Aug 6, 2010
If you can get past the gore, you should definitely give this manga a try, if not - then this one is not for you.
DW is centered arround a twisted post apocalyptic world where many people enjoy violence and chaos. Gore is inevitable and even seems like a major focus point of the story. Through it, a select few people shine as they struggle not to change into destruction monsters. They cannot do it alone though and they have to rely on others, who all hold some ulterior motives and conflicting causes, sometimes making them undermine eachother's goals. And this is the
...
essence of the world DW tries to present, people struggling against the enviroment and themselves as they try to make their best in life, while trying to hold on to their views and determination.
Art-wise, DW is amazing. The world is very detailed and unlike a certain Bleach which "has no backgrounds", DW doesn't lack them. You don't get whole pages where charactes talk over white backgrounds and are unconected with the world. They all act within the constrains of the surrounding world and objects and this part draws the readers into the story, which otherwise would find hardly any hold in it.
The twisted reallity is conveyed very well and the characters' expressions convey strong feelings, perhaps even too strong. The horror or hatred shown in the faces of the characters is usually overdone and it seems sometimes that the author wants to convey a simple smirk of superiority, but instead it comes as a sadistic murderer's "I'm gonna cut you into small pieces now" glare.
The character development is very throughfully done. Each comes with a solid past, which is usually shown through flashbacks - and while it's not the best way to present it - it allows a a better understanding of characters you'd otherwise have to assume the motives of.
The main problem with the character construction comes with the concept of wholeness. Any character in DW can become wholy evil/good/submissive/etc at any given time and would act as for a certain time until it would accept a different "role". It is this change which put me off and made the story unworthy of an 10 or a 9. You don't get the usual change in character or a merge of different personalities as the person changes views, as it happens in real life. A character would change drastically from one point to the next with no indication of past behavior or views.
Another problem with character development is that when a certain character finishes it's intended role in the story, it is swept to the sidelines and becomes utterly passive, so much unlike their personality as presented before.
All in all, it looks like the author of DW is trying too hard. Reality is not black and white, but it looks like this is what DW is trying to present the world as an evil and twisted place, where there are a few bright shining stars. Nevertheless, I really enjoy this manga. It's very solid and unique - and there aren't many of those around. Most of the faults can be ignored as the good points far outweigh them.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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