With the spring anime series well under way, I’ve been impressed with the lineup, particularly two series . First one we’ll start with is Deadman Wonderland.  If the art looks familiar, you’re right! Kazuma Kondou, the same illustrator for Eureka Seven, is the illustrator for this series.  You still have a similar young boy/girl protagonist or perhaps in this case the antagonist depending on how you see the story.

Since there’s plenty of summaries around the net regarding the storyline, Wikipedia has a good summary if you’re interested. Which the link is can be found here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadman_Wonderland/

What makes this Spring season interesting if you have not noticed, there has been a constant flood of fan service type anime. Personally I don’t mind some series and I actually indulge in a few such as Infinite Stratos and Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou.  Nevertheless a fan needs variety and variety is definitely the spice of life. This is a darker and quite bloody series, literally with attacks utilizing ones own blood.

You have an innocent 12-14 year boy learning to cope with harsh adult realities along with his unique power to use his own blood as a weapon. To balance things out you have Shiro, who is Ganta’s boisterous  female counterpart (correct me if I’m wrong people). When Ganta is faced with certain serious situations or challenges his personal beliefs, in comes Shiro delivering sage like wisdom and perspective in a child like way.

Shiro instilling life lessons to Ganta in fortune cookie bits

The draw for me on this series is the take on Roman like view on prison which prisoners are Gladiators for entertainment and the low value the prisoners’ lives are. In addition the unique characters Ganta meets and their background push and pull Ganta to a speedy growth to adulthood. In turn Ganta’s childlike beliefs also bring some normality to the other deadmen he has befriended.

With friends like these. Who needs enemies?

If you enjoyed Eureka Seven art and are looking for some change of pace, Deadman Wonderland might be the one.

Through the looking glass of money....

The second series I have been following I wanted to mention is [C]: Control: The Money and Soul of Possibility. Yes is it a long title but the premise like Deadman Wonderland, deals with human ethics, but focuses mainly on greed. The premise is certain chosen people are basically gambling with future potential. This is almost an eerie collation with people and credit cards over here in the states. While this is a generalization it does bring to focus how one sees money. Too much or too little gets one no where. Definitely a series to check out.