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A review by silquesoleil
Pandora Hearts 13巻 by Jun Mochizuki
5.0
So, let me tell you a thing about friendship. Friendship is a big deal. Love is a great thing, you know, but you can't expect to just find love and sometimes the relationship to your family is complicated, but what you can always rely on are friends. Friends are what keeps you going.
And Pandora Hearts, as intruiging as the story is, is mainly a manga about friendship.
I am saying this because a few weeks ago a troll in the Pandora Hearts fandom dared to call Alice a whore – the usual 'ew a female character dares to get in the way of my male/male ship' bullshit which was even more stupid because Alice hardly grasps the concept of romance, not to mention sexuality and she is pure in every way. Not because she is a virgin, mind you, but because she also never grew up in a society that branded – mainly female – sexuality as something bad, she also claims Oz as her own. In other words, Alice is fabulous, she is one of those rare female characters whose actions are not dictated by a love interest and she saved Oz so many times, so if you want to ship Oz with Gilbert that is fine, you know, but your shipping preferences don't change a damn thing aout Alice and Oz' friendship and is no excuse for character hate. And don't you dare tell me that Alice is useless. Basically, if you hate Alice – or any other female character in the series – you haven't understood what this manga is about and you can fuck off and search yourself a less intelligent manga, thank you very much.
But back to the topic: FRIENDSHIP!
During this Volume of Pandora Hearts, the reader gets a rather pivate view on the Baskervilles, by Lily who is the most adorable thing ever, cute and cruel in that special way that only the mind of a child can be. I thought it was interesting to find out that the Baskervilles get chosen and judging by the ones whose backstory had been revealed so far (and by 'so far' I actually mean up to Retrace 83), they are lost children, abandoned by their families so that they made their own. They are the villains of the story and yet they are so likeable.
Another thing that really got me was the whole interaction between Reim and Lily and how it was pointed out that Reim is not contributing less to the mission because he does not fight with weapons or has no aggressive Chain. (In fact, Reim is the backbone of Pandora, without people like him who deal with this entire bureaucracy, the organization would not be very organized.) I repeat: he is not lesser for not fighting. He is not less of a strong character just because he is diplomatic.
(Being a strong character does not mean being an arrogant and ignorant jerk who can not change their opinion!!!)
I was also drowning in feels because of Reim's and Break's relationship to each other, that usually seems a bit unbalanced, but it became so obvious how much Reim means to Break when Break, despite having his own plans, chooses not to have a secret agenda with the Baskervilles because they inflicted deadly wounds on Reim.
And when he finds his friend dead, he fucks their shit up.
A++++ manga here.
And Pandora Hearts, as intruiging as the story is, is mainly a manga about friendship.
I am saying this because a few weeks ago a troll in the Pandora Hearts fandom dared to call Alice a whore – the usual 'ew a female character dares to get in the way of my male/male ship' bullshit which was even more stupid because Alice hardly grasps the concept of romance, not to mention sexuality and she is pure in every way. Not because she is a virgin, mind you, but because she also never grew up in a society that branded – mainly female – sexuality as something bad, she also claims Oz as her own. In other words, Alice is fabulous, she is one of those rare female characters whose actions are not dictated by a love interest and she saved Oz so many times, so if you want to ship Oz with Gilbert that is fine, you know, but your shipping preferences don't change a damn thing aout Alice and Oz' friendship and is no excuse for character hate. And don't you dare tell me that Alice is useless. Basically, if you hate Alice – or any other female character in the series – you haven't understood what this manga is about and you can fuck off and search yourself a less intelligent manga, thank you very much.
But back to the topic: FRIENDSHIP!
During this Volume of Pandora Hearts, the reader gets a rather pivate view on the Baskervilles, by Lily who is the most adorable thing ever, cute and cruel in that special way that only the mind of a child can be. I thought it was interesting to find out that the Baskervilles get chosen and judging by the ones whose backstory had been revealed so far (and by 'so far' I actually mean up to Retrace 83), they are lost children, abandoned by their families so that they made their own. They are the villains of the story and yet they are so likeable.
Another thing that really got me was the whole interaction between Reim and Lily and how it was pointed out that Reim is not contributing less to the mission because he does not fight with weapons or has no aggressive Chain. (In fact, Reim is the backbone of Pandora, without people like him who deal with this entire bureaucracy, the organization would not be very organized.) I repeat: he is not lesser for not fighting. He is not less of a strong character just because he is diplomatic.
(Being a strong character does not mean being an arrogant and ignorant jerk who can not change their opinion!!!)
I was also drowning in feels because of Reim's and Break's relationship to each other, that usually seems a bit unbalanced, but it became so obvious how much Reim means to Break when Break, despite having his own plans, chooses not to have a secret agenda with the Baskervilles because they inflicted deadly wounds on Reim.
And when he finds his friend dead, he fucks their shit up.
A++++ manga here.