Alice in the Country of Hearts Volume 1 by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino

As I was reading Alice in the Country of Hearts I started wondering if it was an adaptation of a dating simulation game. Alice Liddell is transported to a Wonderland filled with beautiful boys who all seem to want to fall in love with her. But would Japan really turn this classic work of English literature into a romance game filled with bishonen? They sure did!

In this version of Wonderland, the white rabbit is a cute guy with spectacles and rabbit ears who decides to toss Alice down a rabbit hole and force her to drink a mysterious liquid by kissing her. He introduces himself as Peter White and says that he is in love with her. Alice is not amused at her first kiss being stolen from her and vows not to acknowledge it. Peter announces that since Alice drank the medicine, she has “to play the game.” He leaves and Alive begins to explore. As she wanders around the strange world she discovers that Wonderland is split into three factions, with a neutral clock tower in the center. Julius runs the clock tower, and he provides Alice with background information about Wonderland and the game she must play. The empty medicine bottle begins to fill up as Alice interacts more with the Wonderland inhabitants. When it is full again she might be able to go home. The warring areas of Wonderland include the Hatter mansion, which serves as a hideout for the local mafia and is guarded by a pair of twins. The man in the hat is Blood Dupre who looks suspiciously like someone from Alice’s past. An amusement park run by a man with an unfortunate name and the Castle of the Queen of Hearts completes the geography of this altered Wonderland.

There is always something a little shallow about manga that adapts dating simulation games. Perhaps because of the nature of the source material it is all too obvious which characters are matched up with stereotypical traits. There’s the dangerous one, the stupid but sweet one, the enthusiastic one, etc. The plot is really secondary to the parade of hot guys. The costumes in the manga are a cosplayer’s dream. Alice’s striped socks, ruffles, and hairbow are very cute, and I appreciated the attention to detail in the costumes of the male characters. Everyone seems to have several pocket watches pinned in various places on their person, and there are plenty of tiny heart, club, diamond, and spade motifs that remind the reader of a pack of cards. Unfortunately while the costumes are elaborate and the backgrounds are attractive in Alice in the Country of Hearts, the character designs and execution don’t approach the levels of hotness that I would need to read the manga for eye candy alone.

There were two things in the manga that did capture my interest. One was that Alice is aware that the whole adventure is a projection of her unconscious, and she isn’t too happy with the quality of her imagination or her own emotional neediness. Alice meets a man named Nightmare when she goes to sleep in Wonderland and she asks “On what planet would everyone trip over themselves for me? I guess my subconscious is as stupid as this world.” She finds the rules of Wonderland disturbing because she assumes her mind is creating them and nothing makes sense. When Alice thinks about the fairy tale Heart Castle and frilly clothes she’s wearing, she wonders if she secretly craves them, and concludes “this is the most humiliating way to explore my subconscious. I hope I wake up soon.” If this aspect of the story is followed up on in future volumes, it has the potential to be interesting.

The other aspect of the manga that I thought I’d like to see explored further is the stark difference between the characters in Wonderland who seem to have agency and those who do not. All of the male characters who seem to be about to fall in love with Alice (and Vivaldi, the Queen of Hearts) are characters called “ones with duties,” people who have a function in Wonderland. The soldiers and servants are drawn with less detail in their faces and are effectively disposable props, speaking to Alice’s cry in the original source material “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”

So as a dating sim version of Alice in Wonderland, I found Alice in the Country of Hearts interesting since Alice is aware of her dream and offering her own internal commentary on the ridiculousness of her situation. I’m hoping that this aspect of the story is explored more in volume 2, because I probably won’t be as interested in reading the series if it is only an endless parade of Wonderland hunks.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The winner of Love Hurts, courtesy of random.org’s random number generator is comment #4, Diana Dang! Diana’s favorite Love Song was the Glee version of Endless Love.

But wait! I decided to give my copy away too! The second winner is comment #12, Darcy B, whose favorite love song was I Melt With You by Modern English.

Diana and Darcy get Love Hurts and a Junjo Romantica mini poster! If anyone else who enetered the contest also wants a Junjo Romantica mini poster, e-mail me your address. I’ll send them out on a first come, first served basis. Thanks for entering the giveaway!

After some discussion on Twitter yesterday, a bunch of bloggers are going to talk about Sexy Voice and Robo the week of Feb 8th. Find out all about it over at Manga Curmudgeon.

Today is the last day for the Love Hurts Manga Giveaway. So enter now if you want to win! I’ll announce the winner sometime on Saturday.

Karakuri Odette Volume 2 by Julietta Suzuki

I tend to follow a two volume rule when evaluating a manga series. I’ve often found that I ended up enjoying a series after reading the second volume even if I had vaguely lukewarm feelings about the first. I think that sometimes due to the way manga publishing works authors often don’t know that they’ve been picked up for a full series until after they’ve produced four or five chapters. I can’t point to specific examples, but I remember reading plenty of author notes in second volumes that refer to this situation. On the other hand, sometimes I’ll pick up a second volume with a little bit of trepidation because I’m afraid it won’t live up to the potential of the first volume. All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I enjoyed the first volume of Karakuri Odette so much, I was afraid that the second volume wouldn’t be as good. Fortunately my fears were unrealized.

I love the small defining character moments in this series. Although Odette is a newly born android she has a strong personality, which she will express in unexpected ways like telling her professor that she wants to take a specific backup battery with her to school because she put a bear sticker on it yesterday. I enjoy the episodic nature of this manga. The stories are little vignettes that serve to illustrate the subtle ways Odette is learning about human behavior. In the first story a new classmate is smitten by Odette but is warned off by the school bully Asao, who knows Odette’s secret and acts as her protector. The assassin android Chris Seven is remade by the professor, so Odette has a friend who is just like her. Odette’s personality is more fully developed. She’s able to decide what she likes and dislikes, while Chris is confused at how she can so quickly make a decision when they go shopping for clothes.

Chris decides to accompany Odette to school too, and he’s introduced as Odette’s cousin who hasn’t fully recovered from a serious illness. All the girls want to talk to Chris, but the only person he seems to like is Odette. In the meantime, Odette explores the meaning of “tasty” as she struggles to put together a bento box for Asao. An android-android-human love triangle seems to be the way this manga might be heading, but since the stories focus on small moments like playing a board game at a sleepover or Odette’s fascination with nail polish, romance definitely takes a backseat to the main theme of a quirky android slowly discovering her humanity. Odette’s facial expressions have become more emotional, and the reintroduction of Chris provides a contrast since he’s more of a blank slate.

For me, this series is now firmly in the category of “feel good manga.” Odette’s personality is naive in the best way, because she doesn’t make assumptions about people or the world around her. Seeing her slowly discover how to act human and her delight in learning how to relate to people makes for a reading experience that is very satisfying. I put down this volume in a better mood than I was when I picked it up, and I don’t think there’s much more you need to ask for from your manga than that.

Portrait of M and N Volume 1 by Higuchi Tachibana

This is a series I was intrigued by when I read the solicitation in Previews. The relationship between a masochist and a narcissist seemed like it would be a little different than most shoujo series. While the premise might seem engagingly weird the execution left the story with some predictable plot elements.

At this point I have read many manga that start out with the protagonist entering high school and just wanting a “happy normal school life.” As soon as this happens you know that wacky things will be afoot that will cause said protagonist to suffer more in high school then they have ever suffered before. The protagonist might be dealing with aliens, reincarnation, a pushy witch, a student council with strange hierarchical rules, or in the case of Portrait of M and N’s Mitsuru struggling to hide her extreme masochism.

Mitsuru’s family is proper and upper class. They warn her not to be the subject of unwarranted attention like before as she prepares to face her first day of high school. Natsuhiko is another student at her school with a dark secret, and the couple are destined to be thrown together. Natsuhiko bumps into Mitsuru and his coke-bottle lens glasses slip off, revealing a beautiful face. Mitsuru thinks he looks just like her favorite character in a story she’s reading. Mitsuru and Natsuhiko run into each other when they are hiding out in a classroom to avoid having lunch with their classmates. Natsuhiko accidentally overturns a desk on Mitsuru and her reaction is to beg him to injure her more before she passes out. Natsuhiko doesn’t act repulsed by Mitsuru’s revelation and when she wakes up in the nurse’s office and talks to him some more she thinks that she might have found a true friend. Mitsuru subsequently observes Natsuhiko’s dark secret too. When his glasses are knocked off and he catches a glimpse of his reflection in a mirror, he just wants to stare at his own beauty all day long.

Mitsuru and Natsuhiko’s relationship develops in a halting fashion. She’s sure of her feelings for him, but Natsuhiko’s self-involvement is an effective barrier. They both owe their psychological issues to severe family problems. The second boy (there always is a second boy, isn’t there?) is Hijiri, an upperclassman who learns Mitsuru’s secret and blackmails her into spending time with him. The plot lines revolve around the couple’s dread of discovery by their classmates and some mean antics by some girls who are jealous of the attention that Mitsuru seems to be receiving from boys. I haven’t read Higuchi’s other series Gakuen Alice which I think was published more recently but the art in Portrait of M and N reminded me a little bit of Banri Hidaka’s work, especially the somewhat spiky bangs on most of the characters. The front pages for many of the chapters have a slight gothic feel, which I wish was carried over more into the main illustrations.

My ideal ending for this manga would be for Mitsuru and Natsuhiko to just embrace their weirdness. Perhaps Mitsuru could hold up a mirror for Natsuhiko to gaze upon himself as he beats her up and they could both live happily ever after. Unfortunately I’m guessing that their relationship will prompt a return to happy normalcy, with the most interesting aspects of their personality erased. I wasn’t too happy at the way Mitsuru just seemed to be passive about being passed back and forth between her two suitors. I’m interested enough in the outcome to stick around for volume two, even though this manga wasn’t as weird or kinky as its premise suggested.

I read the first volume of Pumpkin Scissors some time ago, and I finally got my hands on the next two volumes. I’m still enjoying this cerebral action series, despite the sometimes clunky art.

Pumpkin Scissors #2 by Ryotaro Iwanaga

The second volume of Pumpkin Scissors explores the past of the giant soldier Randel Oland. After disabling a tank at point blank range, one of his squad mates named Machs is suspicious of his background. Machs launches an investigation and learns that Randel was a member of a group that doesn’t exist, “The Invisible Nine.” Randel is injured in battle yet again and recuperates in the hospital, only to find an unexpected connection with his roommate. Pumpkin Scissors’ mission to help with war reconstruction sends them down to the sewers to relocate refugees. The team uncovers a drug trade, military conspiracies, and Randel has a close encounter with an old acquaintance from his past.

I like the layered complexity of the plots in Pumpkin Scissors. As Machs begins to uncover Randel’s secrets he begins to question himself for prying into Randel’s past without his knowledge. Is Machs going to accept Randel as a fellow soldier, despite his fearsome fighting abilities? The relationship between Randel and his commanding officer Alice is explored as well, as she shows up in a furious state to visit him at the hospital. There’s obviously something between them, but it isn’t acted on and it remains below the surface. With Alice coming from the nobility and Randel’s past as a military lab experiment and human weapon I’m not sure if a romantic relationship would even be possible. Despite Randel’s disruptive presence as a new member of the team, they still carry out their mission. The hint of competing goals between different military sections is going to cause problems later on.

Pumpkin Scissors #3 by Ryotaro Iwanaga

The third volume opens with plenty of action as Pumpkin Scissors deals with the aftermath of the drug trade and are almost executed by a competing military unit. Alice takes on a squad all by herself, and the reader learns more about the experimentation that created flawed human weapons. Randel is forced to confront his past, and Alice makes a detour into the world of the nobility where she joins her family and her fiance?! The comedic element is provided by Major Stecchin who notices that Randel seems depressed and decides that a rousing group song and dance will improve morale.

Iwanaga’s art continues to be the weakest aspect of the book. The best I can say for it is that it is serviceable. The poses and character expressions are frequently stiff. I did notice that he seemed to be experimenting a bit by showing facial close-ups against a blank background whenever people were discussing a matter of high tension, and I thought these panels were effective. I enjoy the interaction between the ensemble cast and the social issues associated with military reconstruction there’s a wistful element summed up by the Pumpkin Scissors’ captain as he sits in his office and wonders why he is still hearing gunshots three years after a ceasefire.

While there is a lot I enjoy about Pumpkin Scissors, since there are so many plots and themes being juggled, it seems to progress at a slow pace. This manga falls into the middle tier for me – if I happen to get my hands on it I’m happy to read it but I’m not likely to make a special effort to seek it out. I am going to eventually try to read the next few volumes of the series to see if I end up liking it more.

Land of Silver Rain Volume 1 by Mira Lee

I’m trying to make a point of sampling more manhwa. Land of Silver Rain is about a human child raised in the land of the Dokebis – traditional spirits from Korean folktales. Misty-Rain was found by a witch in a cabbage patch when she was an infant. The ruler of the Dokebis, The Great King of Darkness decides to hide her human identity with a spell and she grows up among the Dokebis not imagining she is human. Universal appeal is a tricky thing for works aimed at younger readers to pull off. In the case of Land of Misty Rain the storyline quickly becomes tedious due to most of it focusing on Misty-Rain’s squabbling interactions with her Dokebi classmates. Thornpricker is a Dokebi girl who is the Jan Brady to Misty-Rain’s Marsha, as Thornpricker is jealous of all the attention that Misty-Rain receives and is suspicious that Misty-Rain might not be a Dokebi after all. Too many scenes of pre-teen bickering made this book a bit of a slog to read, despite the overly feminine art, where the girls are pretty and the men are even prettier.

Misty-Rain tries to be a good Dokebi, but she is often getting into trouble and having to endure punishments like being hung upside down by a rope for a couple days. The witch who serves as her adopted mother is concerned about Misty-Rain, and the Great King of Darkness’ interest in her is mysterious. There were a few flashes of humor in the book that I enjoyed. Misty-Rain’s Dokebi lessons at school about the proper ways for demons to behave are amusing. There was a hilarious panel where the witch tries to disguise her newly acquired infant by disguising her as a cabbage, and I enjoyed the depiction of the tearful Misty-Rain in cabbage form. If moments like this had been more plentiful in Land of Silver Rain, I think I’d be interested in reading the next volume. As it is, there was too much pointless pre-teen angst in this story for me. I can definitely see this series appealing to younger readers who enjoy stories with a fairy-tale atmosphere and lavish illustrations, but it has limited appeal for older readers.

Is it a rule that every blogger gets a book deal at some point? As part of the large writing team behind the FakeAPStyleBook twitter feed, I now have a book to work on. The title is undetermined but it will be published in spring 2011 by Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House.

You can check out Mike’s and Dave’s takes on the whole thing.

I won a copy of Love Hurts: Aishiatteru Futari on twitter from Tokyopop, but since I have my own copy already I have decided to share the extra one with you, my readers! Tokyopop also sent along a bunch of Junjou Romantica mini-posters, so the winner of the giveaway will receive Love Hurts and a mini-poster. Here are the rules:

Leave a comment on this post with the title of your favorite love or anti-love song. Contest will be open until next Friday, January 22nd. United States and Canada residents only please! I will also mail Junjou Romantica mini-posters to anyone who enters as an additional random drawing until my supply runs out. Because I am cheap, I am going to mail the posters folded and in envelopes.

Yay for free manga!

Thanks for playing! The giveaway is now closed!