This Unfinished Review was something that I actually started in 2015. It was something that my co-writer was very excited for and kept saying over and over that it was going to happen. Everything that I have written for myself in this review was done close to a full year ago and was just waiting around for Jukan to finish up his parts. However thanks to the likes of Final Fantasy XIV, Pokemon Go, and many other things it just wasn't a priority so here we are. I have taken the liberty of making sure the majority of what all he was going to say can still be understood below. I hope you enjoy the review that could have been.
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But, does that mean there was never any light?"
*Length and Spoiler Warning - There is a LOT of plot shoved into these 25 episodes so this may take a while and there will be spoilers throughout. If you care about that sort of thing then this may not be your day!*
Ghost here, and welcome to another
UGH...nothing better than waking up with a horrible headache. What exactly did I do last night? I remember making some food for next week's review. Then I went to the Bannered Mare and had drinks with some daedric prince named Sanguine or something like that and.... there's something about a portal opening in the floor and.... Where the heck am I?
There's darkness all around me. Strange and ancient things are moving slowly through the darkness whispering and ranting to themselves. Nothing seems to make sense here, and I keep having the feeling that something malicious is watching me.
You know this seems REALLY familiar. Wait... I think I hear someone coming.
Ah, so it seems another has found his way here! How long have you been wandering this infernal realm?
I... I don't know. I just sort of woke up here. Who are you? Where are we? Why the heck do you have a background when I only have darkness? Any idea how I got here?
Oh, I'm Jukan Hirokutora, and this is the Realm of Obscure Anime; a place where subbed is the only way to watch in English, and the translations are usually fan-made. As for the landscape and your situation, can't really say. Not much has ever really made sense here from the beginning, I mean, I'm a wandering anime character for crying out loud!
Realm of Obscure Anime, eh? I believe I've approached these lands before but only once or twice. That would explain the creepiness, lack of logic, and the overwhelming stench of the armpit sweat of self-righteous fanboys. Any idea how the heck we can get out of here?
Well the contract states that we must do an anime review; an anime review of an obscure series few have heard of, myself included, at that. But if few hadn't heard of it, it wouldn't be obscure would it? Oh ghad! This place is getting to me now!
OH, that's it? You're on then! Wait... obscure anime, contracts, weirdness, creepy realm, murderous teddy bear this is all really sounding famili.... PANDORA HEARTS!
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I've always been a fairly casual fan of anime ever since the days that Dragonball Z, Tenchi Muyo, and Yu Yu Hakusho were airing on Cartoon Network. The stylized artwork, strangeness, and storylines drew me in unlike many American shows. With the possible exception of Fullmetal Alchemist however, the world of anime is a gargantuan labyrinth of muddled confusion, genres, fan service, and translations that I chose to avoid for the most part. I generally will hit an anime here or there if someone suggests one that is easily accessible or extremely strange (hence any previous anime titles I may have covered here.) This is how I came to know of Pandora Hearts. A good friend of mine who went by the screen name Kanda had suggested this anime and linked me to where I could view it. And that brings us to today's blog post. How about you, Jukan?
Well Ghost, my start was the same as yours. I too started with Toonami back when it first aired, and have developed a love for anime starting with Sailor Moon. As time passed, I came to the knowledge of anime's Japanese origins and found out why I loved them way more than American Cartoons shortly after watching such anime as Inuyasha on Adult Swim. As I grew, my love for anime grew and my horizons began to grow. I started taking suggestions from friends, looking around the internet, and started falling in love more and more with anime, video games, and anime styled video games. Anime is part of my life and I wouldn't give it up for the world! Just knowing there are anime I've never heard of that slipped from underneath makes me even more excited when I can finally get my hands on them. Pandora Hearts is one such anime and I'm proud to say that I am thankful Ghost has offered this opportunity to check out a new anime and even the chance to give my whole-hearted opinion on it as well. Thanks a ton, Ghost!
Well now that you know a little more about our backgrounds with anime in general, let's jump down the rabbit hole and take a look at the bizarre creation known as Pandora Hearts.
STORY
Oz Vessalias (or Bezarius depending on your translation) is about to become the head of the Vessalias household once he performs a ritualistic ceremony. However, the young Oz along with his sister Ada and servant Gilbert are playing around the castle grounds. Oz requests that Gilbert perform a task during his ceremony, a great honor. As they head back to the castle, the ground gives way and the pair find a grave hidden underground with a pocket watch attached to it. As Oz opens the pocket watch he receives a vision of a girl attempting to murder him before coming back to his senses. Oz decides to keep the strange watch and runs off to change for the ceremony with Ada, but Gilbert starts acting strangely. 
Oz meets a girl from the Reinsworth Family called Sharon. She wishes Oz luck as he heads into the chapel. Oz's Uncle Oscar and Gilbert are there awaiting the ceremony but suddenly the clock in the chapel which hasn't moved for a century chimes. Time freezes as a group of people in red cloaks appear and Gilbert sticks a knife into Oz. The ground opens up and the girl from Oz's dream appears through it and transforms into a monstrous black rabbit known simply as B. Rabbit. B. Rabbit fights the Baskervilles and severs the strings controlling Gilbert. Gilbert tries to help his master but is tossed aside as he sees underneath one of the Baskerville's hoods. Oz rushes at the man but Gilbert steps in the way to stop him from harming the Baskerville man. Gilbert is struck down as the Baskervilles open a portal to the Abyss and toss Oz and the B. Rabbit in.Oz wakes up after being dragged into the depths of Abyss. At first he believes this to be some sort of dream but he quickly realizes this place is real. After wandering for a short time, he steps on an old messed up baby doll. Oz picks the doll up and it suddenly comes to life with a very creepy "This boy looks tasty!" Suddenly realizing the danger he is in, the scary realm starts filling up with broken doll houses and other children's toys floating all around him. Oz makes a run for it but find himself face to face with a real threat; he meets a gigantic dolly looking creature known as a Trump. A girl appears by his side. It was the girl from his dream earlier who tried to kill him! She calls herself B. Rabbit and takes Oz away from the creature. When the two get to safety, B. Rabbit explains that the creature he just saw was called a chain and that a Trump is the weakest of the chains. B. Rabbit is a chain herself but of a different kind and level.
Despite this bizarre news we do not see Oz going out of his mind. In face, we find that he was raised to stay calm even in the strangest of circumstances. Kinda wish I could say... IS THAT A GORILLA RIDING A...*clears throat* Sorry anyway... Oz began acting calmly after being nearly kidnapped once when he was younger. After his brief explanation, the B. Rabbit tells Oz to call her Alice as that is her real name and that Oz has "special permission" to call her such. Oz asks what Alice wishes to do with him and she explains that she wants the exact thing he does... to escape Abyss. She has been waiting for someone like Oz to come around and make a contract with her. Apparently while trapped in Abyss, her powers are sealed until she makes a contract with someone thus giving her the strength to rip a hole into the real world. Oz gets ready to accept Alice's contract but before he can, a female voice screams. Oz is suddenly spirited way only to see... SHARON-CHAN from before?!
Sharon claims to have come there to rescue Oz after he disappeared. However as they walk further through Abyss, Sharon slips up and mentions information about Alice that she would have never known. It turns out that Sharon was actually another chain tricking Oz by accessing his memories so that it could eat him!! Alice comes to the rescue once again and the contract is made. This is, by the way the only kiss in the entire series so enjoy it! Alice takes over Oz' body and with her new found powers escape Abyss and appear unconscious back in the church near some very familiar faces.
Oz, Raven, and several men from Pandora decide it would be an excellent idea to go back to the castle where Oz was first cast into Abyss. Oz notices that the grounds aren't as pristine as he remembered them being not that long ago. Oz heads to the grave and reminisces about his friend Gilbert as Raven discovers that all of the men within the chapel are being controlled by strings the way Gilbert was when Oz was cast into Abyss. It turns out that the puppeteer is Doldum, the chain of a Baskerville woman named Zwei. Oz returns to the chapel to overhear Raven and Zwei's conversation to learn that not only has it been years since he first was cast into Abyss but that Raven is actually Gilbert having grown up over these last few years. Zwei uses Doldum to control Raven (who will be called Gilbert from now on) once more in the hopes of sending Oz back to Abyss as he is the "Key to the Will of Abyss."
Oz is knocked out cold from the dream and Gilbert takes Oz to his house. While there the clock mark on Oz's chest moves for the first time. The countdown to his eventual fate has begun. Shortly thereafter, a man from Pandora named Mr. Liam comes to announce to Break and the others that a grim has escaped. With help from a girl named Echo, the trio eventually find the man controlling the Grim and the Grim attacks. Alice attempts to ward off the Grim but is having difficulty so Gilbert touches Oz's head which release's Alice's power to become the B. Rabbit. However before the fight commences, the man is shot in the head from the shadows and is dragged into Abyss. The shooter is revealed to be a man with eyes of different color by the name of Vincent who sent Echo to find the chain's master. He claimed to fear for Oz's life. Vincent offers the trio a ride back to the Reinsworth Manor in his carriage. Once there, Gilbert explains more of his backstory and how he formed a legal contract with the Nightray's chain, Raven. He has been using Raven's power to seal away Alice's power unless needed. Oscar appears to Break to inform him that all records indicate Alice's first memory was of events 100 years ago. [During this section, Jukan was going to talk about all the weirdness of being taken to the Cheshire Cat's Realm. Vincent kidnaps Sharon while the other are in the Cheshire Cat's realm. Break is shown to be the controller of The Mad Hatter. Ultimately Oz meets with the memory of Jack Vessalias and Jack sends Oz into part of Alice's memory to find her.]
Oz loses control as the hand on his seal moves once again. Sensing the problem, Jack sends the wounded Gilbert on to stop Oz because if he were to destroy Alice's memory, that realm and their very existence would cease to be. Oz, indeed, begins to destroy Alice's memories so that she would not be in pain of such a horrible memory but Gilbert slaps him back to reality. Oz sees Alice and frees her from the nightmare as the Cheshire Cat appears before them. Break follows soon after and removes the cat's collar containing Alice's memory. In a last ditch effort to protect the Will of Abyss, the Cheshire Cat begins destroying the dimension, but Equus uses his portal abilities to save Alice and Oz. Break figures out that Vincent has kidnapped Sharon and goes to rescue her. Vincent suggests an exchange; Sharon to be returned in exchange for that memory of the Cheshire Cat's to be destroyed. Break does this and returns to the Reinsworth Manor with Sharon.
[During this section, Jukan was going to talk about Oz's trip to see his sister at her school. While there they discover other ruling family members and help in catacombs beneath the school]
[During this section, Jukan was going to discuss how everyone returns to the mansion only for there to be a massive outbreak of Chains in the town. They go to the town, however the Jabberwoky is attacking. Eventually Oz discovers that he can influence the Will of Abyss and she stops the attack. He then meets his father from a distance and discovers that it was his father's chain who tossed him into Abyss to begin with. Oz simply walks away from his father]
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Well in that case let's hurry up and get to the analysis portion before our brains turn to mush....mushroom...room....ROOOOOOOOOMMM like alligators in leopard prints are the future when you really think about it...ya know?
(Jukan speaks nonsense)
What's Good About It?
[Jukan talks about how this is a Unique Twist on the Alice in Wonderland story]
There is one particular aspect of this anime that stood out to me personally. I have always been a great fan of all things creepy and Burton-esque; there's a reason I go by the name Ghost after all. If you're looking for unsettling, somewhat creepy, or absolutely heartbreaking and terrifying then you'll get your money's worth here. Taking Alice in Wonderland and twisting it into this dark abyss opens up a wide array for creativity and in many cases the creators have taken hold of the potential. Certain scenes just come out of nowhere with some really creepy imagery that shifts all of a sudden such as the following two examples.
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| A vision of Alice turning on Oz |
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| A cute white rabbit puppet suddenly starts bleeding from the eyes |
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| A young illegal contractor is pulled into Abyss |
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| Oz walks through Alice's memories and finds her dead body from the past. |
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| In a flashback, Alice watches in horror as a young Vincent tosses her dead cat to the ground. Vincent killed the cat with a pair of scissors cutting out his eyeballs then slitting his throat. Vincent is moments away from murdering Alice as well. |
[Jukan talks about the superb humor, the adorableness of the characters or scenes that could be presented, and balance between the heavy and light elements]
What's Bad About It?
I understand what the creators were doing here. I honestly like the idea of who this character was and what their role is now. It makes sense for Alice's dead cat to become a chain and keep watch over the memories she didn't want to remember. A cat he may be, but THE Cheshire Cat he definitely is not. The Cheshire Cat to me was always this sort of mad but very wise creature in Wonderland. He was mischievous but helpful. He was the only one in the entire world who was both part of and apart from the Madness as he was the only one who could say definitively "we're all mad here" because he was both mad himself but knowledgeable enough to see the madness for what it was. If they wanted to do THE Cheshire Cat, the character should have been more enigmatic, more helpful; carefully crafting his words to both aid them towards their goal but warn and confuse them away from it. He should have been this powerful mentor sort of creature who you were never certain if he was on your side or not.
Not to harp on his appearance but the Cheshire Cat always had the ability to partially vanish or disappear in his entirety. He was like smoke made solid and could vaporize just as quickly. Giving him a human form is a very odd choice. If they wanted to add a neat twist on Cheshire they should have made him some sort of massive creature that wasn't fully realized as a sort of spirit energy pulled together. And actually...they DID give us that only when he discarded his physical body.
He should have been something similar to this for the entire time and acted more like the actual character. Yes I realize I am nitpicking and droning on a significant amount here, however Cheshire Cat is just one of my favorites and I hate seeing him not reach the potential awesomeness that he could have been. Again, the character they went for is great and achieved the purposes they wanted for him. He's cool..but he's not THE Cheshire Cat.
[Jukan talks about the portrayal of the Mad Hatter and other Chains as just being weird/subpar]
[Jukan talks about how the anime doesn't actually have an ending... it just sort of stops. This lack of ending is something Ghost also was going to point out and really bothered him about this anime as a whole.]
The Plot Went That Way
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If you couldn't quite tell from the rather lengthy story portion of this review, the plot of this anime is a jumbled mess of confusion. While it is a good mystery, when you really sit down and think about it, over half of the anime is presented as such because half the people are keeping secrets from each other for little or no logical reason at all. There's at least three different points where we are told something about Gilbert only for him not to reveal the entire story and we have to be told MORE about Gilbert later. True to the title of the anime, watching this is like opening a Pandora's box of confusion. You get presented with one mystery. In the process of solving that one you find another one, and while trying to solve both of them the second one gets answered but causes two to three more mysteries to appear. Cut down one mysterious head and two more heads of confusion will take its place.
I'm all for a good mystery, but a really good mystery focuses on one or two major questions with perhaps another one once a major one is solved. Since, as Jukan pointed out above, this anime doesn't actually have a conclusion we are not being shown the majority if the mysteries to their reveal. Only the side mysteries (that honestly didn't need to happen) are really given full ending. It's like the anime didn't really have a sense of direction. However, I think that I know exactly how a change of direction could have royally aided this anime.
This could aid in a couple of ways. First off, they have created a world where a giant black rabbit wielding chains and a scythe is a possibility and they only have maybe 4 super short fighting scenes? Give us more of that please!! I want to see Alice transforming and being awesome! There's also a multitude of questions left unanswered that these additional ten episodes could address. Whose grave was that in the mansion? Is there any significance to the song being called Lacie? Why does Eliot Nightray have nightmares about the tragedy of Sabrie? Why are the Baskervilles sort of helping and hurting at the same time? Why does Oz's father claim he should have never been born? What will happen when Alice gets all of her memories back? Now that Oz can influence the Will of Abyss what role will that ability play in the future?
[Jukan mentions that actually all of these answers can be easily found out by reading the 24 book manga. There you can find answers such as the grave being Lacie's, and that Oz is actually a chain as well as many other questions. ]
....huh. Didn't necessarily see THOSE answers coming. So why would...
[Jukan interrupts to mention that some anime is produced for the purpose of getting people to purchase and read the manga. While not being sure if that was the motivation behind this anime it seems to potentially fit the bill]
That's just bizarre though. Why on earth would someone produce an entire TV show for the main purpose to be selling merchandise? I mean I realize a producer's dream is to not only have people buy the movie or show in question but merchandise related to it as well, but for that to be the main purpose of its existence? That just seems... wrong.
[Jukan asks if I've ever actually watched a show who's purpose was selling merchandise. He reminds me that I'm a fan of both Digimon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Both of these shows were originally created just to sell toys]
Well yes, but Digimon and the Ninja Turtles were more than just that. They became their own entities outside of a glorified commercial. They had plot resolution and thought put into it. I didn't leave the first season of Digimon with a sense that I've missed something. I didn't watch a Turtles episode and feel like a conclusion wasn't met at the end of the episode or season. With this, I do.
[Jukan would have said something along these lines:
Ah but you're forgetting one key thing. Digimon and Ninja Turtles were created to sell toys. Toys can't really spoil a story as they don't add or detract from the story. They are just there for kids to play with, use their imaginations, or follow the script of the episode they saw. Pandora Hearts however may possibly have been created to sell the manga. If you were to explore the whole of the plot from the manga within the anime then what good would that do for you to read the manga? You would have already known everything so it would just be reading the same story again. If it was designed to entice you to purchase and read the manga, it clearly succeeded as you want answers to the questions it left you with]
Well..that's true but..
[Jukan points out that the anime couldn't have even known the end result of the manga as the anime was produced in 2009 but the manga only finished in june of 2015]
Well... I.... oh FINE! Let's just wrap this up before I get a migraine.
Conclusion
This anime tries to pack so much mystery and plot into twenty five episodes that at times it's hard to really keep up, but does that make it a bad anime? Absolutely not! I enjoyed all of these characters. I enjoyed the unique twist on Alice in Wonderland. Even though there are too many mysteries being revealed throughout the anime which cause even more confusing mysteries most of the time, I did enjoy the plot for what it was. If anything, I wish for more. I wish they had waited to produce this anime till they had a better idea of the ending and taken the whole thing in a different direction. Heck they could have just made it a 50 episode anime and been able to tell the whole story. I just wanted more. While there are a few problems, the biggest problem is that Pandora Hearts isn't something to necessarily watch multiple times. That's the problem when a story relies so heavily on figuring out a mystery. Once you know what it is a large portion of the charm is now lost unless you have something else to fall back on and there's just not enough to fall back on here. It's a one-and-done anime. Though I loved watching it for the first time and discovering what is going on, I probably wouldn't have watched it again if it wasn't for this review. In fact, the second viewing for this review did help me catch a few things I missed the first round but it was nowhere near as enjoyable. If you like Alice in Wonderland, enjoy mysteries, and can keep up with the confusion and lack of English dub then I would suggest checking Pandora Hearts out. That's the opinion of a casual anime viewer. How about the opinion of a more seasoned anime veteran?
(Jukan's would have given his conclusion here which was ultimately that he was glad he watched it but it kind of became a drag upon a second watch.)
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Woah....wait why are you still an anime character?
[Jukan explains that upon the completion of the contract, we now have a pathway to the realm of obscure anime and that we can come and go as we please without falling into madness. Jukan has some unfinished business to attend to back there]
Well... good luck, man!
[Jukan says his goodbyes and says that If Ghost ever wants to do another review of a lesser known anime...he knows where to find him]
[Jukan says his goodbyes and says that If Ghost ever wants to do another review of a lesser known anime...he knows where to find him]
Till next time, my friend.
This is Ghost, fading into the darkness.
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If you want to see my other Movie and Television reviews/recommendations then simply click here!
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