Manga Review: Deadman Wonderland, Volume 4 by Jinsei Kataoka

Deadman Wonderland, Volume 4 by Jinsei Kataoka

This manga. I can already tell that this is going to be one of my all time favorite mangas. It may even beat out my current #1 favorite manga, a title held by Bleach. It just seems to be the perfect combination of horror, thriller, mystery, drama, and humor. I've also found myself tearing up quite a few times because it manages to capture intensely emotional moments so well. One minute I'm laughing over something funny, such as Crow's ridiculous awkwardness around the opposite sex, and the next I'm tearing up during the death of a character or angry to the point that the sound of my pounding heart fills my ears.

I'd been reading the English version, licensed by the now defunct Tokyo Pop. There are 5 official English releases of the manga. Imagine how I felt when I found out there were 11 volumes available in Japan , and that there was no new English distributor releasing the manga. I'm using fansub (scanlation) sites to catch up with the rest of this series. When I first started read manga, I often had to read fansubs because not many series were being licensed for English reading fans. Should the rest of these be released in English, I'd be glad to purchase them for my collection.

Ganta has gone through many changes since arriving at Deadman Wonderland and has overcome many challenges, but I was completely blown away by the story about the Scar Chain gang, which is yet another community within the prison. Their goal is to not escape the prison, but to destroy it completely. However, they’re hindered by betrayals and a person who seems to be immune to their powers. To me, this arc was flawless, a real masterpiece that brought a powerful emotional punch, and it's a story that will stay with me long after I've finished reading this series. I wasn't too thrilled about the introduction of the "rock super-monk" Genkaku or the Scar Chain gang when I first got into this, though. I thought things were going to take a schlocky turn. I didn't think I was in for bad writing, but I didn't expect it to be as well executed.

I'm happy to report that I was wrong. As I learned more about Genkaku and the Scar Chain gang leaders, the story just really culminated into a beautiful disaster of a narrative with so many complex issues weaved around each other to tell the story. Once I finished reading it, I needed a moment to process and reread parts that hit me the hardest, which were basically all of Owl's parts near the end of the story. He was the breakout character for me, and later in that same arc, the brief glimpse of Genkaku's background really added something intricate to him that made me reflect on who he was. Excellent volume.

Final Verdict:

5 of 5 stars

Manga Review: Deadman Wonderland, Volume 3 by Jinsei Kataoka

Deadman Wonderland, Volume 3 by Jinsei Kataoka

I think this has been my favorite book so far in the series. Unlike volume 1 and volume 2, this one pretty much captured my interest from the beginning rather than getting more intriguing as I got deeper into the story.

Manga Review: Deadman Wonderland, Volume 2 by Jinsei Kataoka

Deadman Wonderland, Volume 2 by Jinsei Kataoka

This manga. This is the second time in a row where this manga started a little slow for me but picked up right before I decided to read something else and come back to it later. It wasn't that I thought the beginning was boring, but I had other books that were starting to get really interesting that I was reading at the same time. And then, they introduce Crow, the Corpse Carnival, and Ganta's new friends in the G ward.

Manga Review: Deadman Wonderland, Volume 1 by Jinsei Kataoka

Deadman Wonderland, Volume 1 by Jinsei Kataoka

The story starts with a devastating earthquake hitting Japan, leaving most of Tokyo underwater. Ten years later, 14-year-old Igarashi Ganta is joking around with his friends in class when a mysterious “Red Man” appears and kills everyone in Ganta’s class--except him. Ganta passes out in the classroom, but later regains consciousness to find out that he is the sole suspect in his classmates’ murders, which he is convicted of and sentenced to death.

Ganta is sent to Deadman Wonderland, a privately owned prison that uses its inmates to entertain the public. It’s purpose is to gain money to rebuild Tokyo. Supposedly. Ganta is placed in a collar (that he later learns emits poison that can only be counteracted by “candy”) and finds himself thrust in this bizarre prison life where inmates are mutilated and killed for the enjoyment of others. The public, however, believes that these “games” are staged.

This volume basically chronicles Ganta’s “introduction” into the system. There isn’t a lot of time spent on his life, his trial, or his classmates’ death. The readers are pretty much thrust into the beginning of his new life at Deadman Wonderland. You learn a little about the rules in his new home. Even though there is a “rule book,” you only learn pieces of the “rules” as Ganta learns the rules (of course he hasn’t read the rule book, silly) instead of having everything spelled out for the readers.

At first, I thought I would only give this three stars. I was enjoying the story, for sure, but I wasn’t bowled over. Around the middle of the story, though, I was trying to hurry through so I could find out what happened next. The pace picked up considerably as more characters and variables were introduced and as Ganta struggled with finding some way to make his prison stay bearable, which he at first decides will be done by following the rules of the prison--until he finds out there are too many conflicting rules in that place.

Two of the characters introduced in the story fascinated me--Shiro and Yō.

I really enjoyed Shiro. Shiro is very childlike and loyal. She’s quick and dexterous, seeming to view the prison as a playground more than a punishment. I love how protective she is of Ganta, even going as far as trying to ensure that he won the game they were in together. They seem to have a history together that Ganta can’t quite remember which dates back to the Tokyo earthquake. Ganta has blocked out the event, but Shiro remembers.

Then, there’s Yō. When we first meet Yō, he seems mostly innocent. He appears very friendly and somewhat shy, but as the story progresses, we’re given hints that something sinister is going on behind Yō’s mask. Even later in the story, we find out that the man overseeing the facility is using Yō to spy on Ganta and giving him large sums of the prison currency in exchange for information. I’m looking forward to finding out more about Yō and his motivations.

There’s a supernatural/sci-fi element that is hinted at throughout the story, also, but never fully explored, but I’m guessing, given the way this ended, that we’re about to find out so much about that part of the story and this “branches of sin” thing. Will definitely be reading the next volume soon. And I hope they start answering some of the questions I have like where are Ganta’s parents? Did they die in the earthquake? Great read overall, though

Final Verdict:

4 of 5 stars