Heart no Kuni no Alice: Wonderful Wonder World
Alice in the Country of Hearts

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I'm a bit worried about reviewing this since it's the favorite manga of one of my best friends... Ah well, I finished it and now I'm reviewing it! I don't really know why the Japanese seem to have such an intense love of all things Alice (I swear, it must be customary to have an Alice reference in shoujo manga nowadays...) but here's yet another Alice manga!

Heart no Kuni no Alice, or Alice in the Country of Hearts as it's known as under it's English publication, is a more romantic reversioning of the famous Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol and is based off an ... otome game of the same name. It features a girl named Alice, duh, who doesn't fall, but is instead forced down the rabbit hole to discover the Country of Hearts. She soon learns that the country is controlled by several warring gangs. The lives of the country's inhabitents are not given much value due to their hearts being watches that can once again be fixed, but once fixed the heart's owner will not be reborn as the same person. Due to these issues, almost everyone in the Country of Hearts carries a gun that they're not hesitant to use...

This is a pretty good premise, I think. The series focuses a somewhat on Alice's morals compared to that of the country's citizens, but sadly this wonderful premise is only loosly touched upon whereas I think it should have been expanded upon much more.

But no, this is based off an otome game remember, meaning that it's all about who Alice will end up falling in love with... Like a lot of reverse harem series, every reader typically finds some character who they grow to like more than the others, for me it's Nightmare for example. Most of the characters as well are heavily based off of characters from the original Alice in Wonderland: Boris is the Cheshire Cat (who has pink hair and wears a skirt, hee hee!), Vivaldi the Queen of Hearts, Blood the Mad Hatter, etc.

Every character has a very distinct personality which is heavily based off of their Alice in Wonderland counterpart if they have one. All of them still have their own traits though the seperate them from these counterparts, the most noticable I think being Blood, who is based off the Mad Hatter. It almost seems sometimes like the only likeness Blood shares with the Hatter is the hat itself as well as being accompanied by the March Hare. Blood's character is very serious and cold, almost seeming like he's mocking the original Hatter.

I also find it odd that, for a series where the characters are the main focus, all of the characters remain sadly one dimensional...

Art wise, the series looks very pretty most of the time, but this is possibly due mainly to the characters' have very rounded, simplisticly drawn designs, likely due somewhat to the original game having similar art, but even so. This means that it would have been easier for the artist to not go off model as much. As well, it often seems that characters who aren't the focus in a panel get jipped a bit, not being as detailed as the one who is in the spotlight.

Despite these flaws though, the series keeps up a surprisingly high level of enjoyability. If you like rom/com, this will probably keep you hooked most, if not all, the time, and if you're not, you'll still probably find something to enjoy in it. It should be stated though that this is definetely something that the ladies are going to enjoy much more than the men, sorry boys.

I've heard that there is going to be more manga based of the sequels to the game, and considering the series had a more or less cliff hanger ending this may very well be true, so I hope that helps to clear up some of the flaws that this had. As well, Heart no Kuni no Alice is getting a movie based off it very soon, so hopefully that'll be good and I'm looking forward to it!

Overall, I give this bloody look at a classic a 7 out of 10.

This is a decent harem manga provided that you enjoy this genre. As someone who isn't into harem, I surprisingly had a pretty good time with it too. But for future readers, you have to remember what it essentially is if you don't want to be disappointed by the story.

What I liked:
+ beautiful art style
+ the story is quite plot-centered
+ underlying mystery and interesting twists
+ meta undertones
+ likeable and smart protagonist
+ diverse and interesting cast
+ all the characters get enough focus
... + decent character development
+ good drama and action
+ romance isn't too over-the-top

What I disliked:
- setting could be more Wonderland-like
- secondary characters are psychopaths
- the romance isn't too engaging
- characters have plot armor
- not enough room for story progression
- dark humor, cursing
- many questions are left unanswered
- the ending is left open

What makes this manga so dissatisfying is not just one factor, but many factors put together. The execution was poor overall, and there was potential for this to be good too.

Story: 3/10
Why a three? Because, for one concepts/threads are introduced, and then casually put aside for far too long, often causing one to wonder, "How does X fit into Y at this point?" An excellent example of this is the vial of liquid required by Alice to go home. It's introduced as ~*THE IMPORTANT PLOT POINT*~ but then promptly gets disposed of, only to resurface at the end, just to be disposed of again. Also, ... Alice seems to not be on a hunt for a boyfriend, yet is actively /hunting for a boyfriend/. It's really irritating to watch.

Art: 5/10
The art for this was pretty standard shoujou eyecandy. There wasn't anything overtly good, bad, or hilariously derpy.

Character: 2/10
Now here's where a VERY major problem lies. All of the characters seem to lack true depth, akin to one watching a 3D movie without the glasses: a blurry, headachey mess. Alice can't decide on whether or not she wants well, anything really. Considering the fact that she is the main character, you will be exposed to this /all the time/. Her prospective dates aren't much better. There's moments where you just want to feel sorry for the Peter White because Alice is so indecisive, but then his obsessive love tendencies make you roll your eyes violently. Blood Dupre is the boring wangsty invincible bishounen male. The problem with Boris Airay is that he's supposed to be like the Cheshire Cat, provided that Cheshire was a masochist who like seeing himself bleed. Vivaldi would have been better if she were actually a collective of entities instead of just using the royal we. Ace is just a slobbering mess of a character, almost like a jerkass, yet being changed by the pure and true love of Alice. The only characters that seem to make this worth reading through to the end are the side characters. Even then, they are not enough to redeem this story.

In summary, the characters are worthless, and the plot is cliche. It's not really worth anyone's time, unless you are totally into indecisive girls who just can't decide between bad choices in boyfriends.