By: Prince Lammy

Deadman Wonderland Episode Eight: Scar Chain

Even right from the title, I can deduce that this would be an explanatory story on the Deadman Community that Ganta came across. And for clarity’s sake, I would give a very explanatory account of Scar Chain, Deadman Wonderland’s eighth episode.

Story | 8/10

The story continued from the last scene from the previous episode when Genkaku opened the door on the guys. But as Genkaku prepares to shoot, a vent in the ceiling opens, letting Shiro drop in on him, and breaking his instrument in two. Pulling off her torn cape, she names one of Ace Man’s moves and invites Ganta to share her pudding with her. Genkaku picks up his broken instrument and leaves.

As Ganta, Kengamine, Shiro, and Koshio sit at a table in the bar, a guy named Rokuro walks in and bares a drive containing data. Shiro offers to share her pudding with Ganta, but he questions the source of her pudding, which she also has no explanations for. Koshio introduces Ganta to Rokuro.

The room, now complete, contains Ganta meeting every other member of the Scar Chain. Kengamine tells Ganta about Rokuro’s part in their ploy and saving Minatsuki earlier. Nagi then asks Rokuro about allowing Shiro into their little club, which the other members joke about for a bit.

Nagi asks to take Shiro and Ganta’s order, and she describes a parfait, which Nagi thinks was a riddle. The bartender enquires if she’s from the regular, but she lets him know she’s always lived there, which baffles him. Ganta talks about how laid back and relaxed everyone looks, despite being the sort of community they are.

While undressing in the staff ladies’ dressing room, Captain Makina and her assistant discuss the week-long inspection that will soon hold in prison. Makina and her assistant suit up to do some Mission-Impossible-sort-of thing to control confidential data within the prison.

The Scar Chain members sit and listen to a presentation from Koshio and Nagi and plan their escape, which would be during the inspection, as all extra prison activities would be put on hold to make the prison seem ordinary.

They then talk about Undertakers being their most significant stumbling block. These are the only forces capable of stopping the Branch of Sin Users and the only anti-Deadman brigade. Ganta scares them all by mentioning that his Branch of Sin didn’t work against Genkaku. Still, they were all relieved when Rokuro showed them the security footage. They all saw Genkaku dodge Ganta’s attack.

Rokuro tries to talk them into removing Ganta from their midst, which infuriates the lad. Now vexed, he stomps out with Shiro, and she leaves them a warning regarding bullying Ganta. In a dark place with Genkaku, the Director’s two guards, Tamaki sets bowling pins and throws a vase at them. He then talks about making the place into his personal Wonderland.

In the gym, Ganta talks to Senji about taking on an Undertaker, to which Senji rants about missing out on the fun. Senji then tells him about Owl’s past. Owl had lost in a forced match against his woman, and as a punishment, Promoter Tamaki had Genkaku kill her as she tried to escape with him.

Afterward, Ganta walked in on Owl playing with Shiro in her room and apologized. However, Owl informs him that he’s not revenge-oriented but wants to bring down Deadman Wonderland. To Ganta’s surprise, Owl mentions that he has a child outside, whom he intends to hold someday.

Later that night, while in bed, Ganta rips at his pillow at the thought of getting revenge against Red Man, waking Shiro up. The duo then converse, and Shiro expresses her wish to ride the Ferris Wheel. Ganta then promises her a ride once they get out of Deadman Wonderland.

Sitting in a room with another Undertaker is Genkaku, and Rokuro walks in, baring another air guitar, Genkaku’s instrument. Members of Scar Chain sit watching the TV and confirm from the news that the annual prison inspection will commence on that day. Karako dines on a buffet before her as she gets super-excited about things falling in place.

Ganta apologized but was surprised with a friendly pat on the back from Karako. Shiro walks in, but Ganta talks her into leaving and keeping the whole plan a secret. Owl talks about the core details of their plan. They all join fists and swear to stand united.

Alerted by several emergency warnings from over G – Block, the guards, alert the Undertakers and all other guards. Using exploding floating balls of blood, Owl creates a fog and walks into the Control Room. Rokuro shields the group as the guards fire at them.

Another group of Scar Chain members attempts to cross a pressure-sensitive bridge, and one uses his blood to create a bridge they can all pass through. At the buzz of an alarm, a Necro Macro robot rolls out and spits flaming hot water on Koumoto, burning his skin to the bone and then crushing him.

Karako passes the drive to Ganta and stays back to save them all from the Necro Macro. With a smile on her face, she leaves the rest of the plan all to Ganta. {And then came in the closing theme}

Art | 9/10

More than anything, literally every bit of the animation seems way more realistic than expected. I’d have even preferred it this way if the anime had been made in 3D. Every little detail complements each other perfectly and goes hand in hand to deliver a very well-made job.

Sometimes I can’t help but get lost in the reverie of how good it is, especially with the colors, toning, and all other artistic elements that went into production. And I bet you; you may not be able to stop at one single view, as I wasn’t also. But I can’t help it, and one must admire good art when seeing one, right?

One particular scene that still lives rent-free in my head, even though it’s a little bit gory and unsavory, is when Necro Macro spits on Koumoto. That transition on his skin, watching it peel and slip away, revealing other layers, is so natural and too good to be true. And I could relate, as I’d also seen such a scene in real life when a friend had such an accident.

Sound | 8/10

I didn’t particularly like the opening theme, mainly because it’s sung in English. It almost makes me feel like I was watching dubbed anime. I definitely would’ve preferred if it had been sung in Japanese, and as usual, see a sub of the lyrics in English, so I could understand what it all means.

The closing theme, however, starts as rather solemn and without a background instrumental. Still, slowly and steadily, the sounds floated until the beats dropped. That one bit had a sleepy touch to it, so it isn’t something I’d like to stream at another time. But I definitely could give the opening theme that thought.

Character | 8/10

This episode gave a window to introduce some other characters, most of whom would make no impact whatsoever on the show. Like I’d said in the review of the previous episode, most of these characters just come, die/go without making any impact. I barely even remember their names, but for a reason I still don’t know, I remember Koumoto’s name.

Asides from Shiro, Senji, and Ganta, characters that deserve a little bit of talking about are none other than Genkaku, Rokuro, and Owl. Promoter Tamaki has always seemed interested in making Deadman Wonderland his little circus. Still, he’s even taken extra measures to bring that dream to fruition.

The character profiles seem to have been made up quickly (talking about Genkaku, Owl, and Rokuro). And who would’ve thought that Rokuro would betray his friends? But I guess he still has a part to play in the grand scheme.

Ganta and Shiro remain their usual self. Yoh is partially removed from the picture in this episode, and Minatsuki is entirely forgotten. But the way things are moving, it already seems like more characters would get to see the light of day, but I would wait until episode nine before getting to know that.

Captain Makina, however, seeks to control more than Tamaki allows her, so there’s no way those two won’t clash in the future. However, she seems more courageous as she’s been brazen all this while.

Enjoyment | 8/10

At first, finding out that Scar Chain had more members other than Owl, Rokuro and Karako only made me realize that I would be finding out more ways to use the Branch of Sin powers in other people. That single thought alone made me ecstatic and anticipated a lot. Still, all that action has been pushed forward into episode nine. But of course, I’ll wait till I see that one.

And on a general note, this episode also has its ups and downs, but it was gratifying, hence, my rating of 8/10. Let the little bits of downside it has take the remaining 2 points it’s missing.

Overall | 9/10

Scar Chain is more than just a Deadman community name. Still, it is also the title of episode eight of Deadman Wonderland. And yeah, just like how the show has started, it’s a pretty good one. One might even say it has more people of an actual effect than other episodes do (asides from episode three). But on a broad scale, Scar Chain is one of the fascinating episodes in the entire show.

And here, I might like to relax my fingers.

Thanks for reading through. Arigato guzeimasu.

Other Deadman Wonderland Articles:

• Deadman Wonderland: OVA Episode Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 1 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 2 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 3 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 4 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 5 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 6 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 7 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 9 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 10 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 11 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Episode 12 Summary & Review
• Deadman Wonderland: Final Anime Review and Summary
• Deadman Wonderland Character Analysis: Captain Kiwako Makina
• Deadman Wonderland Character Analysis: Senji Kiyomasa (Crow)
• Deadman Wonderland Character Analysis: Minatsuki Takami (Hummingbird)
• Deadman Wonderland: The Tragic Tale of a Cancelled Anime
• Top 20 Anime Like Deadman Wonderland
• Deadman Wonderland Season 2? All You Need To Know