Deadman Wonderland / First Impressions

「G 棟」 (G-tou)
“G sector”

Everything that Shiro does runs completely against the dark mood of this show. She seems pretty oblivious to what’s going on (or just chooses to ignore it) and just lives in her own little world like a young kid. Her antics make for some amusing situations though, especially since it’s always at inappropriate times. It’s a pretty big contrast with the same horrified expression Ganta makes all the time. However, no one, neither prisoner nor staff, not even Ganta, seems to notice how Shiro is completely out of place, and she just wanders around randomly doing what she wants, having no number or collar.

Then on the other hand there’s Tamaki, who’s such an obvious villain. The writer really tries to portray him as pure evil, a disturbing person toying around with the innocent. He has his special bad guy meeting room, his room full of toys, a creepy flower that plays the guitar, and the classic evil grin. Of course his interest in Ganta is probably just part of his master plan involving the “red man” (Wretched Egg). The whole thing is just layer after layer of conspiracy: Deadman Wonderland turns out to be a prison for Wretched Egg, which is restrained by the “mother goose” system.

After the system breaks down, the red man breaks out and meets Ganta, who’s hell-bent on revenge and manages to activate his powers again. It was pretty cool to see the Wretched Egg’s Branch of Sin being animated too, since it was more difficult to see exactly what was going on in the manga. The blood in general does look a bit odd though since it seems to be shiny rather than dark red. Also, in-line with the shounen genre, the characters have copious amounts of blood, probably more than a real human would have. Granted however, he does collapse from blood loss afterwards. The encounter was an important catalyst for Ganta as he realizes his new powers, and the poor guy now has everyone on his tail again, heavily armed robots not excluded. Yoh is sticking pretty close to him too, as he is in cahoots with Tamaki. I would say he doesn’t really have any ill will though and he does save Ganta’s life with a candy and shares his new stash of cast points with him as well.

With Shiro’s help, they find the secret G cell-block containing the “true” Deadman Wonderland, housing the other Deadmen. I don’t really understand all the secrecy, and I don’t get how Tamaki can hide an entire sector so that even Makina has no clue. Yes he probably does have all these schemes that he would prefer other people not to know about, but he has to have a good amount of underlings too, and with Makina’s no-nonsense attitude plus the extensive surveillance in the prison, and the fact that the Deadmen participate in the “entertainment” in DMW too, it doesn’t really make sense and stretches my suspension of disbelief. That turns into a minor point though because with the arrival of Senji, I’m getting excited about seeing the Deadmen as we’re finally getting to the core of the series. It’s not the most unique show ever, but there’s plenty of action, twists, and conspiracies to look forward to.

 

Preview

64 Comments

  2. After last’s episode that felt kinda strange because of all the changes, this one felt good again. Somehow, still, I get this feeling that the producers don’t know how to connect the parts correctly, some stuff feels out of place or strangely animated, and then again it looks brilliant.
    Anyway, next episode should be pretty good.

    virox
    Reply

    1. I’ve only read the first few chapters of the manga, but does the girl they took out end up playing a big role such that the anime will have a different ending than the manga?

      Bossun
      Reply

  9. since the chatbox is gone, I didn’t really know where to put this, but did you guys know Highschool of the Dead is already being dubbed? And they’re already halfway through it. The original only came out last summer. That’s a pretty quick turnaround, dontcha think?

    Inquisitive Mind
    Reply

  14. now that ive read the manga, I recognize the characters in the ED song.

    if this has only 12 eps, probably gonna end with the scar chain arc. if 24 eps, maybe the part where ganta knows who is the red man. but kinda doubtful of the latter since a certain character didnt show up.
    most likely, anime will end at the former with a bit of original ending.

    anyway, there was a weird censor in the one that I watched. they censored a **** word.
    if they have bloodshed, why censor the words?

    amado
    Reply

      1. yeah kinda but its pretty vague enough. I didnt say who the red man is did I?
        scar chain arc would take a while before it comes anyway. you wouldnt know what scar chain is until quite later in the story.

        amado
        Reply

      2. Lol but at least she didn’t attack the main character XD Perhaps the witch will come straight for you with her sharp claws and her “ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!” while I would be “AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! SAFEHOUSE…WHERE!!!!!!!!!” *dies*

        Taiakun
        Reply

  18. Good episode, but noticed a drop in episode quality. Hopefully this means that they are saving their budget up for action scenes.

    Please don’t end with an original ending. Please don’t end with an original ending.Please don’t end with an original ending.Please don’t end with an original ending.Please don’t end with an original ending.Please….

    Kalamity
    Reply

    1. Err…what do you mean by original ending? Manga is still unfinished

      Can agree with Virox about poor part connection: sometimes it looks so goofy, i can’t even…

      Music in some scenes is incredibly good, wtb ost

      Schmell
      Reply

  19. This week’s episode was pretty good. I’m glad we’re seeing more of the Red Man, and enjoyed the chase as Ganta and company ran to G Block. It does seem strange that Makina doesn’t know of it, but if she started work at the prison after the incident 4 years earlier, she may have no reason to know of strange inmates with powers, or that there is such an area in the prison. Looking forward to next week’s episode. It would be nice to see Ganta have better control of his power than just seeing it emerge in really dire situations.

    LordHuggington
    Reply

  22. “and the fact that the Deadmen participate in the “entertainment” in DMW too,”

    Maybe I’m wrong about this but Ganta is the only deadman to have been in a public attraction,the others don’t get out of the G block,I think.

    totoum
    Reply

  23. Thank you Prooof for reassuring me. I thought I had missed something or wasn’t getting it… and by “it” I mean Shiro. Whenever I see her I can only think she doesn’t belong. Who is this albino girl wearing all white? Why doesn’t anyone else think she is completely out of place? When I first saw her, I thought only Ganta could see her, but then other prisoners reacted to her.

    Now I know I is not crazy!

    Ricalloo
    Reply

  24. geeez… nothing makes sense – a strange little girl ramimg prison at will, an entire hidden cell block even the guards dont know about – it all REALLY stretches my suspension of disbelief…

    ewok40k
    Reply

      1. “weasel” what a fitting description… still, someone has to guard the compound for deadmen, there is probably something called aerial surveillance in place etc.
        People build buildings, people guard them, people talk… or at least pick others people curiosity. What is that special outfit of guards doing and why do they respond only to one individual?
        Even the most secret organizations and operations do get out eventually.
        Son Tay raid is example. On the eve of operation few young soldiers came to the base HQ and asked if an raid to rescue POWs in Vietnam is being prepared. They figured it out from movement of troops, material etc. They have been contained in the base until the raid but this proves the hard thing in doing something secret on large scale.

        ewok40k
        Reply

      2. the “weasel” has some people/guards/scientist in the know and make them keep it a secret. basically, theres the normal kind of guards and theres the ones who are employed by him that know about the true deadman wonderland.

        amado
        Reply

  25. I love the mindless violence in this show.It’s like a serious version of dokuro-chan lol.I just wish someone would license this already so I can buy the blu-rays.

    GodKnows
    Reply

  27. Shiro’s innocent personality and her “?” history, not to mention she might not even be a prisoner due to her unknown number.. makes it seem like she’s somehow related to the red-man. or maybe that’s just me..

    MrRei
    Reply

    2. the digits were just cycling endlessly because it couldn’t find her number, the still shot is misleading; later when Shiro faces off against the robot it displays her number as unknown

      Prooof
      Reply

  32. I was actually really unimpressed with the robot. It’s supposedly killed so many people, but it seems really easy to beat. It’s kinda heavily armored, but key wires are placed right outside the design, making them incredibly easy to clip or rip out (as Yoh demonstrated). While this only keeps the robot at bay for a little while until the backup power kicks in, you would think that if they were going to spend so much money on a robot that shoots freaking lazers and has an auto-identifying lazer pinpointing system, they would at least not put the goddamn WIRES out in the open like that. And that lazer was a joke. It took forever for it to dramatically charge up. If the thing has such a sophistocated lock-on system, a simple machine gun would be so much more useful and cheaper. The fact that I found robot birds with smiling faces and sniper rifles more potent than the “ULTIMATE ROBOT OF DESTRUCTION” just shows that the author didn’t think out shit when they made the robot. I don’t blame the animation company for this so much as the mangaka (I haven’t read the manga, but I’m guessing that this scene pretty much the same, judging from the reactions on here). Sorry if I’m ranting here but…the whole idea of the robot is absolutely ridiculous.

    I can put up with judicial cases that don’t make any sense (mostly because I can imagine that the owner of Deadman Wonderland was probably in control of the entire courtroom), cliche characters (such as said owner) and I can even turn my head away and ignore the ridiculousness of the robot. What I can’t get over, however, is the whole stupid concept that anyone would even a facility such as this to exist legally! I mean, COME ON! If anyone found out about this, the world would react even worse than they did in the nuclear crisis in Russia. I can guarantee that, even 12 years in the future, there’s no way that Japan’s government would be so messed up to allow this. Even if it was, America certainly wouldn’t allow it (because as AMERICA, we have to free EVERYONE). I understand that human nature is sick and all, but no one is stupid enough to believe that those “games” are nothing but special effects! If anything like that were to exist in real life, the public would be revolted and the controlers of the prison would be destroyed by the court of law.

    We don’t live in the time of ancient Rome. Humans have higher standards now. They won’t get excited over watching people die, even if they are convicts. The entire concept is absolutely ridiculous. I can’t take the series seriously because it feels like watching a Hollywood movie, where they just do whatever will have the most effect on the viewing audience and don’t think about how reality would work. I’m not really trying to bash the show, I’m just saying that it’s so absurd, I can’t really bring myself to watch it and enjoy it. That’s all.

    Sorry for the rant. I don’t post much, but when I do…I tend to get excited.

    pieprsn
    Reply

    2. Dude… that’s anime. Its not suposed to be real. I mean, It’s about prisioners in a private facility who engage in dead fights using their blood as weapons. Who cares about the japanese government?

      Lud
      Reply

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