Pandora Hearts Volume 2

Alice in Wonderland has experienced its fair share of popularity as of late, undergoing a resurgence thanks to Tim Burton’s film of the same name. In the world of manga, Alice’s adventures have inspired a slew of new series, each enjoyable in their own right while still paying respects to the source material. Pandora Hearts retains many of the retro gothic elements, meshing carefully chosen elements of the literary classic to create a new iteration of the story.

On his fifteenth birthday, the young noble Oz Vesalius is set to undergo his coming-of-age ceremony, when a strange series of events erupts, leading to his imprisonment in the legendary prison called the Abyss, where a young named Alice resides. As one would expect, Alice is for from an average girl, wielding sinister powers in a variety of ways and missing fragments of her memories, she strikes a contract with Oz to escape with him and regain what she has lost.

In volume 2, Oz and Alice have managed to find their way out of the Abyss, but find themselves still confused as to why they were condemned there in the first place. Aided by the mysterious Raven, who appears to be more than what he seems, the trio returns to where Oz’s coming-of-age ceremony was meant to take place, searching for clues, only to discover that things are even more convoluted than they had initially thought.

Though Pandora Hearts claims to be a fantasy series, the continued search for answers as to what happened to Alice and Oz would suggest the focus is geared toward an overarching mystery of trying to work out who or what is manipulating the two. Volume 2 introduces even more questions, offering enough details to keep fans interested, though the growing number of mysteries does threaten to bog down the story.

Once again, Yen Press delivers a bang up job on the presentation, devoting the first few pages to color reproductions of the original work and including an index in the back of the volume, explaining the various Japanese references.

Volume 2 continues to delve into darker fantasy, with unique visuals and a story that contains twists and turns around every corner. While it’s still in its early stages, the plot is not quite as cohesive as one would hope, though the twisted imagery and the overarching mystery surrounding the two central characters will ensure readers stick around for another installment.