This anime would be much better if I were around 12 or 13 years old because I probably would not have been able to compare this show to others like Elfen Lied or any of the plethora of the wrongly accused jail movies. Aside from being uninspiring, the real problem is that entire show suffers from a severe mismatch between plot tone and characterization. The tone is depressing and bleak while the characters contradict this by being silly and comedic. It simply does not work because the comedy is not very good (mostly just lame fan service stuff) and the dark tone is not reinforced by the characters at all (they are too easy going and dumb most of the time). Thus you cannot care for either. There are plenty of dark comedies out there but this one is not good enough to be either a comedy or a drama. Imagine if Dragon Ball Z took itself seriously... it simply would not work. Same here. I did not even enjoy the 1st few episodes that most people seem to like.

This show blew its chances at being named among the greats in anime. The end (and a lot leading up to it) kind of ruined it. It started out so well too. It's a about this kid named Ganta Igarashi, who one day at school sees his entire class slaughtered by this "Red Man" as Ganta dubs him. This Red Man, for whatever reason, leaves him alive and gives him superpowers that allow him to use his blood as a weapon. Ganta actually is blamed for this crime, found guilty, and is sent to Deadman Wonderland, a place where the send criminals to participate in all sorts of fight to death games for the amusement of the general public. Okay, this sounds amazing right? And it was…. until other stuff happened, but I'll get there later. Watching Ganta try to fight and survive is quite cool and entertaining and I really wish they would have stuck with him having to fight and eventually become a real badass and have him take on the Red Man at the end. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and we got…. what we got. Before I start ranting about this shows problems, I'll finish the positives about it. The animation is fantastic. All the fight scenes look incredible and everything else is all shiny and polished, which is always a plus. Last positive is the character of Shiro. Shiro is absolutely, without a doubt the best part of this show. She is funny, adorable, cute, badass, and provides a much needed relief from Ganta's… lets call it whining. Now with the bad, and believe me, there is a lot. Like I said before, the show doesn't stick with the whole Ganta struggling to survive aspect. It begins to veer into a kind of fight the power storyline, and it didn't really work in my opinion. Ganta meets these rebels in the prison, and they all try escape and yeah it goes from there. All this storyline did was 1) limit Ganta's abillity to become a more powerful badass and 2) brought on a ridiculous amount of pointless secondary characters with no development whatsoever. Ganta as a character is also a bad aspect of the show. Like I said before, he never really grows as a character or in physical strength, leaving him to be quite bland and uninteresting. Now both of those things aren't enough for me dislike a show as much as I disliked this one. Hell, Sword Art Online had both of these issues and I could watch that without a TON of cringing. No, no, no, no Deadman Wonderland had another, more terrible issue. It had possibly the worst ending to any movie/TV show that I have ever seen. The end literally happens with Shiro and Ganta sitting on a roof. That is it. Answer the many, many, MANY questions the viewer may have had? Nonsense. Why would that be a good idea? You know, it's not like people watch the show to find out what happens. That would be stupid. Seriously though, it answers literally none of the questions it proposes. In fact, the end leaves you with more questions than before! After the credits rolled, I stared open mouthed at the screen, seriously thinking there had to be more. I couldn't understand how incompetent you would have to be to say "yeah, that was a perfect ending" and then actually put it in the show. Alas, the end we got is true (unless you count the manga, which I don't) and I have never been so disappointed in my life. I think this show would have fared much better from 25 or 26 episodes, not 13. The beginning of the show feels like they planned for 25, 26, but once they found out they were only getting 13 they rushed and tried to cram too much into too little. Unfortunately, Deadman Wonderland will go down in history as the show that could have been. Sigh.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***Like seriously, the first episode is kind of a giveaway as to how stupid the characters are. They accuse this kid of slaughtering an entire classroom and then sentence him. On top of that, these people watch other prisoners die doing these games and no one thinks it's real?? I got as far as halfway through the tenth episode when the main kid is saved from a bomb (disguised as a computer chip) and everyone sees that it explodes. THEY ALL GET MAD BECAUSE NO ONE REALIZED IT WAS A BOMB...EVEN THOUGH THEY ALL SAW IT EXPLODE...HOW CAN THAT BE A THING. Then the guy who betrays them shows up and shouts out that he betrayed them???? COME ON. I can't stand to watch any more of this crap.

Deadman Wonderland is definitely a great anime, filled with lots of action, gore, and psychological themes. However, it is not a show for kids. It contains lots of violence, plenty of gore, and strong profanity. The main character is Ganta Igurashi, a normal teenage boy. However, his entire class is slaughtered and he is the sole suspect. All evidence points to him (even though he is totally innocent), and he is sent to Deadman Wonderland, Japan's only private-run prison. This is no ordinary prison. Prisoners can participate in deadly obstacle courses and games, with the reward being 'cast point's, the prison currency. At the prison we meet Shiro, a mysterious and very eccentric girl who we learn is Ganta's childhood friend. Ganta finds out he has a power called Branches of Sin, which allows him to control his blood.He vows to destroy the person who killed his friends, whom he calls The Red Man, with his newfound power. This anime is very gory and intense, but I highly recommend it as it is an awesome anime.