What Am I Watching - Deadman Wonderland

Synopsis - Igarashi Ganta lived a normal life with his two best friends until one day, the school gets trashed by a being that is known as Red Man. Ganta is the only survivor of this ordeal, and ends up getting shot by the Red Man. When he recuperates, he finds a man who tells him, "sorry kid, but you are under arrest for the murder of your classmates"... Now, Ganta must find a way to survive in a unique prison where the overall rule is "kill or be killed".

Review - So, I sat down one day with a few buddies of mine compiling a list of anime to watch. I picked this, knowing that this just looks like the kind of show kids in their teens would like and call the greatetht animeh EVAR!. But I have several friends who ask me all the time, What do YOU think of this show?. So I got to my laptop, and typed away..

I will start off by saying that parts of this show are actually better than what I expected.

Story-wise, this show has got several things going for it and against it. I LOVE prison survival movies like The Condemned, where the prisoners have to survive on an island or something and kill each other.  When I read the synopsis somewhere, I thought of The Condemned, and while that movie sucked, the premise was kinda decent. The creators took that concept, and made it far more unique, sticking prisoners within a whimsical facility, in which audiences watch said prisoners survive these "fun" and mostly impossible obstacles. While I was enjoying this however, something kept bothering me. I'll keep you updated as I go on, because maybe they'll go more in-depth with what went on. 

The characters so far are interesting. Ganta is far from Joe of Ashita no Joe. While Joe was a fighter who didn't take shit from anybody, Ganta cried in every episode. What makes me forgive the kid is the fact that he went through a ton of unnecessary crap in the show. In a span of a day, he lost his two best friends, was arrested for murdering his entire class, and came across a terrifying experience with the Red Man. I didn't even mention his time in prison. He has to deal with crappy warden officials and fellow prisoners don't really take him lightly either. His only buddies are Yo Takami, who broke his arm, and Shiro, possibly the best character in the series. Her innocence and enthusiasm is a great change of pace compared to the others in the show. Plus, say what you will, but those mittens are cute.

The art is actually good. In today's world, where many anime titles have their characters lacking much facial detail, I found it to be a great surprise how the characters were drawn. The actual animation is pretty good as well. There wasn't anything of note to complain about in this department.

The theme song, when I first heard it in the teaser, was crummy. I know it is a western song, but sometimes being different from the rest doesn't necessarily mean that you are better. But after actually watching the episodes, I have gotten used to it. Certainly no Speed Grapher (Duran Duran's Girls on Film) or Eden of the East (Oasis' Falling Down)

The voice acting is fine. One thing that kinda started to annoy me was Ganta whenever he was having one of his "help me" moments, which is recurrent throughout the episodes that I viewed. I had no problem with him whining, it was just his voice that was throwing me off, even though I totally understood the situation the kid had to face head on.

Similar to Steins;Gate, I have been basing this review on what I have seen in three episodes. So, what did I think? I know that this show will be overrated in a few years, but I will say that this show is a hell of a watch. According to some friends of mine, the show actually gets better as it goes on, a tidbit of information that my ears enjoyed. 

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Story - 7

Characters - 6.5

Content - 6.75

Animation - 7.5

Music - 6.5

Voice Acting - 7.75

Overall - 7.25

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