Title: Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 13
Author: Jinsei Kataoka (Story), Kazuma Kondou (Art)
Publisher: VIZ Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 212
Genre: Shounen, Battle
Publication Date: February 9, 2016
The thirteenth and final volume of Deadman Wonderland is here and it gives us the ending to an emotionally charged series. The final volume brings us the end of the battle between Hagire (Toto) and Scar Chain. Once that battle concludes, the Wretched Egg hatches! What will Ganta do now that he has come face to the face with the person he had been searching for this entire time?
Final Word
Normally in my review I try to avoid spoilers, but it’s a bit impossible to talk about this volume without doing so. Therefore, this review will be filled with spoilers so you have been warned.
I cheered when I finally saw Hagire die. After his first death and the subsequent transfer of his sub-conscious into Toto Sakigami, I’ve been waiting for the moment where he would finally bite the bullet for good. Glad to see him finally go down! Also, there was a very swift death from out of left field in Yosuga Mitsuzaki. This character was pretty annoying throughout the series, but I guess if Hagire/Toto was going to die, it makes sense to get rid of Yosuga as well.
Then the wretched egg hatches and Shiro decides to go one on one with Ganta, but before we get to that, we get a nice flashback to when Ganta was born only to be a guinea pig for experimentation, but Ganta’s mother couldn’t give up her only son. She asked that Shiro be swapped instead of Ganta. Shiro knew of this and even though she loved Ganta, she resented the fact that she was a substitute for him. All the pain she had to endure was meant for Ganta and she just couldn’t stand it. For that, and for everything she has done, she wanted to die, but only by the one she loved. That’s why in her Red Man form, Shiro implanted the crystal in Ganta, framed him for the murder of his class, and had him transported to Deadman Wonderland.
The battle between Ganta and Shiro was charged with emotion, but in the end, Ganta just couldn’t bring himself to grant Shiro’s wish. Ganta couldn’t kill her and instead told her that he would rather shoulder all the pain together with her if it meant her being happy. This was a bit predictable and given Ganta’s character throughout the series, you could just see this decision coming from a mile away. I would have been more shocked if Ganta did end up killing Shiro as it would be something highly uncharacteristic, but oddly, it would still fit because he would end Shiro’s pain and suffering. Either way, I believe Shiro would have been happy.
It did bother me a bit that the whole “I want to die” reasoning was a “lie.” I’ve seen that excuse countless times to hide a woman’s true feelings and it’s so cliche and overused. My only gripe with this series is that they went that route rather than do something a bit more daring.
The theme park then collapsed from all the battles that have taken place and the theme park closed down. The epilogue caught up with the remaining characters and how they have moved on before focusing on Shiro in a coma. Ganta pays her a visit one day and she wakes up. Ganta asks her if she would like to finish the song and with that Deadman Wonderland has come to an end.
It was an amazing series from beginning to end, despite my minor gripes on the way it ended. It has an anime adaptation that covered the first 21 chapters of the series. I followed the manga after the series ended and I wish it would go on longer, but everything seemed to fit with the 57 chapters that it ran for. If you haven’t seen the series or read the manga, then I doubt you would be here reading this review, but if you have, I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I have! Highly recommended!
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**this item was provided for review.
