Vultures Delight!

A carnival of corpses!

No manga has made me hope that the main character stops suffering more than Deadman Wonderland. The way certain characters treat the protagonist, Ganta Igarashi, makes ones stomach churn in due to stress hoping that they ignore him and keep on about their day. All of this does little to help that the fact that Ganta lives in fear for his life is that he is a 14 year old death row inmate in Japan’s private prison called Deadman Wonderland. A prison that doubles as a theme park of sorts to help raise funds for the Tokyo Earthquake that hit the nation roughly ten years ago. This manga written by Jinsei Kotaoka tells the harrowing tale of a young boy who during a normal school day is visited by a floating red man outside his classroom window and continues to brutally murder all of Gantas classmates and teacher. Leaving only him alive to witness the horror before him. Once Ganta wakes up once more he is in the hospital under police custody, for being the prime suspect of slaughtering his class. Shaken up by the revelation that it was not a nightmare as he had hoped it was, the grim reality hit harder when he was faced with the family members of his former classmates and forced to endure the shame of never being able to make them believe he did not kill them. The very moment the reader feels that it can’t get worse for the protagonist is when he is sentenced to death row in the titular Deadman Wonderland. We as the reader feel the same way Ganta feels, our stomachs dropping to the floor and just shed a single devastating tear.

Sadly, this is just the beginning for the tragic tale of Ganta Igarashi, this manga is a testament to how one must accept the circumstances that befall one during their life and how to try and better oneself amidst the pain and uncertainty. The very first time I came across this piece of work was due to pure chance as a colleague had a wallpaper of a rather aggressive fight between a boy and an older gentleman and the sheer visceral nature of the art style was mesmerizing to the point that I walked up to him and asked where it was from. The very same day I began reading the series in an off and on again fashion due to how long it would take the author to write and publish the next volume, which in all honesty is the best way to enjoy this series. This is not something most people could read in a singe sitting, most people don’t have the time or luxury these days to be able to just sit and read for hours unless of course it’s their career.

However, in closing, this is a manga series that I highly recommend for a reader looking for a good bloody thrill ride with emotionally devastating scenes and revelation with intense character development and beauty in every stroke of the pen.