Deadman Wonderland (Review)
Deadman Wonderland Gives Us the Anime Take on Prison.
Anime is no stranger to hyper-violence, but Deadman Wonderland puts the blood and gore right at the forefront of this short-lived series. The core of this series revolves around a teenager wrongfully committed of a crime and sent to a prison that seems more like some kind of twisted theme park instead. Now, I’ve seen my share of blood from such series as Helsing Ultimate and Shigurui: Death Frenzy, but while those shows felt almost gratuitous, Deadman Wonderland has a good reason for all the blood and guts showcased throughout its 12 episodes.
Based on the manga by Kazuma Kondou and Jinsei Kataoka, Deadman Wonderland follows Ganta (Greg Ayres), a pathetic teen who is falsely accused of killing his entire class and sent to a maximum security prison (because if teens can drive mechs in Japan, they sure as hell can go to prison too). There he starts to uncover the dark secrets of the prison, including an ultra-violent version of Ninja Warrior prisoners have to play in order to survive, and the secret collusion games fought by those who pose special blood-based powers. It’s a place where only the fittest survive and Ganta is one hell of a wuss. So it’s a good thing he’s got a mysterious prisoner who doesn’t “exist” (Monica Rial) and the baddest dude in the whole prison (Patrick Seitz) on his side.
I need to be very clear that Deadman Wonderland is not a series for kids or the faint of heart. It might not be the goriest anime I’ve ever seen, but damn is there a lot of blood in it and the creators get really creative with a lot of the gruesome deaths throughout the series. There’s the obvious aspect of it taking place in an actual prison, but once the series gets to the people with powers that make up the gladiators of the inner sanctum there’s no way of avoiding bloodshed. That’s mostly because they use the very blood inside their bodies to fight each other, much like the series Blood Battle Blocade. Personally, I’m not the squeamish type and was thrilled with the creativity that went into the different powers. Most of the characters have the ability to use their blood to do one thing, such as create tentacles, blades, and even bullets. The downside though is that using their own blood takes a heavy toll on them as well. This tiny loophole not only raises the stakes but levels the playing field for all the characters in the series.
Like I said before the hero of Deadman Wonderland is a whiny little kid. Of course, this is a pretty standard troupe we’ve seen time and again in anime where a weak teen has to get stronger in order to protect the people they care about (see Tokyo Ghoul). However, there are times when his complaining is nearly insufferable. It grates on your nerves to the point where you hope that someone will knock some sense into him. It’s clear that director Kōichirō Hatsumi is trying to create a character whose innocence offsets the carnage that is so predominantly featured throughout Deadman Wonderland and to a certain extent it works. It’s just so hard to root for the supposed hero of this story when he keeps getting more and more annoying.
Deadman Wonderland is brought to us by Manglobe, the studio that once gave us such series as Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy, and Gangsta. Unfortunately, it’s long since closed down but this series sports the same beautiful animation the studio is well known for. The characters all have weight to their designs thanks to the vivid colors and contrasting shadows, and this means that the action sequences really pack a punch. This also lets gives the series a lot of really incredible and memorable character designs. It’s clear that the animators have a keen sense of anatomy which really lets them bring out the details in the characters, while also making sure that the gory parts of Deadman Wonderland all the more stomach-churning at parts.
The real downfall to Deadman Wonderland is that it feels so unfinished. Just as things really start to heat up, it just ends. So many questions are left unanswered that this feels less like an artistic choice and more like a glimpse of what was to come in Manglobe’s future. It’s especially disappointing because I was really starting to enjoy the direction it was heading in and hoping to see more revealed in a possible second season. Heck, even the protagonist was starting to get a little less annoying. I’m not saying it’s not worth watching, but don’t expect it to be a grand adventure of a series. Instead, Deadman Wonderland is an excellent filler series. Something to take in and enjoy in between those other anime that have an overwhelming number of episodes. Just don’t get too attached to the characters, because they aren’t around for long.
