Anime review

[salinea]

Pandora Heart



In a Victorian fantasy world, Oz is the young son of a rich noble family on the point of celebrating his ceremony of adulthood for his 15 birthday. Together with his little sister and his adoring servant / best friend Gilbert he explores the remote mansion before the ceremony occurs when he finds an old grave and a clock / musical box which trigger the vision of a young girl waiting all alone in a room filled with creepy toys who welcome him joyfully before trying to murder him. Later on, during the ceremony, a bunch of creepy guys in cloaks appear and send Oz to the Abyss, a parallel dimension of nightmares and demons called "Chains", for the crime of "existing". The girl, incidentally, is Alice, a Chain, and appears as well to defend him, because she claims him as her property.

Adapted from an unfinished shounen manga, Pandora Heart is a pretty good fantasy / mystery series filled with fascinating characters and dizzying revelation. The pacing for the most part is fast and entrancing, with decent storytelling but for the fact with the manga unfinished it offers no proper conclusion (always frustrating). The direction is a bit uneven, varying a lot from episodes to episodes from barely mediocre to pretty good. The animation and background art is only barely decent most of the time (with a few flash of excellent animation at random times), but the character design is pretty cool. The music, by Kajiura Yuki, is gorgeous as usual and helps setting up the gothic atmosphere.

The characters are the big draw, at least for myself as they fell very squarely into character types and relationship dynamics I really dig, and interpreted well enough they aren't mere cliches either.

Oz himself is pretty damn adorable. He's a easygoing and sunny child on surface, hiding father-related angst underneath his cheerfulness to the point of being creepily carefree at times (especially in the manga). He's caring and pretty smart (and the narrative uses his intelligence in cool way), self-destructive and sometimes a little bit cruel. Seldom have I liked some much a shounen manga lead. The rest of the cast is just as interesting.


Alice, the Chain, is cocky, straight forward, violent, impulsive, lonely, possessive and hungry for life; and generally speaking is adorable as well. Her relationship with Oz, despite the whole murder-vision / calling him her property (two facts that already had me shipping them at the second episode), and the fact they have formed a sort of Faustian pact, is possibly the least dysfunctional of in this show. (This says a lot about relationships in this show and therefore why I loved it ^^). Gilbert is very timid and driven by his devotion to Oz to the point of co-dependency (and interestingly is addressed as such by the narrative at least in the manga) in contrast with his stoic badass appearance and attitude for a pretty moe result. Of course, Gilbert and Alice bicker pretty much endlessly because of their possessiveness of Oz, with a dark undercurrent (especially in the manga) as well as many adorable scenes.



In other words, OT3 ♥ Seriously, rec me fics any time you want.

To this main trio you can also add Break, the token mysterious manipulative ambiguous ally character who teases everyone; but remarkably shows quite a few frailties (for a character of that type) as well as awesomeness; and Sharon the young lady Break serves. Various other secondary and antagonistic characters are also fascinating and/or adorable, I'll stop squeeing now.

Pretty much everyone has a dark past / dark secrets they might not even remember, to the point that is far from believable, but who cares? It's part of the overall gothic-crackful atmosphere. There's a nice sense of the plot being driven by the interests of various sides in a way that is murky, complex and very intriguing, although at this point not enough of the plot has been revealed for me to know if it's all that coherent and consistent.

There's a big Alice in Wonderland motif of course, used to good effect for the atmosphere, as well as motifs related to time (lots of clocks) tied in interesting ways to memory and time manipulation thematics in the plot. And chains, lots of chains ♥. The thematics also address ideals of self-sacrifice and devotion in critical ways worked through the characterisation. I want to say the gender treatment is good, since it starts with such interesting gender role reversals and has a few other hints of similar stuff later on, but way too few of those are followed up, and, for example, despite the fact Alice is technically the most powerful character in a fight, she too seldom get to play it up, so it's a bit disappointing.

In conclusion, though it's little more than the latest shounen in the current trendy style, I found this series very much to my liking thanks to the interesting characterisations & dynamics. I'll keep following on the manga (which I caught up on right after I finished the anime) and as well as hoping for a second season of animation.

Comments

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

I admit, the animation for this series was so terrible I ditched it halfway through, but I adore the manga--the mood and the characters are indeed fantastic, especially Alice. This is one of the very few cases where I've actually liked a tsundere-ish relationship, too. Normally I find them grating, but in PH somehow the combination of Alice's awesomeness and Oz's personality and Gil's devoted clinginess really does make it cute and touchingly dysfunctional.

I have yet to see any decent OT3 fic, though, so I'll just have to stalk this entry to see if someone else comments with any recs. XD

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

yeah, the animation can be pretty bad at times. I think the storytelling (with a few exceptions like that episode that used so much intra-episode and inter-episodes I started to want to throw stuff at my screen) was actually better in the anime. Sometimes the manga feel very jerky with a lot of flashbacks & flashforwards.

but in PH somehow the combination of Alice's awesomeness and Oz's personality and Gil's devoted clinginess really does make it cute and touchingly dysfunctional.
Yesssssssssss ♥

I have yet to see any decent OT3 fic
I haven't found any OT3 community so far :(, I just hope the fandom isn't all about the Oz/Gil shippers versus the Oz/Alice shippers; that would suck.

so I'll just have to stalk this entry to see if someone else comments with any recs. XD
Hehe, if I find things on my own, I'll have to remember to rec them here for you then :)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

also, I'm not entirely sure Alice counts as tsundere, she's a bit too honest and direct for that. It's usually just that... she's a Chain and doesn't know much about human relationships, it comes across more as quirky than tsunderiness IMHO. Might be why you like it ;)

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's an interesting way to look at her characterization. *ponders* Pretty much everyone else I've seen talk about the series does think of her as a tsundere, but it's true that her circumstances are a little different from some of the other characters that get tagged with that term....

Hmm, maybe I should give the anime another chance, then. It's definitely true that the manga's pacing is wonky, so it'd be interesting to see how the anime handled that through its whole run. (I know I really shouldn't be so snide about the animation quality--I just remember watching the first episode and thinking, "uh...did I download some series from the 1990s by mistake?")

I'm not even sure there's enough of an active fandom to have true Oz/Gil versus Oz/Alice fights. Although (big surprise) Oz/Gil does seem to get more fic. No one wants to put in the effort to write OT3s these days. *sigh*

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

well she is tsundere-ish in other ways... just... you know, the archetypical tsundere blushes and is embarrassed when she wants to express affection / talks about it; whereas Alice goes "oh, we've already kissed" matter of factly way when Sharon breaches the subject. That's not tsundere-ish at all XDD

haha, yeah the animation is really 90's grade for most of it, so I can't blame you, and anime adaptation of manga you've already read are almost always less interesting, so...

I'm not even sure there's enough of an active fandom to have true Oz/Gil versus Oz/Alice fights.
Well, that's something (sort of), I hate shipping wars.

Although (big surprise) Oz/Gil does seem to get more fic.
hahaha, big surprise indeed.

No one wants to put in the effort to write OT3s these days. *sigh*
Actually I've seen many discussions lately, though it was mostly in "media fandom" (still think the name sucks), about how OT3 were on the rise and the new trendy thing to do, especially in guy/guy/girl configuration.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Actually I've seen many discussions lately, though it was mostly in "media fandom" (still think the name sucks), about how OT3 were on the rise and the new trendy thing to do

Hee, funny to think about OT3s as a hot new trend. It does seem to be happening more in certain fandoms these days--like White Collar, where the series is incredibly slashy but the canon m/f couple is so sweet and happy together that most people refuse to break them up, and so defaults to a m/m/f pairing instead. But it seems like there has been and still is a real lack of that kind of thing in anime fandom as a whole, even in situations when it seems like an OT3 would be a logical choice.

(Yeah, "media fandom" is an awful term. It's pretty obvious what it's trying to say, but if you think about it for more than a second it's really...nonsensical.)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yeah White Collar was one of those mentioned, also Leverage.

That's too bad anime fandom hasn't moved in that direction as well :( once more I curse the lack of communication between different fandoms, there'd be useful influences to take from the feminism and meta of "media fandom" for one. And I can think of no few trio of characters in anime & manga which I'd rather ship together.

(Really, really nonsensical yes :) wtf isn't media anyway?)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Also, I think I'd advise trying to watch the anime for the sole sake of the soundtrack XD

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

And there's a smutty threesome over at the kink meme.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Yay, thank you! :D How spiffy, I completely forget there was a kink meme for the series. *prepares to catch up on 20 pages of prompts*

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I think the one I linked to is the only one OT3 fic at the meme sadly. But it is long and deliciously smutty!

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

Can't say about the anime, but I recently read all there is for the manga and I was left so... unimpressed by the plot, to be honest. Of course, this might be because a lot of trendy manga series right now have similar aesthetics (gothic-lolita victorian angsty dark action-or-horror with very pretty characters), which admittedly isn't my type and I'm burned out by Wonderland! everywhere! oh my God! dark-ish manganime.

Yet I kept reading because you're right, the characters are so interesting and you want to know more and see what happens to them. The main trio is cute although I'm more keen on the support cast as usual. I like that everyone gets their backgrounds and subplots subtly without dragging the plot.

(Now half kidding, I was missing not following a series with Cute Weird Dead Guy Who Is Still Around Somehow ever since I left CLAMP!)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've read your entry on Pandora Heart (and went back right now for the comments) ^^ Can't blame you for loving Eliott he's pretty damn awesome (and it would indeed be hilarious to have him beat some sense into half the CLAMP manga casts), though I think I like Leo's style even more XD Love his deadpan ways.

I think I found the plot more interesting/easy to follow in the anime than in the manga actually. I actually rather like it, but I'm starting by the last manga chapters to wonder if it's going to go anywhere in a coherent way or not.

The gothic aesthetic is totally overdone and way cliche by now, I totally agree with you XD

(Now half kidding, I was missing not following a series with Cute Weird Dead Guy Who Is Still Around Somehow ever since I left CLAMP!)
I'm kind of ambivalent about Jack actually. Hard to say why, there's just not enough facts about him for me to really like him.

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Leo/Reo (is there an official spelling?) is so cool and adorable. I'm really fond of his and Elliot's dynamics.

The plot does twirl too much, doesn't it? I mean sure, it keeps the suspense to release it in small quantities, but it's so confusing and every single fact alters a whole lot. Meh.

I think I like Jack for the same reason I liked Clow, which is precisely the fact we almost don't know jack (badumpsh?) about him, and yet his actions shaped the canon and most character have some relation (dare I say, chained? OKAY, I STOP NOW) with him. It's the kind of thing that intrigues me. I guess I'm Pavlov'd to be fond of mystery behind the scenes guys who happens to be dead.

[rainmage.livejournal.com]

This is clearly cosmic karma for the rimshot, isn't it.

And I have a typo, but I'm not editing again. I'm so sorry about the spam!

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I mean sure, it keeps the suspense to release it in small quantities, but it's so confusing and every single fact alters a whole lot.
Yes! At first it hooks us in, but after a while it gets annoying.

ROFL

yeah, you're right, everyone's tied to Jack one way or another and that makes him interesting ^^

[elle-white.livejournal.com]

I see the name of this anime aound a lot and it seems interesting. I'm more intrigued now I've read your review! I admit, I am a fan of the use of Alice in Wonderland references and motifs in fiction, so that's made me want to see it too! :)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Glad it interested you :) I hope you like the anime (or manga)

(♥ Lina)

[chonaku55.livejournal.com]

Je trouvais que l'animation était bien, mais c'est personnel. Sinon, je suis majoritairement d'accord avec ton article et le threesome ^^