Sacrifices are always made in Deadman Wonderland.
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 part/prison that has risen from the ruins of the Great Tokyo Earthquake—a hell on Earth known as “Deadman Wonderland.”
With their leader captured, Scar Chain’s uprising is thwarted by the undertakers. Ganta seeks training so he can learn to use his Branch of Sin powers, even though doing so will draw him further into the deadly plots brewing inside the prison. The final battle between Scar Chain and the undertakers is coming, but who really wins when one of them loses.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Deadman Wonderland has always been a high octane comic that delved into the unreal more often than anything else. With this, we move some into the surreal and psychological concerning Scar Chain’s leader Nagi. What he’s been through is enough to drive anyone crazy and the prison doesn’t do anything to stop it from happening. Deadman Wonderland encourages it. His arc is very much a re-realization, if that’s a term, because he’s recessed into himself as a result of his trauma. He’s hidden it deep within himself and, when he realizes it again, he becomes barely a shell of himself and attacks indiscriminately.
This, seemingly, is not what Deadman Wonderland is about. Deadman Wonderland is a story centered on Ganta and about the truth. In that vein, I suppose Nagi’s arc here is as much true to Deadman Wonderland as anything else can be, but it feels faux. His turn was too much of a 180. Going from leader to mindless madman needs a step in between. Something off screen happened to him that we were not privy to but a moment of it (between Nagi and Azuma Genkaku). Perhaps that is the brilliance of the moment because it does put fear into our minds about Genkaku. It’s a show don’t tell with a little too much show and not enough tell, if that’s even possible.
But when it gets down to it, the endgame focuses on friendship. What wakes Nagi up is the friends behind him, not the ones that he’s already lost. It harkens, to me, to One Piece and the entire Luffy/Ace storyline. What wakes him up is Ganta standing before him, convincing him that people exist now that still care about the person he used to be. Ganta is not just talking to Nagi in this speech, though, he’s speaking to himself. He’s speaking to the friends that the Red Man killed and the new ones he’s made in Deadman Wonderland.
In Summary:
It seems sometimes Deadman Wonderland throws plot to the wind for the sake of its own grotesque action scenes. The scenes are beautifully drawn and look excruciatingly painful, but I wonder what the point to them all is if that’s all it is. Something’s always going on around it, but it’s also always completely over the top. This volume ended an arc and holds a promise of hope for the next, which I can only look forward to. These characters deserve it.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: October 14th, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
