Deadman Wonderland 7 -WOW WHAT A TWIST WOWZERS
A couple of quick notes so that I don’t toss out spoilers before the break that people might stumble upon and get pissed about if they are not caught up on Deadman Wonderland‘s story and somehow still care about the plot:
I recorded a podcast with the Metanorn folks a couple of days ago. Not totally sure when it will be released, but I’ll be sure to give them a shout on here when it is. It was definitely a fun experience!
Also, as it pertains to Deadman Wonderland, I called bullshit on the line above at first, but just to be sure, I did some quick research — apparently, it is possible to live without a stomach, except of course one’s diet is drastically altered (since a major step in digestion is skipped). Now, I’m not as certain that lacking a stomach and a kidney would put Minatsuki in the best position to exert as much energy as she does fighting, but hey, I guess all the show would need to do is hand wave it with some bullshit about the Deadman powers changing a human’s biological make-up or whatever. Wouldn’t be the first time anime character had sketchy biology, anyway.
So onto the actual meat of the episode: It’s more or less implied that Shiro is also the Red Man via some sort of alternate personality. Same mask (the whole costume being inspired by the Ace Man costume of Ganta and Shiro’s youth), same crazy grin (of course, everyone in this series has the same crazy grin, but whatever), Shiro being the president’s plaything, Shiro’s reference to herself as being, “not the one who likes [sweets]”, etc. Blah, blah, blah, evidence, blah, blah.
It might be a decent twist if there were any reason to care about the characters at all. It’s certainly not an original twist; it’s basically forgotten childhood friend + multiple personalities = tragedy. But there are very few (if any) original twists anymore; what makes a twist worthwhile now is not the twist itself, but the impact it has on characters about whom the audience cares. (Though I concede that a twist for its own sake can sometimes be interesting and memorable if the story is written well enough.) You-know-what in ep3 of Madoka Magica is a worthwhile twist because of how it changes the focus of the show and how the audience looks at and feels for the characters. (Although I don’t think the characters were amazingly built by that point.)
So, yeah, the before and after of the twist is what matters more than the twist itself. I can’t be too presumptuous about the after, though if the pattern of the show so far is any indication, if Ganta learns about Shiro’s other personality before this season concludes, then it will mostly lead to a lot of uninteresting whining from Ganta. Certainly, though, I think many can concede that the characters in the anime aren’t built in such a way that gives this twist the proper impact. I’m basically laughing at them and the situation, so I kind of brushed off the twist. (Curiously, the way it is presented in this episode, that seems to be the way it is handled here. It’s almost an afterthought.)
Anyway! Enough of me taking Deadman Wonderland somewhat seriously. It’s on the precipice of Terribad, but not quite there yet. Come on, Deadman Wonderland. Go over the edge. You know you want to.
UNMEI KAIHEN 
05/30/2011 at 12:48 pm
I called BS on the missing stomach thing, too. But if you say it is possible then I am gonna have to look it up. Still sounds like a really horrible procedure and life though.
I’m liking Deadman Wonderland up to this point, too. I’ve pretty much pushed it into the unintentional comedy section and get a good amount of LULz and face palms from it. I don’t quite know what makes a series Terribad, but it’s awkward enough for me to call it just bad. Funny how such a crazy show handles Shiro’s big reveal in a comparatively subtle way. Maybe it’s a red herring?
05/30/2011 at 2:05 pm
Yeah, from what I read, you compensate by radically changing your diet — you can only eat certain types of foods that are easy to digest, your portions are smaller (since you can’t handle larger quantities of food) and you eat more meals to make up for it. Basically, spreading your daily allotment of food more evenly over the course of the day so that the reconstructed digestive system can handle it. Kind of interesting, I think! Though I doubt Deadman Wonderland put that much thought into; the author probably thought it sounded badass for a little girl to be a crazy fighter without a kidney or a stomach.
Terribad is like great art: I can’t really define it, but I know it when I see it.
05/30/2011 at 2:07 pm
I think the big reveal is subtle because it’s supposed to change the way we think about Shiro. I think it is also supposed to lead to some scenes of dramatic irony since the audience know something that the protagonist doesn’t know. How they incorporate it into the show is anyones guess. I just think of Shiro like a walking time-bomb now. All that has to happen is the lullaby has to stop…
05/30/2011 at 2:18 pm
I’d probably be more accepting of that explanation if Deadman Wonderland had shown any subtlety anywhere other than in the ED. (I liked your post about that, btw.) I can see what it’s supposed to be, but I have zero investment in Shiro, so — at least for now — the twist rings kind of hollow for me. I could of course eat those words later if the series takes some sort of massive shift, which is why I didn’t want to be too presumptuous about what the series might do with this detail (other than a joke or two).
05/30/2011 at 4:19 pm
Well it’s a little unfair of me to come out with my take on the twist. It might have rung shallow for me if I hadn’t spoiled myself looking for pictures to use in the post. I was more interested in how they would execute the twist since I already knew the content.
There is a distinct feeling in this episode that things are about to get even more out of control in DW. The director of the place is presumably dead and Tamaki has sent in a bulldog to take control of situation. The other bit (and what I felt has also been somewhat subtle up till now) is the growing dissatisfaction of Makina and how she intends to throw her hat into the ring to get to the bottom of the underhanded dealings that are going on. Makina (as I sort of alluded to in my post (which I’m glad you enjoyed)) is the character who most fascinates me thus far. I’m curious what her role in the story will be going forward.
05/30/2011 at 4:17 pm
I had fun recording! We should have it up soonish, as for this recent deadman episode finally back story on Shiro at last. Even thou the ending video already spoils that she knows Ganta.
Not the fastest show ever it still is very very slow plot wise anyway! But I can’t quit now after seven episodes in.
05/31/2011 at 1:55 am
The thing about that twist is there was no prior foreshadowing in the story (the ED doesn’t count). It’s as though the manga author came up with the characters of the Red Man and Shiro before deciding that they are the same person. The whole Shiro is Ganta’s childhood friend rather comes out of nowhere too. Strikes me as though there’s a certain amount of making it up while we go along syndrome here
06/01/2011 at 7:43 am
That seems true for like 90 percent of anime, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if that were the case for Deadman Wonderland.