Deadman Wonderland

Deadman Wonderland is a Japanese anime series, based on the manga series of the same name, written by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondo. The anime series began premiered in Japan on tvk from April 16, 2011 to July 3, 2011.

Deadman Wonderland was licensed in North America by Funimation and they produced an English dub in 2011. The English dub premiered in the United States on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block from May 26, 2012 to August 12, 2012. The series was rated TV-MA-V on Adult Swim, with the episodes "Wretched Egg" and "Undertaker" rated TV-MA.

Plot
A massive earthquake ravaged Japan's mainland and destroyed most of Tokyo, sinking three-quarters of it into the ocean. Ten years later, the story shifts to Ganta Igarashi, a seemingly ordinary student attending Nagano Prefecture's middle school. An escapee, a survivor of the great earthquake, Ganta has no memories of the tragedy and has lived a normal life. This all changes when a strange man covered in blood and crimson armour floats through his classroom windows. Grinning madly, the Red Man massacres Ganta's entire class but instead of killing him, embeds a red crystal shard in Ganta's chest. Within days of the massacre, Ganta is declared the sole suspect and, following a quick trial, is sentenced to life imprisonment in Deadman Wonderland, a massive theme park like prison.

Arriving at the prison, Ganta is fitted with a special collar which monitors his location and life signs. Due to the heinous nature of Ganta's 'crime', he has to live out his imprisonment under Deadman Wonderland's 'Death Sentence'. A lethal poison is constantly injected into his bloodstream through the collar, but it can be neutralized by consuming a peculiar candy-like medicine every three days. Additional candy can be earned through hard work or by purchasing it with Cast Points. In order to gather Cast Points, the prison's currency, an inmate has to perform in the facility's lethal games and survive. Fortunately for Ganta, he is aided by a mysterious girl named Shiro, who apparently knows Ganta, but isn't known by other prisoners. While trying to survive as an inmate on death row, Ganta becomes increasingly obsessed with the Red Man and tries to find him so he could clear his name.

In a bizarre twist, Ganta begins to develop the ability to manipulate his blood, to the point of turning it into a weapon. Unbeknownst to him, Ganta has become one of the prison's "Deadmen," a segregated group of prisoners possessing the Branch of Sin which makes them capable of controlling their blood. After his ability is discovered, Ganta is forced to participate in brutal gladiatorial death matches, known as Carnival Corpse, whose anonymous spectators pay large amounts of money to watch. In his struggle he manages to befriend some of those he fought off in the arena, and with their help Ganta continues his quest to uncover the identity of the Red Man, why he turned into a Deadman and the dark secrets the prison authorities are hiding.

Setting
Deadman Wonderland is Japan's only privately operated prison, built after the Great Tokyo Earthquake on ground zero. It gathers prisoners from all over Japan and raises money for the revival of the destroyed metropolis. To the public and the tourists that visit daily, Deadman Wonderland is a massive theme park-like facility run by the prison population. Unbeknownst to the general population, most of the prison's attractions involve cruel games of survival where many inmates lose their lives or are maimed for the entertainment of an oblivious public. The prison also runs a secret gladiator-like game called the Carnival Corpse, where wealthy anonymous donors pay to watch deathmatches between the prison's Deadmen. Deadmen who are defeated yet survive the game, have a part of their anatomy surgically removed for scientific research. In a cruel twist, the loser spins a macabre slot-machine to determine which part of their body will be removed, with the show being broadcast live to the other prisoners. The winner is awarded a large amount of Cast Points, life-saving candies and other prizes.

To keep prisoners at bay in case of a riot, they are fitted with special collars which act as life monitors. locators and stunners. Those on death row however are constantly administered poison through their collars: should an inmate not consume a special candy-like antidote every three days, provided to them at the cost of a large sum of Cast Points, he/she would die immediately. The prison's guard staff is also granted autonomy over how to punish the prisoners, which often results in bloodshed. While the threat of violence is constant at the prison, most prisoners enjoy a great deal of liberty inside Deadman Wonderland. Utilizing Cast Points, the prison's unique form of currency, prisoners can purchase a wide variety of items, from ordinary lunches, to luxurious furniture for their rooms, and even years off of their sentences. Those on death row also use Cast Points to purchase their life-saving candies. Despite its identity as a prison and theme park, Deadman Wonderland houses a much darker secret. Hidden away from the eyes of tourists and the general prison population is a massive underground facility known as "Level G". This is where the prison keeps their Deadmen secluded, and where the Carnival Corpse arena is located. Level G also houses numerous laboratories and rooms where human experimentation is performed and where scientists are attempting to harness the powers of the Deadmen for monetary and political gain.

Characters
Ganta Igarashi (Woodpecker) — The main protagonist of the story is a seemingly harmless, ordinary middle school boy until the Wretched Egg slaughters his entire class, yet spares him and infuses him with a shard of red crystal. Tamaki, posing as Ganta's appointed lawyer, rigs evidence at his murder trial to make it look like he murdered his classmates on a whim. Ganta is thus given a death sentence to be served at Deadman Wonderland. Initially confused and frightened, Ganta resolves to endure the heinous prison so he can prove his innocence and avenge his friends by tracking down and confronting their murderer, the Wretched Egg, whom Ganta refers to as the "Red Man".

During his stay, Ganta meets a mysterious girl named Shiro and is perplexed that she seems to know him, but eventually begins to remember her as a childhood friend. Ganta learns that the crystal implanted into his chest by the Wretched Egg has turned him into a "Deadman" empowered with a Branch of Sin, which is later christened the Ganta Gun by Senji. This Branch of Sin enables Ganta to gather variable quantities of his blood in the palm of his hand and shoot them like bullets. While advantageous as a long-range attack, due to Ganta's small size, this strategy puts him at risk of experiencing symptoms of excessive blood loss.

Shiro (Wretched Egg/Red Man) — A mysterious albino girl and Hagire Rinichirō's artificial daughter that Ganta encountered during his first days as an inmate; Ganta mistook her for his dead friend Mimi due to Shiro resembling her. Clothed only in a skin-tight bodysuit and large gloves (which help conceal her heavily scarred skin), Shiro stands out among the other prisoners due to her bizarre appearance and mannerisms. It is also apparent that she does not have a prison number, unlike the rest. To Ganta, Shiro's manner of speaking and behavior remind him of a small child, even though Shiro is a year older than him. However, Shiro possesses inhuman physical abilities and has an intimate knowledge of the prison, having lived there most of her life.

From the beginning of the story it is made clear that, as children, Shiro and Ganta were close friends with the latter having no memories of his childhood, which greatly saddens and annoys Shiro. Shiro was infected with a mysterious virus that gave her abilities which was being researched by Ganta's mother Sorae Igarashi. Over the next several years, Shiro was subjected to barbaric experiments, including being dismembered while awake, all in an effort to force her body and the virus inside it to "evolve" into the first Deadman. The trauma of this torturous treatment caused Shiro to develop a homicidal, maniacal split personality that is labeled as the Wretched Egg. Unaware of his target's true nature, Ganta knows her as the "Red Man" due to the heavy masculine full body clothing she wears that was inspired by the Aceman character she and Ganta watched and played with as children.

As the Wretched Egg, Shiro's personality changes into a murderous, smirking maniac capable of killing entire squads of armed men with little effort and causing the earthquake in Tokyo. Soon after, Shiro is placed within Deadman Wonderland in comfortable quarters due to being the "source" of the Branches of Sin. Thanks to the Mother Goose mainframe, Deadman Wonderland's supercomputer, a lullaby is played that is audible only to Shiro in order to repress the Wretched Egg and her murderous intents. Like Shiro, the Wretched Egg has feelings for Ganta, though her's border on lust; it was implied that she butchered Ganta's classmates so that he would be sent to Deadman Wonderland to be with her. Eventually, the Wretched Egg becomes the dominant persona with the Mother Goose system's lullaby no longer repressing her. However, she still has strong feelings for Ganta and Shiro's personality still remains intact.

Episodes
An original video animation episode was released on October 8, 2011 alongside the eleventh manga volume. The series is licensed in the United States by Funimation Entertainment and is available on DVD and Blu Ray.

Broadcast History
Deadman Wonderland aired in Japan on tvk from April 17, 2011 to July 3, 2011 and was also simulcast in North America by crunchyroll. The series was broadcast in the United States on Adult Swim's revived Toonami block from May 26, 2012 to August 11, 2012. The series also aired in North American on the Funimation Channel beginning on November 30, 2012. The series returned to Toonami for a second run from January 3, 2015 to March 21, 2015.


 * Japan (tvk) — April 17, 2011 - July 3, 2011
 * United States (Adult Swim) — May 26, 2012 - August 11, 2012; January 3, 2015 - March 21, 2015
 * United States (Funimation Channel) — November 30, 2012 - 2013

Toonami Broadcast History
The series was one of two new series that premiered on Adult Swim's newly revived Toonami block on May 26, 2012. Deadman Wonderland premiered at 12:30 AM and Casshern Sins followed at 1:00 AM. The rest of the series in the first lineup were hold overs from the former Adult Swim Saturday night anime block. The series completed its initial run on August 12, 2012, and was replaced in the lineup by Samurai 7 and Eureka Seven the following week.

Reruns of Deadman Wonderland returned to Toonami for a second run on January 3, 2015 at 2:30 AM. The series moved to the 2:00 AM time slot on January 24, 2015. The series then shifted to the 3:00 AM time slot on February 7, 2015 due to Toonami losing 2-hours of programming. The series completed its second run on March 21, 2015 and was replaced in the lineup by reruns of Attack on Titan the following week.


 * Toonami (United States) — May 26, 2012 - August 11, 2012; January 3, 2015 - March 21, 2015