I recommend looking at this review on my blog for the full visual experience ;)
If you're looking for a funny, cutesy manga to pass your time with, LOOK AWAY BECAUSE PANDORA HEARTS IS NOT THAT. While immensely funny at times, Pandora Hearts is heartbreaking in it's core, weaving through dialogues, characters and beautiful art style an intricate, gut wrenching tale of love, loss and obsession.
From the very beginning, Pandora Hearts engulfs you in this sense of mystery and intrigue. What is going on here? What is the truth? What is the motives behind the characters actions? It piles questions on top questions, wrapping it up with a cast of endearing, funny, sweet and somewhat broken characters.
The main core of the manga are Oz, Alice and Gilbert. And yes, there are some very clear elements of both Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz interwoven into the tale.
Oz is the successor to the house of Vessalius, one of the four dukedoms of this fantasy world. He is a lovable but odd child. He has a hard time believing he is lovable. Believing he is worth something. He doesn't fight for anything, and at times seems oddly detached from this world. Someone might need to literally beat him up in order for him to realize his own self worth.
None of it is helped by his disastrous 15th birthday coming of age ceremony, where the party is disrupted and Oz gets cast into The Abyss, a twisted, eternal prison, for the simple sin of "existing".
The Abyss is what gives birth to "Chains" - strangely toy-like creatures with superpowers who can only exist in the real world by forming a contract with a human... and eating other humans. There, Oz meets Alice - a human shaped chain who offers to help him escape this prison if he forms a contract with her.
Oz does, forming a connection beyong a simple contract with the spunky girl. Alice is a peculiar chain. First of all - she has a proper name. She is human in her looks and behavior - acting a bit like a naughty child; she loves food; she is funny and sweet and innately attuned to Oz's feelings and moods. She tries to cheer him up constantly, because he "is her manservant and only she is allowed to make him sad". In short, she is a delight.
But why is Alice so different? Yet another mystery slowly unraveled by this manga.
cool Gil!
.... Real Gil...
And finally, the person who awaits Oz and Alice in Real Life, working to free Oz on his end - Gilbert. Oz's servant and best friend, he defines himself by his master, he will do anything for him, he is a bit weak and he's very insecure. He balances Oz's devil-may-care and Alice rush enthusiasm perfectly.
These three are squad goals and I love them dearly. Together, they work to find the truth behind what happened to Oz, what happened one hundred years ago... and what is about to happen next.
Around them are funny, odd, sweet, smart and crazy characters; from the Mad Hatter whom I long to give a hug, to Liem and Sharon, the count, UNCLE OSCAR (I love him), Ada, Elliot, Leo and of course... Vincent. Wacked-up, strangely endearing, impossibly impossible Vincent.
Everyone in this manga are such a mess, but a mess I loved.
Now when I first started this series, it was still on-going, and in it's relatively happy-go-lucky, just-fun-and-games stage. So I was not expecting it to punch me in the face suddenly and then keep punching non stop. Seriously, I started crying at around chapter 54 and continued crying up to the end.
I am not okay. This is not okay!
If you're looking for a manga that could really hit you in the feels and make you both engross and interested and completely heartbroken for everyone at the same time, manga with bitter-sweet endings, then... this one is for you.
Otherwise , stay away because this will break you.
Hope this review made some form of sense! lol