I'm thoroughly glad I found this show. I picked it out of a list of Japanese cartoons on some website because it had "wonderland" in the title and I'm really into "Alice and Wonderland".
A story of immense humor, brutality and pathos, I'm a little disappointed that it stopped at one season but I have made a point of just reading all the comics one day. One day...
It really hits the ground running in a way that i was not totally prepared for; our protagonist is thrown into a desperate situation by seemingly no fault of his own into the amazing concept of a prison contrived into some kind of macabre reality TV show.
The whole thing uses an aesthetic of carnivalian grotesquery where lurid colours and stuffed animals are the gate way to execution by combat and weaponized blood. A full spectrum of characters convey the sinister and adorable (even at the same time); the design and execution of the world we are invited to is formidable, vivid and dazzlingly well imagined.
Our hero is a simple, cute little boy; the type Germaine Greer Dreams of. He's not too tough or macho, he's just an innocent thing, framed for something he didn't do, having to deal with a horrific situation. We have an excellent deuteragonist too but I want to leave that a surprise but suffice to say, I think you could watch the show just for them.
Not a comedy...well no more than any other Japanimation. But done with verve and whimsy. You're in a dark yet kitsch world that only relents for moments that will near enough tug at the heart as we dig deeper into this mystery.
The theme song is badass. It's not that genre most japanimation themes seem to come under (in my limited experience of them). It's some kind of alternative metal thing and it's awesomely done.
On the negative side, I think there are too many episodes for the story they're trying to tell and it feels a bit repetitive by the end but I know that's the executives fault, not the writers. My numerical rating is more of an averaging out of its episodes. It just gets tiring after a point.
Treat yourself to this brilliant piece of sugary terror.
A story of immense humor, brutality and pathos, I'm a little disappointed that it stopped at one season but I have made a point of just reading all the comics one day. One day...
It really hits the ground running in a way that i was not totally prepared for; our protagonist is thrown into a desperate situation by seemingly no fault of his own into the amazing concept of a prison contrived into some kind of macabre reality TV show.
The whole thing uses an aesthetic of carnivalian grotesquery where lurid colours and stuffed animals are the gate way to execution by combat and weaponized blood. A full spectrum of characters convey the sinister and adorable (even at the same time); the design and execution of the world we are invited to is formidable, vivid and dazzlingly well imagined.
Our hero is a simple, cute little boy; the type Germaine Greer Dreams of. He's not too tough or macho, he's just an innocent thing, framed for something he didn't do, having to deal with a horrific situation. We have an excellent deuteragonist too but I want to leave that a surprise but suffice to say, I think you could watch the show just for them.
Not a comedy...well no more than any other Japanimation. But done with verve and whimsy. You're in a dark yet kitsch world that only relents for moments that will near enough tug at the heart as we dig deeper into this mystery.
The theme song is badass. It's not that genre most japanimation themes seem to come under (in my limited experience of them). It's some kind of alternative metal thing and it's awesomely done.
On the negative side, I think there are too many episodes for the story they're trying to tell and it feels a bit repetitive by the end but I know that's the executives fault, not the writers. My numerical rating is more of an averaging out of its episodes. It just gets tiring after a point.
Treat yourself to this brilliant piece of sugary terror.