Shonen fight tournament, go!
Creative Staff:
Story: Jinsei Kataoka
Art: Kazuma Kondou
Translation: Joe Yamazaki
Adaptation: Stan!
Touch-up art & lettering: James Gaubatz
Design: Sam Elzway
Editor: Jennifer LeBlanc
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.”
Ganta and Warden Makina join forces to preent Tamaki from gaining control of the Ninben killers, but the KO Unit, made up of the ultimate Ninben, stands in their way. Once hostile toward Ganta, theresidents of G-Ward offer their help, but each must fight against their old wounds as well as battle the KO Unit. Ganta’s search for the truth is going to cost him, every step of the way.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This is one of those weird volumes where everyone fights everyone else while the heroes go and fight the real boss. It’s a staple of shonen manga and anime. This time, the folks of G-Ward come back to fight for Ganta despite hating his very guts. But they see who Ganta really is, and they strive for that themselves because they’re pitiable beings.
It also shows the backstories of the four G-Ward that stayed and fought. As it turns out, none of them got to where they are by accident. Most of them didn’t really do anything, just like Ganta. They were framed for the powers they have and how enviable they are. They were put here, mostly wrongfully, because they had powers. They’re discriminated against because of this and now are fighting for their lives because of it. It’s disgusting, and it’s riveting.
Ganta has a fight of his own against a former ally, and he has quite the time. It’s these fights that sometimes work, sometimes don’t in shonen manga. They win basically because they’re the main characters. In this case, it feels a little cheap. They’re on their last leg and they’ve run this same story a million times already of Ganta and Shiro together can do anything. I don’t know what it was, but it didn’t really work for me this time. Maybe it’s because we’re eight volumes in now and I expect more from Ganta. Perhaps this next fight.
In Summary:
This was a light volume of Deadman Wonderland, with most of the events happening to people who aren’t Ganta. I liked those parts a lot, but it left the conclusion of the volume flat on me. These fights should rise and rise and rise to a culmination, not have highs before the end of it all. I’m just left deflated.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: April 14th, 2015
MSRP: $9.99
