The tragedy that befell a bustling city a hundred years earlier. Eyes of ill omen. Stone seals. The warped gears that have continued turning since long ago play out a requiem for one who was much loved. The solemn sound of the dirge colors the world that hears its notes a melancholy gray...as though it was always meant to be...
Okay, I think I'm starting to get it! Man is this convoluted! I'm going to put down what I think I understand, because I may need to refer to it when I read later volumes.
1. The Baskervilles are in charge of watching over the Abyss.
2. Glenn Baskerville is not actually a name, but a job, the head of the Baskervilles. It is passed on by each Glenn via transferring the contracts between him and five "black-winged chains" to a new Glenn. (These chains are Raven, Jabberwocky, Dodo, Owl, and Gryphon.) When Jack Vessalius enters the picture, the current Glenn is Levi, but he is about to pass the position on to Oswald.
3. People who are weird, and around whom weird stuff happens (they "create anomalies") are often summoned to become Baskervilles. A common anomaly created by those who are destined to become Glenn is a sibling who is a "child of ill omen," a person with red eyes. Children of ill omen are considered dangerous by the Baskervilles, because they are the only people besides Glenn who can open the door to the Abyss. Therefore, when a new Glenn is instated, he must kill any child of ill omen who he "created" (i.e. with whom he was close, typically a sibling).
4. Jack Vessalius is homeless and starving, the bastard son of a nobleman, when he meets Lacie, a capricious child of ill omen who ran away from the Baskervilles because her brother, Oswald, was mean to her. They have some adventures, and she makes him care about his own survival, and then she goes back to the Baskervilles. Jack spends the next eight years doing anything necessary to take his place as a noble and see Lacie again - including, it seems, making deals with a psycho named Miranda who wants the head of Lacie's brother Oswald. Jack does take his place as a noble, and he gains an open invitation to see Lacie, which he frequently does.
5. Oswald becomes Glenn, and he casts Lacie into the dark heart of the Abyss, which is a death sentence. First, though, Levi asks her to participate in an experiment. The experiment? Levi will impregnate Lacie, and then they'll wait and see if the Abyss spits out any babies. For some reason, Lacie apparently agrees to this.
6. The Abyss spits out a baby. They name her Alice. Apparently Lacie had twins, though? There's a White Alice and a regular Alice, and I think maybe the White Alice is the Intention of the Abyss . . . it's confusing.
7. Jack Vessalius discovers Gilbert and his younger brother Vincent, who is a child of ill omen. He tells the Baskervilles about them, and the Baskervilles take them in. Gilbert starts being groomed to become the next Glenn.
8. Lacie created two toy rabbit while she was in the Abyss. She kept one and gave one to the Intention of the Abyss . . . I think? Anyway, Alice has one now, and she names it Oz, presumably after Oswald. But Lacie sends that toy rabbit to Jack, and when he touches it, he learns of Lacie's feelings for him - and that he can't bring her back from the Abyss, which is what he'd been trying to figure out how to do. So instead, he decides to fling the world into the Abyss and join Lacie that way.
9. Jack asks Alice to help him make a chain that will be able to accomplish this. She says he should make it out of the toy rabbit still in the Abyss, and she names that one, too, Oz. They need someone to open the door to the Abyss, though, so Alice tricks Vincent into doing it. (Remember how a child of ill omen can do that?)
10. Oswald, seeing that the world is coming unmoored, manages to limit the effects to just the city of Sablier. He then goes about killing all the people in Sablier, because if they fall into the Abyss, it will mess with their souls in some way. They'll become chains, or something. Not good. Anyway, hence the tragedy of Sablier. And this is basically what everyone knows, that Glen (Oswald) Baskerville snapped and started killing everyone in Sablier, and then the city sank into the Abyss. Jack Vessalius left out the other stuff.
And NOW, Leo has taken up the Glenn mantle and used his power over Gilbert to make him shoot Oz, who it turns out was a chain all this time! (Kind of makes me want to reread earlier volumes to see where that might be set up.) Gasp!
Also, we see Xerxes Break a little, but not nearly enough. MORE BREAK! I DEMAND IT! But on the plus side, Vincent is seeming less evil at the moment, which makes my Xerxes/Vincent notions look better all the time. If still not very likely.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The mystery is being untangled and it hurts terribly much. Oh Jack... dear Jack. The cover of this volume is so gorgeous as well as the art style of the whole series.
"Jack, who doesn't try to overstep the line he himself has drawn, while looking for all the world as though he can't keep on living without me. Jack, who pretends he only has eyes for me, but deep inside those eyes, I know no one reflects. But, strangely enough, even though I knew you weren't quite right, the time I spent with you was most pleasant to me." --Lacie
O_O
I had intended to buy the other volumes and review this, in order. But this was at the local library (THE LIBRARY) and my hand just kind of picked it up off the shelf. I didn't tell it to do that. It acted on its own accord.
So, um...yeah. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
From this point on, there will be spoilers. You've been warned. (Please note that a lot of this is stuff I already knew. However, reading the Yen Press translation brought all those feelings back again. Gah.)
Ready? Okay. Onward.
This volume is all about identity. I mean, it opens with Oz discovering who he is. DO YOU KNOW WHO HE IS? Oh, gah. When I found out, I could hardly believe it.
If you thought the heartbreak couldn't get any worse in this series...GAH! There are no words to describe the pain Oz goes through when he learns who he is. Because, as was said in the very beginning, his sin is his very existence. And because he existed, doors were opened that should have remained shut.
However, the depth of his sin is nothing compared to the sins of Jack Vessalius. (GOOD GOSH JACK WHY? WHYYYYYYYYY?) I was cynical about the goodness of his heart in a manga like this, but what amazes me about Mochizuki's writing is that Jack, for all his many, many flaws (did I say many?) honestly seems to care about the Baskervilles. A big highlight for me was his time with Lacie, especially her thoughts.
Because, you see, in this volume, we find out what happens to Lacie, and we see the world through her eyes. Some of the best lines in this volume belong to her. Some of the best insights are dressed in her words, and although her assessment of Jack is spot-on, we see how much she grew to cherish their time together.
The question is if Jack felt the same. That quote at the beginning is Lacie describing Jack, and it remains to be seen what his true feelings were. Does he do what he did for Lacie, or because he just wants to see the world destroyed?
The ending to this volume is beyond shocking, and gives a whole new depth to more than one character. In fact, all the stories in this are amazing.
And dang it, I'M REQUESTING THE REST OF THE SERIES FROM MY LIBRARY SO I CAN FANGIRL OVER THEM, TOO. If they have this one, they have to have the others, right?
Other highlights:
* Jack's obvious (?) grief over Lacie's death while Levi is talking to him. Seriously, he looks completely disheveled and sloppy...not far off from when Lacie first found him in the street.
* The way Jack is drawn in this. There's so many beautiful, bishounen shots of his lovely self that it really contrasts with the horrors he began.
* Echo pulling Alice back.
* Jack's tears when he sees Lacie's feelings, and the way he just crumples to the ground. ;_;
* Vincent's agony and refusal to believe that the same Jack that treated him so well and supposedly adored him is the same one who used him for his own ends.
* Oswald's realization of what Jack did.
* Oz's panic when he sees what Jack intends to do to Alice.
* Jack. Just...Jack.
* Break going after Gil to try to stop him from...doing whatever he thinks Gil is going to do. (I LOVE BREAK.)
* Hints at what Miranda Barma eventually became. (Nothing confirmed on this, yet. Will update review later if/when it is.)
* The fact that Gil's first thought when he caught up with Oz was to .
I think I'm prepared, but then it just smacks me again. I'm increasingly in awe of how complex and yet so simple Mochizuki has made this story, and I still can't get enough! This series is the best kind of pain; someone get me the next volume ASAP. But I'm also worried that things are winding down... I don't want it to go.
Oz was just a plush toy and yet he was always around Alice, being her friend, making her company. That’s why he turned into a chain: to protect her from others, and in this case, to protect her from Jack and his ill intentions to bring Sablier to the Abyss, where he thought Lacie still was.
But, you see, everything we believed in was a lie. Jack was the true villain and Oswald just wanted to stop him. Vincent, Gil and even Alice got caught in Jack’s plan and now, with Oz in complete shock, he uses the b-rabbit’s power to break the chains that bound the real world.
In the current present, Leo, aka the new “Glenn Baskerville”, is controlling Gilbert and he uses him to shoot Oz, leaving him for dead.
Now, I’ve cried from the very first volume but to see the real facts, what happened in the Sablier tragedy is even worse than we thought. It hurts so much to be deceived, to be lied to, to understand that some people just don’t care about others if that means they’ll get their way.
This volume ends up with a major cliffhanger so I recommend you to have the next volume ‘cause you won’t be able to stop right there.
“Thanks to these eyes...I came to understand how cruel and despicable people can be. But that also allowed me to appreciate true beauty. All you have to do is appreciate things from a different perspective Once I realized the things we take for granted are really miracles, I came to see everything in it's precious, ephemeral beauty. ..... I love this world.” This volume got so heartbreaking...
I think Oz's anxiety about wanting to keep his comrades safe and offering himself up as a sacrifice are starting to come full circle with this recent reveal; don't care what Jack states.
What a fantastic web Jun Mochizuki has weaved throughout this entire story. Everything we knew has been turned on its head, and yet, everything finally comes together in a way that has been alluded to since the beginning.
I am in awe of this story...from the stunning, gorgeous art to the depth of the characters to the twisting and turning plot. Mochizuki hits all the right notes and makes this story soar. I can't get enough.
Volume 19 just before Christmas! What perfect timing. I. Can't. Wait.
Another amazing volume. I cried. The author makes you care about the characters and then puts them in horrible situations where they are faced with extremely difficult choices and tasks, and she's given you enough detail about the characters and their relationships with each other to feel their pain. Love it.
Oh and that's Levi on the cover. Nor sure why someone said it is Alice.
You know what? I don't like Glen either. There's a difference between Jack and Oz, Glen. Mainly they're not the same person! They share a body, yeah, sure but that doesn't mean you do that! And what about Gil? Imagine the new trauma he got with that ending! That cliffhanger! Now for my next trauma with the next volume 😤
I'd like to start by saying that with my two decades of manga reading, Pandora Hearts has recently earned its way to being one of the best manga series I've ever read - and to think I almost didn't pick it up!
There's actually a bit of a story to it: Pandora Hearts was being released around the time I knew I would be moving overseas. At the time, I had no idea how moving to the other side of the world would affect my manga buying. Also at that time, I was working at a comic store with staff discounts at my disposal and I never had to worry too much about picking up whatever I fancied. When I first saw Pandora Hearts, I thought the art looked beautiful and this just might be a really good manga. It also struck me as a manga series that could go on for quite a while [which was a reasonably accurate assumption as 24 volumes is not a length I could commit to lightly]. Not knowing how I'd get my hands on manga or how long this series would be let me to putting it back on the shelf. And I confess, it was filled with quite a bit of regret.
When I finally did move overseas - a family friend had a good bye gift. The shape was easy to discern: it was undoubtably a manga volume. While thankful for receiving a gift, I was also nervous: having worked in a comic store, I knew for sure: I either already own it or am not interested in it. In addition, the friend in question doesn't know the first thing about manga. To my surprise, it was the first volume of Pandora Hearts which was probably the single only volume she could have taken from the shelf that wasn't already in my possession and did interest me. How she managed to pick out that one I don't know, but it's a coincidence I feel thankful for and, in some cheesy way, made me feel like it was just meant to be that I read Pandora Hearts after all.
Fast forward to 2023, I finally found the time to read this 24 volume series and am absolutely delighted. My original observation remains: the art is absolutely stunning. With the exception of a oneshot debut work, it's hard to believe that this is quite close to being a beginner's work - you'd not believe it just looking at the first volume's art.
My other thoughts are largely around how hard it is to praise a story you think is so thoroughly good as this one is. It's not really a plot you can explain to someone, it's a story you have to read for yourself as even the latest volumes will throw some surprises at you. But I think, besides the art, what really contributes a lot to this work are the characters. Oz might be our main character, but we have a large cast and they are all lovingly created. There's hardly a character you won't be able to like in one way or another, even the most broken of them. It's quite a feat to create a story that makes you care and worry about almost every character's fate.
And worry you can indeed: it has light and beautiful moments, but it is essentially a dark tale and you'll constantly worry whether the characters will make it through. Needless to say, there are losses throughout the story. There are plenty of twists and turns, things that will surprise and shock you.
I will also add that the plot is complex and not always easy to follow. Some characters have multiple names - this becomes even more difficult for some characters who also have multiple personalities who also have multiple names. Not everything in the plot made entire sense to me - it's hard to say whether they were plot holes, not explained well enough or I was simply missing something - a reread might answer that. But regardless, when these moments arose, I decided to just go with the flow and it didn't disrupt my reading experience at all.
Besides a bit of confusion here and there, I can't fault this series with anything. The pacing is well done, the 24 volumes were neither too long nor too short [something I often complain about] and it wrapped up nicely. For such a dark read, there's also a lot of soft story telling which just concludes this with a very wholesome ending. There is close to no romance but I wasn't missing it [and I'm a big romance reader] - the friendships and bonds between the characters were absolutely beautiful even without much romance thrown in.
I'm glad I did read this series and it is definitely going down as one of my favourites. Highly recommended.
honestly i'm soo tired of flashbacks, after an entire volume of it, i wanna get back to the story.
Chapter 71:
-awwwwwwwwwwww Alice like her head massaged by Gil :( wished these moment were in the story tho, not just bonuses
- by the core doing a kindness to jack and the memory of lacie, giving him her memories, it reignited his hopes to get to lacie again.... damn
Chapter 72:
-interesting.... lacie said the same thing oswald said about jack, he's a weirdo the thing here i find is simple, jack is desperate he had no one ever so give him an inch he will run a mile - oswald telling lacie he will be so lonely without her //3
-vince and gil moment
Chapter 73:
- fucking hell jack used miranda to manipulate baby vince into opening the door, i hate him soooooooooooooooooo much -my babies vince and gil :(((((((((((( -glen doesn't smile when jack smile at him picking up vince, he knews something is off - what did jack say to alice about gilbert to make her cruelly manipulate vince?????????????? - also vince BELIEVED IN JACK???????????? -gil seeing who trusting jack fucked him and vince and everything else -jesus once again the nightrays are proven to be the people you want to listen to - i want to see gil/glen fucking jack upppppp
Chapter 74:
-Alice killed herself to protect oz from being used
i wonder why gil is still loyal to oz, i have been waiting for some angst between these two from the very beginning of the story yall
honestly i'm soo tired of flashbacks, after an entire volume of it, i wanna get back to the story.
Chapter 71:
-awwwwwwwwwwww Alice like her head massaged by Gil :( wished these moment were in the story tho, not just bonuses
- by the core doing a kindness to jack and the memory of lacie, giving him her memories, it reignited his hopes to get to lacie again.... damn
Chapter 72:
-interesting.... lacie said the same thing oswald said about jack, he's a weirdo the thing here i find is simple, jack is desperate he had no one ever so give him an inch he will run a mile - oswald telling lacie he will be so lonely without her //3
-vince and gil moment
Chapter 73:
- fucking hell jack used miranda to manipulate baby vince into opening the door, i hate him soooooooooooooooooo much -my babies vince and gil :(((((((((((( -glen doesn't smile when jack smile at him picking up vince, he knews something is off - what did jack say to alice about gilbert to make her cruelly manipulate vince?????????????? - also vince BELIEVED IN JACK???????????? -gil seeing who trusting jack fucked him and vince and everything else -jesus once again the nightrays are proven to be the people you want to listen to - i want to see gil/glen fucking jack upppppp
Chapter 74:
-Alice killed herself to protect oz from being used
i wonder why gil is still loyal to oz, i have been waiting for some angst between these two from the very beginning of the story yall