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Pandora Hearts   
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Description
From 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 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, will they lead only to crushing despair for Oz, or is there some shred of hope for him to grasp on to?

Type
Manga

Related Series

Associated Names
PandoraHearts
Pandoros širdys
Сердца Пандоры
قلب باندورا
แพนโดร่า ฮาร์ทส์
パンドラハーツ

Groups Scanlating
The Black Abyss
Fallen Syndicate
Manga Abyss
Chuu Translations
More...

Latest Release(s)
c.104 (end) by Fallen Syndicate over 9 years ago
c.103 by Fallen Syndicate over 9 years ago
c.102 by Fallen Syndicate over 9 years ago
Search for all releases of this series

Status
in Country of Origin
24 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?
Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter
Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1
Ends at Vol 8, Chap 32 (EP 22) Original Ending

User Reviews
N/A

Forum
12 topics, 81 posts
Click here to view the forum

User Rating
Average: 8.7 / 10.0 (1311 votes)
Bayesian Average: 8.65 / 10.0
10
 
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9+
 
 22%
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 17%
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Last Updated
April 21st 2024, 9:39pm


Genre

Categories

Category Recommendations

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year
2006

Original Publisher

Serialized In (magazine)
GFantasy (Square Enix)

Licensed (in English)
Yes

English Publisher
Yen Press (24 Vols - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)
Weekly Pos #432 increased(+212)
Monthly Pos #1164 increased(+10)
3 Month Pos #1585 increased(+47)
6 Month Pos #1780 increased(+155)
Year Pos #2065 increased(+226)

List Stats
On 4117 reading lists
On 2521 wish lists
On 1484 completed lists
On 306 unfinished lists
On 945 custom lists

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User Comments  [ Order by usefulness ]
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A+ Mystery  
by sakirol
April 30th, 2016, 4:22am
Rating: 10.0  / 10.0
This isn't an action manga tbh! It's a mystery manga to its core tinged with angst ... err bathed in angst.The mangaka does a fantastic job of laying out pieces of the puzzle one by one. There's a lot of layers to the story. Plot twists get thrown at you very often. Characters don't end up being what you think they are. But the series manages to stay coherent until the end. Everything gets answered, which is a really rare occurrence in manga and makes the end satisfying enough. I definitely recommend Pandora Hearts - it's really hard to find anything that foreshadows and teases out the background story like this.

My only complaint is that the story gets weaker once all the big reveals are done, and the mangaka has to rely on action and emotional roller coasters to reach the end. Unsurprisingly, the way some characters change or act toward the end felt pretty melodramatic.

It's best read accompanied with music from the anime. smile

... Last updated on February 23rd, 2018, 5:04pm
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Among the worst I read lately  
by PZcolo
March 9th, 2016, 5:00pm
Rating: 3.0  / 10.0
Found it childish and at the same twisted and gruesome, simply put, a mess, tried 3 times to read this, couldn't even start the first two times and the third one I got up to ch 40 or so, I struggled the hole time to keep reading till I reached my limit, won't be a 4th attempt. I was disgusted by the chars and events.
The story itself is twisted and at times sickening, not to mention very convoluted and hard to grasp, and not because of its complexity but of how it's been told, terrible story-telling skills, for example, stop jumping all over the place and introducing questions left and right without developing any of them, by ch20 there were already so many unresolved and ridiculous things that it was even hard to remember them.
In any case, the worst thing of the series are the chars, most if not all are annoying and they have some sort of psycological disorder, there are no sane person among the main chars and their dialogues which is the main method used to explain the story ain't much better either.

... Last updated on March 9th, 2016, 5:00pm
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Craziest Plot Twists Ever  
by spongecakeroll
July 30th, 2015, 12:20pm
Rating: 10.0  / 10.0
This series is awesome.

When I first started reading it years ago, I was unimpressed because I thought that the author was just tossing in a bunch of mysterious dreamlike scenes and cryptic lines that weren't going to end up actually meaning anything. But by the end, it all fits together unbelievably well like some beautiful puzzle.

A lot of elements throughout the story look like they're going to be things that the author put in for effect that will never get an explanation. But in this series, not only do they get an explanation, it's a really clear and awesome and sometimes totally unexpected one.

As others have already said here, it all makes sense by the end. All of your questions will be answered by the end--and you'll have a lot of them. You'll probably also have a lot of incorrect guesses, because the author keeps giving all these misleading clues. When I was reading, there were sooo many moments where I'd get to a new plot twist and just think, "What?? WHAT?!? NO way--that doesn't make any sense! What about the _______??"

If that happens to you, just read on. smile

Another thing I liked about this series is that, while it's pretty tragic and can get kind of dramatic, it's never too much so. You get a sense of the characters' negative thoughts and feelings, but they never get too angsty and instead they grow up a little.

I also like the action, and the humor, and the setting, and the characters. The main character, Oz, is pretty different from any main character I've ever read. He grows throughout the series, but even from the start I really liked him--it's awesome that the protagonist is a small kid who can win an arm-wrestling match against a huge buff dude by whispering something so horrifying in his ear that the guy looks like his soul's left his body.

But I like almost all of the other characters too, as well as all the characters' relationships with each other. If you drew a character diagram for this series, it would be super dynamic and complicated. Not because it's confusing or anything--they're all just so intricately connected. It was well done.

Anyway, you should just read it.

One more thing: If you're the kind of person who cries while reading stuff, you'll probably cry at some point while reading this series, especially towards the end. But that's okay, just read it already.
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10/10  
by mskiddkidd
April 12th, 2015, 6:04pm
Rating: N/A
I love the art, characters' developments, and the plot.

The author executed it perfectly. The ending wasn't one I hoped but it was satisfactory. Nicely delivered. I highly recommend this as it didn't lag. I just love every characters, even their flaws as it is apparent the author crafted them carefully and substantiated their just for their actions.
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Not Your Grandma's Psychological Fantasy Manga  
by j4mag
April 11th, 2015, 8:08pm
Rating: 9.0  / 10.0
Pandora Hearts is a manga that has woven a story more impressive than any manga i've read before. The story is far more complex than other manga, mainly due to the scope of the world building. Pandora Hearts is full of references to Alice in Wonderland, with names and creatures paralleling those in the story, and much like Alice in Wonderland, there are two worlds; one is ours, and one is a strange world filled with confusion. In Pandora Hearts, this Wonderland is called the Abyss, and from the abyss, beings called chains have entered the world. Contractors, humans desiring their help, form contracts with these beings.
The premise to the story is interesting, but also fairly simple. However, this premise and the truths behind each mystery regarding the world is slowly revealed throughout the story. Sometimes these mysteries are confusingly complex, and almost impossible to predict, but when they are revealed, they explain everything. Be warned: this story is not something that can be read and appreciated by reading casually or skipping around.

Setting: 10/10
The worldbuilding in Pandora Hearts is unparalleled in any other manga i have read. Although there are no mysterious foreign nations depicted in Pandora Hearts, and although there are no corrupt governments in need of overthrowing, the setting does not suffer. Rather, any more complexity would make the setting difficult to understand. The setting is driven by the Abyss, the Four Houses, and Pandora. Although little is known about any of these early on in the story, more information is revealed as the story progresses. I will concede that the setting could benefit from addressing the question of other countries, or the nature of the country that the story takes place in at all, but at the end of the day the story is not about international politics, and its not about macroeconomics, and if you want an interesting and enjoyable story about that, you should be reading [m] Maoyuu [/m], not Pandora Hearts.

Characters: 9/10
Even though Pandora Hearts is a story driven primarily by its setting, it also establishes a rich cast of characters that each have their own personalities, histories, and hopes. Oz, Alice, Gil, and the cast of main characters have interesting, deep stories and personalities that, like everything else in the manga, is revealed as the story progresses. The protagonists all develop throughout the story, transforming for better or for worse. Furthermore, the story features many side characters, none of which are explicitly bad or good; everyone has their own desires that drive them, and their own goals. At times, however, this cast grows somewhat unwieldy, and some characters lack the depth that they deserve. Granted, adding complex backstories to each character would push the 104 chapter manga quickly into a 504 chapter manga, and would dilute the thick plot that permeates the story.

Plot: 10/10
The plot of Pandora Hearts is, at times, inseparable from its world building. In the plot, there exist no black and white distinctions between protagonists and antagonists; characters that first seem good can quickly become malevolent, and characters that have been working towards seemingly evil goals can quickly be shown to be working to help save the world. The plot deviates significantly from the beginning, but never meanders. Although the story can be difficult to understand unless you are paying attention, this problem will be addressed later on.

Art: 9/10
The art in Pandora hearts does a fantastic job of capturing emotions and the mood of each page in its panel composition and in its spreads. Although the paneling itself is not breathtaking or innovative, the art is consistently clean and expressive, always helping further the story and the characters. Character designs are all very well done, and no characters are particularly difficult to distinguish. Although the fight scenes cannot be compared to Murata's art in Onepunch Man, it remains comprehensible, interesting, and pleasing.

Execution: 9/10
Pandora Hearts has a fantastic setting, great characters, an interesting plot, and nearly peerless art, but the story sometimes can be difficult to understand. This is in part due to the general mystery surrounding the world that is revealed throughout the story, but the sheer number of drastic plot twists and character developments can make it difficult to continue reading after taking a break. This will be less of a problem for readers now that the story is complete, but the irregularity of releases often made it difficult to read. If you find yourself confused or lost, skipping backwards one or two chapters can make reading much easier. With that said, the story has spectacular usage of flashbacks and foreshadowing that adds a lot to the story as a whole, and makes the story much more moving. Dialogue is realistic and character interactions are handled well also.

Conclusion (TL;DR)
Pandora hearts is a great read for fans of fantasy and tragedy that won't be scared off by the complexity of the story or the way that it is told. It is certainly one of my favorite manga, alongside Kokou no Hito and Holyland. If you read this, make sure to do it in a few consecutive sittings, as the story is very complicated. If you think that there are too many unanswered questions to read it, know that most, if not all, will be answered with time.

Final score: 9.4/10

... Last updated on April 11th, 2015, 8:30pm
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Compelling and Philosophical... but indeed it is a TRAGEDY TT_TT  
by moonmystery
April 18th, 2014, 7:44pm
Rating: 10.0  / 10.0
Pandora Hearts is one of those darkly mysterious, exotic, but beautiful kind of manga that leaves the readers obsessed, like me.

There is also a bit of "horror" elements here and there that truly scared the heck out of me, and that was good too. :-)

In terms of art, it has a pretty typical "shoujo-esque" art style, and each volume cover is beautifully rendered in watercolor.While some may disagree, I thought the art carried the characters' emotions pretty well, and nothing was stiff or out of place.

The theme is heavily influenced by Alice in Wonderland and a Gothic Medieval European style, and personally I adore it. The references such as Cheshire Cat, Alice, the world of just dolls and chaos, and the craziness behind seemingly beautiful things intrigues me.

The plot is also carried out splendidly, but the first few chapters were a bit choppy. The story soon stabilizes, so it isn't a big problem. I loved all the intense and shocking plot twists, and the story often left me crying until my tears ran dry--especially later on.

However, it is the characters who carry the story to my heart. The mangaka did an amazing job of making the readers connect with the main characters despite leaving out huge background information. For me, I was so emotionally connected to Oz and his servant boy that if Oz ever cried, I would be tearing up at the computer screen. (and no I'm not usually such a crybaby)

The best part about Pandora Hearts is that it presents a world of just gray. Nothing is right or wrong, and perception is completely relative depending on the people involved. I love that. There is not much of hailing one character as the purest and heroic person, although there are tons of characters with sketchy personalities. There is no black-and-white. Every character has a cause, and I sympathized with every single villain at least one point in the story--which makes the series even more tragic.

(well, okay fine. There was this one weirdo that I couldn't relate to at all. he was just plain creepy)

Anyways, a lot of the characters will appear to be at least slightly psychotic or lost, and that's their charm. *sniff and cue the crying* And this manga is very sad... very very very sad.

... Last updated on April 14th, 2015, 7:20pm
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Pandora has my Heart  
by KKurokun
September 4th, 2013, 4:42pm
Rating: 10.0  / 10.0
Geez, where to even start? The gorgeous artwork? The fascinating characters? The plot which twists you around, confounds you, makes you think you know what's going to happen then...BAM...another floor drops out from under you! I rarely recommend manga but this one I highly recommend. I go through so many emotions in one volume that it's exhausting! (but, a satisfying exhaustion smile ) This is one of the rare few series where I just can't wait to get the next book in my hands.
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Can't describe it.  
by MelReinH
July 19th, 2013, 1:17pm
Rating: 9.0  / 10.0
It's just.... THAT! This manga pulls me in, and I find myself constantly wondering what will happen next. Mysteries have always interested me, and this manga holds a mystery that I really wanted to know the answer to. I read, and read, and read, and even after the "mystery has been solved", it leaves me wondering what will happen next. Will the protagonist ever be the same, or return to his normal life?

Even though I have high opinion on this manga, There are parts that I just couldn't handle. What I mean is there were certain scenes that were quite gory. Im still mildly used to this. There were also some parts that I found hard to understand and had to reread some of it.
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Nichts ist so wie es scheint ;-)...  
by GriSlyBear
October 19th, 2012, 3:34am
Rating: 9.0  / 10.0
I read a lot of mangas and PH is one of my favs.

The art: it's wonderful... Pure eyecandy! (same as Kuroshitsuji..*drools*)

The Plot: It's difficult not to spoil but I can say one thing: It's like wet soap. Everytime you think you know what's happening and you're holding the truth in your hands, it suddenly slips away.
So if you're looking for a good, complicated and long manga that will break your heart in to tiny pieces and rape your sanity. Read it. NOW! READ IT!

Evil plot-twists, heart-breaking pasts, guilt, innocence, friendship and love.Those are the keywords why everything is so messed up and f*cking sad!

Warning: If you get too atached to the characters you'll probably have a mental breakdown.
I still don't know how it will end (we're on Ch. 84), but I doubt that there will be a happy ending (but I hope it does, I really do!).

I seldom give a 10.
For this manga it depends on the ending (is the ending unsatisfying it'll be a 9...with a great ending a 10).
Enjoy reading. (and buy some tissues, if you're an emotional p*ssy like I am ^^)

... Last updated on June 16th, 2013, 5:37am
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LOVE!  
by moonparty
July 1st, 2012, 11:59pm
Rating: 10.0  / 10.0
OMG this manga is SO. GOOD! the art is fabulous, with all sorts of details. I read many manga, and i have to say that Pandora Hearts has the best art of all.
the plot really keeps you going. from the first chapters, you infer one thing, but as the story develops and new things are revealed, you realize that the truth is something completely different. the plot twists are amazing!!! this manga is absolutely unpredictable! some people might think that it is too complicated, but after wrapping your head around all the concepts, i think it is not that hard to understand. when i first started reading this, i had no idea what chains were, and was really confused for a few chapters. But it gets clearer as you go, so dont worry, just read on.
the summary might not sound that interesting, but the manga is! just try it.
yes, this is labeled tragedy, (and i think it used to be also labeled horror?) but i, someone who usually avoids horror and tragedy, loves this! so dont be scared off. still, be prepared for some gore.
i love the characters in this series! as others have already said, everyone is unique, and dont judge them based on your first impressions.
This manga is NOT cliche like many others, and all the actions, done by the "evil" person, no matter how horrifying, have deep reasons behind them
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
yes, in my opinion, even jack is not evil. as he is doing everything for lacie, you might say that he is a bit insane. I am not saying that his actions are justified. It is just that i understand why he would do it. Also, glen is not evil because he killed the people to save them from a worse fate. In the latest chapter, (chapter 74), even though Leo/Glen ordered gil to shoot oz, and gil subconsciously did it, i cant say that leo is evil for ordering it. after all, oz, who houses jack's spirit, is his enemy. i do feel really sorry for poor oz though T^T

All in all, this is a MUST READ! 10/10
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