Sunday 8 May 2011

Deadman Wonderland - Episode 4

Sneaking into G-Block is neither the most sensible nor the safest thing that Ganta has ever chosen to do, yet somehow here he is in the hidden heart of Deadman Wonderland.  That said, things don't exactly look good for Ganta, Shiro and Yoh as they face what looks set to become a deadly situation involving a lethal robot.

Luckily for them, the day is saved by an unlikely source - a man known as Senji Kiyomasa and a user of the same "Branches of Sin" power as the man who killed all of Ganta's classmates; a fact which leads Ganta to assume that this is the very same "Red Man" who he is looking for, leading to Ganta attacking his bloodthirsty opponent.  Inevitably, this doesn't go well, and even a level of realisation on Ganta's part about the power he now possesses isn't enough for him to overpower Kiyomasa before their skirmish is put paid to by prison guards and the judicious use of tranquilisers.


While Shiro's exact place in the prison and everything going on is a mystery, Ganta does get confirmation (if it were needed) that his trial and conviction for the murder of his classmates is a nonsense - a small victory for the truth in the face of even more questions about the "Red Man" and his involvement in proceedings.  Even this pales into comparison with Ganta's immediate concern - a place in tomorrow's "Corpse Carnival" match; a literal fight to the death between himself (nicknamed "Woodpecker") against the "Crow" that is Senji Kiyomasa.

As per previous instalments, Deadman Wonderland is continuing to move things along pretty quickly - a decision which is fine by me at this point in time.  However, my concern still remains that the series is focusing too much on bloody violence, shock tactics (including an oh-so blatant rip-off of one of A Clockwork Orange's more iconic scenes) and the brutal "games" of Deadman Wonderland rather than the more interesting questions that the series has posed in its early episodes; if nothing else, Shiro really needs to be given some kind of background and quickly to avoid simply being Ganta's cute/annoying deus ex machina whenever he gets into trouble.   Given that we only have twelve episodes to work with, some of these elements need to be introduced quickly to avoid Deadman Wonderland slipping into the realms of the mediocre.

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