Posted: 08/15/2011

Pandora Hearts: Volume One Premium Edition

by Amber Burnham

Now available from NIS America.

PandoraHearts, originally written by Jun Mochizuki, follows a 15 year old boy, Oz Vessalius, as his world is turned upside down. Oz is the heir to the Vessalius dukedom and is preparing for his coming-of-age ceremony when a group of people calling themselves the Baskervilles step in and send him to another dimension. The anime then follows his escape from this dimension with the help of a character named Alice, and their adventures once back in the world Oz knows as home. PandoraHearts is a fantasy mystery with many references to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. As in the stories by Carroll, PandoraHearts, while appearing light and comical, has many dark and foreboding aspects. The characters have many sides to their personalities, their motivations and aspirations are not always clear, and despite the viewer’s inclination to love most of them, you find yourself questioning why you should trust what is happening.

The look of PandoraHearts is colorful, detailed, and inviting, while at the same time depicting events that are dark, painful, and scary. Similarly, the characters and backgrounds are rendered with great attention to detail. The characters’ designs and dress are fitting of their personalities, including the ways in which they show emotion on their faces. The backgrounds and locations are beautifully colored and designed to create an impression of a varied outside world. The houses and towns are all unique from one another, and the other dimensions are created in a haphazard Carrollesque sense of scary fun. It should be noted that the anime opens with a grainy, old film stock look. While there is some graininess to the rest of the anime, the old film stock look is used purposefully as a way of showing flashbacks. The graininess in the rest of the anime does not take away from its beauty and detail; if anything it adds a cinematic charm to the design.

Another aspect of PandoraHearts that brings the story to life is the music, composed by Yuki Kajiura. Not only do the opening and ending songs add to the ambiance of the anime, but the music within is done in such a way that you will be astonished at its ability to fit and yet not at the same time. The first time a fight scene appeared on screen accompanied by the music, which can only be described as beautifully lyrical, womanly, and unfitting, I found myself on the edge of my seat. I knew then we were not going to be listening to the same action music and dramatic melodies as in so many other animes. Instead the music captures the feel of the story while enhancing it in an unexpected way.

The two-disc, DVD Premium Edition comes in an 8”x11”x1” black cardboard cover-box with a beautiful illustration of the characters Oz, Alice, and Raven on the front. It also comes with a 29-page, full-color, hard cover official artbook. The book is bound in the Japanese style due to a reprint of a sideline manga story written by the author Jun Mochizuki that centers on the character Gilbert. By printing the entire book bound in the opposite way, they were able to keep the manga art and story in its original format instead of flipping it, which I fully appreciated. Other aspects of the book include character profiles, a vocabulary list, and 10 stunning, full-page illustrations. The special features include a clean opening and ending, the original character introductions to the Japanese volume releases, as well as the short stories Detective Break, Heartthrob Pandora Academy, Sharon’s “Mission: Innocent Maiden!”, and Alice and Echo’s Errand!

Amber Burnham has a BA in Early Childhood Education from Kendall College. She is also a regular panelist on Kichicast, the all-girl, Chicago-based podcast devoted to anime, manga, and Japanese culture. You can listen to Kichicast at kichigi.com.

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