Pandora Hearts

I think this is the only manga I've ever read that I'd give a solid 10. It's the only manga I've ever read that made me literally cry. It's the only manga I've ever read that made me feel so... just /feel/.

The characters are the strong point of the series. There is no one character you can pick as a favorite - they're all sympathetic, they're all very multi-layered. They all feel /human/. You want them to get through this, all of them, because they feel just like you do. And when you know there's no way they can all make it and the world can still be all right...

Pandora Hearts puts /your/ heart right through the ringer, but you keep coming back because there's just that something about it. Even if you're not a tragedy-hound, you'll come back. You /need/ to.

I'd go on for days if I could, but since I can't say two words without them being a spooiler, I won't do that.

Well , the first thing I want to say is that this manga series is a masterpiece. My seven days of journey in this manga series ended today.

When you see the title of this manga series all you remember is about the pandora box from Greek mythology. And yes the story of this manga series, in all the ways, means to show what happens if you "open the pandora box" . Generally it means how calamitous and radical consequences occur by your small and innocent action.

This manga series follows the basic story of the popular novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"by Lewis Carroll and pulls it off to a different level. Beware , its no fairy tale. It has the most cruellest story to begin with. The story has no bounds. It shows how cruel it can be to blame our selfishness on others. [ You think you are always right because what you see is your own world in which you can decide what you want to happen and what you do not want to happen. But you never put yourself in other's shoes and see the world in their view. Because you are afraid to accept the reality. ]. But it has its own humour too. Chillax!

Unlike the novel ,this story does not focus everything on Alice. Every character is given equal importance. Every character's life spins its own tale. And we will see how labyrinthine the intertwinement of their fates is. The story starts with no plot. I personally did not understand what was happening at the beginning. Chapter after chapter , my thirst for the truth of the story kept on raising. At starting ,after every chapter my thoughts were like these - "That's it!" , "That might be it!" , "He is the bad guy!" , " No , he might be a good guy" , " The story might end soon because the plot has been revealed" , "How come there are more than 75 chapters yet to read?!?" . But once I reached the midway of the series I dumbfounded myself. The story has been twisted in a very brilliant way and the plot I have build till that point have all gone haywire. But I was so happy how ridiculously awesome the story has turned into.

Story- 10/10

Its about a boy named Oz Vessalius , the heir to the one of The Four Great Dukedoms Vessalius. The other 3 dukedoms are Nightray , Rainsworth and Barma. The story starts with him being thrown into a different dimension which is known as Abyss by some Unknown people wearing blood red cloak who are later known to be The Baskervilles ,another dukedom which is known to exist before The Tragedy of Sabrie along with The Four Great Dukedoms. But, what is this abyss ? Why only 4 dukedoms and why The Baskervilles are not recognized into these dukedoms? What is The Tragedy of Sabrie? So many mysteries are present in this series which tangles around you and never let you stop reading this series. You got to compete the series to find out what is there at the end of the story. Think like you just entered a rabbit hole at the starting of this story and at the end of the rabbit hole you will see a whole new beautiful world. And so never try to find your way back. Keep going till the end.

Art- 10/10

Well, I personally never care much about the art as long as the story is good and intelligible. But Jun Mochijuki-san , the manga artist of pandora hearts, has presented it in a very majestic way that I imagined the whole story myself with background music too. I enjoyed the full manga to my heart's content. Not even a single chapter displeased me. It is a wonderful piece of work by him.

Character- 10/10

As I said before , all the characters are special. You can never judge a character without knowing his/her past , what he/she went through to reach that level. All the characters are based on the novel "Alice's Adventure in Wonderland" but their personalities pretty different from what you are expecting. Their powers come from chains which are actually the personalities you would expect from the novel. To understand this, reading the manga is the only way.

Enjoyment -10/10

No need to describe how much I enjoyed it. You should remember that " All the best people are crazy" and just enjoy the madness this story is going to present to you.

Overall- 10/10

Because , it is outstanding. Trust me , you will never regret reading this manga series. But you will regret for not reading this manga series till now.

That's it folks.

PS: This is my first review ever. So please feel free to point out any mistakes I have done. (^_^)

Ah, this is my first review...

Story: 10
Why? Well, because it was fantastic, of course. The story was very well-thought-out and it left me flabbergasted at some points. The story is literally everything you can ask for- comedy, adventure, romance, tragedy, mystery, fantasy, etc. It was thought-provoking and suspenseful, funny and happy, and lighthearted and beautiful all at the same time. The plot-twists in this story were totally unexpected, too. Looking back after reading you notice all the fore-shadowing, too.

Art: 10
I think the art was great and it did change throughout the story (it getting better). I personally, really liked the creepy-rabbit-plush drawings because they sent shivers down my spine. Each character had a beautiful design (probably minus a few, I'm looking at you, Isla Yura), also.

Characters: 10
The characters were superb. There was also some dislike-able characters (you-know-who) but they weren't disliked because they were dumb, stupid, useless, or weak; because they were evil, mean, and did horrible things that you would question. The characters were, honestly, great and not like your typical shounen characters.

Enjoyment: 10
Oh, how I loved Pandora Hearts. It made me laugh, cry [sob], confused, shocked, scared, and it just gave me all kinds of emotions. I loved it, beginning to end.

Overall: 10
Pandora Hearts is my favorite manga of all time. I think it is a phenomenal manga and deserves much more love than it has. I very much recommend it!

Pandora Hearts is seriously underrated in my opinion. This is a really twisted tale, with a plot full of incredible revelations and mysteries, which makes the viewer's jaw drop on almost every chapter. Sadly, this masterpiece is tainted by a pretty bad final arc.


STORY
Oz, from the noble Vessalius family, gets thrown into the Abyss, a dark dimension used as an eternal prison for criminals. But he doesn't know what sins is commited. In the Abyss, he meets Alice, and together they have the power to get out of this world. Back in the "real" world, Alice wants to look for her lost memories, as all she remembers is her name. Oz also wants to uncover the mysteries about his own past.
This is just a summary of the beginning, and it's already full of mysteries! What's the goal of the Baskerville family? What is Oz's sins? Why did Alice lose her memory? Who does the grave belong to?

This is, with no doubt, the manga with the biggest number of twists and revelations. Many others try this kind of story (Tsubasa Chronicle, and Attack on Titan to some extent), but they all fail where Pandora Hearts succeeded: this manga makes you hold your breath the ENTIRE TIME. The further you get in, the more detail you learn, and you get both answers AND more questions to tie altogether. All that in a consistent, dense, deep story.

This manga is genius. But obviously, it's not perfect.

First, I don't like the comedy. It feels so forced and does not make me feel anything. Luckily, the comedy mostly happens in the first half. The second half is much more serious, so that flaw almost disappears pretty quickly.

Secondly, this manga goes fast. I like fast. But even for me, sometimes it's a bit rushed. There are so many explanations about so many things, sometimes I just wish the author had just made some pauses, to let the viewer swallow what they just learnt. But more importantly, I wish the CHARACTERS had time to swallow everything that happens. For example, when a character dies, it would be good to see the others mourn. But there's just no time, so whenever that happens, the mourning is rushed.

Finally, there's the final arc. Man, was that uninspired. It really feels like the author was out of idea before the end. I mean, the manga throws at us so many twists and revelations, at some point, we have ALL the answers to ALL the questions... way before the end.
Also, the events are so cliché. So many "talk no jutsu", so many tropes... and no jaw-dropping. This is really the biggest issue of Pandora Heats in my opinion. The end is just bad.


ART
The manga is pretty good in my opinion. But it suffers from the flaws of this genre: no color, almost no background, few detail... But if you read mangas, usually that means these issues don't bother you!
For the rest, the manga has a "quiet art style". It has its own style (pretty close to yaoi manga, for some reason...), but it does not quite stand out in the crowd. It doesn't mean it's bad, though.


CHARACTER
I love the characters! They have so many story, and it's not a manichean story with heroes and bad guys. I'd like to quote this very manga : "There is no good guys and bad guys, justice and evil : there's just people with will."

Oz is the usual "young lonely shonen hero", but he turns out to be so much more once we get to know his story. At first he feels like a classic main character, but trust me: give it time, the character will get so much deeper and complex!

Alice is... almost not noticeable. Yeah, that's really weird for a main character. Most of the time, she's here without really being here. Every now and then she throws out a nice punchline, but she's really... almost not there.

And that raises the main issue of this manga in my opinion : balance between main characters and secondary characters. Some secondary characters turn out extremely important to the plot, which is awesome ; but on the other hand, some main characters just stand in the shadow most of the time!

Fortunately, most of the characters are awesome, so that's not much of an issue. Elliot and Leo, Break, Vincent, and of course, Jack... There's so many exceptional characters, that it doesn't matter who gets the spotlight.



ENJOYMENT
Pandora Hearts is a must read if you want a story full of twists and turns. It will really blow your mind. The beginning is a bit slow though, it's easy to find it boring. But even if that's the case, give it a chance!

When I first came across this manga, there were two things that made me stay to read the general synopsis. The first thing is the name, the second is the art. I thought that name sounded pretty nice. There was just a vibe that attracted me to it.The art looked pleasing enough, so I then thought to give it a try.

Pandora Hearts was probably the manga that let me stop disliking the Victoria era style. I would usually stick to reading stories of modern settings with modern style clothing. So this has been a new experience for me.

The general storyline is quite interesting. It is also a bit confusing at times. The mangaka would give hints along the way that would usually lead to a very unexpected situation. The links to Alice in Wonderland are also quite interesting. I, myself, am not very familiar with that series of books but I think the references were quite ingenious.

The characters were quite well developed in Pandora Hearts. Each character is quite different from one another (except maybe that they all seem to have a dark side to them). Throughout the story, each of the main characters' past is explored. I really like this element of the manga because a reader would not get bored with only knowing one or two of the characters' past.

Sometimes this manga makes me laugh, sometimes it gasping in awe at the twists present in the story(the mangaka surprises us all the time). I really like how this manga isn't just all comedy or just all dark moments. It is a mix of both. This is probably my main reason for finding Pandora Hearts very enjoyable.

I recommend this manga to anyone who doesn't want to read something too dark. Even if you don't especially like the Victorian era (like me), you should still give it a try. It's definitely worth it! (I myself have read it two times and am currently onto my third.) Just a final warning, this is a monthly manga so once you've read all the updates available, you will probably be left with a cliffhanger that will bug you for a whole month! ^o^

Pandora Hearts was unique. The manga had a world of its own and as reader, we get to enjoy how the story unfolds in an interesting way. I picked up this manga when I was browsing for amazing manga(s) with not so justified anime adaptation. I hesitated at first because I didn't really heard any from my acquaintances and peers, but I like the sense of adventure and reading works that are not so popular among my circle. I wholeheartedly advice you to read this series if you haven't yet.

For my specific review,

STORY (9/10)
The story is fantastic. Imagine a complex jigsaw puzzle written in a manga. The plot unfolds at every angle and more information are given to the readers on what really is the answer to the mystery of the world. As I've mentioned before, one of the beauty in this series is getting to know more about the world and its story. Some of you might not be used in this kind of writing, as most of the popular stories tend to be linear and follow a specific path. In Pandora Hearts, the story is written in unique way and you can really say that a lot of thinking was made to complete the story and make it amazing. However, I couldn't give myself to score the story 10/10, the main reason for this is the pacing. As I've mentioned, this story does not follow a linear style of writing; therefore, you shouldn't read this manga with a narrow mind, it requires you to at least remember specific details presented before as it might get relevant later on. Still, the manga suffers just like many others in terms of making a diverse story line. There might be surprise revelations here and there, but if you really focus on the details, they won't be surprising as you've expected such event to happen. Even in the final twist, if you really pay attention to the dialogues and try to connect the puzzle, the answer will become very obvious. I think i ruined my own enjoyment because I focused on tiny details and connected every pieces of puzzle, but it might be different from your experience.

Art (8/10)
I like how the panel changes from black to white and vise versa depending on the situation. It gives diverse emotions that correlates with the respective events. The character designs were also great, and became even greater as you'll realize the hidden meanings of these character designs. It also featured comedic versions of each character that could ease up the tense a little bit and it's really fantastic. Although, when compared to other manga, you might not be surprised with the designs of the characters and the environment as you might have seen better. Maybe it's because of the age of the manga, but when compared to the later ones, the art style might just be average for some.

Character (6/10)
This was the point where my enjoyment really dropped. Don't get me wrong, there are great characters in the series that have unique personalities and quirks, and they are very likable. However, there are also poorly written ones. Some with very weak resolves but seemed very relevant, some with complex personalities but changed with just a simple advise, and some with typical and boring personalities that became very complex all of sudden. Their growths were also inconsistent as some changed for A to B, then B to C, then C to A again. Still, there are some with fruitful growths and proud resolves. But the main problem is, I got too attached with the characters and little did I know, they weren't given justice by the author. I know tragedy is one of the themes in this manga, but I don't think the ones that the author gave were really justifiable and I don't think they deserved them (you'll agree with me once you've read). There weren't even hints for such tragedy and yet they were given for the plot's sake and I pity these characters because as a reader, they didn't deserve these hardships, but were given just for the sake. Piece of advise, don't get too attached with the characters (even though the author is so good at making you get attached with them).

Enjoyment/Overall (8/10)
Most of my enjoyment fell because of my over the top analysis on the story and attachment to the characters, but the plot is so good that I can't give it below that 8. Maybe with cleaner pacing and better timing in revelations, it might have been 9/10. It was a great read, and I'm really happy that I pick up this manga. I had a fun ride, I hope you'll too.

Chapters of this manga don't come out often enough. I've been waiting for MONTHS for the next chapter and it's killing me because Pandora Hearts is the most engaging manga I have ever read.

STORY: 9
First off, I can't stress enough how much I love the Victorian era. The cloths are a big reason why, and Pandora Hearts has much of the kinds of cloths I like. :P The plot of PH is elaborate and engaging, though it's not so much so that it leaves you drooling down your shirt wondering what happened. Even after it gives you a precious tidbit of info, it still leaves you wondering and willing you to go on. Usually with stuff like this, I'm able to predict what will happen, but that has happened only very rarely in Pandora Hearts. The tragedy of Sablier is a huge mystery and every concept of this manga is just so COOL, so DIFFERENT. Despite being and Alice in Wonderland twist, the story is completely unique.

ART: 9
The art is very good. It's easy to tell every character apart and they all look so different from face, to body stature, to cloths. I LOVE the cloths, as I've already said. I think that it's usually somewhat difficult to make suits look different, but PH doesn't seem to have that problem. I especially love anything and everything Break wears. It's Victorian with a slightly ridiculous flare that somehow makes it cool. The backgrounds are detailed and look like they've had a lot of love put into them. Not a single line is messy or wobbly, even from the beginning. The only thing I dislike is that there is a fair amount gore, which I can handle, but I don't especially prefer.

CHARACTERS: 10
Every single damn character in this story has such a hugely developed personality. There are no one dimensional cast members here, everyone is involved, and there are no useless characters, not even Oz's dad. Everyone plays their part like a chess piece on a board. It's really fun to see how everything unfolds. Oz is very well developed. Despite being raised by a rich family, he's not arrogant or self-centred, which shows that he is naturally kind. At the same time, he does have this really dark side that actually scares me on occasion and it shows all us readers that (and I quote): "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." At this point, my only complaint is that the story should have centred around Gilbert, as it was originally meant to, because more's going on with him than it is with Oz.

ENJOYMENT: 10
I loved reading PH and I'm sitting on the edge of my seat for the next chapter. It can have side-side-splitting humour, or cry-in-a-corner depression, but either way, there's a perfect balance of each. Once you start reading, you'll never want to put this manga down.

OVERALL: 9
I rarely ever give a manga a 10/10, and I'm reserving it for when I find the holy grail of manga, which this comes quite close to, if not for one small little thing that I would say if not for the fact that it's such a ridiculously huge spoiler that it just wouldn't be fair to any of you. SO, this manga is for sure worth your time. It's a Psychological Horror that's actually good for once.

I'm not normally a fan of this genre of manga (fantasy / action / drama / mystery), but the story sucks you in, the art is charming, and the world it takes place in is both layered and interesting. Pandora Hearts takes obvious inspiration from Alice in Wonderland (and an overall European ambient), but it does this in a refreshing way. Fantastic handling of plot makes this manga stick out and keeps you on your toes. If the storytelling were just a bit better, I would give this a ten, but as it is, it is a solid series and an exciting read.

My only wish would be for the chapters to come out more frequently.

I.... I can't believe it... After 1 1/2 months or more of reading. I have finally finished this !!!!

I have no idea why it took me so long. Normally really stuff like this within a week or a two. But i would put this off so long. Even with me forcing myself to read this it still shouldn't have taken this long.

I don't even know where to start with this.

The manga isn't bad really. It just starts loosing focus i feel like is the way to describe this. First 5-10 chapters are solid i'd say. You get a sense that the story is gonna be like X. Then later it just starts dragging on with stuff that seems needless imo. Entire chapters worth of content could be remove and the story wouldn't be affected.

Later on around chapter 60 the story starts picking up again. Some deaths happen that the story puts the atmosphere that this scene with X dying should be sad and emotional. Yet i just come across as board. The last 20ish chapters turn into utter meh.

Having random things that never seemed important come up and suddenly be important, Along with the story going on with more and more Preachy type dialogue .

I believe the 2nd to last chapter had one of the most retarded scenes i'v seen in recent time. Having X come back in his true form saying something dumb along the lines of " I'm back" or " Sorry for taking so long" Along with just a goofy looking close up of X face. It honestly looks like this scene was meant to be badass and just a cool scene. But i was sitting there laughing for awhile after seeing that.

How many things happen with all these stories finishing at the end just seems like an utter mess. Instead of spanning the completion of these story arcs over the span of the past 40 chapters, They decide to do it within 5.

The very ending where it shows what happened with characters over the years is just annoying and i feel that they could have just not had this at all and could've end this on a better note. Especially sense they mostly seemed very depressing. You don't want to end you 100 chapter story on a sour note. I feel this is common sense.

The re-use of character designs really started messing with me. Such as Lacie and Alice and Alice's sister i guess or her 2nd personality. It's not just them. We start getting other characters that look a ton alike. I had trouble remembering between the women. With Alice being one of the only one's that are noticeable on sight.

I can't even properly explain what's wrong with the ending. I know what's wrong with some parts and i can't even begin to think on where to begin typing for other parts.

Really you ( I guess i should say me, Sense my opinion probably isn't going to be that popular) Will only have much interest in two maybe three characters. Some aren't bad and actually interesting, But not enough to keep people hooked with them on screen. Most interesting characters being

Alice: By far the most interesting character. You can't help but want her to be the MC. She is so fun and interesting to have on screen. It is kind of annoying that she get's so little time on screen for some reason. She is mostly used in small dosages for comedic effect. While not bad. It's no where near as good as when she is on screen and is serious. You compare her to someone like Oz. You wish he wasn't apart of the story and wish it was just her and her split personality to replace Oz.

Break: You compare him to Oz and he is just a better character all together. Actually has notable character faults and is a better character overall. His slow degrading of the body also add's all the more interest. If this was Break and Alice as the main characters then this would be awesome.

Echo: What little screen time she get's is always of note. I'm always a sucker for her character types. It's later revealed that she is actually not the owner of the body or something along the lines. ( Side note :i ship AlicexEcho)

Reading through that will probably give you the impression that i'm not impressed with Oz. You would be right.

Oz: While for the firs 30ish or so chapters he is actually pretty alright. I like his " Not a care in the world" Attitude. Also played for good comedy. Makes you think he was meant to be more of a comic relief character. Later on he just became so boring. Instead of him being the one with little to no fighting capabilities, He is now the most OP character. Not any real build up. It was actually nice seeing a MC where he has little to no power and must rely on his allies.

The reveal that Oz was actually B rabbit and not Alice was cool at first. But the more i thought about it, It just ruined my opinion of the already degrading quality of the story. Alice is just the one who should be the B rabbit.

In fact. As soon as they started trying to humanize Alice is where the story started dipping in quality imo. Instead of being a mysterious entity from the Abyss, She is actually just a girl born in the Abyss and has no actual power besides a special eye color.

It makes even less sense when you wonder why Alice was the one that was freely in control of B Rabbits power. So we now have an awesome badass chick reduced to nothing more then a damsel in distress really. While yes she isn't really needed to be saved that much. It is just mind boggling to me that this is how they chose to go with the story.

The crap with Jack and Oz's body is too stupid for me to go into it. Especially how Jack was able to use Oz's power freely without Oz's having any ability to stop it.

All the time travel and how some characters are from 100 years ago is eh i guess. Nothing i really like about it but nothing i hate. Just so bleh

Overall it was a fun read for the most part. Especially when you look past the faults. Just has some issues that bug me a ton.

Pandora Hearts hit me really hard because of many amazing qualities. It has deep and complex, yet perfectly understandable plot, bright and beautiful art that can convey madness and melancholy, if it wants to do, cast of really melodramatic characters that nonetheless feels like real people. I really wanted to write this review.

Story: 9

It handles themes that most of shonen manga have, such as friendship, love, own personality with stong emphasize on the first one, but with great maturity and nuance. Empathy doesn't always become a magic fix to problems and can bring a tragedy, especially if it done in half-assed manner. Plot starts of with great intrigue, but really begin to take reader interest near 15th chapter. It's not a big problem, because once story begin to reveal own secrets it never stops until the very end. Prepare for plot twists among plot twists with many emotinally crushing episodes. Fortunatly author is pretty good at explaining things, so it doesn't become mess and brings one of the best mystery-driven plot in manga-medium.

Art: 9

It simply beautiful and suits very well with elegancy of Victorian age. Sometimes author can bring pretty scary things, because manga has a dark undertone with more mature outlook on bizarre legacy of Lewis Caroll Alice. In my opinion real forte of Jun's art besides amazing color illustrations is conveying characters emotions, especially those of melancholy. That aspect on par with another master of this - Ishida Sui.

Character: 10

Too many stories has a good plot with so-so cast or the other way around. Pandora Hearts managed to make the amazing cast of characters that drives story to the incredible path it has. Many of them have a comlplex personality with own backstory and understandable motivation. When they clash in dialogue or rare instances of action, author reveals some nice detail about their goals or worldviems. Finally they have some glimpse of weirdness to them. It makes a greath aesthetic match with parallels to Alice in Wonderland and rarely ends as simlpe wannabe.

Enjoyment: 10

Masterfully crafted emotional rollercoaster with joy and tears comes of very naturally. Unforgettable experience.

Overall: 10

If you love manga with complex plot, great sense of mystery, mostly melacholic, yet hopefull tone and great variety of bright characters with their own ideals and backstories - Pandora Hearts is certainly your choice.

[i]This manga like a puzzle...

First you take a a fragment stick together him to another — it turns a little picture. You take a second, and wonder, when you realize that the expected fragment is not glued! Pictures are confused, many fragments... It would seem that you do not gather the puzzle, consisting of unlimited possibilities of turns! But gradually, you find a a clue... A little insight allows to glue a few pieces. But then all is lost with a bang... and you begin to re-glue the unfortunate image.[/i]

The author was able to capture the story, forcing to watch not only the plot, but also feelings, emotions and reasoning heroes. By forcing feel their emotions, fears... The characters are not «empty», «soulless» heroes, drawing on a stamp. Here, every hero has its own little story, which later becomes yet another puzzle in story conundrum.

During the whole manga, we can not determine who stands on the side of «evil» and who is on the side of «good». The author traced fine line between them giving us to choose the side on which we are, because sometimes «evil» can act
from good intentions, and «good» could easily be by this the most «evil». Probably of all, we wanted to show exactly that, because in the world not there is absolutely pure people, because the even have someplace there are black spots...

Eyes pleases story, although he also shall issue the brain. To be honest, starting to read, I did not think of such a scale the developments. First, we see an outset — the peaceful idyll of one noble family. A little later denouement — emotional experiences of the characters, flavored with different battles and riddles. At the end of receipt to completion - a dramatic story, for the most part which are memories and answers to questions, that confuse even more...

The plot is really thought out to the smallest detail, behind the whole history, I have not met any retreat, which would later not have poured into the story, also did not see the empty chapters, which would simply be forgotten. A drawing is truly a masterpiece!

Bitty stories weave a mystic, fantasy, romance, detective, humor and a host of it would seem somewhere just to not be combined genres truly attracts, enveloping in mystery. It makes read to the very end, just for that would find answers and finally unravel this tangle of puzzles!

For what seems to be a more Shoujo-y manga, it had quite a bit of action - and violence. And though there were implied romances between certain characters they never got disgustingly mushy (and they didn't quite pan like you think they would... or even at all). The female characters that may seem weak are all strong in their own way and it works well (not like they're hitting you over the head with it). I also appreciate the motif of how love can be so easily twisted (be it parental, sibling, or romantic) - and this winds up being intrinsically tied to the plot.

The plot overall only seemed to be convoluted but all of the pieces of the puzzle came together quite nicely in the end. The twists and turns of the plot and how the characters themselves develop were interesting and often unpredictable so this was definitely worth the read.

And this is nitpicky but - Though the characters and settings were drawn very well, it felt like some actions were misrepresented. It was hard to tell sometimes what exactly was happening on certain pages. Reading on, you were able to intuit what had just happened but if the brief moments of vague art/paneling was intentional, it didn't help create suspense only confusion that took you out of the story. There's a right way and a wrong way and sometimes it wasn't quite right (because of shifting camera angles or misplaced emphasis, I couldn't help but think the anime probably would handle certain things better).

Read this if you like feels, dark brooding characters, Victorian aesthetic, Alice in Wonderland, tragic backstories, twisted love, a bit of chaos, and meaningful character deaths.

Don't read this if you don't like confusing plot lines - if you can't appreciate a good thriller/mystery and need everything served up on a platter for you right away mayyyyybe you don't have the patience for Pandora Hearts.

Also Vincent is best boi. Read to find out why :D

Ok...I wrote 10 for everything. It's hard not too! I adore this manga...I first started reading manga Sailor Moon and that got me hooked. When I watched the Pandora Hearts anime I was; Meh...I loved the characters but my personal opinion is that they messed up the plot a bit. Too many holes. Then I read the manga and it was wonderful!

Each character has a good/ happy/ tragic backstory. The plots twists are amazing, they will surprise you. I didn't expect to really like this because surprisingly I am not fond of Victorian era. Kurshitsuji is a exception. This is a wonderful manga that you should read! It made me cry, laugh, and cry some more. The plot and the art is breathtaking. Pandora Hearts is one of the best mangas out there.

At first glance, this looked exactly like the kind of manga I would avoid on principle. For one I'm not the hugest fan of the Victorian Era, or the Elizabethan Era, or whatever the heck it's called - the time period of stuck-up aristocrats and snuff boxes. For another, those character designs looked like the perfect bait for that class of fangirls that label themselves 'fujoshis' and go around shoving their gross ships down everyone's throats, whether it's a manga that even supports that sort of thing or not (one of the main reasons why I still avoid Black Butler, if I'm being honest) - the cast is populated with bishounens (beautiful men) and lolis (cute girls with doll-like features). I swear Arakawa Hiromu is the only female mangaka that draws male characters that actually look like real men.

But I still had incentive to give this thing a shot because a) it was recently completed (having to wait an entire month for each chapter update kinda kills a manga for me - that or Attack on Titan just got really boring) b) I kept reading comments of fans saying how amazing it is and how shocking the plot twists, which I could totally get behind; I love a good mindf*ck as much as the next person; and c) despite there being bishies and lolis, the character designs did look awesome (and, heck, beautiful men), and the artwork itself looks freaking gorgeous - I mean just look at the first volume cover.

So yeah, I dove right in and started the breathtaking, heartwrenching, soul-crushing experience that is Pandora Hearts.

Oh my God, what a beautiful story, in every sense of the word.

I think the first clue I got to how great the series would be was when I started getting my first inklings of de ja vu; I've read a lot of manga since starting university, but no other manga has ever been able to completely measure up to the amazingness of Full Metal Alchemist in my book - until Pandora Hearts. Gosh, but did I get big FMA vibes from this manga. It's not that the plots are overtly similar (although reading it over the second time with my sis [yes, this manga warranted an immediate reread] I did find I could make a lot of connections between certain elements of both series - the Tragedy of Sablier and the city of Xerxes/Cselkcess, the Baskervilles and the Homonculus, the Abyss and the Truth, illegal contracting and human transmutation, etcetera etcetera); it was more the feeling I got while reading of slowly discovering, piece by piece, something bigger and more dangerous than what the story initially presented, but foreshadowed it would; a hint here and there of a giant trump card the author is keeping hidden up her sleeve, ready to hit you with. I understood I was reading something carefully thought out and planned from beginning to end, and that no event, character, not a panel was going to go to waste (and so I tried to pay as much attention as I could, except, more fool me, I was reading this online and the translations available are awful and made things a lot more confusing than they should have been).

And it paid off really well. The plot twists, the reveals, every dirty secret, they were every bit as brain-numbingly jaw-dropping as people said they would be. Practically every mystery is explained, every loose end caught and tied, and the ending, which far from being the perfect happy ending that was FMA's ending, was nonetheless perfect for its aching bittersweetness. I can't remember the last time a piece of fiction has made me reel in shock as much as this manga has since... since... shit, maybe Harry Potter? And that never left me wanting more simply for the sake of wanting more, rather than because there was anything left to be explained. I desperately needed to listen to something appropriately beautiful and tragic before I could even begin to put my life back together to move on to something else and sadly not even any of the anime openings I had seemed accurate. Someone needs to reboot the anime and give it Brotherhood worthy openings!

In case you haven't picked it up by now, prepare for all kinds of tragedy and despair and wailing at the screen/page in anguish while reading this series. Pandora Hearts does not pull any punches, and I love it for that. More than simply having a great and thickly woven plot that only held me enthralled with its mysteries, the characters - all of them - were so delightful, so multi-faceted, and all so colorful, they provided the main drive for me to want to know what it is that happened, and will happen, to each of them as the story progressed. The attachments you will form to any or all of these characters will prove fatal, though: this manga has probably one of the highest death counts I can think of out of any other manga I have read, and as heart-breaking as it was, I loved that every death was final, and that every death meant something and affected me in some way, whether I even liked the character or not. So often in literature, or any form of media really, the death of a character would almost always feel like a plot device, something that only happened because the writers felt it needed to happen, and the knowledge of that, and how much easier it became to predict which death it would be, would mostly numb me towards the actual death when it happened. Yeah, it was sad, but now the chances of any other character dying has lessened severely. With Pandora Hearts, even knowing a character was going to die, I'd scream for it not to be true, because I genuinely loved these characters and wanted them to stick around. It wasn't sad just for the sake of it being sad that someone died, or because it was sad for the other characters, it was legitimately sad because I really really enjoyed their company and wanted them to get their happy endings. None of these deaths felt like they happened exclusively to manipulate my feelings or move the plot along, or just tossed in there for no real reason. It was a combination of everything, and at the same time because, well, shit happens, and people die.

If I had to fault this manga for anything, it would be for once again raising my standards that much higher and making it even more difficult for me to find a manga I could equate to greatness. I've read it twice over and it's already been two weeks since my second reading, and I still want more. Please, please, let there be at least one more manga out there that could make me feel even a fraction of what I felt for Pandora Hearts and Full Metal Alchemist. Let that manga be a completed one. And if not, let that manga be D. Gray Man. D. Gray Man looks cool. I really need to read it.

Also, I might need to suck it up and give Black Butler a chance, because who knows?

Story: 10/10
Art: 10/10
Character: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 10/10

I literally cannot understand how anyone on earth could give this less than a 10/10 on every account if they have read all 24 volumes because my only problem with it could have been the art but this was largely due in part to the time period because by the end it is IMPECCABLE.

This story has constantly been on my mind for over a decade and there are not enough words to express how much I LOVE THIS MANGA and how much it deserves a full reboot anime worthy of it's title. The characters are so intricate and developed so much so as you can't really hate anyone because almost all their actions are justified.

The plot is so amazing with foreshadowing and callbacks you'd never even realise, it has the perfect amount of subplots and fluff to make you feel the full range of emotions. I will never shut up about this because Jun Mochizuki has carried my life and I want my ashes to be condensed into paper so this manga (especially volume 17) can be printed on it.

This is such a great anime I would a have died if jun Mochizuki never thought of this. you must watch it I just love this anime it has ups and downs but over all it was the best anime of the season and the book is a must read.

I can't stress how completely amaing this manga is. I started out watching the anime and when the episodes wouldn't come fast enough I began reading the manga...and now I'm waiting for each chapter to come out.

I've always liked interesting spins on Alice in Wonderland and this one tops them all for me. All the characters are interesting, deeper than they look, and keep you guessing as to who they really are and what secrets they are hiding. Where some characters may have come off as cliche in the first few chapters it is revealed later on that they have much darker and deeper pasts than you could ever guess. It's hard for me to write too much without spoiling it, but if you're looking for a good manga to read really should try this one out.

This manga has some of my favorite anime characters and probably one of the best storylines I've ever read. The art work is beautiful and it really lives up to all expectations. I just hope they keep the gore from the manga in the anime. All in all I give it a perfect 10 though I wouldn't reccomend it for younger children... when you get to around chapter 20-25 or so you'll understand what I mean.

Give it a shot! You won't regret it! ^_^

I'll make this review spoiler free. If there's any spoilers, I will warn you of them.

I found this manga by first watching the anime of it. The anime was wonderful even though some moments were stretched. However, the story didn't go all the way to the end and so many questions were left unanswered. This is the first manga I've ever read and so far it's been worth it.

CHARACTERS ~
I think all the characters are wonderful in each aspect and I love that they all have some story arc. They all come back at some point and are not just there for laughs for example. They're also very smart and relatable characters and it's easy to pick your favorite (mine is Xerxes Break btw). They're all very fun and energetic and play well in the story.
I'll write a little bit about every main character here.

Oz Vessalius
Oz is the protagonist of the manga. He has a habit of accepting everything weird while it happens without asking any questions. In other words, he just rolls with things. Of course accepting everything has it's ups and downs and they're of course touched upon the manga. He's also a big flirt and loves helping others in need and catches on things very quickly.

While I love Oz as a character, I can't help but feel a bit annoyed by him from time to time. He's too much of a good guy to me even though he isn't perfect. He often seems a bit weak but it could be just about not getting any love from his father. Of course there's nothing wrong with being weak. I don't know, he just isn't my type of person I guess.

Alice
Alice is a chain of the Abyss that Oz made a contract with. She is tough and honest to her feelings. Alice is very smart like all the characters in the manga. She understands loneliness well after being alone in the darkness of the Abyss and relates to Oz well. She also loves meat.

I love Alice. She's always energetic and doing something. She's smart and complements Oz very well. She doesn't worry too much and just overall gets things done. She's of course flawed like any normal person and that makes her beliavable. Sometimes she takes things too far and often argues with the other characters.

Gilbert Nightray
Gilbert is Oz's servant. If you don't want ANY spoilers about the manga you shouldn't be reading any further - if you're okay with spoilers from the first couple chapters then this shouldn't reveal too much. [SPOILER ALERT BEGINS] In the beginning Gilbert is a year younger than Oz. He is shy and afraid (mostly of cats). He can also be very brave when needed the most. After Oz returns from the depths of the Abyss it's gone 10 years from the time he was cast there. In that time Gilbert has grown into a man wearing all black. He has gained confidence and can be very hotheaded from time to time. When the story continues, he becomes more and more afraid of losing Oz from his life because he feels he's not needed anymore. He also carries the burden of joining a rival duke house of the Vessalius, the Nightrays.

Gilbert is a wonderful angsty character. He's been mocked in the manga many times and it always makes me laugh. Because of his hotheadedness he and Alice always find a reason to fight and I just love that. They're hilarious. Gilbert is a well written character who always takes action to protect Oz and others he cares about. There's not much more to say about him, other than that he's great. [SPOILER ALERT ENDS]

Xerxes Break
Break serves the duke house of Reinsworth. He's brave, smart, mysterious and like most of my favorite characters, wonderfully weird. He eats a lot of sweets and likes to steal other's desserts. He enters closed spaces from the weirdest places and gets out of them the same way. He doesn't trust people that easily and thus doesn't have many friends in the beginning.

What should I say about this character? Well, what shouldn't I! He's not only my favorite character of the anime and manga, he's also my favorite character of all time. And not without a reason. He's story arc is perfect and I look up to him in every single way. He's always doing something funny or badass (except in the touching moments) and takes the story forward. He's also very determined and does anything to achieve his goal. He's funny and unique. If I write anymore it's all going to end up with me screaming "I LOVE HIM SOM MUCH OMGOMGOMG" so I'm just going to stop right here.

Sharon Reinsworth
Sharon is the pretty girl of the story. She's young and beautiful and like any Reinsworth woman should be, very elegant. She loves girl talk. She of course has a darker side too, acknowledging her own weakness.

Even though this characters doesn't have many flaws she still seems very human. She's often smiling and likes to help out when she can. Like I already wrote, she awknowledges her weakness later in the manga and that's probably why I'm okay with her character.

STORY~
The story was covered in mystery from the very beginning. The secrets took a long time to be revealed and every time you got to know something it just raised more questions. At some point toward the end of the manga they just suddenly revealed all the biggest secrets in a big pile of information. It was okay and played very well in the story like every other aspect of it, but it took a little more time to process that way. All of the secrets are very well thought out and give you very satisfying results. Every character plays a part in the story and it never seems out of place. The story seems to be going towards a more and more epic ending every chapter and I can't wait to see how it all plays out in the end.

ART/STYLE~
Being the first manga I've read I can't say too much about the art, but I'll try to write something anyway. I thought the art was very beautiful and the character easily identifiable. The backrounds, when there were some, looked amazing. Compared to anime styles at least there isn't really anything outstanding or that different about it, but to my eye it was all just so beautiful.

LAST THOUGHTS~
After read the manga as far as I have I just love it so much. Every single aspect of it. I wish they would've continued the anime farther as well. The manga always surprises me and makes me shake from excitement waiting for the next chapter. It's so well written that I can't even handle it. It's perfect. Yes, it's that good. It makes you think about things you normally might not, mostly around the subject of what is selfish and it has opened my eyes to so many things. It also gives you great drama, action, comedy and fantasy moments. I have nothing else to say, but

"Don't try to excuse yourself by saying you're doing it for someone else's sake"

Who said that? You'll know if you read the manga ;).

I maybe look like I`m overrating this but no ... I feel this manga is one of the best yet one of the most unjustified and I spouse due to two reasons the anime and first chapters was kind slow and boring although personally I enjoyed the anime ... there also another reason some may feel it`s complicated but even though I recommend it the art ,the character is not shallow and you can feel connected to it ,the action is good , romance there is but not the way kill the story ... what else yes the ending it really great ...I hate when a good manga ruining by bad ending but here it`s the opposite it make much better
Overall I love it and I recommend it

Please do not disregard my review simply because I've given the overall rating a straight ten, as well as most of the other aspects of this wonderful manga. (And the only thing not rated a ten is the art, which is given a nine!) I tend to skip over reviews that look like the only thing they will do is rave about the topic myself, but I can assure you I will be as honest and unbiased as possible. After all, PandoraHearts deserves nothing less.

(Yes, "PandoraHearts" is written as a single word with the "H" of "Hearts" still capitalized--the proof stealthily given in a few parts of translated material, most notably the blurbs of the Caucus Race side novels.)

Before I go on to covering the separate parts of the PandoraHearts manga, I'd like to put in a few words about the anime. Said anime aired for an extremely short period of time during 2009, and it was cancelled for good reason. Although the soundtrack was quite good (not exceptional as a whole but still admirable, with only certain tracks reaching "exceptional" territory), this did not make up for the multiple failures the anime had in regards to the manga.

The animation/art itself that was used in the anime would be considered incredibly poor even before 2009's standards. The colors are too bright and don't flow well, the outlines of character designs are strangely sharp, the movement that is animated is unfaithful to how human beings actually move, and overall, it is all excessively simplistic.

While it followed the manga decently, it still managed to omit several confusing but vital details in order to reduce the complexity of the anime for the audience. It got progressively worse as the anime continued. Eventually, when the anime was cancelled and the manga was nowhere near finished (in fact, the "true" plot had barely been introduced), the former produced a horrific ending that left all strings hanging and made little to no sense.

I've been ranting about the anime for too long now, I suppose.

Basically? Don't watch the anime. Read the manga.

As for the manga...


ART - 9/10

There is only one reason why I didn't give the art of PandoraHearts a ten, and that is because the art starts off someplace a bit below what I would consider "mediocre." At the beginning, PandoraHearts' art looked...rather odd, if I'm being honest. The lazy depictions the anime chose to use looked worse even though it was based on the original art, but the art in the first place had a weird habit of being unusually disproportionate.

However, when I hear the term "art evolution," I'm forced to think of PandoraHearts every time. Jun Mochizuki's art skills increase drastically in very short periods of time, and by the end of the manga, it's drop-dead gorgeous. Stunning. Ethereal. Take your pick.


STORY - 10/10