Can the group survive the loss of the data chip?
What They Say:
With the data chip destroyed, the group returns to base to have Karako surprise them. Before a new escape plan could be established, Rokuro returns to take every one hostage.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After working so hard to secure and use the data chip for their plan to escape, everything is now in a state of disarray now that Shiro has thrown the chip into the fire and destroyed it. It’s a crucial moment for Ganta as he can’t believe she did it, or her flighty reasoning, so much so that he actually punches her hard in the face. The fury he feels is palpable, especially after the fight that many of them went through with the Undertakers and the discovery of how ineffective their Branches of Sin can be against them. The state of things for the resistance is not good, but there’s always someone to try and inspire them back to action, even as Nagi finds himself captured and being tortured.
The resistance now has to figure out how to try again, even with the possibility that what they achieved the first time around may have been something that the powers that be have allowed to happen. The need for someone powerful on their side from those that play in the Wonderland has them trying to decide who to recruit. There’sa fair number of people to choose from but finding the right one that will serve their needs, as well as have some potential to be swayed to their cause. Bringing the right people over ins important, especially as we see how Nagi is being twisted into becoming an Undertaker himself even though he doesn’t want to. The force of those in the Undertakers is significant and they don’t play around, including having Rokuro pen in all the other resistance members so they can’t get away while he’s tortured.
This episode deals with some tension as we have the threats made against them there, but it also focuses on Shiro’s problems after being punched by Ganta. She has her flashbacks to the younger days where she talks about Ganta some and it just reinforces the very strange and poorly defined relationship between the two. She’s got an otherworldly nature to her and seems to be disconnected from the real world in a lot of ways which makes getting a handle on her difficult. Having this unfold while seeing how Nagi is being tortured is surreal, especially as the mental side of it as it gets to him, showing things in his mind that may or may not be caused by him, is enough to push him over the edge. Deadman Wonderland doesn’t shirk when it comes to showing violent and bloody things, but the further the series goes along, the more it seems like it loses important pieces of context to really tie it all together. As one of the characters says towards the end here, Deadman Wonderland is all about madness. Nothing makes sense and even when you think it does, the reality is likely different.
In Summary:
The further we go, the more Deadman Wonderland starts to make less sense. While it introduced us to a bloody and interesting mystery and concept at the start, it’s starting to go in strange directions that may make sense eventually, but are getting further and further from being interesting. The introduction of the resistance group and the Undertakers has potential but it’s coming across in an uneven way and has so many pauses to it that it slows things down as well. The addition of so many characters, even secondary and peripheral ones, doesn’t help either and Ganta himself certainly isn’t all that captivating. Watching as he tried to understand what was going on at first was one thing, but now he’s the one you want to punch. And Shiro as well. The more you get to know the cast, the less you come to like them.
Grade: B-
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
