Creative Staff:
Story: Jinsei Kataoka
Art: Kazuma Kondou
Translation: Joe Yamazaki
Adaptation: Stan!
What They Say:
Framed for the brutal murders of his classmate by the mysterious Red Man, middle school student Ganta Igarashi finds himself sentenced to death and sent to the bizarre and fatal theme park / prison that has risen from the ruins of the Great Tokyo Earthquake—a hell on Earth known as “Deadman Wonderland.”
The residents of G Ward band together to confront Warden Tamaki’s Ninben, man-made Deadman created through horrific human experimentation. Ganta’s friend Azami has been turned into one of the Ninben during a publicly viewed Carnival Corpse show and lost her mind. Ganta will do all he can to save her, but at what cost? And if things weren’t bad enough already, Ganta’s friends desert him as a traitor!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ugh. Just ugh. I complained last volume about Ganta and Shiro fighting again when it clearly isn’t going to last. Through the dumbest way possible, Ganta “protected” Shiro by lying to her and saying that he hated her when he didn’t. Because the evil Ninben are after the Deadmen. So if she’s not following him, she won’t run into a Ninben…right? The kid is dumb and hypocritical, but aren’t we all. I’m a little dumber for not catching on, though. Of course she’s going to follow after Ganta anyway; she did even before he warmed up to her. That’ll probably be the last time they split though, right?
This volume brings Deadman Wonderland back to what it’s good at: shonen action. It does it and it does it well. Ganta’s on the trail to find Azami, the girl from the first volume who taught him a bunch of stuff and then the previous volume lending him an armadillo. Then trying to kill him, whatever.
Ganta’s hypocrisy shines through this part of the book. He’s willing to break out of his binds, being recaptured by Warden Makina, all in order to save his friend. Granted, they pretty much let him break out, but the journey to save Azami is a dangerous one. He’s willing to put his own life on the line, but won’t let his friends do the same. It’s an understandable sentiment, but the stakes they’re in won’t allow for such idealism. He’s not strong enough to do everything by himself.
But this is truly the best part of Deadman Wonderland as a series. One action will not define a man—or kid in this case. For one, there’s something bigger going on that needs more attention than these personal differences. For two, they perhaps realized that Ganta wasn’t defending the Ninben, but his friend that became one. The Deadmen rallied against the treatment of turning people into Ninben and bemoaned Ganta for the same gesture on a smaller scale in the same breath.
In Summary:
Deadman Wonderland is back to form! This is just as fun as I remember the first volume being and why I’ve liked this series so much through seven volumes. It thrives when it’s doing that shonen friend care thing interspersed with the most striking ways of dismembering or otherwise killing another human being. The Deadmen aren’t good people, but we like to watch them anyway.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: February 10, 2015
MSRP: $9.99
