Kadokawa’s Deadman Wonderland has received an manga re-release under Viz Media, nearly three years after it’s original 13 volume run. Having seen and being a fan of the 12 episode anime series by Manglobe, I considered giving the manga a look now that it’s been released in English in it’s entirety. For those who were disappointed at the ending of the anime, the manga provides fans with some much needed closure and an appropriate ending for Ganta and his allies from the Deadman Wonderland prison.

Deadman Wonderland is an 2007 shounen manga series, it is published by Kadokawa Shouten, and licensed by Viz Media. It is available in English in both print and digital format in it’s entirety.

Ganta preparing an attack.

Being a fan of anime and manga can be a real catch 22 sometimes. For one due to budgeting issues anime adaptations can’t always animate their source material to completion, and another thing is, manga series at times aren’t completed themselves due to low sales. This has sort of been reversed for Deadman Wonderland, due to manga sales the anime was never able to produce a second season leaving the anime incomplete, however the manga has been completed to it’s entirety, and fans of the anime looking for an satisfying ending for Ganta and Shiro’s story are provided as such with the completed 13 volume set of the Deadman Wonderland manga.

The Red Man as it appears in the manga.

THE GOOD: Deadman Wonderland’s story about a young boy framed for murder is quite interesting. While a prison is one of many ideal settings for a shounen series, Deadman Wonderland turns things up a notch, by adding sadistic games of torture as well as prisoners using their own blood as weapons and other abilities. As main character Ganta struggles to not only proof his innocence, but survive the Wonderland prison, he gains many allies looking to take the maniacal prison down.

Heavy action, gore, and drama brings Deadman Wonderland together.

THE BAD: There’s tons of hardcore gore throughout Deadman Wonderland’s run, so if you’re a new reader and can’t really stomach something like that then you may want to avoid giving this one a try. The identity of the Red Man also becomes fairly obvious sometime during the quarter way point of the story, which is a tad disappointing.

The brilliant art of Deadman Wonderland.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Deadman Wonderland completes the story that didn’t receive further animation completely. The connection between Shiro and Ganta, as well as the identity of The Red Man are all delivered fairly decently, with an ending that will satisfy long time fans, and the viewers of the anime who happened to miss out. Otaku Dome Gives Deadman Wonderland an 78 out of 100.