Review: Deadman Wonderland

Deadman Wonderland

Mimi: Deadman Wonderland, the hype of spring season anime, really WOWED people with its dark, gritty atmosphere and creative, well-animated blood fights. Only, I couldn’t see what the huge fuss was about aside from the eye-candy. The premise is ridiculous, and attempts to treat it so seriously only make it look sillier. The character’s reactions to certain events boggled me in the beginning, such as how the public could easily believe that Ganta brutally murdered all of his classmates. The “Red Man” is obvious from the get-go. From there, much of the series just feels like a mindless, intense torture fest, as Ganta gets treated like a toy by the director and watches others suffer horribly. There also isn’t much going for the main characters; useless, weak Ganta and perky, dense Shiro found plenty of ways to annoy the heck out of me. This just wasn’t my cup of tea.

I’m not sure what it was that kept me going, but I was surprised to see the series suddenly get better instead of worse. In the second half, new characters are introduced that are far more likeable and interesting than Ganta and Shiro. I liked to see how the other deadmen used their branches of sin. What used to be a mere torture fest is now a decent story with an objective. It leaves off incomplete, with several characters unexplained, but I think that a sequel would be very interesting. I’d really like to know where things go from here.

    

    

    

Deadman Wonderland Episode 12 [Final]

Relief (Grateful Dead)

Mimi: Well, I sure didn’t expect the last episode to spend time on fleshing out Genkaku’s background… And how Owl could still be breathing at the 20 minute marker, let alone making it to the final episode, I don’t know. But this is just screaming for a sequel! So many things are left unresolved. I have mixed feelings about it. I was afraid that it was going to stuff in too many things at once, but an incomplete ending is better than a rushed one in this case. Then again, these kinds of endings still bug me. The last time I experienced this feeling was when Berserk and Guin Saga ended at major cliffhangers. Not fun. >.<!! In the end, Deadman Wonderland did score well with me, simply by getting my grumpy self interested in it. Interested enough to want more.

Deadman Wonderland Episode 11

Despair of GIG

Mimi: Kinda late for a training episode, isn’t it? I would have liked to see Ganta train with Crow earlier so he could have been more useful/stronger in the show. At least it gets interesting towards the end when Owl snaps. Nice animation and everything. Though to be honest, it just doesn’t feel like it’s ready to end…today. Every character needs more time. I can’t see the series resolving Toto’s mystery character, Shiro’s true identity, Makina’s agenda, the undertakers, and the resistance all in the last episode, unless the entire insane asylum blows up. BOOM!! In whatever way it decides to end, I actually wish that the anime could be longer to flesh out the newer characters, now that it has become this good (wow, never thought I’d say that!). I’m just expecting a rushed or a very incomplete ending….le sigh, why did I suddenly have to care~

Deadman Wonderland Episode 10

Caretaker (Undertaker)

Mimi: Yaaay Karako is back, Rokuro snaps, and Ganta is quite emo…for most of the episode. The best part is when Senji slices up some bad guys, but other than that, this is just build up to make the resistance stronger and to make Ganta more annoying than ever before. UUUURG! I nearly forgot all about Makina, and poor Owl… I thought he was a goner in the last episode, but this is even worse. D:

Deadman Wonderland Episode 9

Worm Eater

Mimi: Hmm. I found this episode to be both very entertaining and very frustrating. First, the entertainment: KILLER LOLI! As well as every little bit of Owl’s screen time… It’s a good thing that I had finished snacking before she sliced off chunks of Owl’s flesh and severed his arm. And despite the brutal torture, my hero still manages to pull the elevator switch for his allies so that they end up in the undertaker’s trap. Yay! Now for the frustrating parts: Ganta’s uselessness and Shiro’s ‘rescue’ plan. You can leave it to Ganta to sit on the ground peeing in his pants while his allies serve as meat-shields for him, and to the innocent/annoying personality of Shiro to screw up their entire plan. Ah well, I definitely want to see more of that mysterious Deadman, Toto. Well, not so mysterious anymore, since I spoiled myself not caring. He’s got…three episodes left to be cool. Gogogogo!

Oh yeah, as a quick notice, I’m going to make a double-post for Kaiji episodes 10 and 11. I didn’t have time to blog it earlier due to family stuff all weekend, and it’s getting close enough to next episode’s release. Not much to say about episode 10 anyhow.

Deadman Wonderland Episode 8

Chains of Freedom (Scar Chain)

Mimi: Good episode! Even though it’s a bit late in the show, I’m really starting to like this. Or rather, this episode feels like the real beginning to Deadman Wonderland. I mean, Owl is the first character who really appeals to me; heck, I like all the new characters! The new direction with the prison break is also more interesting than the first half, despite feeling rushed. As for Rokuro, I don’t trust the guy, and I think he manipulated the video recording somehow to cover up what Ganta was trying to convince everyone. And if the torture wasn’t already bad enough, that painful acid scene at the end is the worst one yet, and poor Karako might be a goner. Well, I kinda hope not, because then that’d feel like a stupid death that’s impossible to draw on our emotions, and besides, I like her too.

If the anime is indeed speeding through the manga material to put together a sloppy conclusion, I won’t actually have any gripes about that this time because I never had high expectations for the show to begin with (er, after it started, anyway). I’m just glad that it’s finally getting somewhere and grabbing my interest, or else it would have continued to be a pain to watch and blog.

Deadman Wonderland Episode 7

Original Sin (Wretched Egg)

Mimi: Okay, things are starting to get interesting now! While I wasn’t exactly thrilled to see Minatsuki still hanging around at first, she’s a lot better than she was in the previous episode. A few more characters are also introduced: a group of Deadmen called “Scar Chain” that oppose Deadman Wonderland and want to recruit Ganta, and Tamaki’s underling, Genkaku, who can nullify the Deadmen’s Branches of Sin. We have all of these different sides now with their own agenda, and I’m curious to see how everything will play out in five more episodes. And if there’s anybody I want to see suffer terribly at this point, it’s Tamaki. They’re picking on poor You a bit too much. D:

Deadman Wonderland Episode 6

Hummingbird

Mimi: Sorry for the late post this week. I just wasn’t in the mood to watch this episode right away. Now that I’ve seen it, I wish I had ignored it even longer. In a nutshell, Ganta gets fooled by a girl pretending to be sweet and fragile; in reality, she’s an ugly potty-mouth, his next opponent, and You’s sister. In the end, you feel kinda sorry for You who wasted his time saving up cast points to free her, and…you feel kinda sick after listening to her foul, hateful language and looking at her distorted face. At least, that’s the way I felt. I would have been in a much better mood this evening if I continued on playing n64 roms… Anyway, there’s just six episodes left to endure!

And I have some news on Ao no Exorcist. I’m sorry, but I really lost the motivation to blog that series. I liked the first couple of episodes, and Yukio is cool, but now it feels like a chore to get through. I’ll continue watching it, skipping the boring parts, and bring it back to the blog if it ever gets exciting and interesting again. Man, where did I even find the patience to blog every single episode of Digimon Xros Wars season 1? I have no idea…

Deadman Wonderland Episode 5

The Corpse Carnival

Mimi: This episode is definitely not for the squeamish, even with the censorship. There’s all sorts of gross stuff in here: Ganta’s puke, Senji’s eyeball getting plucked out, and a rainfall of bloody body parts. So what the heck is going on now? Well, Ganta predictably struggles in and wins his first fight against Senji, and the ending confirms the obvious about Shiro being you-know-who. What pain and torture shall await this poor 14-year old boy, or some other character, next week? Sorry, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to write for a show that’s about torture for the sake of torturing. At least the animation/action is consistently good.

Deadman Wonderland Episode 3 & 4

G Block

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Crow Crow

Mimi: Watching Deadman Wonderland has been such a weird experience for me so far. Expected to love it, but I’m not. Sometimes it’s entertaining, and sometimes it’s just really annoying (-cough- Shiro -cough- Ganta’s screaming -cough-). One thing is for sure—I’m not getting into the hype of this series, and I don’t see what’s so special about it, other than the whole ‘fighting with blood’ stuff. I admit that it’s got guts and a very intense atmosphere, but it’s just not winning me over this time. In comparison to other anime this season, and according to my personal ratings, Deadman only sticks out above Sekaiichi Hatsukoi (aka 2nd to last) in terms of overall likeness, but hey, I can go against the crowd sometimes, right? I don’t know if I’m fit to continue blogging it, but Alex doesn’t seem to want to anymore, so I’ll try my best…

Sooo… Ganta continues to scream his lungs out and get tortured, Tamaki continues to act idiotic and gay, Shiro is still her cheerful ‘ol self, and…oh wait, something pretty interesting did happen. New “Deadmen” characters are introduced, and an insane, deadly game is about to begin (not that they haven’t been insane and deadly already). And it doesn’t look like Makina is going to sit around passively anymore, now that she has discovered that she doesn’t have authority over every part of Deadman Wonderland. And now, let the insanity, illogical dark twists, and screaming continue~