Pandora Hearts Manga Review

As the series is drawing to end I thought this would be a perfect time to do a quick review. I say this because, to my mind, it’s a series that really needs to be read all in one go rather than month by month.

As you can probably tell from the title, Pandora Hearts is littered with Alice in Wonderland allusions, just to confirm that your tenuous grip on the plot and your own sanity will be played with, distorted and eventually ruined as the series continues. Indeed the first volume lures you in gently at first before proceeding to rip the proverbial carpet out from underneath you.

It all begins with our protagonist, Oz Vessalius, the young heir to the noble house of Vessalius who has raging daddy issues . We are promptly transported to his coming of age ceremony where Oz is descended on by the mysterious house of Baskerville. They sentence Oz to be sent to the Abyss, charged with the damning accusation that he has dared to exist all.

While this seems rather harsh, the reader is left no time to ponder this strange turn of events. Oz is cast down into the Abyss, which sort of looks like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was hit by a tsunami. Here he meets a monster called Alice or B-Rabbit as she is known. In order to return to the real world, and prevent himself from being eaten by giant baby dolls from your nightmares , Oz must make a contract with Alice.

On his return to the world of the living Oz is punctually arrested by Pandora. Who promptly offer him a job. If only simply being dropped into purgatory could get you a job nowadays . The story explores Oz’s quest to recover Alice’s lost memories and to discover why the mysterious Baskerville’s decided his existence was a sin.

The answer, to write the biggest understatement of the year, is not a simple one.

Pandora Heart’s plot unfolds horizontally, vertically, diagonally, in a massive circle and hides eerily under your bed at night. Everything is gloriously interconnected to the past and set on its path from the actions of a menagerie of exquisite characters.

For me the character motivations have got to be one of the unique points to this series. A few of the characters play to the archetypal villain for effect but their true goals are always far more complex. Indeed, villains often become…well not heroes but the phrase ‘the victor writes history’ certainly leads to a few surprises.

And then there is the art.

Wow.

The art work is magnificent. The colour pages are wondrous. The period costume crossed with more modern influences produces outfits that CLAMP would be envious of. The attention to detail, down to Eliot’s earrings, is sumptuous for the eyes.

As with other series the art improves as the chapters go on I ’m looking at you D.Grey Man but that is not to say it was bad to begin with, however the end results are impressive. There is a reason why its currently in the top spot on Goodreads best manga covers.

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/26976.Best_Manga_Covers#11247154

So I’ve gushed enough and to avoid charges of extreme biased. I suppose I should maybe if I must level some criticism. Deep breath.

Ok so the plot is insane and can be frustrating at times. I happen to like that sort of thing but if you want a manga with an interesting but linear storyline this probably isn’t the one for you. Also, while I love the way things that seem innocuous or out of place at first fit so well in the end, it does require a lot of faith and patience on the part of the reader. The reveals are amazing but you’ve got to work hard for them. You also need a pretty good memory to keep up with all the changing reveals, motivations and information that gets thrown out at you. Especially when you frequently get told that all that information is wrong.

I admit that I stopped and started this manga a few times. The reason being is that whilst waiting for the next volume I would find it hard to get back into it when I picked up again. The series is so gripping it lends itself well to binge reading but not so much to the casual reader.

Also whilst the reveals are usually satisfying, a few do occasionally feel like you’ve been watching a murder mystery and the killer is revealed without any clues at all being dropped through the show. I don’t even know what your doing any more Glen.

Another criticism I see popping up is that the characters are all completely insane, and thus not realistic. Suspending questions about how realistic a manga about giant, scythe wielding rabbits is, the observation is a legitimate complaint.

However all of the characters have been through life altering situations, the Mad Hatter is mad for reasons rather than just because of obligatory casting. There is a driving force behind the madness; it feels full of depth rather than the shallow ‘because I said so’ mentality. In that respect the characters interactions, for me, are all the more interesting because it stems from more than the tradition black vs white dialogue.

So the verdict?