As for the story, it’s fairly descent but not flawless. So our main character Ganta is thrown into Deadman Wonderland. A prison where inmates fight each other to the death and endure deadly obstacle courses for the amusement of the public. I know. It’s sick. Especially when you see families with their children in the crowd. Eventually Ganta discovers that he’s one of the “deadman” a person who can control their blood and use it as a weapon.
I have to say that for me the best episodes were the first few of the show as they set up a great concept. The downfall is that the show takes a slightly different rout than we expect it to. Ganta gets involved in a few fights with other deadman convicts but eventually teams up with the other deadman of the prison in an attempt to escape and let the world know of all the horrors going on in the prison. (because apparently the citizens believe all the blood and deaths they are seeing are just special effects) I wouldn't say this story is bad by any means but I think it could have been much better if they had focused more on Ganta trying to prove his innocence and find out the identity of the “Redman” (the one who really killed all his classmates) while in the meantime, trying to survive the dangers of the prison. Now these things are not dropped. They are dealt with in the show, but I felt they treated them too much as minor subplots when they should have been the main focus of the story. The blood fights themselves are definitely cool and each deadman has different abilities and styles in which they use their blood which makes fights very fun to watch but I still would have rather seen them focus a little more on obstacle courses like the one in episode 2. The pacing is a little on the slow side but there are a lot of points in the show that should keep you interested nonetheless.
Ganta is an alright protagonist. Out of nowhere he’s suddenly framed for the brutal murder of his entire class and is thrown into the worst prison in the world so he obviously starts off scared and confused thinking “What in the world just happened to me!?!” like anyone would but once he comes to terms with what happened, he has the drive to become stronger which makes him fairly admirable. His character develops slowly but it does develop.
Shiro is pretty great. Fun, goofy, and loveable with a good amount of mystery to her to keep you interested and Kana Hanazawa does a fantastic acting job as always. Not to mention there's a jaw-dropping plot twist with her character around half way through the show that will more than double your interest in her.
Minatsuki Takami aka “Hummingbird” is also a great character but there’s not much I can tell you about her without spoilers. I’ll just say that I though she was great and it’s a little disappointing that she got such a small amount of screen time. She got a lot of focus when she first showed up but then kind of faded away.
As for the other characters in the show, they’re descent enough as they each have their own things about them that make them interesting. A lot of the deadman later on in the show seem to be fairly good people and it makes you wonder what they did that got them thrown into a prison like Deadman Wonderland and if maybe they were framed like Ganta.
The art style is good and the blood fights especially are well animated. The soundtrack is also good and the opening fits the show well.
As for the ending, the show is unfinished and requires a season 2 (which I’m guessing they won’t make) They did this with Claymore too, though Deadman Wonderland is a much more open ending than Claymore’s was. Basically if you want to finish the story you will need to read the manga, which is completed. I myself have not read it yet but I’m sure I will eventually because I do want to know how this show ends considering the ginormous amount of unanswered vital questions this show left us with. And who knows. It might change everything I’ve said in this review but for now these are my thoughts on this show.
So if you haven’t seen Deadman Wonderland yet then this is a show I would recommend you see at some point in your anime life especially if your into this type of genre. I definitely enjoyed this show and I’d say watch it at your convenience but it’s not something I would really push anyone to watch.
Thanks for reading.
