Deadman Wonderland

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: デッドマン・ワンダーランド

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 13

Chapters: 58

Status: Finished

Published: Apr 26, 2007 to Jul 26, 2013

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Themes: Gore, High Stakes Game, Survival

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Ace

Authors: Kondou, Kazuma (Story & Art), Kataoka, Jinsei (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.94¹ (scored by 94,751 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #906²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #36

Members: 201,246

Favorites: 9,110

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7.94

Ranked #906Popularity #36Members 201,246

MangaShounen AceKondou, Kazuma (Story & Art), Kataoka, Jinsei (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /13

Chapters: /58

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Synopsis

After a powerful earthquake nearly destroyed all of Tokyo, a prison known as Deadman Wonderland rose from what was left of the city. Privately-run through the guise and functions of a theme park, Deadman Wonderland takes in prisoners from all over Japan, using them as attractions for tourists. Little do the public know about the true purpose of this "theme park" and the horrors that take place within.

Enter Ganta Igarashi, a middle school student who has lived a normal life since the great earthquake occurred. This all changes when a mysterious masked murderer called the Red Man appears and kills his entire class, knocking him unconscious which consequently left him as the sole survivor. When he awakens, he is falsely convicted as the perpetrator behind the massacre, landing him a spot in Deadman Wonderland. What will become of this new inmate whose life depends on the bizarre "games" that this prison holds? And just what does Shiro, Ganta's supposed childhood friend who awaits his arrival, know about the Red Man?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Deadman Wonderland was put on hiatus from March 26, 2012 (2012-05) to January 26, 2013 (2013-03). During this period, mangaka Kataoka Jinsei gave birth to and raised her baby boy.

The series was first published in English by Tokyopop with 5 volumes released from February 2, 2010 to June 22, 2011 before publication was discontinued. VIZ Media republished the series to completion from February 11, 2014 to February 9, 2016. It was also published in Italian by Panini Comics under the Planet Manga imprint from January 24, 2010 to February 15, 2014; in Polish by Waneko from June 2014 to June 2016; and in Indonesian by Level Comics.

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Related Manga

Alternative version:	Deadman Wonderland
Spin-off:	Another. Deadman Wonderland
Adaptation:	Deadman Wonderland

More characters
Characters

Shiro

Main

Senji, Kiyomasa

Main

Igarashi, Ganta

Main

Takami, You

Main

Sakigami, Toto

Supporting

Takami, Minatsuki

Supporting

Azuma, Genkaku

Supporting

Makina Flügel, Kiwako

Supporting

Kengamine, Nagi

Supporting

Koshio, Karako

Supporting

Reviews

Mar 8, 2014

Sayuko01

Recommended

Deadman Wonderland isn't your typical seinen. It has quite its unique distinctions, and is a worthwhile read all right.

Story - 8 :
10 years after a great earthquake that ravaged most of Tokyo, Ganta Igarashi is the only witness of the murder of his entire classroom by a person clad entirely in red. As such, he is framed for the crime and sent in death row, in a prison called Deadman Wonderland that serves as an attraction park ran by the prisoners. His encounter with an albino girl named Shiro will urge him to live on, and discover the mysteries of the prison and of the ...

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Feb 20, 2022

Shellshock123

Mixed Feelings

There are some Spoilers in this Review. About 4 volumes or so.

Hey Hey People, Shell Here.

Deadman Wonderland starts with a massacre of our Protagonist's class and with him being the main culprit's and Japan's incredibly questionable police force he gets the death Penalty. However in 2013 there was a big earthquake which caused 70% of Tokyo to be submerged in Water. Now to restore Japan's to its former Glory a Prison Named Deadman Wonderland which is a for profit prison. And now 10 years since the earth quake, Ganta (MC) is sent here to suffer the wrath of his consequences. He soon realizes that this ... prison is more than what it seems and Just how much of a circus a for Profit Prison can be.

Deadman Wonderland is pretty by the book series. MC is a nice guy. Follows girls around/vice versa. Realizes what he knows wasn't the truth. Deals with the situation where everyone wins. Rinse and repeat for some subplots and bam you got a 13 volumes series. Now don't get me wrong, Despite me stating this I didn't actually think the series was repeating itself. It always felt like the story was moving forward. Stopping to give proper breathing room. The problem are a few things but First I'd like to talk about what I liked the series.

The Art and setting of this series is fantastic. It felt like I was being sucked in another world. A lot of this can be attested to the fantastic art the series has. It really does a fantastic job. I honestly have nothing but praise for the art. Never did it feel like the author was cutting corners.

This is also one of the battle shounen series where the ecchi actually is separate from the action and the author isn't trying to shove panties and breasts into my face every 5 seconds. Characters do get occasionally sexual but more during exposition to keep me interested. And you know what? It works because I'm a red hot blooded male damn it!

The main issue I have with this series basically boils to character Depth or more importantly, the lack of it. Sure the action and art is great to look at but after a while what's the point of If I don't care about the characters. That is the main problem with Deadman wonderland. Both Shiro (FMC) and Ganta were fine as the main characters but neither of them can really carry the series. Them together was basically made in interesting enough since you partially knew where the story was going. Them alone... It just doesn't work.

This becomes a much bigger problem when you get into the last arc where the last fight is meant to be emotional rather than something bloody, violent or action heavy. Honestly the final fight scene was probably the more boring fight scene in the entire series.

Should You read this manga? Well depends. The side characters, action and story is interesting enough. But at the same time its predictable and lacks the character depth a series like Kingdom or One piece would produce.

Overall the series is enjoyable enough. I don't really have anything super bad to say about this series. But if you skip it you aren't missing much either. It just basically falls into enjoyable but forgettable zone of entertainment. 6/10.

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Jun 23, 2019

Chrome_Falcon

Not Recommended

Deadman Wonderland has over the top characters with absurd motivations and a lot of blood, but still fails to make the plot remotely interesting. This is more of a battle shounen than a seinen or a psychological story. So expect many of those tropes. I don't have anything against shounen, but when you add dark backstories for the sake of being dark and when the fighting mechanics revolve around bleeding, it comes off as edgy.

*** The review contains some vague spoilers ***

I found more bad things than good in this manga. Let me write about all the good first -

The premise is interesting. The protagonist ... (Ganta) is framed very early in the story and is forced to go to a special prison called as Deadman wonderland. There he discovers that people with unique powers who can manipulate their own blood exist and they are pitted against each other in a battle royale. This raises many questions and hooks the reader early on.

A girl named Shiro is introduced soon after Ganta enters the DW. She is always cheerful and has the freedom to wander anywhere she wants within the prison. She gives the impression that there is something about her that is more than what it appears to be. This adds to the mystery.

The plot ties to an event called as the Great Tokyo Earthquake which happened ten years prior to the events of the story. As the story progresses, the events leading to this disaster slowly unfolds in the form of flashbacks. These events are somewhat predictable, but still manage to be interesting. There are some ethical questions tackled briefly even though they are never completely explored.

Unfortunately, that is all the good I can find. So what is wrong with this manga? Let me elaborate -

Clichés after clichés. I don't hate clichés unless they are overused. But that is exactly what happens here. Every situation feels forced. The actual plot gets sidelined untill about midway through the manga in favor of unnecessary battles that do not have many long lasting consequences. It keeps introducing new characters in said battles. But none of them get any character development except Minatsuki (it is "he is nice, I will be nice too" kind of development. So it is not saying much). When you look back after finishing the series, you will find that 90% of these characters didn't have any real impact on the story other than prolonging it. The supposedly surprising developments can be predicted several chapters in advance. There are two main villains in this story. But both are comically evil characters and feel like copies of each other. Their motivations are slightly different, but they act exactly the same way.

The manga fails in its very premise because the way all the deadmen lose blood and keep fighting without suffering any consequences is illogical. Funny thing is that some characters state the problems of losing too much blood at the start of the series. But it is quickly forgotten to get us to the badass action scenes. Ganta's ability is the most unoriginal and boring among the entire cast. Add to that and make him whiny for more than half of the story and you get an unlikable MC.

The plot feels like an NGE ripoff at the begining. We have whiny mc, a mysterious friend who is more than what she seems, and a tragedy that has happened several years back with long lasting effects on society. Adding to that, Ganta has memory loss and doesn't remember his past. (But keeps getting flashbacks at very convenient moments). It gets a decent explanation near the very end of the manga, but the initial half undeniably gives bad vibes about the whole story. The explanation that we get is very similar to another popular manga that I won't mention due to spoilers. It is so similar that you can predict exactly what happened if you know the name of that other manga.

There is some pseudo-science involved in the plot, but it has been taken too far to an extent that it is no longer believable. To give an example, there is an ability where a character can make others think that they suffered an injury and then it happens in reality because "their brain got convinced of that injury". I am talking about characters getting holes in their chest or thrown into walls just because their brain got convinced that it actually happened.

The art looks good, but not the fight scenes. It is hard to follow any fight scene. You can see rubble flying around and explosions, but how characters moved during the fights is very obscure and you are kept guessing. It is a major setback considering that we are talking about an action series.

Tl;dr - I don't recommend this manga unless you don't mind all the clichés and are very much interested in the premise. If you have watched the anime version and are here to finish the story, you will get what you wanted - even though it has the same pitfalls the anime has.

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Poll: Deadman Wonderland Chapter 34 Discussion deadfisheyes - Apr 19, 2010	26 replies	by H_Erifu »» Apr 5, 1:34 PM
Poll: Deadman Wonderland Chapter 1 Discussion sifma - Aug 13, 2008	31 replies	by Ed-Ein »» Feb 19, 10:36 PM
Poll: Deadman Wonderland Chapter 58 Discussion GodOfWolves - Sep 27, 2020	3 replies	by knxwone »» Nov 19, 2023 6:49 PM
Poll: Deadman Wonderland Chapter 43 Discussion Ishmael - Mar 26, 2011	23 replies	by knxwone »» Nov 17, 2023 6:33 PM
Poll: Deadman Wonderland Chapter 38 Discussion deadfisheyes - Aug 2, 2010	22 replies	by knxwone »» Nov 15, 2023 8:19 PM

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