I started writing this like a week ago and am just now actually finishing it. Jeez. But as un-productive as I've been about blogging, I have gotten to the 2/3 done point on my current novel, and outlined my next two. So it's not like I've been doing nothing.
Deadman Wonderland Anime Review
Deadman Wonderland opens up looking like a school anime, with Ganta
Igarashi talking to his friends about an upcoming school trip. Pretty typical. It doesn't take long to change its tune, however, as a man
clad all in red (oh-so-creatively called the Red Man) shows up to ruin
everyone's day.
The next thing little Ganta knows, he's being accused of and charged with
murdering his entire class. They throw him into the titular prison, Deadman Wonderland, which also
serves as an amusement park. Because that makes so much sense.
The prison is kind of a crazy place. As a prisoner, you have to eat what's called “candy” at certain intervals
or the device they've placed around your neck will carry out your
execution.
Also, they have all sorts of weird game-like events they make the
prisoners take part in for the enjoyment of spectators, because hey, this
is an amusement part after all.
The general story rotates around Ganta and the people he meets in the
prison, as he tries to discover the identity of the Red Man and also clear
his own name, because really, who wants to be stuck in a crazy-ass prison?
The Characters: Deadman Wonderland
The...the characters in this anime. First of all, Ganta Igarashi is arguably the most damnably boring and
unmemorable main character I have ever seen, in my life.
And that is saying something, because like...you have your Typical Male
Leads from half of every anime ever and yet somehow Ganta manages to be
less exciting than ALL OF THEM PUT TOGETHER. It's terrible. If you're going to watch Deadman Wonderland, I guarantee
you are not watching it for this whiny-ass kid.
Then there's Shiro, who isn't the first person he meets (that
honor...honor? goes to Yoh Takami, who is a total kleptomaniac and also
kind of an asshat), but she is one of the most interesting. She seriously threw me off, because here you're in the middle of a
horrible prison and there's this girl who is like, the happiest, most
chipper thing alive.
Plus she's voiced by Kana Hanazawa, using the EXACT SAME VOICE that she
used for Nessa in Fractale anime. That was just weird.
Shiro is one of the more interesting characters not only due to her happy
out-of-placeness (which actually is annoying as hell sometimes) but also
due to I CAN'T TELL YOU IT'S A SPOILER.
Other than those two, we get a myriad of characters, every single one of
whom is way more interesting than Ganta could ever hope to be if he lived
a million years and somehow transformed into a Shiki ...Wait, what? Nevermind.
But about the other characters. They're all fucking insane. Clinically insane. More on that below. Go on.
The Complete and Utter Lack of Sanity: Look. If “batshit insanity” was a
medical term (will someone please explain to me why it's not? I'm willing
to bet there's at least one psychiatrist out there who talks to a patient
and writes down batshit insane in their notes), it would be used to
describe every single character in this anime with the exception of maybe
Ganta, but Ganta will never ever count. Other than the lame main character, THEY'RE ALL NUTS.
Now, comparatively speaking, you have a few that are all right, like
Karako and Nagi, at least at first. Nagi ends up joining the bandwagon of insanity himself due to my own
favorite batshit insane character Genkaku.
Genkaku is in love with Nagi (he even says he loves him, that's not just
me being a yaoi fangirl!) and he shows it by cutting his hand off. Take his advice.
Show your loved one how much you care by cutting off their hand (I don't really mean that, for the record. If you do that, you are not
allowed to blame it on me).
Other nugging futs (did I really just type that?) characters include
people like Hibana, a little girl with an enormous sword who thinks it's
fun to slice skin off bit by bit.
Just to see how many slices she can make before you die. Kind of like “How
many licks does it take to get to the tootsie center of a Tootsie Pop?”
only with “How many slices of skin does it take until you are DEAD?”. And now you will never be able to look at a Tootsie Pop the same way ever
again.
We also have Minatsuki, Yoh's sister. She's terrifying because she acts innocent. Then she calls you and idiot and tries to kill your sorry ass.
You can meet all of these crazy people (and more!) on any typical Tuesday
at Deadman Wonderland.
Conclusion?
Deadman Wonderland is...an adventure. And by an adventure, I mean...I don't even know.
Batshit insanity can kind of be fun. It has in fact become one of my
favorite phrases since I watched this anime and had to use it to describe
everyone. Honestly? This anime pissed me off for a long time. In fact, it still does.
Due to some circumstances in my life which are a long story (and also not
anyone's business, but no I did not do anything illegal), any given lack
of justice, or supreme abuse of the justice system really makes me rage.
And Deadman Wonderland came with that in droves, so I spent a lot of time
swearing at some of the characters who were...you know, doing that.
However. Even as I was watching and raging, I had to acknowledge...there
was actually some quality going on here. So I couldn't 100% hate it, because that's just not me. In retrospect, it
dawned on me that I enjoyed the anime.
I can't think of anything to compare it to, but if you're into more
horror-esque stuff (not quite as horror as say, Higurashi or Elfen Lied),
then go ahead and give it a shot. Other than that...probably not.
My rating: 6/10
I liked it, sure. But I had to rage at the whole Y U NO HAVE JUSTICE thing and plus there
were some parts that just did not work. Like Shiro for poorly placed comic relief.
Also, loss of points for having a really obvious traitor, a shitty main
character and also that shitty main character daring to slap Shiro.
Deadman Wonderland | |
| Episodes | 12 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Horror, Sci-fi |
| Aired | April 17, 2011 to July 3, 2011 |
| Directed by | Kōichirō Hatsumi |
| Producers | Manglobe |
| Opening Theme | One Reason by Fade |
| Closing Theme | Shiny Shiny by Nirgilis |
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