Deadman Wonderland recounts the story of Ganta Igarashi, who is just another middle school student. He is a survivor of a great earthquake that took place a decade ago in Japan and submerged three-quarters of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean. But he can hardly recall the tragedy and has lived an ordinary life ever since.
Ganta’s ordinary life takes a grim turn when one day a man covered in blood floats through the window into his classroom. Before anyone could do anything, the Red Man massacres the entire classroom with a menacing grin on his face. For some strange reason, he lets Ganta live and embeds a red crystal in his chest. He is then placed on a trial just a few days after the massacre as a suspect. He later finds out that all the evidence has been rigged against him and later he is sentenced to death in a prison that doubles as a theme park called Deadman Wonderland. The warden of the theme park who was also Ganta’s lawyer helped plant evidence against his own client.
The world of Deadman Wonderland is harsh and unforgiving; the prisoners are given lethal injections every three days, which can only be neutralized by ingesting a medicine for which the prisoners have to do specific tasks. From performing in front of the audience to working backstage and participating in lethal games, there are many ways in which the prisoners can take part to get their hands on the candy-like medicine that will neutralize the poison injected in their bloodstreams. But lucky for Ganta he is not alone, as he has an albino girl named Shiro by his side, who knows him from childhood.
The anime ran only for one season, and there was no dearth of horrifying moments. But it was the manga that took things to the extreme and encapsulated the real horror of the theme park in its entirety. The anime fails tremendously to capture the terror, and that is understandable given the harrowing gore described in the manga. Then there is the lack of time because of which the anime couldn’t get into the meat of the story. Most of the dark aspects of the manga are beyond the scope of the anime since they take place much later in the series.
The Branches of Sin, blood powers of the Deadman that were portrayed on the show like Takami’s Whips, Ganta’s Gun and Crow’s Blades all acquired brutal forms later in the manga. It also explored the lives and the origins of the full-fledged members of the Deadman Wonderland in much more depth. The anime misses out on a lot by not including more enemies that could have been crucial in understanding the plot.
An excellent example of such an enemy is the artificial deadmen, The Forgeries who turned out to be a significant threat because of their ability to poison blood. The victims would then blow up and pop like a balloon killing them instantly. They were able to instil fear in the deadmen who had now been long accustomed to their chaotic world. These antagonists were also able to inflict great psychological trauma on their victims by manipulating their past. While it’s understandable that the way these Forgeries killed can be graphic, they could have been improvised to make them less gruesome for the anime.
Then there was Mockingbird as well who appeared briefly on the show but was fated to become the main antagonist. He could copy the Branches of Sin which he can use against anyone. His powers were brutal since he can use the full force of all his adversaries against them into a single attack which often led to some of the most gruesome moments on the show. Therefore, the anime-only fans missed out on one of the most tragic characters because of the carnage that would have come with him would have been too barbaric to watch.
The lack of violence and blood on the show already put the manga above its anime adaptation because it failed to include a realistic depiction. Still, it also fails in one more important aspect – the relationship between Ganta and Shiro. The show reveals in the end that the Red Man who killed his friends and was responsible for his sentence was Shiro. But the anime fails to depict the origins of Shiro and the story of Ganta’s connection with her which is depressing on its own. The show only portrayed the happy moments that they shared, but it never delves into the harsh realities of their relationship. On the other hand, the manga does a great job of delving deep into the story of Shiro and Ganta, which helps fans truly understand their messed up relationship.
Emily Hadley is an avid technical blogger, a magazine contributor, a publisher of guides at Blogs Book, and a professional cyber security analyst. Through her writing, she aims to educate people about the dangers and threats lurking in the digital world. Visit My Site, pagesix.uk.com
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