Alice in the Country of Hearts Volume 1

There have been many and varied adaptations of the Lewis Carroll classic; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The versions spread from film to video games, and the adaptations themselves range from ‘as-close-to-the-original-as-possible’ (like Disney’s attempt back in 1951) to ‘we-take-what-we-like-and-make-our-own’ (such as American McGee’s dark interpretation of Wonderland). We’ve had sequels, prequels, and pretty much all the adaptations any person could ever want. Alice in the Country of Hearts isn’t the first manga adaptation but it’s one of more recent versions currently available on the market.

Based upon a Japanese romance adventure game, Alice in the Country of Hearts stars Alice Liddell, a young girl who suddenly gets kidnapped by a bunny-eared male by the name of Peter White, and thrown down a large black hole into Wonderland. After being forced to drink a medicine, Alice must interact with the residents of Wonderland in order to find her way home. Whilst wandering she discovers that not only is Wonderland at war, but everyone is heavily armed and has fallen in love with Alice.

Heavy manga readers, especially CLAMP fans, will recognise that Alice in the Country of Hearts is quite similar to Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, a 1993 adaptation that also played with the idea of Wonderland’s residents falling in love with the newcomer. Although in CLAMP’s version, all the characters were female and there was much heavier emphasis on them wanting to get into her panties. Alice in the Country of Hearts however features an all-male cast (par the Queen of Hearts) and a tighter focus on the world of Wonderland and Alice’s reason for being there.

If you’ve read the original novel, you’ll notice that there isn’t much of what normally passes for a plot; the book mostly follows Alice and records her thoughts on the marvelous yet disturbing world of Wonderland. The fact that the book has no major plot yet flows naturally from one antic to another is hard to replicate, as you’ll probably notice from some weaker adaptations where they try to cram in their own plot when it doesn’t need one (yes, Tim Burton, I’m looking at you) but this manga replicates the novel’s original flow yet scatter-brained world beautifully. Sure, there is a war between the three territories of Wonderland but you won’t see out-of-place heavy action sequences here or Alice taking up her a magical sword to defeat the evil Jabberwocky. In fact most of the residents are quite happy to have a cup of tea rather than take out their weapons.

Although this manga is based upon Alice in Wonderland, it’s not afraid to play around with elements of the original book. Some references to the novel are smack-in-your-face obvious, e.g Peter White being ‘The White Rabbit’; others are quite obscure, such as the dark devil known as ‘Nightmare’ apparently being the Caterpillar, and some completely turn the original concept on its head, with The Mad Hatter now being the leader of Wonderland’s mafia. There’s plenty of familiarity for fans of the original story to feel comfortable in the new version of Wonderland, whilst also keeping things fresh and make the reader just that little bit creeped out by their actions.

The manga also toys with the idea behind Wonderland, hinting that it’s all of Alice’s creation, which disturbs the poor girl as she wanders what kind of mind she has to create a world where death is seen as nothing and to make all the residents want to have her for themselves. Wonderland is given a slight sinister taste with plenty of comic relief to throw the reader off before they think they’ve grasped what it’s all about.

Characters are varied from the absent-minded yet sweet Ace, the hyper bunny with a hidden agenda, Peter White, to the majestic Queen of Hearts. Alice is quite likeable too; she contains some of the stereotypical ‘klutzy heroine’ attributes, such as falling asleep during the day and shying away from the men’s affections, but she’s also feisty and not afraid to ask questions about what the heck is going on.       

The art is very pleasing on the eye as the mangaka has gone into beautiful detail in creating the world of Wonderland and the characters themselves; admittedly they don’t stray too far from the familiar bishōnen look for the males, and the big, wide-eyed female for Alice, but all are distinguishable and lovingly drawn.

Alice in the Country of Hearts looks like a sugary sweet throwaway shoujo manga, but its affection towards the original book, while also taking a life of its own, definitely makes it one to check out if you love your Wonderland wonderful, your heroine with a bit of character, and you have enough room in your heart for another spin on the Alice story.