Looking Back on the Twisting Plot of Pandora Hearts

Watching The Case Study of Vanitas, it's not hard for anyone familiar with Jun Mochizuki's work to be reminded of Pandora Hearts. Both manga series are defined by their Victorian Era aesthetics, their beautiful characters, and the way they blend the humorous and the morbid.

Pandora Hearts was Jun Mochizuki's defining work, and also one of the defining manga of the 00s and early 2010s. First serialized in 2006, it ran for nine years. It is still well-loved to this day; its diehard fans include idol and voice actress Miyu Takagi, who identified it as her favorite series.

In 2009, the manga also inspired a modestly successful TV anime with an absolute banger soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura. The twisted fairytale atmosphere was immediately striking from the very first episode, but even outside of the action scenes, the anime was propelled by haunting notes of melancholy. The voice acting was also top notch, featuring the likes of Junko Minagawa, Ayako Kawasumi, Jun Fukuyama, Akira Ishida, Daisuke Ono, and Kana Hanazawa in prominent roles.

In recent years, I've seen talk among fans who yearn for an anime remake with modern production values, and honestly, I kind of get it. Pandora Hearts may have been an audio feast, but visually it was an unremarkable production with flat colors that made it look older than it actually is. Its biggest problem, however, was simply timing; it only covered the setup of a grand mystery adventure and wrapped up with a half-baked anime-original ending. What people really remember Pandora Hearts for is the second half of its manga run, which covers a dizzying roller coaster of plot twists and high drama.

Although a remake isn't completely out of the realm of possibility, Vanitas is probably the closest we're getting to a modern Pandora Hearts. That being the case, now's as good a time as any to look back on this earlier masterpiece and remember just what was so special about it.

The series has a reputation for its labyrinthine complexity – it took an entire volume to set up its premise. But to sum things up simply: On the day of his coming-of-age ceremony, Oz Vessalius is plunged into the mysterious Abyss, where he encounters the feisty Alice. Together, they escape the Abyss, only to find that years have passed since Oz disappeared. They set off on a quest to find the fragments of Alice's memories and uncover the truth of the Abyss, but along the way they find themselves embroiled in a 100-year-long conspiracy.

Those who remember following the manga back in the day may recall the fervent discussion and speculations around the release of every new chapter. The dense and intricate plot practically demanded the reader to pause between chapters to digest what had just happened. From start to finish, every chapter tangibly advanced the plot, and foundational assumptions about the narrative could be overturned in just several pages. In that sense, the monthly serialization format suited it well.

However, when I sat down to write this article, I realized that with the passage of time, many of the finer details about the narrative elude me now. What I remember most clearly are the characters and the vibes.

The series had a way of vacillating between goofy comedy and dark fantasy; it should have been jarring in any other context, but in the case of Pandora Hearts it just somehow worked. Mochizuki keenly grasped that comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin. The character traits that appear so humorous in one scene often turn out to be a reflection of their trauma or complexes. When the series turned serious, it could be downright heartbreaking.

“It might be a fantasy work, but that doesn't mean that it all plays out conveniently by the end,” wrote journalist Naoya Sakuragi. “The dead won't return to life, and what has been lost will not return. After sharing their immense sadness with each other, the people wait for the budding spring of hope as they move forward. Pandora Hearts is not just a coming-of-age story for Oz and Alice; you can also glimpse the growth of the adults, and it's a manga that sometimes makes your heart ache.”

Even years later I haven't forgotten how each and every character – even outside the main cast – was multifaceted. They were spread across various factions, each with their own agenda, making them all players on a giant chessboard. Some characters could be friends in one chapter and enemies in the next, depending on the machinations happening around them. At the same time, the series never forgot to give them quirks and humanizing moments, so that you would always see them as individuals and root for them to resolve their differences. This combination of plot-driven mysteries and human drama was what made the characters of Pandora Hearts so memorable.

My favorite character was Gilbert, an irascible man in black who totally nails the look of a Byronic hero, but is a giant softie at heart who gets teased by most of the other characters. The “gap moe” is strong with him. At the same time, he wasn't just a joke character; he was often responsible for Oz and Alice as their caretaker, and he also played a very important role in the major historical event that surrounds the plot. I also had a soft spot for Oz's adorable younger sister Ada and the forthright Elliot, perhaps because they're the most honest people in a plot brimming with conspiracies.

Another interesting aspect of the series was its particular kind of vagueness when it came to portraying events. It wasn't as if the dialogue was opaque, but the most straightforward takeaway wasn't necessarily the only thing being implied. Characters would frequently show reactions to events that only made full sense in hindsight, once you'd completely made sense of their backstories and motivations. The villain was particularly fascinating for this reason; if you reread the series after finishing it, you'll be able to take notice of all the foreshadowing and misdirections that pointed to their identity.

Finally – and this is something that long-time manga readers have learned not to take for granted – Pandora Hearts had an ending that stuck the landing. Every major plot thread was resolved, which is quite a remarkable thing to say indeed about a series that ran for so long and had so many subplots. It wasn't perfect; it could be difficult to follow at times, and the plot had a tendency to jump about. But overall, looking back, it was an incredibly well-scripted series with a very deliberate narrative structure.

Pandora Hearts might not be old enough yet to warrant the title of “classic,” but deserves to be read by the next generation of manga readers. So far, The Case Study of Vanitas is shaping up to be an enjoyable fantasy romp with a similar appeal, but if you're looking for a completed story that captures the full range of Jun Mochizuki's writing and artistic talent, then do consider checking out Pandora Hearts.