Manga Review – Pandora Hearts Vol 5 by Jun Mochizuki (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Manga/Fantasy
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0316076128
Stand Alone or Series: 5th volume in the Pandora Hearts series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Guided by Jack Vessalius, the man from Alice’s memories, Oz wanders back into the world of lost memories in search of Alice. There, he stumbles upon the devastating tragedy of Sablier, the century-old disaster which sent the old capital into the Abyss, an incident of which no one has any recollection…except Alice, who was there?! When Oz discovers the truth of the memories Alice so desperately wants to forget, the powers of the B-Rabbit will spiral out of control and threaten the lives of all who are trapped within the dreamlike dimension, including Alice herself…”

This is the fifth volume in the Pandora Hearts series (there are 24 volumes in this series, which is now complete). I enjoyed it but am still having some trouble following the story.

Oz finds himself outside of time in an event that occurred 100 years ago; he finds out that Vincent may have been deeply involved in this disastrous event and that this may be the very memory that Alice was trying to repress. Even more surprising it seems that Gil was also involved in this disastrous event.

We are also introduced to yet another white-haired pretty boy whose name is Jack; Jack’s past is tied to Oz’s in a mysterious way.

As with previous books I loved the artwork here and also really enjoyed the creative storyline. I love how this storyline weaves in elements from the original Alice in Wonderland story but also ties in all this mythos around the Abyss and Chains.

Also as with previous books, I am a bit lost as to what exactly is happening here. This is not an easy story to follow. A big reason why I am struggling is because a lot of the male characters looks the same; I wish there was a character key at the beginning to remind me who is who….

I am still enjoying these but I also dread reading them a bit because I know I am going to constantly be digging out the old books to try to remember who is who and figure out what is going on.

Overall this has been a creative and beautiful manga. It’s very intriguing and interesting and I love the characters. However, the story has been very convoluted and hard to follow. I am not sure at this point if I will continue on with the series or not.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge