Deadman Wonderland - Review

My first anime review of 2012 and it’s something that’s been on the backburner for quite a while. Deadman Wonderland is on the meh side of okay, despite being one of the few anime’s I’ve actually managed to finish since returning to the bustling university lifestyle. I chalk that up to the crisp animation more than the storyline, which I’ve had the most problems with.

Primarily Deadman Wonderland makes no sense. The story is inconsistent, its chief aim is to take the protagonist Ganta, a fourteen year old high school student out of the comfortable life his lead so far and screw around with him as much as possible. For instance, we are initially plummeted into a horrendous mass murder in which Ganta is the number one suspect. How do the authorities reach such a conclusion? He was the only living survivor. Yup, that’s it. I mean they don’t even wait for him to regain consciousness and give his sole survivor eye-witness account before putting him in handcuffs and charging him. Sloppy police work or part of a larger conspiracy? We don’t know because it’s never addressed. Nor is the fact that the warden of the super prison is moonlighting as Ganta’s lawyer; now surely that’s a conflict of interest? Or maybe the warden is in on the conspiracy? Nope, never addressed. Once Ganta is in the prison and this plot point has done its job, off it goes, never to be seen or heard from again.

Instead we’re introduced to Deadman Wonderland a prison/theme park/battle royale game. Complete with poisoners collars that kill off the prison population unless they eat the antidote (candy) every three days. Admittedly this is an interesting twist, because it gives the prisoners a reason to partake in dangerous sports, it’s quite literally a matter of life or death. But does the prison have a never ending supply of generically ‘bad’ criminals who are expendable? Surely this raises eyebrows? Nope, since the spectators think its fake, no one seems to question the body count. Convenient since it won’t be addressed again.

Half way through, the story takes its final leap into disbelief when Ganta discovers a secret prison underneath his own. One where people (like him) with special blood killing powers are pitted against each other semi-mortal kombat style, all the while shadowy agents watch. This just raises even more questions than it answers. Why do they have these powers? Why were they caught if they could clearly use they own blood as a weapon? Perhaps more importantly, can’t we think of better things to do with them rather than cage fight? Nope, not gonna answer these either.

Undeniably the latter half is the most exciting and feels the most organic, in that this is where the plot wanted Ganta originally. But it could have moved along much better and cleaner, instead of being wishy-washy. Unfortunately the series is only 12 episodes long and I have a feeling that many of the unanswered questions would have been brought up later in the show. Too bad there isn’t a season two in sight.

Rating: 6/10

Deadman Wonderland 06 – Hummingbird

We’re now half way through Deadman Wonderland and I have a sneaky suspicion that the series is going to be too short. Perhaps a good thing, perhaps not, only time will tell. In light of reaching the middle, Deadman Wonderland takes a break from physically tormenting its protagonist and opts for psychological abuse in the form of a pretty face, Takumi Minatsuki, the sister of Yoh.

However as events quickly transgress, Minatsuki is a little more then a moe character, she is a stark raving mad psychopath. The whole helpless female, abused by her father was a complete act, one that even fooled her brother for a time being. Nevertheless this particular storyline did have similar issues to that of Ganta own conviction. If Yoh thought he was guilty why didn’t he confess? Surely Minatsuki could have played the self-defence/daddy was abusive card? And again, who is it exactly that is placing children on death row? In short the justice system is pretty much a joke.

Verdict: Great

Deadman Wonderland 04 & 05

With every passing episode of Deadman Wonderland, the producers find a new means to torture Ganta. In Crow, Crow, Ganta is introduced to a new, even more sadistic survival game, one that has he screaming for no more and I don’t blame him. It would be very easy to criticize the character for his whiny/annoying/prone to girly screaming qualities, but then you have to remain yourself that the situation he is in would be horrific even for an adult. I think I prefer the angst Ganta to an unrealistic portrayal, and there is still plenty of time for him to man-the-fuck-up.

The pieces are steadily starting to fall into place. We learn that Ganta’s imprisonment was indeed a conspiracy perpetrated by the promoter (duh), and we also have an explanation, through somewhat vague. The red man choose to let Ganta live and this prompted the high-ups to target him.

Carnival of Corpses triumphed. This is probably the best episode of the series so far. It was nice to see that the producers pointed out the flawed logic of fighting with blood and did not give their characters an endless supply. Fantastic job all round.

Potential spoiler: I think Shiro is the Red Man

Verdict: Great

Deadman Wonderland 03 – G Sector

So far Deadman Wonderland has demonstrated an uncanny ability to be solid despite blunders and this episode comes as no exception. On the one hand it delivered another concentrated round of kick the Ganta while moving another step closer to the unavoidable conclusion that Ganta is somehow related to the red man. On the other hand, the prisoners can have ice-cream?

Once more we witness attempts to shoehorn Ganta into a serial killer, again despite no evidence and this time plenty of eyewitnesses to confirm the existence of the red man. Surely this must prove Ganta is innocent? Not according to Makino at any rate. She concludes that Ganta is the culprit - presumably because he was there and therefore must have a weapon concealed inside his body. You’ve got to admire wrong reasoning yet correct answer. So she locks down the prison and sends a robot after him. As you do.

Another twist is revealed, Deadman Wonderland is a prison inside of a prison inside of a theme park. In fairness looking for a needle in a bunch of needles is more difficult than a haystack, it’s actually quite clever. Verified by Makino complete unawareness, presumably she has no knowledge of the wretched egg/mother goose system either. Takami is clearly playing games with everyone.

Verdict: Great

Deadman Wonderland 02 – Antidote (Candy)

Initially I claimed that Deadman Wonderland is fairly similar to Battle Royale and I definitely have to stand by that statement. Not only is Ganta falsely convicted of a highly traumatic crime and placed on death row, the privately owned prison/amusement park of where he is currently housed, gets a kick out of killing off its criminal population for sport. Or rather the sadistic warden does. Furthermore how large is this population that vast amounts can be taken out during the course of one activity?

The endless supply of filler convicts aside, we’re introduced to our first criminal villain, a standard hot-headed thug, nothing more, nothing less. Considering this is a maximum security prison, one that goes that extra mile to deny basic human rights, I was under the impression you had to be convicted of a substantial offence, say massacring your classmates. Where are the real psychopaths? The really dangerous folk, not just the thugs! Please bring them out soon!

Ganta continues to darn his helpless-innocent cloak even in the face of his new brutal surroundings. He remains blissfully unaware of the rules, for example the importance of eating the prison candy/antidote, as well as befriended Takami. Again this is prison, it’s full of dangerous people, people who might appear outwardly friendly and charming but whom are secretly manipulative. Its not that complicated, but then Ganta is a naïve child. And of course since Ganta is innocent, presumably it is possible that other convicts have also been falsely convicted.

Verdict: Very Good.

First Impressions: Deadman Wonderland

Deadman Wonderland does have one initial plot fault, do the police normally suspect the lone survivor of a mass murder without so much as asking for his account first? It seems far fetched that the instance Ganta Igarashi awakes in the hospital he is immediately arrested despite no evidence or eyewitnesses. Let’s also bear in mind that the true assailant blow in the windows of a third floor classroom, how can the police attribute that to one of the people inside the room? I guess we’re suppose to assume inside frame job, however what would have made this premise stronger is if the ‘unprecedented evidence’ against Ganta were in fact feasible. However with that aside, Deadman Wonderland marks a pretty solid horror-slaughter fest, in the similar veins of Battle Royale. I’m pretty much sold on this one, let the violence commence!

Initial Rating: 9/10

Spring Anime, around the corner

As the Spring schedule is right around the corner, I've decided to take up reviewing individual episodes as well as the overall series. This will hopefully include:

X-MEN

Genre: Action

Episodes: 12

Madhouse’s third collaboration project with Marvel centers on the most powerful telepath in the world, Professor Xavier (Hori Katunosuke), and his X-Men organization that strives for a peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. They’ve gone inactive for the past year after the loss of Jean Grey (Hino Yurika), but upon learning that a mutant middle school girl named Ichika Hisako, a.k.a. Armor (Tamura Yukari), has gone missing in northern Japan, Xavier reassembles the team of Cyclops (Morikawa Toshiyuki), Wolverine (Koyama Rikiya), Beast (Tanaka Hideyuki), and Storm (Hisakawa Aya) from across the globe to deal with a new threat — a supremacist cult of humans called the U-Men.

Gintama

Genre: Action, History, Sci-Fi

The popular sci-fi/history shounen series featuring aliens and samurais was poised to make a return after its fourth season ended, and now that the manga has made some headway in the past year, Gintama graces television screens once again. For those interested in getting caught up, the story takes place in a fictional alternate reality, where aliens known as Amanto had conquered Earth during the Edo period and Japan has remained in a feudal state. Sakata Gintoki (Sugita Tomokazu) is a samurai who makes his living doing odd jobs, and is joined by teenager named Shimura Shinpachi (Sakaguchi Daisuke) and a powerful alien girl named Kagura (Kugimiya Rie). They get pretty desperate at times and take on whatever crappy jobs they can to pay the rent, yet also wind up with ones that task them to save the world.

STEINS: GATES

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

Episodes: 24

From the creators of CHAOS;HEAD comes another cyber mystery visual novel turned anime. In 5pb. and Nitroplus’ STEINS;GATE, the setting shifts to Akihabara and the story to self-proclaimed mad scientist, Okabe Rintarou (Miyano Mamoru), who unknowingly creates a microwave with his hacker friend Itaru Hashida (Seki Tomokazu) that can send text messages into the past. He first experiences the phenomenon when he discovers the body of neuroscience prodigy, Makise Kurisu (Imai Asami), sends a text to Hashida about it, and observes a shift in the timeline where Kurisu is still alive. She and his other friends get involved, and after a lot of experimentation, Rintarou learns he’s the only one that can observe these shifts, as explained to him by the supposed time traveler John Titor. Before long, they learn that nuclear research organization SERN (based onCERN) is after them and their microwave.
Ao No Exorist

Genre: Action, Fantasy

It’s been promoted during STAR DRIVER’s broadcast for months now, so it’s no surprise that Ao no Exorcist will be taking over the highly sought after Sunday 5pm time slot this spring. The series seems deserving of the honors with its blend of demonic action and multifaceted storytelling in a setting with human and demon worlds that are reflections of one another. 15-year-old Okumura Rin (Okamoto Nobuhiko) is oblivious to this, until his guardian — a powerful exorcist named Father Fujimoto Shirou (Fujiwara Keiji) — is forced to reveal that Rin is the son of Satan born from a human woman and a vessel for the lord of hell to invade the human world. After the sudden death of Fujimoto, other exorcists come to kill Rin and remove the threat, but he decides to become an exorcist himself and begins training at a secret academy to become one.

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

Genre: Thriller, Drama

The first of two new original noitaminA shows is Tatsunoko’s third production of the season and simply titled “C”, short for Control. In this sci-fi business anime, Japan’s economy has been bailed out from the brink of collapse by the government’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, but financial reforms haven’t shown any signs of improvement. Due to unemployment among youths and corporate downsizing, marriage and birth rates are down, while suicides and indiscriminate murders are commonplace. Surrounded by despair, Yogi Kimimaro (Uchiyama Kouki) lived with his aunt after father disappeared and his mother passed away, and now studies economics at university using his scholarship and part-time job money. One day, he encounters a mysterious man named Masakaki (Sakurai Takahiro), who invites him to the Financial District and gives him limitless amounts of money. In exchange, he asks for Kimimaro’s future as collater.

Deadman Wonderland

Genre: Action, Crime, Sci-Fi, Thiller

Episodes: 12

Sci-Fi action thriller. Deadman Wonderland delivers that genre mash-up by depicting a dark and twisted story that takes place at an amusement park prison. It starts off with the life of middle school boy Igarashi Ganta (Paku Romi) turning completely upside-down when his class is suddenly massacred by a mysterious “Red Man”. He survives after getting a crimson shard shot into him, but is sentenced to death row. Upon admittance to Deadman Wonderland, he’s fitted with an irremovable collar that slowly seeps poison into this body and will kill him in three days unless he continually takes antidotal candy. His only glimmer of hope is a mysterious and cheerful albino girl named Shiro (Hanazawa Kana); however, he soon finds out that the assistant warden framed him for the crime and that the Red Man is in the prison. What’s more, he’s forced to take part in a sick game where prisoners who can manipulate their blood are pitted against one another.

Blubs by RandomCuriosity

Spring Anime 2011 - Part 2

A Channel

Synopsis: The story revolves around the everyday life of four high school girls: the flighty Run, the reckless Tōru, the timid Yūko, and the level-headed Nagi.

First Reaction: They look kawaii.

Ao no Exorcist

Synopsis: Based on a supernatural manga. It focuses on Rin Okumura, a boy raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto. After an argument between the two, Rin discovers he is the son of Satan. Rin decides to fight his fate by joining the True Cross Academy to become an exorcist and defeat demons. However, when he draws his father’s sword, it releases a dark power within him.

First Reaction: *Drool*

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shirana

Synopsis: Six childhood friends grew apart in high school. One of them is Jintan, now a shut-in. He gets a request to fulfill a wish for Menma, the only one of their friends to have stayed the same over the years. In order to grant her wish, he will have to find and reunite their old friends.

First Reaction: Hmmm, not sure.

[ C ] THE MONEY OF SOUL AND POSSIBILITY CONTROL

Synopsis: The Japanese government was rescued from the brink of financial collapse by the Sovereign Wealth Fund. For its citizens, however, life has not improved, and unemployment, crime, suicide, and despair are rampant. Kimimaro, raised by his maternal grandmother after the disappearance of his father and the death of his mother, is a scholarship student whose only dream is to avoid all this and live a stable life. One day, however, he meets a man who offers him a large sum of money if he’ll agree to pay it back. From then on his fate is radically altered as he’s drawn into a mysterious area known as “The Financial District.

First Reaction: Sounds intriguing, not overly interested through.

Deadman Wonderland

Synopsis: Ganta Igarashi has been convicted of a crime that he hasn’t committed, and sent to a new, privately owned and operated prison, where the inmates are the main attraction in a modern day twist to the gladiatorial coliseums of ancient times. Throw in a healthy dose of weird little girl, some new-found super powers, and a little conspiracy theory, and you have Deadman Wonderland.

First Reaction: Looks 100% awesome.

Gintama 2

Synopsis:

Edo-period at Japan suffers a big cultural shock. First, the aliens invaded the earth, overpowered the nation’s government, disbanded carrying swords for the once proud samurais. moreover; these aliens took the people’s jobs and are currently running a sweatshop using them as laborers. going with the flow, Sakata Gintoki, an enigmatic vagrant samurai whose personal trademark is not only his naturally permed silver hair but also his love of anything sweet and addiction to Shonen Jump is making a life out of this chaotic era. He is self employed in a do-it-all shop named Yoruzuya Gin-chan who offers any job for any amount of money. Their jobs range from searching lost kittens and saving the world

First reaction: HELL YES!

Hana-Saku Iroha

Synopsis: The story centers around Ohana Matsumae, a 16-year-old Tokyo native who ended up working at a onsen ryokan (hot spring inn). Matsumae has yet to decide her future.

First Reaction: I bet this one will be interesting.

Hen Zemi

Synopsis: Nanako Matsutaka is an innocent university student who is participating in a sexual perversion seminar led by the deviant professor Kenji Meshiya. She desperately tries to keep her morals as well as her sanity while amidst the strange group of students in the study group.

First Reaction: Pah!