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 sentence 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.”
Ganta is recruited into Scar Chain, an antiestablishment group planning a mass prison escape. After a brief meeting with Shiro, he stands at a crossroads, but Nagi persuades him to take part in the escape. However, a traitor has already leaked the plan to the Undertakers, a unit specially formed to mercilessly stamp out the rebels.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ganta and Shiro’s tumultuous relationship has always been at the forefront of Deadman Wonderland. She’s a little too simple to know what’s going on and she acts without thinking or telling anyone why. It’s this that breaks them apart. What happens next will shape their relationship for the rest of the comic.
Ganta’s gone toward the blame side. He’s the shonen protagonist and it’s easy to deflect responsibility onto someone else. In this case, I’d say he’s correct in blaming Shiro. He doesn’t have the full story, though, which complicates matters. The “hope” of Scar Chain—the flash drive with incriminating evidence against Deadman Wonderland’s less legal acts—was a trap. Shiro never explains this (I assume she will—or at least all will be forgiven—later).
The act was literally lifesaving, but it’s done in the middle of the biggest adrenaline rush. Ganta can’t think clearly enough to explore other options. When he finally learns the truth, he’s got a look on his face; it’s the same look throughout the final few panels he’s in. He’s mortified because he told the person that literally saved his life to fuck off. How rude!
We see both of their emotional pain in Shiro’s face in the final panel. She’s cheerful as can be with the snacks she loves, but she breaks down and cries. Her one friend denied her very existence. Worse, she doesn’t know why. All she knows is that she did what she was told and was yelled at for it. She’s ignorant, but ignorance isn’t always bliss.
You can bet she’d be kicking butt if she was with Ganta too.
There were a few things that bugged me. Nagi’s wife was killed and then his vocal chords were removed, yet he talks now. There’s no change in text to signify that he talks more robotically, perhaps (with a voice box). So something happened in the interim or that’s a fabrication. He wears the scarf that presumably covers the scars, but maybe he’s just really stylish. I can’t really say for sure whether this is a huge issue or not until it’s expounded on further, but I’m wary.
The other thing is a second grader being really strong and fighting. But hey, this is manga, stranger things have happened (sigh). She does provide a good story of corruption of youth from their elders, though. Both from her mother and now the folks at Deadman Wonderland who have seemingly brainwashed her into thinking some ridiculous things. She’s got right and wrong backward as a result, but it could provide for some interesting things in the future. Let’s hope it’s not just wasted.
I’ve always loved the artwork in Deadman Wonderland, but volume four really picks it up. Character designs and detail are never top notch, but action scenes are choreographed in such a way as to make it look really interesting. There’s a shot when Hibana Daida and Nagi when he’s hit into the wall. The floor is obscured by the debris and we lose sight of which way is up and down. The only semblance of balance we get is from Daida standing, which indicates which way truly is down. But it’s showcasing her power through no words, just the one action. Swinging her big sword-like thing around (it’s like Renji’s Zabimaru from Bleach). It’s as if she breaks apart the panel itself, leaving us with a feeling of discomfort from the lack of a center of gravity.
In Summary:
This seems like an overly complex plan to deliver a flash drive when you could just do it literally in any other way. Like discreetly, for example. But what it provides is some more really cool action scenes, which, frankly, Kazuma Kondou is really good at drawing and I’m glad to see them every time I read the books. There are some really weird plot elements that it’s hard to suspend disbelief for (mentioned above), but it wasn’t so bad that it took away enjoyment from the series as a whole. This volume was weak compared to the other three, but it’s building toward something that I think could really be entertaining.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 12th, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
