Hello one and all, I am RenSpam, and I just recently joined up with Current Anime as the latest reviewer of all things anime (at least in terms of the “now”). In my forst foray of objective critique, I decided to go with the recently licensed (in manga form, at least) Pandora Hearts. Some quick details, just so I can sound all intelligent and informed (Pay no attention ot the wiki behind the curtain!)

Pandora Hearts was originally published in the Shonen focussed magazine GFantasy, starting in 2006. Since then there have been 9 full volumes published and recently Yen Press acquired the licensing for an english translation. In 2009 a tv series was given the green light and runours of a second season have been circulating, although as far as I can tell there hasn’t been any confirmation.

Now, from the get go a couple things that should be mentioned about this series:

First is that while it is a Shonen series, there are some SERIOUS Shojo tropes involved here, so get ready for lots of pretty boys, extravagant costumes and thinly veiled homoeroticism! Hooray!

Second, the music is fantastic, easily understood when you see that the composer for MOST of the music is Yuki Kajiura, whose previous works include .Hack//Sign, Noir and the second and third chapters in the Xenosaga game series.

That being said, the one thing the soundtrack suffers from is that it consists of a million rehashings of pretty much onesong, although there are so many different variations you can’t really notice unless you’re paying attention.

Finally, a note on my synopsis style; I don’t like doing play-by-play recaps, I prefer to try and tell a story and unfortunately sometimes for pacing purposes some scenes have to be cut. I don’t feel TOO bad about this, as hopefully

people are actually watching the products I review, but rest assured I generally try to incorporate the important information from these cut scenes in one way or another.

Okay, here we go, let’s dive into Pandora Hearts episode 1, Innocent Calm!

In a world still reeling from a mysterious tragedy 100 years in the past, Oz Vessalius is the heir to the Duchy of Vessalius, one of the four major households of the kingdom.

On the day of his Coming of Age Ceremony, Oz is reluctant to embrace the expectations of becoming an adult, prefering instead to hide from the house staff  and explore  with his little sister Ada and servant/best friend Gilbert. While on their little adventure, Oz hears mysterious music and begins hunting for it, only to fall into what appears to be an old graveyard, although there’s only one grave.

On said grave is an ornate pocketwatch that upon being wound emits the same haunting melody that Oz heard earlier. Upon looking up however, Oz finds himself transported to a strange room filled with toys and dolls that come to life, expressing how joyful they are that “he” has come back and how happy “she” will be.

Confused, Oz turns around and comes face to face with a mysterious dark haired girl in white. Despite his requests for clarification, the girl only replies with cryptics answers, echoing that toys in that she knows him. In an even more schizophrenic act, the girl suddenly attacks Oz, declaring that she will never forgive him, and will kill him. Before she can drive a knife into Oz however he suddenly finds himself back in the graveyard with Gil and Ada.

With the sun setting the children finally decide that it’s time to get ready for the ceremony, but while he prepares, Gil is suddenly set upon by a mysterious robed figure with an evil grin.

Night finally comes, and the guests begin to arrive for the ceremony. Among those invited are Sharon Rainsworth from the Rainsworth Duchy and her servant Xerxes Break, a mysterious white haired man with a talking ragdoll. As the guests begin to gather, more robed figures watch from a cliffside, preparing for some dark deed, one that will clearly involve Gil as he has fallen under control of the robed figures, wearing the twisted smile of his attacker.

Meanwhile, in an unknown, empty place, a dark haired girl in red suddenly looks up, hearing the haunting melody echoing from the pocketwatch…

Overall an interesting episode that did a decent job of establishing characters and setting up questions for the viewers in order to keep them coming back for more. A bit heavyhanded on certain character traits, and some of the comedy bits felt a but forced, but definitely an interesting opener.

Stay tuned for episode 2, Tempest of Conviction