What is the worst anime you've ever seen?
No, I'm not talking about Boku no Pico or Mars of Destruction. I'm talking about a series that makes you so angry, leaves you feeling so empty and disappointed inside that you literally are at the point where you can't say a damn thing about it that would make it sound extremely bad. That's how little you feel about it and how apathetic it made you. Indifference is worse than hatred, and this anime and my relationship with it is a prime example.
This is Deadman Wonderland.
STORY: 5/10
Okay, before I go into the plot, let's talk about Sword Art Online for a sec. An MMORPG where real lives are at stake. You can't leave until you beat the game, but if you never beat it, you can never join reality again. Beautiful concept. Excellent sales pitches all around.
The execution is horrible. You don't need me to tell you that.
Anime has proven time and again that a seemingly terrible concept can lead to a spectacular anime, (i.e. Polar Bear Café or Detroit Metal City,) and, likewise, a wonderful concept can lead to terrible execution, as stated above.
Unfortunately, Deadman Wonderland is an example of the latter.
The story follows a boy who gets unjustly framed for a murder he clearly didn't commit, but due to a corrupted courtroom and his screwy defense attorney, he gets locked away in this prison that's an amusement park on the outside and a fight club on the inside. Prisoners are used for entertainment a la Roman Coliseum by having to fight each other to the death, complete obstacles that could end their lives, and use their own blood as weapons until they pass out or their opponent gets brutally murdered---whichever comes first.
There you go. Some business guy probably used that as a sales pitch and an entire boardroom gave him an ovation.
But.
BUT.
The show itself is UNBELIVEABLY forced in tone. It is extremely hard to believe, even with your suspension of disbelief, that a small child who is being tried for brutally murdering his classmates was sent into a courtroom that was literally built to screw him over and that's all he gets. I get that this is supposed to be this dystopian version of Japan, but it's kind of like Tokyo Ghoul in the sense that, even though it's supposed to be dark, it's a little too unfair at the point where the viewer may not want to cheer for the main character because it's pointless. They're going to lose because life just isn't fair for fifteen-year-old boys that the world will never understand.
And before you think this show will be worth watching through the end after such a shady beginning, it's not. The ending comes directly out of left-field and is about a random side-character without ever bringing up a possible resolution for our "hero."
I have never read the manga, but apparently this show is an adaptation of only the first four books of a twenty-something part manga. If that's not a red flag, I have no idea what else I can tell you.
ART: 5
I mean, like...eh. It's fine. I don't have a tremendous amount to say about it aside from it's jarring like it's supposed to be.
There isn't really a stylistic approach. It's just a basic, "Oh, this is a dark anime with a twist on the innocent nostalgia of amusement parks; let's put dark colors on what are supposed to be bright objects!! :D"
Example: It's no secret that Madoka Magica is both kawaii and kowai. There's a blend of huge pops of color and entirely different mediums are used to create the witches in the show to make the danger stand out that much more, so when someone dies or when a fight occurs, it catches you that much more.
A lot of Deadman Wonderland is just...blank. Two characters talk in a blank room with a poster on one of the walls, panning back and forth to crowds of people. Fight scenes are eh, character designs are eh, it's all eh when it doesn't have to be.
SOUND: 6
"Any questions?"
"Yeah, how big are those titties?"
"I'm a G."
The dub has some gold nuggets in it. I have no idea why they decided to cast that annoying blonde kid from Clannad as the main character, though. Don't ask about music. I literally could not tell you what instruments are being used in the soundtrack, much less the 2007 Linkin Park wailing of the OP.
CHARACTER: 5
Here's a test for you weebs to try at home to see how long an anime will stick with you.
Go on Google Images and type in "*insert anime here* character wallpaper" and pull up the wallpaper with the most characters in it. It could be two, could be twenty. If you can name every character, no matter how many there are, it's safe to say that the anime did a great job nailing the characters in your head, thus they'll be your waifus forever.
I literally cannot name a single character from Deadman Wonderland, not even white-haired big gloves. I think there was a guy named Yo, but I literally can't remember. This show glazes over character arcs that would have been more interesting had they been panned out more. Like I remember this one episode about this seemingly innocent girl who goes batshit crazy due to trauma behind the crime she had committed to get sent to Deadman Wonderland, but after two episodes, we literally never hear from her again. The last episode is about a cop or something.
I don't know.
I don't really care, either. Not like I'm getting paid for this.
ENJOYMENT: 5
I have a feeling we all would have enjoyed this show much more if we were all in seventh grade and Evanescence was still the best thing to happen to us. At first, in all honesty, I adored this show. Thought it was the shit, immediately looked up merchandise for it, wanted to cosplay Red Eyes McBigBewbs at the next local con.
But the more I watched, the more I questioned.
This was one of the first ten anime I had ever watched from beginning to end. I hadn't even seen Death Note yet, that's how small of a weeb I was. So, at the time, this was the darkest anime I had ever seen.
Then I watched more anime and began to hate myself and my standards.
I kept asking, "Why?" Why does no one try to escape? Why does literally no one sympathize with children in a death camp without much reason to be there? Why is REMBB even here?
It was fine when I started, but then I wanted to quit several times but didn't because hey I already started and I only have two episodes left and I have nothing else to do with my pathetic life except watching children beat each other with their own blood
And again. No reward.
Literally could have...I don't know, hugged my cat more instead of watching the "finale" that was basically an ad for the OVA, which has basically NOTHING to do with the anime itself.
OVERALL: 5
In short, it was genuinely disappointing. A beautiful concept with an apparently brilliant manga gets a horrendous adaptation that leaves the viewer not getting anything but not wanting anything else. I honestly checked years ago to see if they were going to make a second season to this show just to see if they were going to try again. I would love to see a wonderful concept like this pull through and grow enticing, or at least incite a reaction besides, "Eh."
So...is this the worst anime I've ever seen? Well...no. But it's the worst relationship I have with one. It's like watching your kid, who you know is super talented and can probably end national poverty and hunger, never move out of the house and does nothing with their philosophy degree while bragging to everyone about how smart they are without actually doing anything with their knowledge, instead just locking themselves up in the basement and ranting on their blogs about how the smart people never get the jobs they deserve while he hasn't even looked in the classifieds of the newspaper. You can't say they're a terrible human, nor can you say they're good.
Talent, along with a beautiful concept, means nothing if you don't do anything worthwhile with it.
And this anime barely tries.
