prison or a theme park (when I think back on the series, I'll remember sterile hallways, a circular fighting ring, and the bar-like meeting place where a resistance group meets. None of those things indicate the strengths of prison and/or theme park. And the fighting is irregular, with a protagonist who, frankly, sucks at it.

It's just... miserable.

1. This is one of those anime that makes you kinda wonder "Who is this show for?"

. This is a curiosity you will come to think too after you watch this. Since it's gross and full of plot holes, unsatisfying episodes, half-assed action, all served on a non-hype, dissapointing scene.

. When you think of "blood weapons", you don't imagine cutting your veins, proceeding to bleed out litters of blood all while screaming "it hurts", feeling your head go in circles, or bumping your head against the floor. That's just plain unpleasant... I think so too.

. If you may not like seeing pain fetishes, being entertained ... from feeling pity at seeing others despair, or enjoy seeing sequels unrelated events, I recommend you don't watch this show. But if you still think you can get over these aspects, go ahead.

. I'm not going to mention much the turnoff that is the failure at trying to be in the "shounen" genre(young male MC), or the fruitless boring fights, or the tournament arc.


<I'm saying this from 2020's perspective, but what would someone from 2011 do? I watched all this so you don't have to.

Deadpan BoringMan

Binge-Watching this over one evening I can safely say the best reason to view this is for the first four episodes or so; everything after that is a slow lesson in deflating tension and interested accompanied by a big pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft

Boy is convicted of Crime he didn't commit, and placed into a prison run by the guy that designed Oz after smoking with Charles Manson and Dr. Mengele.

He learns that being on death row with other crazy people isn't fun unless you find Loli's in skin-tight bodysuits and that he can make crazy stuff happen with his blood.

Really I liked the beginning of this how ... because it seemed like it was leading into some kind of dystopic descent into hell. The exploration of the prison, meeting the sexay warden, and seeing how the place operated seemed to indicate that we would be shown our hero trying to survive amidst the grinding wheels of gang violence and repression by the sadistic people controlling the place.

Instead, we start to get plenty of time for the hero to cry and moan about being the hero, characters describing how they need to be more stereotypical or coming out of nowhere and then being told their important to the plot with little or no explanation.

I had to force myself to go back and watch parts I skipped around episode eight. We start to go down the cliche checklist from here.
Cute character gets rejected by hero when we know he'll apologize later? Check

Bad guys corrupt one of the good guy characters and try to sick him on his friends he'll clearly betray very easily and never get inspired suddenly by?
Check

Really it was painful to see how incomplete this all was by the time the credits rolled in at the last episode.

Sounds like the Manga was supposed to be better but frankly I'm not inclined to read it at this point.

Story went from promising to broken and awful.
Nothing wrong with the art, some of the effects look good.
Liked the Intro song.
Characters that were interesting became flat and generic.
I went from interested to annoyed so little fun had here.

Imagine a world in which people are sent to death row quick enough that they're set to die 2 days after the supposed murder that took place.

Now imagine that somehow an entire court of adults believes the giggling lawyer when he says that his 12 year old defendant (who has been assigned to him, without the word of the defendant's parents) murdered 29 classmates and a teacher, all without any of them screaming or escaping. Also that the kid bisected pretty much all of them, and that no one fought back.

Now imagine that this kid gets sent to the lawyer's own privately owned jail where ... hes given the right to kill the person.

A girl with oven mitts sees him in the back of a solid steel armored vehicle from the top of a building several miles away from the side.

Some random guy bumps into him and has to die because Prison Guard A says that no ones allowed to be so disrespectful as to interrupt her or something. She kills him with her sword shes
A: allowed to have
B: allowed to use
and
C: always has on her, not under lock or anything.

Oh, and then some guy asks her what her cup size is and she says "G" and then walks away. Yes that actually happens.

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Congrats you've now watched the first 10 minutes of the first episode.
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Not much else really happens in the first episode, but by the end of the episode the art has gotten to the point where its clear that the heads are all predrawn, and then pasted onto bodies which must be traced from other predrawn bodies, because its clearly adult bodies and child sized heads.


2/10 would not recommend

Let's preface this by saying one thing: the story may very well be solid and fulfilling if completed in further season (since the manga is still running as I write this). There are far too many characters in this show for 12 episodes. The dear friends Ganta spends the entire series grieving are ridiculously underdeveloped. For this reason, every time he makes a big deal of their loss, I am disconnected from the emotional state of our protagonist. The underdevelopment doesn't stop with Ganta's late friends. In fact Shiro, the mysterious C2-esque character whom befriends our Ganta is the ... most developed character other than Ganta himself. Every time a character of interest in a particular episode is about to reach the climax of their involvement in the series, the anime gives a brief couple minute insight into their past, which does almost nothing to build a connection with these characters at that point. Do you want to know more about the cause of the Deadman virus? The director and promoter? Shiro's alter-ego? Other Deadmen? THAT'S TOO DAMN BAD!!!! Do you like Yoh? Well that sucks because he disappears from the story for no reason.

Needless to say, 12 episodes was far too short to develop the amount of story that they tried to do. If the show fails to return for another season and really follow it to the end, it'll doubtless be because it's first season should have been twice as long for the same amount of story.

I watched in English and always enjoy Greg Ayres's work. The music was solid, though the ending wasn't very fitting. And the artwork was simply sub-par for anything made since 2000, more so for 2011.