Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 5

Deadman Wonderland #5

by Jinsei Kataoka

With their leader captured, Scar Chain’s uprising is thwarted by the Undertakers. Ganta seeks training so he can learn to use his Branch of Sin powers, even though doing so will draw him further into the deadly plots brewing inside the prison. The final battle between Scar Chain and the Undertakers is coming, but who really wins when one of them loses?

Genres: Manga, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action, Comics, Shonen

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 25, 2009

About the author

Name (in native language): 片岡人生

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you don't succeed at first, try try again? Yep, Ganta and the Scar Chain decide to make another attempt at getting the important data out to the real world now that they have identified the traitor within and gained new allies. More poorly drawn, in my opinion, OK plotted manga. Reading a volume synopsis elsewhere I was astonished to find that a character introduced in this volume, Mockingbird is male... that's how bad the art has been for me. Another6 out of 12 Three Star read, where the constructed reality is the only thing keeping me reading.

2024 read

[Tawfek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genkaku : Death is silence, Death is peace, Death is Tranquility, Death is the answer, Death is Enlightenment, Death is rock, Death is Beauty

Yay more died this volume i didn't even know their names i am so glad lol
This is getting more interesting actually, Ganta is becoming stronger and more interesting characters showing up like this mockingbird creep!

Freakish Buddhist statues always amazes me with how absolutely terrifying they are. i don't really become scared, but i have a list of things i think that are scary and these statues are up there with the best of them.
The relation between Ganta and Shiro is going to pretty good places, i am starting to think that it will be good ending for these two, even though shiro is the wretched egg, she is probably the victim of lab tests or something, and she is not really in control, she doesn't even know she is the wretched egg!


Sadly i don't think it can probably, it makes things even worse lol

This moment when Life has beaten you so bad... that you would break down just from realizing, that the food needs salt... 😢

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series has a weird mix of people taking brutal blows that they get back up from and people being one-shotted and actually dying (apparently). It causes a weird disconnect that makes it difficult to enjoy in places because one or the other seems to be a cop-out. As if the author couldn't figure out how to move the plot along without randomly murdering a stack of characters who seemed to be able to take a beating just a moment ago. People can literally lose a hand mid-fight and keep going without blinking, but getting shot once can kill them? Why doesn't everyone just own a gun then? The rules of how much damage a body can withstand are insanely inconsistent to the point I'm actually writing about it. :p

Otherwise, this is enjoyable though. Everyone is completely insane and there are enough subplots happening to keep things interesting.

[Χαρά Ζ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

**4,5**
I FUCKING LOVE THIS MANGA

[Mary ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 stars

I like two characters and they either die or are tortured, what the heck? xD

[Nərmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Battle between Scar Chain and that crazy monk's squad. Some deaths (poor Nagi, we saw little of you) , interesting backstories, crazy new characters ( that Mockingbird guy is interesting)... funny Ganta&Seiji moments- Ganta is now a student of Crow, cute Ganta&Shiro friendship...
I am loving this so far!

[Dhia Nouioui · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This candy is just really bitter"

Karako and the others were able to escape while Makina and the Promoter's both after Azami for some reason as a result of that. And I hate that Mocking bird, s(he)'s up to something really bad and I don't like it.

[Lilivette · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOLY SHITT!

[Ria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate bittersweet moments. Nagi :'(

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite Deadman Wonderland volume so far, but still pretty good. I'm interested to see where it will go from here

[Kuroo Dabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me duele, me quema, me lastima.
Paso por tantas cosas malas en su vida que en algún momento llegue a pensar que el destino al final le iba a sonreír pero no fue así. Mi parajo se ha ido a un lugar mejor, me gustaba porque era muy tierno y bueno... Mi parajo nocturno, Búho de mi corazón T^T

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars*
The ending to this really opened up the plot, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here!

[nari · Rating 4 out of 5]

actual rating: 4.5 stars

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot in this is still really interesting and I like how the ending really opened it up some more.

The artwork is still difficult for me to decipher at times which can be extremely frustrating, especially during fight scenes.

Speaking of fight scenes, the author is very inconsistent on what kills a person and what doesn't. Some of these characters take some insane blows and get up like nothing and then other times where they get shot or something and instantly die. It doesn't make sense.

Getting Genkaku's backstory was pretty interesting and hearing how Nagi lost his family and descended into darkness was pretty sad. Although having whole hope and lightness speech from Ganta in the middle of battle was unrealistic and a little cheesy to be honest.

Now that Scar Chain has managed to escape, I am curious as to what impact that's going to have on Deadman Wonderland and what's going to happen next.

Also very curious about Mockingbird and his backstory.

[Georgia Brunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

This one was alright, I can't really remember the others before but I think this one might be my least favourite. Still really like the drawing style especially when Karako gets the sword through the chest (which she should've died from btw)

[Thea · Rating 4 out of 5]

When he experiences a massacre and then a week later everyone’s like lol why u still sad????????????

[📖Moon Book Eater🍽️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gruesome

[Clar · Rating 4 out of 5]

VALORACIÓN: 3'5 estrellas

Ritmo trepidante, personajes desquiciados, locura y muerte. Demasiado acelerada esta vez, para mi gusto.

[Judyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

~4/5

The more I read of this series, the bloodier it gets. The more violent, the more psychotic, more intense it gets. Including character deaths, although I won’t spoil those.

So there were backstories, surprising psychological reveals, a death, all leading up to the ending: a possible start of something new. There was a nice scene with Shiro. But there’s also a new character at the end, who will definitely be bringing horrible things. The people in charge of the facility, too, are up to something that will happen soon. Ganta is revealing to be surprisingly powerful, but mostly I’m surprised that he’s not annoying me more. He’s still weak and impulsive and irrational, but he’s all right. I don’t hate him, at least.

There is just so much horror in this series, so much blood. It definitely earns its “Older Teen” rating. And I’m still surprised by how much I am enjoying this series, and how much I’m looking forward to the next volume.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, and Erik Jansen from MediaLab PR. Thank you so, so much!

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my. Undertakers. Escape plans. Madness abounds.
I love that at the core of it all is Ganta and Shiro's relationship. The importance they place on each other is so sweet and innocent, but evolving into a very solid friendship. Which will likely result in horrible things the way this book is going.
I never thought "The candy tastes bitter" could be such a heartbreaking sentence.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my favorite moments is in this book but I won't spoil it. The "feels" are in this one. Sure it's a little light on plot, and some feels like padding, but overall another entertaining volume in just an insane fucking series. Go and enjoy!

[LordSlaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of crazy, intense action in this one as well as pathos and heroism. Will the revolt succeed? Will Deadman Wonderland be brought down? Solid writing and excellent artwork continue to make this a particularly wonderful series.

[Julia Sapphire · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

[Andrew Sammut · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fantastic volume filled with gruesome scenes and even more horrifying intentions. I appreciate how there's finally some continuity between this one and its predecessor. The previous instalment was honestly rather confusing. Now we got to see scar chain win, to a certain extent I suppose, against the undertakers. There are some characters I empathise with which is always a good sign as it means that they have a shred of development. In this case Nagi and Karako I felt really bad for. The notion that death is salvation is oddly relatable yet rather depressing, I was not expecting this series to head into that direction. Throughout this battle, the main character, Ganta, who is quite pathetic and boring, does seem to improve in his blood bending abilities. We finally got an explanation regarding the sweets btw, scar chain has a huge stack of them to keep the deadmen from getting poisoned. This was honestly one of the better volumes and I can only hope the series becomes more interesting.

It quite honestly ended on rather a strange note as I'm not sure what Ganta did to Genkaku though I quite know that the latter basically butchered, massacred even, everyone and even tried to manipulate Nagi to destroy Scar Chain. I love the concept of psychologically altering your opponents to your advantage. Very well written, harrowing volume whereby Kataoka and Kondou not only do not hold back from torture, thoughts of including rape in their tale, and suffering but also of glorifying death and presenting it as though it's a form of salvation. Crazy. All of this without mentioning what the actual leaders of deadman wonderland are up to and what they're hiding from the government.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always a good sign when a collection begins with the potential execution of a main character.



It's not so good when you then remember there's about another hundred volumes of the story to go, so chances that they'll be successfully poleaxed are probably slim.



That disappointment aside, volume proceeds as you'd imagine it would: plans have stumbling blocks and then come together – and then have further stumbling blocks. Friendship and honouring the bond with one's comrades is highlighted. People attempt to kill other people using weapons made of blood. And there's gratuitous panty-flashes.



We learn more about the conspiracies inside the prison, and about particular characters' foetus-related backstories. There's snippets of Undertaker history dispensed, all covered with a mixture of sympathy and SWEET JESUS ARE THEY HUMAN HEADS?



It's exactly what I expect from this thing.



Of course, the main thrust of the story here – despite all the focus on getting the outside world to know the score about what's happening inside the prison – is about Ganta's development. He will (I expect) go through the Hero's journey over what remains of the story. It can't come soon enough, as his two-note emotion – pissed off or crybaby – are wearing a bit thin, so I'm hoping the influence of some more hard-arse characters will liven things up a bit.



I expect that as this series continues, my reviews will become shorter and shorter. This isn't a reflection so much on the quality of the work, but a reflection of the fact that the pace is (despite bursts of well-conducted action) quite slow. Still, I'm in five deep now: better push on.

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 for the balls of the ending. It seems this is the end of this “stage” of Deadman Wonderland now that the Deadmen seemingly are outta of DW and succeeded in giving the data chip, the one higher-up lady is making some move, and the crazy owner guy seems to be trying to make Deadmen. Other than the ending the rest of the volume was fairly edgy fun. The cover is fitting because we get a lot of Owl/Nagi and Waterfowl/Karako. I really enjoyed the focus on these two as I find them to be both of the most interesting characters in Scar Chain and Owl’s development here in his back-and-forthness with Kenkaku as he goes in-and-out of going crazy was fun to read and goes with the gratuitous edginess of this manga well. And having Crow come back is really nice. But again we get into the situation where Ganta is the least interesting character so him having this massive moment to shine when Shiro is almost attacked by Owl isn't that good to me. His only moment that’s really stuck out to me in the whole series so far was the cool final hit he gave Kenkaku here. Im glad Kataoka sticks to having Ganta act their age and I do think it leads to some neat idiosyncrasies with the rest of the cast and creating some nice messages on never losing out hope. But anybody Ganta's age could do that and still be more interesting than him since I find his personality boring.

[Rhia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't ever review manga, I only ever rate them. But this one was so terrible that I had to review it.

I used to love Deadman Wonderland when I was younger (~17F). It was basically my first anime I ever watched and what introduced me to manga. I never had an interest in manga but when they cancelled the show I had to find out what happened, which led me to purchasing the entire series. Now that I'm older, I realized how terrible this manga is.

Don't get me wrong, I think the concept is really cool. I like that it's dark and that it's a nonconventional prison with an underground operation basically filled with bloodbenders. There's very little that triggers me, but this manga tries way too hard to be edgy and it's just... dumb. There's lots of gore, which I don't mind, but it's obvious the amount of gore is for the sake of show. Like why is there a guy who just has an entire hole blown straight through him like a donut? In this specific volume, there's implied r**e threats and the imagery of it before the act, which also contributes to the fact some of the females are oversexualized (even the teenage ones) for no reason other than it being catered to teenage boys.

I do enjoy dark and bleak media, but only when it contributes to compelling storytelling. This manga commits too hard to being pure shock value which makes it utter slop.

[Scott Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latest flurry of plots, including the first surrounding Scar Chain, is brought to resolution. We see the inspection, Ganta's conflict with Shiro, the capture of Nagi, and Scar Chain's continuing efforts to escape all addressed and resolved.

Kataoka seemed pretty over the top to me when I started this series, almost like a slasher-flick manga. I have at times, been reminded of the slaughter scene from Joss Whedon's Cabin in the Woods where an insane number of monsters pour out of a bank of elevators and so thoroughly and messily slaughter the available humans that everything--including the camera lens for a few seconds--gets covered in gore. But as I move on, I'm either adjusting, or--and I feel this is more likely--I'm realizing that there's an intentional horror behind the manner in which this violence is presented that is part of the art and commentary in which the comic engages. It seems to me Kataoka is, at least in part, engaging in a hyperbolic blood-n-guts show as part of the comic's overall take down of the kind of violence in which it indulges. Not sure that makes it any better--it certainly doesn't make it any less violent--but it's purposed and thoughtful instead of just overly-indulgent.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 5 covers 17-21

After the first attempt to breakout ended in a bit of a stalemate, Ganta starts taking his conviction more seriously and lets Crow take him under his wing to help him enhance his blood gun abilities. Now that the traitor has been ratted out, Ganta and his new crew can focus their efforts on taking down their powerful new adversaries. The battle between the Scar Chain Rebels and the Prison Undertakers ends with gruesome deaths and betrayals on both sides.

Cool action and a little bit of character development for Ganta in this volume. I’m enjoying his new brotherhood with Crow and him starting to make more big decisions on his own.

The mad priest was a good side villain and the true motives behind the Scar Chain rebel leader’s reasons for doing his thing led to some brutal outcomes for everyone else.

The secret data from what’s been going on behind the prison walls has been leaked to the public, and now it’s only a matter of time until it starts to crumble.

[Chase Guard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Shiro and Ganta so much and just how deeply they are attached to each other without actually even knowing it. I think it’s the most heart warming thing ever to follow them throughout their adventure :) this one was extremely emotionally charged but I was for it. Ganta leveled up inna BIG away but it came with a price unfortunately. Naki ended up dying with the undertakers BUT it’s because Ganta was able to harness more branch of sin to to actually kill Genkaku. Even still at the end I was stressed out since Gantas collar began to run out but Naki gave him his last candy for a bitter sweet moment :( When Ganta blasted Genkaku he ended up opening a whole in the ceiling allowing for the rest of the gang to continue with their escape, even still they also got the data chip out to the surveyors so there is still that at play too. Going into book 6 I’m pretty excited :)