Half-Review - Deadman Wonderland

I know it's playing with genre stereotypes. I know the point is to have gratuitous violence for the sake of crazy gorey violence. But those are just the reasons I don't like Deadman Wonderland.

I'd heard great things about this series. The reviews are stellar. Word-of-mouth is the whole reason I watched it. And it was a big fat mess of a whiny hero and shadowy lazy animation. If you watch it online, you'll find many scenes inexplicably shadowy and impossible to see. Many of these scenes are censored for gratuitous violence. But there are many that have absolutely NO FIGHTING WHATSOEVER. Scenes of Yoh and Shiro just standing around talking are in the dark. And I will not stand for that. Unless someone proves to me that those are random censors, I refuse to watch any more of this series. The concept is not original by any stretch of the imagination, and is not enough to endear me to violence-for-violence's sake and cheapskate animation.

I watched 5 episodes, almost half of the series, so I can't call this a "first impressions" review, but neither can I judge the whole thing. I know there are more characters in the very next episode, but I don't care enough. I haven't been this angry at a promising series since Last Exile.

Rating: C
+ violence, if you're into that sort of thing
- standard lame-hero, uber-innocent-sexy-badass-girl-sidekick, fighting-obsessed anti-hero, creepy villain, random badass lady with a sword. Plus gratuitous violence. Like Tarantino gratuitous violence. SHADOWY ANIMATION WHEN THERE IS NO VIOLENCE HOW LAZY CAN YOU GET.