Pandora Hearts (manga, vols. 1-3) by Jun Mochizuki, translated by Tomo Kimura

When I reviewed the Pandora Hearts anime, I wrote that it took a while to really get going and become more interesting. Unfortunately, the manga turned out to be similar to the anime, and the three volumes I was able to finish during my vacation all took place squarely in the less interesting portion of the series. I haven't decided yet whether I want to continue. I suppose I could skip ahead to the point where the anime ended, but I hate doing that. You never know when seemingly minor stuff that was cut for an anime adaptation will turn out to be more important later on in the manga.

As is usual with these vacation reviews, a warning: my descriptions of each of the volumes contain spoilers. Read on at your own risk.

Pandora Hearts (anime TV series), via Crunchyroll

Pandora Hearts is a 25-episode fantasy series.

Synopsis:

Oz, Duke Vessalius' heir, has just turned 15 and is taking part in his coming-of-age ceremony when everything goes horribly wrong. A group of people in cloaks attack Oz, and Oz hurts his servant and closest friend, Gil, possibly killing him. Before Oz can figure out what's going on and learn of Gil's fate, he is dragged into the Abyss. While in the Abyss, he meets a powerful Chain named Alice, a.k.a. B Rabbit (Black Rabbit). Although most Chains look like beasts, Alice looks like a girl. In order to save both Alice and himself, Oz forms a contract with her.

Shortly after that, Oz and Alice manage to go back to Oz's world. The two of them, along with Break, Sharon Rainsworth, and Raven, work to find Baskerville, the group that plunged Oz into the Abyss, and deal with illegal contractors. While in the process of doing that, Oz and Alice hope to locate the fragments of Alice's memories.

Review:

Pandora Hearts started off slowly enough that I wasn't sure if I'd make it through the whole thing. It took more episodes than I expected for all the characters to appear and the basic story to be laid out. There were some interesting elements, but they felt like things that had been cobbled together from other series: the close master-servant relationship, the Chains (dangerous monsters) that could have contracts with certain individuals, the battles with illegal contractors, etc.

For a while, it looked like the show might turn out to be “monster of the week” coupled with “heart-breaking minor character's story of the week,” with occasional snippets of Alice's memories to keep things from becoming too boring. There were hints of mysteries, but I wasn't initially impressed with those, because at least one of them was so blindingly obvious I can't bring myself to consider it a spoiler, even though it wasn't revealed until six episodes in. When Oz got back from the Abyss, several years had gone by without him realizing it, and the mysterious young man known as Raven was actually his faithful friend and servant, Gil. The character designs for child and adult Gil could not have made that “revelation” more obvious.