who the fuck is alice?

JakkoFourEyes said:
After the last episode, I'd say Sana is Alice.

Shirasho said:


I'm not so sure. If Sana were given the power of Wonderland I would be inclined to agree, but since she was born in Wonderland we can't say that she is Alice with any clear confidence. Alice was always an external force, and some can interpret the original story to mean that Alice gave birth to Wonderland. In such a case the Dreams of Alice naming is quite apt since it appears that all of these fragments of power originate from Wonderland (if I interpreted this series' story correctly).

As they explained in episode 11 Sana originated from Wonderland as a means of exploring the real world. There's really no way she could be Alice.

JakkoFourEyes said:


Hmm, I see your point. However the final lines in the final episode indicate that she is, though they are still a bit vague about.
I'm not quite sure how to word it but to quote one of the final lines


Sorry if this seemed messy, I found it quite hard to put it into words properly.
They could've done a better job at telling who Alice is, but all we have is this and seeing how it ended, I doubt we'll get a second season. That's fine by me, it ended in a good way and to have a second season will kinda ruin that ending for me.

Zelev said:


I had always assumed Alice was just a way of referencing "Alice in Wonderland" with this so called Alice being the imagination of anyone and everyone.

But I guess Sana could be Alice. In that case, I want my Mad Hatter, cat, twins, mouse, etc.

Edit: I guess the girl twins ARE the twins. Derp xD And I believe there was a mouse at one point. The pig = cat? As for Mad Hatter.. idk.

JakkoFourEyes said:


The cat was sort of in there, though only on the door in the last episode. The bunny was most certainly there, as he is fairly important in the latter half of the series.
Also the title of the anime is also kind of a giveaway that Sana is Alice. The anime is about (mostly) Sana and Zouroku, there's not really someone else that can be Alice, not in the way J.C. Staff did this anyway. If they did mean Alice in Wonderland, it would be a weird title 'Alice in Wonderland and Zouroku'. It would also still leave the question of who Alice is.

Shirasho said:


I feel sort of silly for not considering the title, but if we consider that what we saw was only part 1 of a much larger story it could be left open for interpretation that Alice and Zoroku could have some major influence on each other but that interaction has yet to happen. I do understand this theory could be stretching it a little and I don't know the source myself.

If Sana is indeed Alice I feel like one of two things happened:
1) Mistranslation of the series title on a massive scale like that of Attack on Titan (that is NOT what Shingeki no Kyoujin means in any context or twisted translation). In this case, however, the issue comes with giving everything away in the title instead of a literal mistranslation.
2) The author didn't really understand the original story of Alice in Wonderland.

If #2 is what happened and Sana really is Alice it just re-enforces my view that this series really dropped the ball. If you are going for the Alice in Wonderland theme, or any derivative of this kind, you need to have the underlying elements be consistent with the original work. Just pulling parts feels really half-assed and shallow.

JakkoFourEyes said:


I think that the author just wanted to use the names. Can't say I mind it, because I enjoyed it for what it was.
I don't quite get what you mean by the first point. Alice to Zouroku literally means Alice and Zouroku. 'To' being the japanese word for 'and' (I think). Though I don't think the series title gives everything away. I don't think they meant who Alice was to be a secret, they just weren't clear at all about it. Or they thought we'd make a link somehow. 'Young blond girl, wonderland, must be Alice.' Idk, maybe that's what they wanted us to think.
But I do think Sana's real name is Alice. Remember that Sana was a name given to her by the twins.
But yeah, this anime hasn't been the clearest on a couple of things.

Shirasho said:


You are correct in that `to` is a connection particle which translates closely to the English `and`. That's not what I meant though. While Attack on Titan had a colossal mistranslation issue I brought up the thought that Alice to Zouroku mistranslated in that whoever translated the title to English did not consider that changing the title to be what it is could introduce massive spoilers. This works on the assumption that who Alice is was supposed to be a secret to begin with, and I'm not entirely convinced it is which is why I lean closer towards #2.

I believe that Sana is supposed to be Alice, but as an outsider looking in I don't believe that is who Alice is supposed to be. The Alice in Wonderland "simile" (I don't know the proper word for this) stops halfway and they bend the story a little too much.

On the other hand we could be looking into this way too deeply. I get the Wonderland comparison and why they called the powers "dreams of Alice", but the title makes things really messy. It brings up a lot of questions as the OP has clearly done.

z1R said:
Seriously whether you were quoting this song on purpose or not, this title is seriously making me laugh because of this goldie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsrfovOPcjk

KuroudoAkabane said:
I didnt even know a song like that existed