Being an avid fan of Japanese animation, I’ve seen my fair share of different types of Anime. Since middle school, these shows have been somewhat of a hit or miss; either I get devotedly into the series from just one episode or I lose interest no matter how far into the story arc I’ve gotten and lately it’s usually been the latter scenario. However, I have not been this overly excited about an anime series since I’ve first seen Gaara violently slaughter an unlucky Rain Ninja in season 1, episode 34 of Naruto, or gleamed during Jin and Mugen’s first duel in the series premiere of Samurai Champloo, or when I anxiously witnessed Light Yagami and “L” declare espionage warfare against each other in episode 2 of Death Note. Funimation Entertainment’s Deadman Wonderland is an exhilarating thrill ride that will have your attention piqued and holding on tightly on the edge of your seat much like a theme park rollercoaster; fair warning, this article may contain spoilers.
After being wrongfully convicted of murdering his classmates, a middle school student (Ganta Igarashi) searches for the real killer while trying to survive the atrociously violent dealings of the prison complex he is sentenced to; one of the great things about Deadman Wonderland is it’s simplistic yet intriguing storyline, even it’s logline or premise is enough to make just about anyone give it a good look through. The story amplifies once Ganta realizes that he is one of the many inmates, codenamed Deadmen, who possesses Branches of Sin, the ability to manipulate his own blood as a weapon. Because of his unique gift, or rather curse; Ganta is forced to gruesome one-on-one bouts with other Deadmen as the Promoter/Assistant Warden, Tsunenaga Tamaki, acquires heavy revenue by privately broadcasting these fights.
The anime gets even better with its thorough character development and the relationships formed between Ganta and the other Deadmen. We witness Ganta grow from a confused, scared victim to a formidable contender with a profound sense of hope, despair, and true friendship. The origins of Ganta and his female friend, Shiro, is a side-plot that I’m sure goes into deeper detail within the manga, but within the anime it perfectly builds anticipation for some sort of revelation as to why they’re both at the prison complex with their special abilities. Even though Ganta Igarashi is the main protagonist, the anime effectively execute ways to get the audience genuinely attached to the other characters much how the Naruto series does with its supporting cast; my favorites being Senji Kiyomasa/Crow and Minatsuki Takami/Hummingbird. |
Of course, the icing on the cake is Deadman Wonderland’s depiction of violence, violence, and even more violence. This is definitely a graphic anime made for mature audiences. Having watched anime before, you kind of expect this type of animated violence, but watching Deadman Wonderland’s Dog Race competition in episode 2 is what made me want to reserve thirty minutes of my time every Saturday night in order to watch the next episode. Some may not like it, but if you’re one who can appreciate it, the scenes of violence compliments the mature themes of the show very well. | |
Things can’t always be positive, but the negatives of Deadman Wonderland should not turn you away from the show. The quibble I had with this anime was the scenes that featured muted light, the dark scenes. It was difficult to see what was going on. At first, I thought it might have been my television settings, but I experienced the same while watching the subbed episodes on my laptop. For those types of scenes, a darken atmosphere works well and there weren’t too many of these types of scenes. But, the scenes that were there gave off a bit of a distorted view.
With this anime airing in America, I understand that there will be edits. Surprisingly, not many were made for Deadman Wonderland. However, one of the most notable edits is in episode 5 when Senji loses his Carnival Corpse match and, as a penalty for being defeated, he loses an eye. In the American version, the show uses black screens and reaction shots while Senji has his eye gouged out. In the original version, there are actually two small shots showing Senji’s eyeball as it rips out. Within that same episode, near the end, Shiro demonstrates her massively destructive Branches of Sin. As she is calming down, there are numerous burn wounds on her body and face. In the American version, the wounds are outlined in blue flames with very dark colored blood flowing upwards. In the original version, the burn wounds are in the natural color of flames. You can view the original Japanese episodes with subtitles at Animecrazy.net.
With this anime airing in America, I understand that there will be edits. Surprisingly, not many were made for Deadman Wonderland. However, one of the most notable edits is in episode 5 when Senji loses his Carnival Corpse match and, as a penalty for being defeated, he loses an eye. In the American version, the show uses black screens and reaction shots while Senji has his eye gouged out. In the original version, there are actually two small shots showing Senji’s eyeball as it rips out. Within that same episode, near the end, Shiro demonstrates her massively destructive Branches of Sin. As she is calming down, there are numerous burn wounds on her body and face. In the American version, the wounds are outlined in blue flames with very dark colored blood flowing upwards. In the original version, the burn wounds are in the natural color of flames. You can view the original Japanese episodes with subtitles at Animecrazy.net.
Of course, the biggest upset of all is how depressingly short the series is. With only 12 episodes, the anime seems like a very elaborate prologue that obviously leads to something even more spectacular. It isn’t quite known why the original production company, Manglobe, dropped the show; hopefully the success of it being on the Toonami/Adult Swim lineup will persuade producers to revive the series.
For those who still haven’t gotten enough of the anime, feel free to like the Deadman Wonderland FACEBOOK page and discuss your thoughts among the hundreds of thousands of Deadmen fans. The manga is still ongoing and there is an OVA that won’t be aired, but it will be included in the uncut DVD Box Set release of the series on October 9th, 2012. | |
- Will Carter, Jr.
Works Cited
Wikipedia. “Deadman Wonderland.” (2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadman_Wonderland
Wikipedia. “List of Death Note Episodes.” (2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Death_Note_episodes
Wikipedia. “List of Naruto Episodes (Season 1).” (2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Naruto_episodes_(season_1)
Photos Courtesy of Google Images. Videos Courtesy of YouTube. All rights reserved to respectable copyright owners.
Wikipedia. “List of Death Note Episodes.” (2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Death_Note_episodes
Wikipedia. “List of Naruto Episodes (Season 1).” (2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Naruto_episodes_(season_1)
Photos Courtesy of Google Images. Videos Courtesy of YouTube. All rights reserved to respectable copyright owners.