Pandora Hearts

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Pandora Hearts
File:Pandora-01-001.jpg
Cover of Pandora Hearts volume 1 (as published by Square Enix), featuring Oz Vessalius.
パンドラハーツ
(Pandora Haatsu)
GenrePsychological thriller, Gaslamp fantasy, Drama, Mystery
Manga
Written byJun Mochizuki
Published bySquare Enix
English publisher
MagazineMonthly GFantasy
DemographicShōnen
Original runMay 18, 2006 – March 18, 2015
Volumes24 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Directed byTakao Kato
Written byMayori Sekijima
Music byYuki Kajiura
StudioXebec
Licensed by
Original networkTBS, BS-TBS, CBC, MBS
Original run April 2, 2009 – September 24, 2009
Episodes25 (List of episodes)
Original video animation
Pandora Hearts Omake
StudioXebec
Licensed by
Released July 24, 2009 – March 25, 2010
Runtime3 minutes (per episode)
Episodes9

Pandora Hearts (Japanese: パンドラハーツ, Hepburn: Pandora Hātsu) is a shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Jun Mochizuki. Individual chapters were serialized in Monthly GFantasy between May 2006 and March 2015, with bound volumes published by Square Enix. The series ended with twenty-four volumes having been released in Japan. It was originally licensed for an English language release by Broccoli Books, but was later dropped. It was relicensed by Yen Press.

An anime adaptation produced by Xebec began airing on April 2, 2009, and finished airing on September 24, 2009. On February 11, 2010, NIS America announced it would release the anime series in North America. Nine OVAs were also broadcast in Japan, airing from July 24, 2009 to March 25, 2010.


Plot

See also: List of Pandora Hearts characters

Oz is the heir to the Vessalius house, one of the Four Great Dukedoms given excessive power by the royalty. He lives a luxurious life alongside his younger sister Ada and valet and best friend Gilbert. This is dampened only by the constant absence of his father Xai, who decided Oz and Ada should be raised by their uncle Oscar when they were still babies. When Oz goes to his Coming-of-Age Ceremony, he meets Sharon Rainsworth and her ominous servant Xerxes Break. Everything appears normal until the Coming-of-Age Ceremony rituals are completed and the giant clock that hasn't worked in a century moves. Suddenly, a group of people in red cloaks proceed to reveal themselves, known as the Baskervilles. The Baskervilles say he must be dragged into a supernatural prison called Abyss where Monsters called Chains lives. The Baskerville then force Oz into the Abyss, claiming his sin to be his very existence.

Trapped in the Abyss, Oz finds out he can make contracts with Chains by drinking their blood. He does so with a Chain named Alice, who is infamously known as B-Rabbit, in order to escape the prison. By the time they escaped from the Abyss, 10 years has already passed. He is taken under the care of Sharon and Break who are members of an organization called Pandora that was established by the Four Great Dukedom to research Chains since 100 years ago after a disaster known as Tragedy of Sablier, an incident of the whole town of Sablier fell into Abyss. Wanting to know his sin, Oz helps Sharon and Break in their investigation in regards to the Will of the Abyss, the ruler of Abyss, with the help of Alice and the grown up Gilbert who now has been adopted into the Nightray Dukedom and made contract with the family's chain, Raven. As they investigate, they learned that Alice, Gilbert, and Gilbert's younger brother Vincent, are involved with the incident 100 years ago, and they also come into contact with the soul of Jack Vessalius, the hero who survived the Tragedy of Sablier and the one who established Pandora, who then lay dormant inside Oz's body. Jack reveals that the one behind the Tragedy of Sablier was Glen Baskerville, the head of Baskerville and Jack's best friend.

Following their meeting with the Duke of Barma Dukedom, Rufus Barma, Break reveals he was an illegal contractor 30 years in the past and has met the Will of the Abyss who is in fact Alice's twin sister. Barma also reveals from his ancestor's notebook that Jack has sealed Glen's soul by placing it in Jack's own mutilated body that was split into five sealing stones. Following the destruction of two of five sealing stones, Oz and Barma tricked a foreign noble Isla Yura into conducting Oz's cancelled Coming-of-Age Ceremony in his mansion where one of the sealing stones is located. However, in the middle of the party, Yura and his sect starts killing the guests to reenact the Tragedy of Sablier. Although Oz and his friends managed to stop the ceremony and Yura, the sealing stone was destroyed by the Baskerville and Gilbert's adopted younger brother, Eliot Nightray, was killed. This leads to Eliot's valet, Leo, to be taken by Vincent who reveals that Leo holds Glen Baskerville's soul, and thus, is the next successor of Baskerville. Blaming himself for Eliot's death, Leo accepts his role as Glen Baskerville to destroy the Will of the Abyss.

The Baskerville and Pandora clashes as Leo makes his attack. Upon destroying the fourth sealing stone, however, the fourth seal is revealed to be Glen's head instead of Jack's. Barma then reveals that he has deciphered the entire code in his ancestor's notebook that reveals Jack is actually the one who caused the Tragedy of Sablier. Oz then witnesses Jack's memories that reveals his motivation for doing so is for the sake of Lacie, the younger sister of the previous Glen who was originally known as Oswald, and Alice and the Will of the Abyss' mother. Gilbert is also revealed to be a Baskerville who was originally chosen to be the next Glen 100 years ago. Following this revelation, Oz learns that he is actually the real B-Rabbit and used to be a lifeless black rabbit doll belonged to Lacie until Lacie left him in the care of the Core of the Abyss that gave him life. During Tragedy of Sablier, Oz was turned into a Chain by the Will of the Abyss to help Jack in fulfilling his goal to plunge the entire world into the Abyss. Meanwhile, the previous Glen, Oswald, takes over Leo's body and decides to change the past by killing Lacie to make the Will of the Abyss never been born.

Accepting his real origin, Oz and his friends set their mind to stop Glen's plan. They comes up with a plan to stop the world from falling into the Abyss without changing the past by destroying the Will of the Abyss' body. Oz's uncle, Oscar Vessalius, and Break dies in their quest. Traveling back 100 years to the past during the tragedy, Alice tries to convince the Core of the Abyss to cut her ties with her twin sister while Oz tries to convince Oswald to help them. Alice's attempt causes the Core to went berserk out of fear of being left alone, which resulted with the dimensions to be distorted even more and Oz and the rest were sent further back into the past before Oswald and Lacie became Baskervilles. In the end, Oswald couldn't bring himself to kill his sister and passed on, returning control to Leo. Using Oz's illegal contractor seal, they reached the Core of the Abyss and managed to convince the Core to cut her ties with the other Alice and restore the world back to normal. Oz and Alice then passed on, with Gilbert promising them that he will wait until they are reincarnated. After the incident, Pandora is disbanded, the Baskerville established new bond with the Core of the Abyss, and Sharon and the rest who have survived move on with their lives. 100 years later, the dying Vincent brings Oz and Alice who have been reborn and Gilbert happily welcomes them back.

Media

Manga

Main article: List of Pandora Hearts chapters

Pandora Hearts was written and illustrated by Jun Mochizuki and serialized in Square Enix monthly shōnen magazine GFantasy from June 2006 to March 2015,[1] totaling 104 chapters collected in twenty-four tankōbon.[2] The series was first licensed in English by Broccoli Books and later dropped.[3] It was then licensed by Yen Press and serialized in Yen Plus starting with the June 2009 issue.[4] Yen Press released the first English volume of Pandora Hearts on December 15, 2009.[5] In Indonesia, the series has been licensed by Elex Media Komputindo,[6] and in France by Ki-oon.[7]

Anime

Main article: List of Pandora Hearts episodes

Studio Xebec produced a 25-episode anime adaptation directed by Takao Kato.[8][9] The series premiered on April 3, 2009 and ran until September 25, 2009.[10][11] The series broadcast on TBS, BS-TBS, CBC and MBS for its initial run.[12] On February 11, 2010, NIS America announced the licensing of the series in North America[13][14] and released English-subtitled DVDs of the anime on October 26, 2010.[15]

Other books

  • Guidebooks

Pandora Hearts 8.5: Mine of Mine was released on March 27, 2009,[16]. The guide contains a short story revolving around Gilbert Nightray and artwork and official romanization of the Pandora Hearts cast. Oz Vessalius and Gilbert Nightray are on the guide cover, along with a plush of B-Rabbit.

Pandora Hearts 18.5: Evidence is the second official guide book, released on July 27, 2012.

Pandora Hearts 24 + 1: Last Dance is the third and final official guide book, released on June 27, 2015.

With the release of the anime adaptation of the series, an official art book relating to the anime has been released with the title of Official Animation Guide. Contents included interviews with the author, rough drafts, and more behind the scenes.

  • Artbooks

Pandora Hearts Odds and Ends is the first official art book of the series. It features sketches and illustrations from volumes 1 to 10, as well illustrations from the author's previous work, Crimson-Shell.

There is. is the second official art book released after the conclusion of Pandora Hearts, containing other illustrations made for the series along with art for Boukyaku no Haou Roland and other GFantasy and Gangan Joker series. The book also features the first two official illustrations for Mochizuki's next series, Vanitas no Carte.

  • Light Novels

Three light novels were featured alongside the manga as side stories accompanying the Pandora Hearts universe. The novels were all written by Shinobu Wakamiya and illustrated by Pandora Hearts' own author, Jun Mochizuki. The titles are Pandora Hearts ~Caucus Race~ Volume 1, Pandora Hearts ~Caucus Race~ Volume 2, and Pandora Hearts ~Caucus Race~ Volume 3.

Audio

The anime's first opening theme was released as a maxi-single, "Parallel Hearts", on April 29, 2009 under the Victor Entertainment label.[17] The single was performed by FictionJunction and included two tracks, "Parallel Hearts" and "Hitomi No Chikara", with lyrics, composition and arrangement by Yuki Kajiura,[18] and peaked with a ranking of 20th on the Oricon singles charts.[19]

The first ending theme "Maze" was released on June 3, 2009 under Victor Entertainment,[20] and peaked at 35th in the Oricon singles chart.[21] The Second Ending theme is "Watashi wo Mitsukete" by Savage Genius.

The first anime album Pandora hearts Original Soundtracks 1 was released July 8, 2009 under Victor Entertainment[22] and peaked at 104th on Oricon albums chart.[23]

A drama CD entitled Pandora Hearts Drama CD was released on December 21, 2007 under Frontier works.[24][25]

Reception

The eighth volume of Pandora Hearts was ranked 21st on the Tohan charts between March 24 and 30, 2009,[26] and 19th between March 31 and April 6, 2009.[27] Volume nine was ranked number one between July 27 and August 2.

References

  1. ^ ":::: GFantasy Website :::: Pandora Hearts -月刊Gファンタジーオフィシャルサイト" (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  2. ^ "Gファンタジーコミックス" (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  3. ^ "Blu, Boysenberry, Deux, DMP, Yen Announce Boys-Love Titles". Anime News Network. October 29, 2007. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  4. ^ "Be still our Pandora Hearts!". Yen Press. 10 April 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  5. ^ "Pandora Hearts Yen Press". Yen Press. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  6. ^ "Pandora Hearts 1" (in Indonesian). Elex Media Komputindo. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  7. ^ Fallaix, Olivier (March 12, 2010). "PANDORA HEARTS CHEZ KI-OON" (in French). Animeland. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  8. ^ "XEBEC - Pandora Hearts" (in Japanese). Xebec. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  9. ^ "TBSアニメーション 「PandoraHearts」公式ホームページ/グッズ情報" (in Japanese). TBS. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  10. ^ "XEBEC - Pandora Hearts - 第1話 紹介" (in Japanese). Xebec. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  11. ^ "XEBEC - Pandora Hearts - 第25話 紹介" (in Japanese). Xebec. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  12. ^ "TBSアニメーション 「PandoraHearts」公式ホームページ/放送情報" (in Japanese). TBS. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  13. ^ "NIS America to release anime titles in North America" (PDF). NIS America. February 12, 2010. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  14. ^ "NIS America Licenses Toradora! as Its First Anime (Updated)". Anime News Network. February 11, 2010. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  15. ^ "NIS America, Inc. - Anime". nisamerica.com.
  16. ^ コミック関連書籍 一覧 (in Japanese). Square Enix. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  17. ^ "TBS系アニメーション　PandoraHearts オープニングテーマ Parallel Hearts" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. Retrieved 12 May 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ Ｐａｒａｌｌｅｌ　Ｈｅａｒｔｓ/ＦｉｃｔｉｏｎＪｕｎｃｔｉｏｎ (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 12 May 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 5 July 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ "TBS系アニメーション「PandoraHearts」エンディングテーマ　Maze" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. Retrieved July 5, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 5 July 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ "TBS系アニメーション　PandoraHearts オリジナルサウンドトラック１" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-10. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 16 July 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ "ドラマCD PandoraHearts" (in Japanese). Frontier works. Retrieved 12 May 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ ドラマＣＤ　ＰａｎｄｏｒａＨｅａｒｔｓ (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 12 May 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ "Japanese Comic Ranking, March 24–30". Anime News Network. 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
  27. ^ "Japanese Comic Ranking, March 31-April 6". Anime News Network. 2009-04-08. Retrieved 2009-07-11.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pandora_Hearts&oldid=805586885"