Alice in the Country of Hearts (Manga)

Alice in the Country of Hearts (ハートの国のアリス ~Wonderful Wonder World~) is a Japanese female-oriented romance adventure game developed by QuinRose. The game is a re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The game is being adapted into a manga series illustrated by Hoshino Soumei and published by Mag Garden. An original video animation adaptation was announced for release in November 2008, but was later delayed. The manga has been licensed in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing, and in English by Tokyopop.

Plot summary
Alice Liddell is an insecure girl who is jealous of her sister's beauty and grace. During one of their outings, Alice's sister goes to get a deck of cards for a game while Alice falls asleep. When a white rabbit comes and encourages her to chase him, Alice assumes she is dreaming and tries to go back to napping until the rabbit turns into a man with white rabbit ears and carries her off. Peter White throws Alice into a hole that appears in her yard and jumps in after her. When they land in a strange, open area, Alice is frightened and Peter starts confessing his love for her. He tells her to drink some 'medicine' and when she refuses, he simply pours the liquid into his mouth and kisses her, forcing her to drink it. It is later revealed that this liquid is some kind of way to prevent her from going home. Alice learns that she is in Wonderland and the only way she might be able to return to her world is to interact and spend time with the strange people in Wonderland, which slowly refills the medicine vial. However, Wonderland is going through violent times - everyone is reckless and uncaring as to who lives or dies, and with a civil war going on, they care even less.

Characters
Most characters in Alice in the Country of Hearts are very loosely based on Lewis Carroll's originals, though there are also a few invented by QuinRose.

Alice Liddell
 * One of the very few characters who are similar in personality, physical appearance, and reactions to the original book. Alice reacts to everything a little bit more realistically than the original Alice, questioning her surroundings, however she is still dreamy and absent minded. Many of the other characters note that Alice unintentionally leads them on.

Peter White
 * Other than having a pair of white rabbit ears, wearing a watch, and wearing a suit coat he has little in common with The White Rabbit upon which he is based. He is the first to meet Alice and claims to be desperately in love with her. Alice mentions hating him on several instances, but he is persistent in gaining her love. Peter is able to turn into an actual rabbit and works for the Queen of Hearts in Heart Castle. He is often caught rhyming as he speaks in the manga (though this trait was added by TokyoPop).

Blood Dupre
 * Leader of the Hatters, the charming and flirtatious Blood is nothing like the Mad Hatter, the character he represents. He rules the Hatter's Mansion area and is Mary Gowland's worst enemy. Alice notices right away that he looks exactly like her ex-boyfriend. He has no intention of loving Alice, and discusses trying to kill her. Vivaldi is his older sister, as revealed in the Joker no Kuni no Alice game.

Elliot March
 * Other than having a pair of brown hare ears, Elliot shares no likeness to the March Hare, upon which he is based. Elliot is dedicated to serving Blood, due to the fact that Blood helped Elliot escape prison. Elliot had destroyed his friend's clock (the people of Wonderland have clocks instead of hearts, and when repaired the clocks become a new person), as his friend had wished. Because Wonderland needs replacements, he was thrown in jail. Elliot constantly states that his ears are just big and that he isn't a rabbit.

Dee and Dum
 * Twins based on the characters Tweedledum and Tweedledee that besides being twins and finishing each others' sentences on occasion, they look and act nothing like their counterparts. Dee and Dum are the young gatekeepers to the Hatter Mansion. Due to their young age, they often slack off. They have a violent tendency and actually tried to kill Alice upon first meeting her, thinking that slitting her throat would be a fun game. They don't think life is important, thinking Alice will have a replacement.

Boris Airay
 * Boris is the counterpart of the Cheshire Cat. He has functional cat ears and a tail, several piercings and tattoos, and dresses in short, exposing outfits with a pink boa and a collar with a chain. Boris works in the Amusement Park District for Mary Gowland. He is a sly, devious character with a childish personality. He is friends with Dee and Dum, despite the fact that they work for opposing groups. Boris even goes to Hatter Mansion to have tea parties and interact with Elliot and Blood. Boris is trying to change for Alice from his careless and ruthless ways. When Ace threatens to kill Alice, Boris only shoots at his feet saying, "I can't kill you because it would make Alice sad."

Vivaldi
 * Vivaldi is based upon The Queen of Hearts. Like the character in Carroll's book, she regularly orders the beheading of servants for the smallest of mishaps. She tends to use the majestic plural and is demanding and dangerous. Despite her lack of emotion, she does expose her feelings towards Blood when Peter and Ace inform her of his interest and advances to Alice. She loves cute things and has a secret room full of stuffed animals. She is Blood's older sister.

Ace
 * Ace is an original character, though he is possibly based on the Knave of Hearts. He is the knight of Heart Castle and often forgets how to get to places. Though, seemingly harmless at first, he becomes more devious over time and demonstrates a tendency towards violence. He is one of the first characters to admit that he has no romantic interest in Alice, though that changes shortly after he says it. Ace uses Alice as a shield when Peter threatens to shoot him and he helps Julius Monrey collect clocks from people who have died while killing those who get in his way. He almost kills Alice because she is changing everyone in Wonderland, but mentions that if he killed her, he couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore, so changes his mind.

Julius Monrey
 * Julius is a new character, though many think he represents Time (who has an argument with The Mad Hatter), from the original Alice in Wonderland book. He is in charge of the only neutral district, the Clock Tower Plaza and is the fixer of clocks. Julius is currently the closest to Alice. She trusts him and lives in his Clock Tower with him. Though, seemingly apathetic and anti-social, several characters mention how much he must like Alice because of his eagerness to help her get home and to give her a room to stay in. Later on, Julius shows jealousy towards the other men in Alice's life and tells her to leave, saying that she can go where ever she chooses as he thinks she feels obligated to stay. Alice refuses to leave and Julius admits that he doesn't find her annoying.

Mary Gowland
 * Boss of the Amusement Park, Gowland is possible a parody of The Duchess as he is a marquis and semi owner of Cheshire Cat. He is an older man with mood swings, but is generally a cheery and very social person. He has the power to pull out his violin, which turns into a kind of gun or rifle at his will, in various sizes, though he has no talent playing it. He invites Alice to come to the park any time she likes and visits her at the clock tower. Gowland is the archenemy of Blood Dupre, who told everyone Gowland's first name is Mary, making his name 'Mary Gowland', like the term merry-go-round. Dupre seems eager to pick fights with Mary, making fun of him and his name, throwing Gowland into a violent rage.

Nightmare
 * Nightmare is based on The Caterpillar in the original Alice in Wonderland, but is only ever seen when Alice is sleeping. He is the one who allowed Peter to bring Alice into Wonderland. He calls himself a 'Dream Demon', claiming he is the embodiment of bad dreams. He interacts mostly with Alice, though it seems he interacts with Peter as well. He is sickly in the books and is seen coughing up blood on Alice when she shakes him. He wears an eyepatch and seems to not have any weapon.

Others
 * Most of the people of Wonderland are servants and guards. They are men and women who all look the same besides the uniforms they wear that represent their district location. They have no eyes and look and dress the same as the other servants in their district. Citizens of Wonderland think these people are unimportant and identical, but Alice is able to recognize their individual differences. Though they are not given names, Alice still thinks of them as people and becomes angered when others do not consider them as such. In the game, it's discovered that Alice can give them faces so she could remember each one of them.
 * Besides servants, there are also normal citizens that have no roles in the 'game' of Wonderland. People without roles have no eyes and little to differentiate between them. Vivaldi, the Queen of Hearts, was once a girl without roles. Among the citizens there are some rebels, who try to destroy their friends' clocks so they can't be replaced.

Games
Heart no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ has been released in Japan for three different consoles. The game is a re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The PC version was released by QuinRose on February 14, 2007. The PlayStation 2 version was released by Prototype on September 18, 2008. The PlayStation Portable version was released by Prototype on July 30, 2009.

Clover no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Wonder World~ was released as a sequel to Heart no Kuni no Alice. It follows the first game under the assumption that Alice did not fall in love with anyone, maintaining only friendships with the major characters. She remains in Wonderland as a result and the setting moves from the Country of Heart to the Country of Clover. Clover no Kuni no Alice replaces Julius Monrey and Mary Gowland with Pierce Villiers, the representation of the Dormouse, and Gray Ringmarc, Nightmare's right-hand man who works more in the capacity of a nanny to his master. Heart and Clover were accompanied by a third game, the fan-disc Joker no Kuni no Alice ~ Wonderful Wonder World~. Joker no Kuni no Alice is a side-story to the first two games and reintroduces Julius Monrey and Mary Gowland.

Manga
A manga adaptation began in Mag Garden's Comic Blade Avarus in 2008. It is written by QuinRose and illustrated by Soumei Hoshino. Five compiled volumes have been released by Mag Garden thus far; the first on July 10, 2008 and the fifth on June 10, 2010. The manga has been licensed in North America by Tokyopop, who has published three volumes as of June 2010. Alice in the Country of Hearts is also licensed in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing.

OVA
An original video animation anime adaptation was announced for release in November 2008, however QuinRose announced on its production blog that the release was delayed until further notice. The cast includes Katsuyuki Konishi as Blood Dupre, Jun Fukuyama as both Dee and Dum, Tsuguo Mogami as Elliot March, Yuuko Kaida as Vivaldi, Kouki Miyata as Peter White, Takehito Koyasu as Julius Monray, Daisuke Hirakawa as Ace, Noriaki Sugiyama as Boris, and Kenyuu Horiuchi as Mary Gowland.

Reception
Heart no Kuni no Alice was ranked 27th on the Tohan charts between January 13 and 19, 2009. The third volume of the manga was ranked 25th on the Tohan charts between June 8 and 14, 2009. Japanator's God Len comments on the "lots of kissing and/or yaoi-centric scenes because this one is made for a more female audience."

The first volume of Tokyopop's English translation of Alice in the Country of Hearts was part of the New York Times Manga Best Seller List for a total of 7 weeks before dropping off the charts, but re-entered a few weeks later for another two weeks on the chart; the volume peaked at number 5. The second volume was on the charts for a total of 4 weeks, peaking at number six, before falling out of the rankings. The third volume was eighth place in its first week, rose to seventh in its second week, but fell to tenth place in its third week, where it stayed for its fourth week.

Ed Sizemore enjoyed the "pretty-boy" artwork and enjoyed Alice's characterization, but felt that the rest of the cast's "psychotic" characterisation made it uncomfortable to read. Zack Davisson enjoyed the "suggestion that Alice is creating the fantasy world from her subconscious, and that the rules set are her own", and enjoyed the manga's treatment of the game's story. Carlo Santos thought that the manga could be read as a satire on reverse harems, but felt the first volume lacked plot. Reading the second volume, he felt the plot was still "aimless", but enjoyed the exploration of "non-canon" ideas about Wonderland, such as what happens to a Wonderland character after they die.