Pandora Hearts Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links   5d57r

Normally, I write reviews right after finishing a manga or anime, but this time I ended up procrastinating for almost two weeks. Someone might think it’s because I didn’t like Pandora Hearts or found it hard to talk about — but it’s quite the opposite. I really liked it. I had a lot of thoughts swirling in my head, and I also didn’t want to write something on emotions after ending, so I gave myself some time to cool off and reflect.

Let me start by saying that I bought all 24 volumes at once this winter — took a risk, hoping for at least a ... solid 8/10 story. And while that’s already a great score, when you buy the entire series up front, you expect something more. I had a feeling this might become something better than 8 for me — and in the end, I was right.

From the beginning, I was surprised by how dense it was. Tons of information on each page, and it gave the manga a real sense of weight. Some people might not like so much text, but personally, I loved it. Though, I’ll it it felt a bit tiring at first — I didn’t fully get into the story until a few volumes in. But gradually, it pulled me in, and somewhere around the middle I realized: I was reading something way above just a good story.

The tone and atmosphere reminded me a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist, but to be completely honest, I actually liked Pandora Hearts more. The main reason? The characters. The cast is strong — not flawless, but each one serves a purpose in the story, with their own arcs, backstories, and motivations. There’s no sense that the side characters exist only to develop the protagonist — everyone feels alive. There are meaningful parallels between characters, and I especially liked how two people with similar pasts can see the world in completely different ways.

My favorite characters were Break, Gilbert, and Jack — I’ll talk about Jack in a bit.

As for the MC, Oz — I liked him. He wasn’t mind-blowing, but he was solid. I appreciated his personal journey, his purity, and how he gradually comes to accept himself. One of the highlights of the story was watching Oz’s interactions with each key character — almost like he had a personal mini-arc with each of them. Alice was probably my least favorite from the main trio, but I still enjoyed her presence and her for the group always made me smile.

Now — Break. This guy was perfect. His mysteriousness, his acceptance of himself, his will to live, his care for others — everything about him hit the right notes. His conclusion was beautiful, and honestly, some of my warmest feelings about this manga come from his story. Same with Gilbert. At first, he felt like the typical gloomy best friend archetype, but he quickly surprised me and became one of the most memorable characters. I won’t spoil anything — but he deserves all the praise.

One of the biggest reasons I fell in love with Pandora Hearts is that there’s no clear line between good and evil. The author doesn’t try to force a particular ideology on the reader. Everyone has their own truth, their own reasons to fight. That kind of moral ambiguity is something I really value in a story. It made me deeply respect Jun Mochizuki as a writer, and I’m definitely planning to check out her other works in the future.

The atmosphere and art were also big highlights for me. I love the Victorian style mixed with gothic aesthetics. The art style was beautiful — though in some action scenes it was a bit chaotic and hard to follow.

The mystery aspect was well done too. I liked how the story gradually revealed itself and didn’t throw everything at you at once. My only nitpick: a few more small details could’ve enhanced the mystery even more — but that’s just me being picky.

And then there’s Jack... what a surprise. I won’t spoil anything, but I didn’t expect to love him so much. He was brilliantly written and surprisingly relatable. Definitely one of my favorites, right up there with Break.

The ending? Emotional, logical, and well-executed. A few confusing parts here and there, but overall, it didn’t leave me with unanswered questions.

Aslo one of most memorable parts in the whole series was the “tea party” moment — a calm before the storm. And by “storm” I mean the final two arcs, which were on a completely different level — truly masterful.

There are a few negatives: sometimes the plot got complex for its own good, some dialogue s were hard to follow, and occasionally I had no idea who was saying what. But honestly, none of that stopped me from loving the experience.

So yeah — I highly recommend Pandora Hearts. I’m genuinely happy I chose to buy the whole series. I don’t regret it at all.
Pandora Hearts — thanks for those emotions.

Final Score: Mid-High 9/10

Might be an epic series seeing how high up is ranked out here on MAL, but one thing I also learned from the MAL rankings is that, not ALL top/highly ranked series will grasp my interest.

Main reason why I dropped this is the character design as well as the silly and gag relief moments the author randomly throws at you. I does not suits my taste and I find it very annoying. Which is a bit funny, cause in fact this was my main issue with the anime adaptation of Vanitas, but now that I started reading it, it somehow became more bearable.

Has a sightly ... intriguing mystery surrounding the plot, but nothing too heart racing nor thrilling enough to make me stay and ignore the annoying "comic relief" and bland art.

The art department is very lacking, like a whole lot. Not enough backgrounds and the art style along with the overall character design is just not for me.

I did not enjoy a single thing about it. As I mentioned before, the story might pick up further ahead but too bad I won't be there to witness it.
The 5 chapters of Vanitas I have read so far, have been far more entertaining than the 10 chapters of Pandora. Even though I've finished the 1st cour and have an idea of what lies ahead, I am still very thrilled by every single page I go through.

I have noticed minor similarities in both works so I might get back to this in a distance future for a speed reading just to compare both series, n see how much the author grew.

I do not really have a ton of specifics to say here because I just really could not care about this...there was nothing to hate and nothing to love. The premise was a little interesting, but this manga prefers to bog itself down with poorly written gags, atrocious dialogue, and frivolous declarations of affirmation than actually focus on either action or story.

The basic premise of the story is nice enough - secret mysterious prison like man world that exists alongside the normal world and represents awful things for pretty much any human being. Okay, nice enough! Except...they never explain pretty much anything about it in ... particular. Even worse, our main hero is straightaway declared to be the key to obtaining that power...and no one really says why. We get some vague exposition along these lines, but never anything interesting or helpful; all the interactions and dialogue are more along dramatic lines.

Similarly, there is an interesting enough idea of needing to get back Alice's memories. Great, so we have an actual mission! Except there is no real rhyme or reason to how she gets them back (she just does), and it never really becomes anywhere near a main focus; again, dramatic character interactions and meetings kind of train wreck all of this.

The characters are all essentially uninteresting - Oz the tragic hero who overcompensates by being excessively friendly and accommodating, Gilbert who exists basically to be his homoerotic friend (they made his character dark for a while, then just totally destroyed that to get him back to being homoerotic), Alice the initially tsundere, then just naive and secretly really nice...(ch. 20 p. 32 - She gets angry easily, and her words are harsh, but...the real Alice is very gentle, and loves to cry, and she is very stupid as well...her appetite is also very huge!) *yawn*. Some of the characters have potential for being interesting, like Break or Vincent, but then never actually get to be interesting. The dialogue, always fractured, and ADD of this work ensure that they cannot have any profound details or interactions. It always comes back to bad gags or bad friendship speeches...

All in all, this is not really a work worth anyone's time. It offers a nice concept and world, but fails to flesh them out, it offers boring characters, boring dialogue, boring character interactions, beyond typical gags, and the banter is always lacking in wit. It throws vague calls to Alice in Wonderland mythos and expects you to think that it makes it instantly awesome (unfortunately...this works on almost everyone...). This is a work that offers frivolities instead of awesomeness.