Both disturbing and depressing…perfect for a COVID world.
What They Say:
Ganta is the only survivor after a mysterious man in red slaughters a classroom full of teenagers. He’s framed for the carnage, sentenced to die, and locked away in the most twisted prison ever built: Deadman Wonderland. And then it gets worse.
At Deadman Wonderland, convicts are forced into brutal death matches for the amusement of the masses, the cheers of the crowd drowning out the screams of the dismembered. Even when Ganta befriends Shiro, an unusual female inmate, his dark fate crushes all hope – until he discovers the strange ability to wield his spilled blood as a weapon. Ganta learns his new skill might be related to the murderous man in red and uncovers disturbing secrets that could expose those who stole his freedom. He’s determined to see justice served – but first he’ll have to fight for his life in a prison that holds a million ways to die.
The Review:
Audio:
For this viewing, I listened to the English 5.1 dub. The English track is also offered in 2.0, as is the Japanese. The mix for the 5.1 dub is clear, with nice balance across the channels. There is also some good directionality in the sound effects, and some left/right balance in the dialogue. Really solid mix.
Video:
The video for both the main feature and the special features is presented in native 1080p, preserving the 16:9 aspect ratio. The visuals look great, with bright colors, nice contrasts across the spectrum, and clear lining. I did not notice any technical flaws with the transfer. Excellent transfer.
Packaging:
The packaging for this is pretty standard fare. The two discs come in a single BD case, with a disc held on each side. The front cover has a montage of the main cast, with Ganta and Shiro front and center, while the back has a picture of Ganta and Shiro sitting together, with screen shots, a series summary, and the technical details on the back. There is no artwork on the discs themselves. They are just solid colors. Overall, it’s a fine package, but nothing special.
Menu:
The menus for this release are something of standard fare for BD releases, but I always appreciate them. There is technically only one menu, with scenes from the show playing in the background against some quiet music. The menu is overlayed in the top left and navigating it and any submenus does not affect the reel behind. Again, it is nothing that we haven’t seen for years on BD releases, but it’s still a nice effect.
Extras:
There are a lot of good extras on this release. There are three commentary tracks with Greg Ayers (Ganta), Monica Rial (Shiro), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Makina), and Joel McDonald (ADR Director) for episodes six, seven, and twelve. The commentary track for episodes six and twelve are normal, while the episode seven commentary actually turns the camera around onto the voice staff while the episode plays in the bottom corner so that you can see them, giving us a bit of a rare look behind the scenes. Aside from the commentaries, there are also a number of promotional videos, commercials, and trailers for the series, as well as clean versions of the OP and both EDs. There’s just a lot of good stuff here.
Deadman Wonderland is a series that I saw many years ago when it aired on Cartoon Network’s then newly-revived Toonami block. But while I could remember watching it, and remember enjoying it, I actually could not remember a thing about it. So it was fun being able to go back and see it again almost ten years later. The interesting thing is that having now seen it again, there was still very little of it that was familiar to me, so it really was like seeing it for the first time. Again. And what I got was a good show, with great action and interesting characters, and one that I am honestly just not in the right mindset to truly enjoy right now.
Ganta Igarashi is a seemingly normal boy. He goes to school, hangs out with friends, and even has a bit of a crush on one of them. And he is looking forward to his class fieldtrip to Deadman Wonderland—an amusement park built on top of a massive prison that houses Japan’s most dangerous criminals, who pay their debts to society by working as entertainment in the park. It is all fun and games. At least, it is until a man in red shows up to Ganta’s school and slaughters his entire class—including his closest friends—leaving him the only survivor. With no other witnesses to the crime, Ganta is soon arrested, tried, and falsely convicted of mass murder and quickly finds himself as the newest resident of Deadman Wonderland. Once on the other side, Ganta quickly learns that the deadly entertainment provided by inmates is not the well-staged show the world outside thinks it is, but even with that revelation, that might still be the least unusual thing that happens inside those walls.
Deadman Wonderland has a lot going for it. The characters in this are very strong. Ganta is great as the falsely accused mass murderer who suddenly finds himself in way over his head, and the relationship he has with the mysterious Shiro develops well. There’s a nice breadth of surrounding cast with the other prisoners, too, as Ganta forges alliances and starts to figure out how to expose the lie that Deadman Wonderland is built upon. The character I am most interested in, however, is Makina, Deadman Wonderland’s seemingly sadistic warden. She takes no guff and isn’t afraid of extreme measures to keep the inmates in line, but she is also concerned about the darker side of Wonderland and is convinced that it holds all is not as it seems, and she is concerned. Unfortunately, we only really touch upon her character and narrative arcs within the context of the series, but I can see how it’s building to something much bigger that I assume would be expanded upon in the manga, and I think the possibilities are fascinating.
I also love the whole setup of the amusement park staffed by inmates, and the possibilities that creates. That said, similarly to the lack of real forward progression on Makina’s arcs, there’s not a lot done with it here. We see the Dog Race, what it means to the inmates, the realities of it, and how the world at large perceives it, but that’s as far as we go. Soon after, Ganta’s Branch of Sin power becomes apparent, and he is moved into the underground fighting arena that is unknown to the public at large. I’d have liked to have seen more development of Wonderland the theme park and really explore just how dark and twisted it could be.
Ultimately, what we have in all of this is a really disturbing series. The artificial construct of the situation Ganta finds himself in combined with everything that happens in Wonderland is seriously dark and depressing. Part of my fascination with Makina is that despite it appearing like she is going to have morals down the road and ultimately do good (I’m projecting, of course), she is seriously dark and twisted herself. It’s the contrast that makes her interesting. Then we add in things such as the underground fights, and the fact that the losers of the fights are then forced to lose part of their body as punishment for losing (which is determined at random by slot machine, ripped from them unceremoniously by the prison’s sadistic doctor, and broadcast to everybody involved with the Branch of Sin), and it is a series that pulls no punches.
All of it is fascinating, but I have to be honest: I am not currently in the right headspace for it. A year into the COVID pandemic, seriously dark and depressing is not really what I am looking for. That’s not the fault of the series, of course, and if I watched it a year from now (or a year ago), I’d have probably enjoyed it far more than I currently did. But watching it right now, I couldn’t wait for it to be over, even while also recognizing that I found it all very interesting.
In Summary:
Deadman Wonderland really is a great show. Ganta is a good protagonist, and the surrounding cast is has a lot of depth. The whole Deadman Wonderland setup is intriguing, and it leads us to a lot of action. Admittedly, a year into this pandemic, I found it hard to engage with the disturbing nature of some of the stuff that happens in it, but if I can be objective about it, I can’t really knock it for that. In a different time, I think I would have loved it all over again. Highly recommended, but perhaps make sure you, if not the world, are in a good mindset before you see it.
Features:
Episode 06 Commentary, Episode 12 Commentary, U.S. Video Commentary, Promo Videos, Original Commercials, Textless Opening & Closing Songs, U.S. Trailer, Trailers
Content Grade: A-
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: A
Released By: Funimation
Release Date: February 5, 2019
MSRP: $49.98
Running Time: 325 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Review Equipment:
TCL 40S305 40” 1080p Roku Smart LED TV, LG BP330 BluRay Player w/HDMI Con-nection, Durabrand HT3916 5.1 Surround Sound System
