Overall Rating: 10
Story: 9
Characters: 9
Development: 10
Pacing: 10

WARNING: DO NOT WATCH THE ANIME, THE ANIME ENDS PREMATURELY AND YOU WON'T GET THE SAME EXPERIENCE.

Genres: Psychological Thriller (differs among sites), Gaslamp Fantasy, Mystery, Adventure, Shounen

Synopsis:

As the story starts off seeming somewhat typically, we are thrown into the light-hearted introduction of Pandora Hearts which takes place in a setting somewhat reminiscent to the Victorian-Era. Oz Vessalius, the next-of-kin as heir to the Vessalius house, one of the 4 Great Dukedoms alongside the Nightrays, Rainsworths and Barmas, is seen picking on his timid servant, Gilbert, not long before his rite of passage in which he will be introduced into society.

However, this calm before the storm is quickly blown away as during the Rite of Passage, Gilbert suddenly attacked Oz with a sword, and cloaked figures appear and banish Oz into the Abyss, the setting of a fairy tale that was supposedly told to keep kids from misbehaving. They declared that the sin Oz was committing was his very existence.

As we are thrown into the story we learn that the Abyss is home to denizens called Chains, and one such chain is the B-Rabbit, Blood Stained Black Rabbit, Alice, with whom he must make a contract in order for them both to escape the Abyss. It isn't long until the two are backed into the corner by the eccentric Xerxes Break into assisting the organization known as Pandora in obtaining the Core of the Abyss. Oz and Alice agree, so that Alice can recover her fragmented memories in the process.

Review:

Do not let the Shounen genre and some somewhat familiar themes such as Alice's amnesia deter you from reading this manga, for, as the plot develops over time at an amazing pace you'll come to find why I gave the manga such high marks. In fact, the iffy introduction and the somewhat familiar themes are the only reasons I gave this manga's story and characters 1 point short of perfection. However, over time these familiar themes are shown to be handled with such care and are presented so interestingly and amazingly, which is why it was ONLY 1 point short of perfection.

I, at first, was planning on dropping this manga, though the setting itself made me feel somewhat hopeful that this series would evolve into something more. We see so commonly modern, medieval or futuristic settings, or some odd hybrid of any or all of the three -- and in all 3, it is so tiring for every series to take place in a high school setting. The fact that Jun Mochizuki, the author of Pandora Hearts, thought to put the series in a less common setting interested me greatly.

And right I was. You may find yourself hooked about 6-10 chapters in when the psychological themes of this manga begins to become more prominent when its finally shown that his series shies away from letting anything be irrelevant, and it makes everything relevant in such a great way. And its at this moment that the manga will start doing what it does best: Making you feel like it, like many shounen, has already presented all necessary world building information, and that the plot will revolve around that, while its mystery themes leave you with questions that also make you doubt the former feeling, interesting you to find out what more developments will take place, and though I don't wish to ruin the surprise, it is better to tell you that its definitely the former. You must never underestimate the world or the plot, as you can be sure there will always be more information that'll be incredibly relevant that only makes the plot all the richer.

This series will gradually develop into a more complex, beautifully tragic story with an immersive world and amazing characters. Another one of this series' strong points is its pacing and development speed, and the characters, some of which may start off seeming typical, will develop into characters who'll make you feel sorrow for some of them, and how each of their personality traits and actions taken by those personalities have story-relevant reasons behind them and the interesting motives behind each character's motives.

This series is greatly recommended to any fan of manga, especially mystery and fantasy manga. Despite the scarce fight scenes, the series presents an amazing story with great pacing, great development and is beautifully tragic. The series melds together its somewhat odd mix of genres in an interesting, incredibly way and puts them in a setting within an incredibly immersive world. Do not drop this manga early on, as you will be missing out. I recommend reading 10-25 chapters, as its introduction is somewhat iffy, but later develops into something greater, though it'd be better for everyone to just read it through to the end.

WARNING: DO NOT WATCH THE ANIME, THE ANIME ENDS PREMATURELY AND YOU WON'T GET THE SAME EXPERIENCE.