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 Maoyuu , 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 **
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