In some ways, Deadman Wonderland is a perfect story – perfect in the simplicity of it’s injustice and horror. It’s a kind of perfect storm of human depravity and the cruelty of fate. It certainly bogs down in the execution at times, and requires quite a healthy suspension of disbelief. But if you can manage the latter, it can be a tremendous emotional powerhouse.

With that in mind, I think it’s probably better not to analyze too much – the holes are big enough to drive a truck through. Like how dumb the whole Scar Chain plan is, really – and how stupidly naive they were in thinking it would work. And just what the heck were they planning to do about the collars once they escaped? But you get the point…

He’s a badass, trust me

No, better to focus on the “positive” side of the series – as a kind of idiot savant of the disturbing. Hibana was thrashed as soon as she was introduced, pretty much – but what an impression she left. A 2nd-grade sadist, the victim of unspeakable cruelty by her mother. And her little slicing act on Nagi was up there with the eyeball scene for me – not just because of the imagery of what she was doing, but of the fact that she was the one doing it. Nagi may have been a bit of a sap, but his notion of getting blood on her head was a pretty damm brilliant way to go out with a bang. Too bad he couldn’t have taken out that vile pusbag Rokuro in the process.

So of course, the whole escape plan was a ruse by Tamaki – according to the Ultra-priest’s “Aceman” analogy, to kill Scar Chain but leave Ganta standing. This leads an interesting grain of uncertainty to just what the supposed data chip was, and why Shiro did what she did. It sure looked like a bomb – but then, if it had gone off wouldn’t Ganta have been the first one to die? And that was a flaming room full of flammable crates she tossed it into…

And then there’s the matter of the (for now) silent character we and Shiro caught a glimpse of at Scar Chain’s clubhouse. That’s a face you’ll want to remember. And nice job in the PV spoiling Karako’s survival, BTW – it’s a shame they couldn’t have left that little mystery intact until the next episode. Given the rushed nature of things she and Owl were really the only members of Scar Chain to get enough screen time to establish themselves as characters, so I don’t suppose her survival will shock anyone – but even so, I could have lived without that. And as always, episode needs more Crow.

So – three eps left to wrap things up and no miracle announcement of a second season, so I have no idea how they’re going to do it. At this point knowledge of the manga is going to help less and less, as things are starting to – by necessity – careen off in a different direction. As of now, we’re pretty much all in the same boat – stay tuned and hope for the best.