I have a high tolerance for the violent imagery portrayed in manga and in anime so it doesn't bother me. This anime didn't make my stomach churn nor make me turn away from the screen but its just that the violence over takes the story telling. The blood aspect is moot because its the main part of the story so no arguments there.
Now, I haven't read the manga so I don't know if the story of the anime faithfully follows it.
However, from the perspective of somebody who hasn't read this manga, the anime falls flat in story telling. It didn't grab my attention. I just didn't have the urge to wonder what will happen in the subsequent episodes. In my opinion, this story's concept is nothing new. An innocent guy sent to jail on trumped up charges, an evil conspirator hiding the true motive of his organization (Deadman Wonderland) that is doing sick science experiments, an underground movement hoping to bust out of the hell-hole, and finally, everybody has a part of them that is really twisted and disturbed. Really, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. From what I understand the anime ends right around the end of chapter 21 of the manga. I might go ahead and read starting from that but I don't expect much.
One thing I really liked is the music and sounds in the intro and in the fight sequences between Ganta and the villains.
The characters are pretty much set in stone. Ganta changes a bit, he "finds" himself and puts up a fight. He is a character I liked though. He quickly mans up unlike the typical male protagonists from most anime series who cry and bitch (e.g. Kaido from Blue Gender)
