Deadman Wonderland – 12 [END]
Vital organs are overrated
With this final episode, I’ll be kissing the spring shows goodbye and welcoming in the new summer shows. Although, truth be told, I’m carrying on two spring shows into the next season so Deadman is the only thing that I’ll be discarding. Ah well, I got my hands on some awesome spring shows and I’m glad I get to keep my grubby little blogger hands on them for a bit longer.
Nagi is still going berserk and slaughtering friend and foe alike. Just as he’s about to start wailing on Shiro, Ganta jumps in between the two and takes the brunt of Nagi’s anger. How can they possibly win against someone as strong as Nagi in such a weakened state? The POWUR OF FRUNDSHEEP AND LAAV of course. Just jiggle a bell around a bit and make some really bad metaphors about light and there you have it, Nagi is as right as rain again.
Pavlov’s conditioning made simple: ring a bell and Nagi is conditioned to become normal.
Nagi’s kid may be dead, but he has his comrades to fight for now. Sadly, the most important one gets impaled as soon as she hugs him. Karako collapses to the ground in pain from being stabbed in the boob. Ouch. Genkaku orders Nagi to kill her in the name of salvation, but Nagi’s snapped out of his murderous rage by now. Not taking too kindly to disobedience, Genkaku blows a giant hole in Nagi’s stomach and mourns the loss of his personal demon.
Genkaku goes crazy (well, even crazier) and starts killing all of the guards, even shooting at the poor loli girl. As he goes nuts, he reveals his past to everyone. He was a monk who was constantly beat up and probably raped by his fellow monks. It was a depressing existence, until one day the Red Hole event completely destroyed their temple. Finding his fellow monks barely alive under the debris, he realized that he could save people through “mercy killings.”
Being the justice-loving main character that he is, Ganta stands up to fight against Genkaku. Even with the poison from the collar starting to kick in, he manages to use the power of the red gem in his chest to summon a massive Ganta bullet. Also, pretty facial markings! With his power, and Shiro in Red Man mode standing right beside him, he kills both Genkaku and Nagi. Miraculously alive after having half his innards blown away, Nagi holds Genkaku in place so he can’t dodge the Branch of Sin. Nice attempt at BL, Deadman Wonderland.
Amongst all the rubble, Nagi lies there STILL ALIVE. He gives a candy to Ganta and dies with Karako crying over him. Karako leaves with the rest of the gang and escapes the prison, while Ganta decides to stay behind. HE DECIDES. TO STAY. BEHIND. Not a good choice seeing as Makina is going to heavily question Ganta about where he’s been the past 11 days and you know, the whole death match every other day schedule. Even Toto is out for Ganta’s blood now. And with that, Ganta is crowned the king of bad choices and the anime ends.
Forget about everything bad and just stare at this nice, colourful ferris wheel!
Bonus Screenshots:
Get a hold of yourself! Do it for the bitches, Nagi! Do it for them!
Karako, no! Now I have to wait 5 whole minutes for your wound to magically heal!
PEEKABOO!
Just pretend the censoring is a part of the masterpiece
End Thoughts: Focusing on this episode in particular first…wow, that was…a pretty garbage ending. I expected an actual fight, but all I got were characters flapping their gums or getting beaten without resisting. All this time and I still don’t give a toss about any of the characters, so it was more of an inconvenience for a character to die than a tragedy. Oh gee, that chick got stabbed? WELL NOW I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL NAGI’S DONE MOURNING AND SAYING HOW AWESOME SHE WAS. How am I even supposed to feel bad when the characters are hardy enought o survive an atomic bomb? Nagi got his arm cut off, half of his flesh cleaved off, pumped with drugs, half of his blood used up by fighting and to top it all off – he was still talking after his entire midsection was blown away. Apparently, characters do not die when they are killed in this show. Except sometimes, when the directors feel like it.
The actual ending was like someone drew a picture, tore it in half and then gave it to you. Then they hinted at what was in the other half before stuffing it down their throat, swallowing it, and walking away laughing. In other words, it was cut off awkwardly without explaining anything. It wouldn’t even be an okay ending if there was a second season, that’s how sudden it was! Not that I want a second season. They seemed to be leading into a second season with all that hinting of stuff to come, but I don’t know if that’s gonna happen….:/
Overall, I didn’t hate Deadman Wonderland. I didn’t dislike it enough to drop it, but I really can’t say I enjoyed it very much. Afterall, there was a hell of a lot of things wrong with it. For one thing, it took the most ridiculous situations such as a 6 year old wielding a sword the size of a snorlax and punishing someone and still chose a deadpan delivery style. Don’t try to give me a straight-laced, serious depiction of a show where monks wield machine gun guitars. That’s just nonsense. Instead of taking itself so seriously, I would have appreciated the show giving us a hint that it knew how over the top things were. Dante from Devil May Cry is especially cheesy, flamboyant and over the top in his action sequences – but at least the game hints that both him and the other characters are fully aware how absurd it is. Little differences like this change whether you will laugh and go along with it or just reject it as utter bullshit. And no, sticking in bad jokes where Shiro suddenly has XD faces does not count.
I enjoyed Deadman Wonderland for the one thing it was good at – senseless violence. Even that was heavily censored half of the time, despite the fact that it was the entire selling point of the series. Because God knows this show isn’t going for a deep and moving plot. The parts with the gore remain the most deeply etched into my memory: the deadly race, Crow getting his eye plucked out, Nagi turning into swiss cheese are all parts I can fondly look back on. Everything else is a messy blur of unexplained issues, rushed plot points, and characters who disappear and then reappear as they are needed. At the end of the day, all I can say about Deadman that’s really good is “Guts flew around and that was nice.” For people who don’t even like that kind of thing, I can’t even image what would get them to watch this.
My advice to everyone: just read the manga. Apparently it’s a lot better and there’s no censoring. I’ll be getting on that whenever I have some free time. For those of you who survived with me this long until the end – thank you! As mediocre as the show was, it wasn’t too bad to blog about. See you guys in the Summer season where I’ll be replacing this with something (hopefully) better!
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, in a way, it was pretty good show. I’ll be waiting on a second season. Ganta sure can take a beating now. Whose beating is the most brutal? Ganta or Yoh.
I think I understand what Mockingbird is trying to do. He’s absorbing different kinds of Branch of Sin by drinking their blood. That’s why he was able to do Crow’s Invisible Black.
I would have love to see Shiro go beserk on Genkaku. I love her Red Man smile. It gives me chills. I swear Genkaku’s gotta be Stiyl Magnus’ evil twin brother. He even had a cigarette to boot.
That last part between Shiro and Ganta had Rosario + Vampire Capu2 written all over it. Ganta drawing power from Shiro was like Tsukune getting his vampire power from Moka after getting vampire blood mixed with his.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I don’t know if it will actually sell enough to get a second season, as much as it hinted at one.
I would have loved to see more of Mockingbird and his Branch of Sin-stealing powers, but he was hardly even in the show. :/ Oh well, at least we found out who the Red Man was, even if we only saw her fight in that mode once in the show.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I understand why Ganta stayed behind in the prison. There’s nothing left for him on the outside. He chose to stay to be with his girlfriend Shiro. He’s an orphan, his classmates are dead, his normal life destroyed. He’s still marked as a mass murderer. No matter how much of a crybaby he is, he’s not completely the same anymore and there’s no way he can readapt to the outside due to his experiences inside and the fact he still has the Branch of Sin in his body. Plus, he never fought even once in his old life, pushing his body and sanity beyond their limits against his opponents. Deadman Wonderland has changed him for life.
All he has left is Shiro and the rest of his friends inside (Crow, Yoh and Minatsuki). And he promised to get Minatsuki and Yoh out. Besides, Ganta’s still looking for the Red Man. Can’t wait to see his face when he finds out it’s his white-haired albino girlfriend.
I want a second season because I want to see what Mockingbird is planning, to see Makina’s plan unfold, if Ganta’s powers are going to get any stronger and that oily, four-eyed bastard Tamaki still yet to be six feet under. Tamaki is WAY overdue for his demise.
Now I’m tempted on whether or not I should read the manga to see the story continue. I hear it’s a lot bloodier. Temptation is a curse.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
While his life would never go back to normal if he left, at least he wouldn’t be pitted against sadistic Deadman all the time. He’d just be faced with normal people, and he can probably handle those a lot easier. A life on the run isn’t fun, but hey, I’d choose that over a prison any day. Sorry Shiro, I’d just think you were crazy for not wanting to escape. But that’s me, and Ganta thinks more with his heart than his head. Oh shounen protagonists, I will never understand you.
Read the manga! More of that delicious gore and torment in an uncensored manner. I haven’t even read it and I’m boycotting it. You can always just watch season 3 (if they come out with one) after you’ve read the chapters still. It’ll just be spoiled a bit.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 107 comments
Actually the thing that made Genkaku realize death is salvation was the fact that the kitten he was taking care of died when the temple was destroyed.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Whoops, forgot about the kitten.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I wanted this series to be really awesome! I mean it started out fun and exciting but in the middle it began to crawl T__T Great story and idea! Just needed more episodes I think to make it work.
Last two episodes were awesome as far as animation and action goes, and yes more damn darkness for censors I really hate that but ah well still fun to see Owl go crazy! And Ganta’s power sort of become really epic.
Shiro was annoying to me until we saw the OMG SHES ON FIRE! event ahahah then she was fun again <3 now to sit back and see what Funimation does with this series.
Last thing started to read the manga and agreed it's way better! yay blood!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I think it needed more of a budget and less stupid people working on it. :/ Ganta’s epic powers lasted only a few seconds, and he was a whining loser for the rest of the series. Ugh.
I’ll try out the manga then since everyone says it’s a lot better XD
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
it was still pretty faithful of an adaptation, just cutting out the characters who wouldnt be important until later.
I wish they kept the part where when ganta was going to save karako and shiro, the others did ignore orders and joined ganta in saving them.
all in all, its ranked 6/10 for me.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I heard they just shuffled things about and made a few changes, yeah. I’ll read the manga to find out.
POWUH: 1100-1199 and Meta's Evil rice-flour Product with 1137 comments
wait. was that the end? i had no idea that was the final ep. talk about let down. didnt really feel like a climax :/
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yep. There was hardly a climax to speak of. It just sort of…ended. D:
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Critique with 1024 comments
God, this ending was stupid…
And hey! Machine gun guitars are sexy, don’t tell me you can’t see Sanzo weilding one of them bad boys and just owning the world.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Hey, I’m all for machine gun guitars and badassery, but all this ridiculous stuff amongst a serious setting was seriously a bit weird. I…I really wish Sanzo had a gun guitar…lol
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 305 comments
I was disappointed with the way they made it seem like Shiro was about to go all crazy as the red man, only to have dumb Ganta be all like “STEP ASIDE, BITCH! IT’S DEUS EX MACHINA TIME INSTEAD.”
At least Genkaku still went out like a boss :/
POWUH: 1100-1199 and Meta's Evil rice-flour Product with 1137 comments
Not really deus ex machina, i mean, it was hardly a convenient coincidence, it had been rather built up to, if unexplained, twas pretty sick death ngl
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
More like cheap excuse to not reveal Shiro’s identity to Ganta as opposed to deus ex, yeah. I would have actually preferred if it ended showing Ganta that Shiro was the Red Man and just BAM black screen and then credits. It’s a crappy cliffhanger, but less crappy than what they actually did.
Genkaku and Nagi still died like bosses, indeed.
POWUH: iLurker with 9 comments
Overall, being a big fan of the manga I wasn’t deterred by the story however I felt that the show just had too much grey. The fighting was in grey, the slow moments, grey; it just gave off this whole depressing mood rather than despair and insanity that a little vibrancy would have.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Gah, I agree. Way too dark. For a while I lightened up all of my screencaps so you could actually see what was happening…but then I realized I shouldn’t be trying to make the animation look better. I could barely see anything half of the time, and half of it was censoring and half of it was a bad attempt to make things look oppressive. :/
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 131 comments
Everyone knows where this show lacked at. It leaves the feeling that it could have been a lot more better. Let’s see if a second season show up and leave a better impression than this.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I don’t want a second season…It can never regain my trust!