Pandora Hearts v.1

By: Jun Mochizuki
Publisher: Yen Press

The air of celebration surrounding fifteen-year-old Oz Vessalius’s coming-of-age ceremony quickly turns to horror when he is condemned for a sin about which he knows nothing. He is thrown into an eternal, inescapable prison known as the Abyss from which there is no escape. There, he meets a young girl named Alice, who is not what she seems. Now that the relentless cogs of fate have begun to turn, do they lead only to crushing despair for Oz, or is there some shred of hope for him to grasp on to?








Story

Pandora Hearts is the dark-theme version of Alice in Wonderland that  keeps us turning the page.  The pace of the story is easy to follo, and nothing is what it seems, which is a  plus for some of us.  Jun Mochizuki did not rushed her story, which is why we have so much detail and symbolism, and we have a great cast that balances each other out. But what I liked the most is that even though this is somewhat of a serious story,  we still find scenes that make us laugh; giving a balance between horror and comedy.

Characters

Oz  Vessalius

He's the protagonist of the series with a very care-free attitude that cherishes the relationship with his younger sister, Ada, and his best friend, Gilbert. He is caring and lonely ( of course he won't admit it) and doesn't really have a relationship with his dad. In fact his dad is a mystery. But most importantly, he becomes Alice's contractor. For someone that has gone through a lot in his past, he knows how to not make others worry, making us, the reader, come to like him, and think as to why someone like him would have to go through so much.

Alice a.k.a B-rabbit

She's a pretty awesome character. She's cynical, crazy, powerful, and out for revenge, since she's been in the Abyss for quite sometime. But underneath all that though, we come to see that she really is nice and caring, and would like to know more about her past. Now what caught my attention about this particular Alice is that she doesn't let others rule over her.

Gilbert

In a way I feel bad for him because he gets picked on and pranked on by none other than Oz, his friend and master.  There is more to Gilbert's past, but we are not informed in this volume. Oh, and he dislikes cat.

Lady Sharon

When she is first introduced Oz gets all fluster and finds her to be the most attractive young lady. Not only does she come from a wealthy family, and looks like such a nice and polite young lady, but carries as secret, which we don't know till almost at the end of the volume. 

Xerxes Break

To me he seems more like Lady Sharon's shadow with a sarcastic attitude that carries a talking doll name Emily.. Yet I can't help but think that he has a secret agenda.  But what would that be?

Baskerville Race

They are the ones that cause Oz  adventure. Whatever it is that they were trying to accomplished sure didn't go as planned. 

Final Thoughts

Maybe this one story might have quite an amount of characters that seems to be a very important part of the plot, so what I'm hoping for is for Jun Mochizuki to not lose track of what she wants to tell us; without dropping important characters and adding additional characters that might be no real use for.  As well as following her plot.

But most importantly, this is definitely a series to look into, if you are looking for something with a hint of horror and comedy, in a twisted world.