After the Great Tokyo Earthquake ten years ago, Ganta Igarashi was finally getting his life back together: finding friends, succeeding in middle school . . . until the Red Man comes. Everyone in Ganta's class is massacred – except for Ganta, who is arrested and convicted of murder. His sentence? Death, to be carried out in the privately-owned bizzaro prison of Deadman Wonderland. Despite his anger over being falsely convicted for killing his own friends, Ganta quickly realizes that if he wanted to continue to live, he will have to survive in the dangerous prison games, most of them arranged by the ruling administration. Amid surprising new friends and frightening new enemies, Ganta may soon find out that there is more to Deadman Wonderland.

Highlights:

Ganta Igarashi is in class, talking to his friends about their upcoming school trip, an innocent enough scene. Outside the classroom window appears a floating man covered in rags – the Red Man. He blasts his way inside and starts killing everyone inside. Ganta is shot at, but survives – only to wake up in a hospital room, and arrested and charged with the murders of his classmates. Sentenced to death, they transport Ganta to Deadman Wonderland, where he quickly learns firsthand the cruelty and violence that reigns inside, carried out in part by Chief Prison Guard Makina. Ganta is sitting in his cell despairing over his fate when a white-haired girl literally bursts through the window and introduces herself to him as Shiro and saying they had made a promise long ago to be friends. Ganta is sent to the construction site, where he also runs into Shiro and is bullied by some of the other inmates. A chunk of building comes crashing down and almost kills the boy, but a great power summoned by a strong will to live comes out of his chest and protects him from the debris, sparking interest among the higher-ups.

During his first lunchtime, Ganta meets a girl named Azami and learns about Cast Points – the version of money inside Deadman Wonderland. They stop to see a big hulking man named Kozuji bullying a weak old man, spilling the man's hot noodle bowl over his head. Ganta accidentally gets in Kozuji's way and is forced to laugh at the old man's pain to stop from being hurt, prompting Azami to say that "you're just as pathetic as him" before leaving him. In the infirmary, Ganta hears about the candy although he had lost his own on the first day, and meets the kid he bumped into at the beginning. The kid tells Ganta about the Dog Race Show, an obstacle course for prisoners in which the winner receives 1k CPs; Ganta is more interested in the bean bun for entering, seeing as he hasn't eaten in a long time. But there's more at stake then he knows, as if he doesn't win, he can't buy more candy, and if he can't buy more candy . . . there's a reason why inmates are killing for the stuff. When his opponents in the Show include the bully Kozuji, it seems that Ganta doesn't stand a chance, unless Shiro has anything to say about it.

Overall:

I don't think many people expected Deadman Wonderland to ever be licensed, much less by Tokyopop; it seemed too unconventional for a release in the States by a major publisher – and yet, it was one of the most surprising title pick-ups from last year. With the release of its first volume, it becomes all too obvious why Tokyopop would release this series: it is golden. It is unnerving and exciting and everything great about modern manga. And let's face it, no one expects a riveting tale on the human condition and survival coupled with horrific creatures and mysterious powers to be set in a prison that is more like a demonic circus sprung from the headcase of Tim Burton, with a cast of administrators and prisoners just as cuckoo.

Normally, a story set within a prison would feel almost claustrophobic, limited in its scope. But the world within Deadman Wonderland is no normal prison; it is like a small world set off from normal society, ruled by a law of madness and violence that reigns supreme through the guards and their bosses. There are bullies and lackeys and the small percentage of people who defy them like Azami, and then there is Ganta who knows he shouldn't be incarcerated and continues to fight for his freedom even when a death sentence hangs over his head with every step. His unwanted companion is the girl Shiro, who apparently knows Ganta from his past and is also a prisoner in DW, although we don't know yet what she's done. She adds a quirky kind of humor to her scenes that are very much needed amid all the bloody action and depressing situations.

As for the artwork, it is not conventionally beautiful by any stretch of the imagination. But it doesn't have to be pretty to be effective, and that is certainly what it is. You can feel the rage and fear that flows through each scene through learned usage of shadows, tones and contrasting thickness in lines. Changes in perspective, when applied to single panels, only further emphasizes the off-kilterness of the situation at hand. The scenery of Deadman Wonderland itself is pure psycho fantasy and only adds to the supercharged atmosphere.

With their storytelling and their words, the two manga-kas have created a series filled with layers upon layers of mysteries and intrigue, and have made the naive but determined Ganta our guide through this strange new world. Once you've read the first volume in this currently running series, you'll know you will want to continue finding out about the wonders and terrors of the Deadman Wonderland and what will happen next to Ganta and his new allies.

ComicsOnline gives Deadman Wonderland volume one 4 out of 5 Branches of Sin.