Creative Staff:
Story: Jinsei Kataoka
Art: Kazuma Kondou
Translation: Joe Yamazaki
Adaptation: Stan!
What They Say:
Framed for the brutal murders of his classmates 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.”
Falsely accused of murdering his classmates and sentenced to death in Deadman Wonderland, Ganta begins to learn more about life inside the prison walls. Upon hearing that the Red Man, the strange being that killed his friends, is in the G Ward, Ganta heads there seeking answers—and revenge. Instead he finds a mysterious man who calls him “Woodpecker.”
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Deadman Wonderland steps up its game with the second volume, and the death games are even more deadly, somehow. The images aren’t as grotesque, but they are just as beautiful. What really struck me was Kiyomasa Senji’s blood scythe, which was drawn to absolute brilliance. Senji is one of the inmates in a mysterious Ward G, that allegedly houses the Red Man Ganta is after.
For a 14-year-old kid, Ganta is really ready to hurt and kill people. He goes after the Red Man single mindedly and doesn’t think of the consequences of what he’s doing. It’s not until the last part of the book that he realizes the gravity. There are four other Branch of Sin users and they’re all celebrating after Ganta is victorious over Senji in a fight to the death. Ganta doesn’t kill Senji, but he’s very prepared to hurt him, hurling several blood bullets toward him in quick succession.
On screen is Senji strapped down onto a chair and he rolls a slot machine of body parts. It comes up right eye and he has that extracted from his head, presumably without many sedatives. It’s here where Ganta realizes that he’s not ready to be killing anybody and, without this scene, the comic would be a lot less enjoyable.
It’s moments like that in media that allow us to buy into the character. Ganta was so ready to kill the Red Man, because he’s been so surrounded by death. How hard can it be to kill someone? He saw his entire class killed in front of him, and then a few dozen inmates during the Dog Race. But he’s never killed anyone. In fact, up until that point, he hasn’t hurt anyone except perhaps the Red Man, which he doesn’t really remember. He gets a shot in reality when he sees an eye gouged out of a man’s head, and that humanizes the character.
In Summary:
There are still things unknown about Deadman Wonderland, foremost why do this at all. It seems like a slightly more demented Black Book Club, of YuYu Hakusho. The only difference is that these men aren’t playing with the lives of demons, they’re playing with humans. And when you play with humans, it becomes a little more personal since we can externalize demons.
However, things are moving forward excitingly. Things like Shiro’s power reveal is expected, but still super fun. The Branch of Sin is a really interesting power to have and with four other users, it’ll be interesting to see how each of them use their blood in battle.
Unfortunately, things like Azami are largely glazed over, hopefully to be revisited in more detail in later volumes. For now, I’m just waiting for some explanations and enjoying the ride until then.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: April 8, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
