This anime was everything that I love about anime: bloodshed, twists, messed up plots, a horrible secret…basically lots of drama and tears…with death and mutilation around every corner.
If you can’t stomach that stuff, I’d maybe consider your decision a little harder.
Why did I like it so much?
It was the plot from the beginning that initially made me want to watch on, because it was a shocker of an introduction. The fact that it was packed full of bloodshed urged me further through the series too as the deaths/mutilations were pretty ridiculous, and almost hilarious...which is positive for some but not others.
The deaths and injuries inflicted were usually justified, especially in some of the prison's twisted little 'games'. I really liked the entertainment 'carnival/circus' theme of the games mixed in with the death/horror, it was very much like a clown massacring a bunch of kids, with cute music in the background. Again, some people will dig this, some will not. (I must note that Shiro's character reflected this very thing to a tee once you find out more about her).
The characters were driven with a passion due to their horrible surroundings. This caused them to become strong, emotionally as well as physically.
In addition, the majority of the characters were very three-dimentional as you find out a lot about them as people due, mainly, to flashbacks. The flashback method which was used within the story makes it a bit easier to emphasise with some of the characters, especially those with bad pasts.
As more and more characters get put through an emotional rollercoaster, so do you.
I usually don't care so much about the sound and will skip an opening theme if I've watched it all the way through already but the Deadman Wonderland OP I watched/listened to every single time. It fit the anime pretty well but the heavy emphasis on the guitars, and the genre of the song in general, made it look more like an action anime than anything else (rather than a horror or a drama), which isn't necessarily wrong.
Originally when I reviewed this anime, I could find no negative aspects, but since calming down as well as talking it over with a friend, that isn't true. One thing that annoyed me was the plot - it became quite unresolved and characters' aims became distorted or forgotten. However, if there's a second series, it will make this series better as it feels incomplete.
At the end of the day, if you want to be shocked, WTFd and don't mind extreme forms of death and/or questionable methods of mutilation, give this a go.
