Ebonyslayer

As early as my mind recalls, I remember seeing some of the Pandora Hearts anime when I was 8 or older. Although I was young and only saw only the first episode, it clearly left an impression on me if I can still remember it. Years later, after seeing a number of anime and manga, I have finally read the series and now I wish this was one of the series I had grown up with.

Story- It is soon to be Oz Bezarius's 15 birthday and with that his coming of age ceremony. However, all is set in motion when Oz is thrown into the prison known as the Abyss. In the Abyss live lifeforms called Chains that can only live in the real world by forming a contract with a human. From there Oz meets Alice, the first Chain he runs into. Together they form a contract and make it back to the real world. They are soon recruited into the Pandora organization, who goal is to research the Abyss and the ones who threw Oz into it. Now Oz and Alice search the land in order to find Alice's memory shards to learn about the Abyss and to find a way to break the contract without killing Oz or Alice. I have to admit, it took a while for the story to pick up, but once it did it was so worth it. Pandora Hearts may be a slow burner, but its a good slow burner.

Art- Pandora Hearts has some of the best artsyle I have seen when it comes to monthly shonen series. The time it took for fans to wait for each chapter must have been worth it, cause those color spreads were lit, no wonder the magazine did so many color chapter openings, cause Jun Mochizuki knows how to draw! On another note, the author also knew how to draw gore, since the series looks especially gorgeous!

Characters- When the author knows how to develop the side characters just as well as the main characters, you know the author is doing something right. You get attached to these characters, and then before you know it you get super sad and depressed when they die unexpectedly. Mochizuki-sensei is not afraid to kill off her characters, so don't be surprised when a character you love suddenly dies. Another plus would be the well written villains. Without spoiling who the villains are, I can happily say that the villains are relatable and over time they lost their way. I love how Oz is not a perfect character, with the fact that he tries to take everything on by himself, but eventually he grows past this thanks to Gilbert. I know people are complaining about the author not focusing on any romance between Oz and Alice, but think the author was focusing more on the camaraderie between the main characters.

Overall- I was trying to read more of this series during the day, but I think I realize my mistake in doing this. There is a lot of detail with every chapter, so this is a series you can't really rush through. I was able to slow down with the series and now I can really enjoy it. This was a grand adventure that Oz and the guys went through, and it was a roller coaster of emotions. This was definitely a shonen series that gave me the feels, something I don't think happens a lot.