A somewhat disappointing close to an interesting tale.
Creative Staff
Story: QuinRose
Art: Soumei Hoshino
Translation: Beni Acxia Conrad, Tomo Kimura
English Adaptation: JuYoun Lee, Lianne Sentar
What They Say:
Kidnapped by a handsome man with rabbit ears, Alice Liddell finds herself abandoned in an odd place called Wonderland and thrust into a “game,” the rules of which she has yet to learn. Alice, ever the plucky tomboy, sets off to explore and get the lay of this strange land, intent on finding her rude kidnapper and giving him a piece of her mind (and her fist). But little does she know that she’s wandered right into the middle of a dangerous power struggle involving just about all of Wonderland’s attractive, weapon-happy denizens. And the only way for Alice to return home is to get acquainted with the lot of them?! How in the world will she manage that and still manage to stay alive?!
Content:
The other characters all announce to Alice that they’ll be at the ball and even try to teach her how to dance, but when they let slip that Blood will be there Alice declares that she isn’t going. Despite her protests, though, Ace and Julius manage to drag Alice to the party. Once there, Alice actually starts to have fun, but it isn’t long before she runs into Blood. Of course the conversation turns bad quickly, and after some quick interludes with the other characters, Alice finds herself confronting Blood head-on. After a heated argument, the two conclude to try to treat each other better. Blood agrees not to treat Alice as an Outsider, and Alice agrees not to compare Blood to her old crush.
While at a tea party at the Hatter Mansion, Blood decides to invite Alice into the rose garden. He explains that he only allows people who are special to him into the garden, causing Alice to speculate. They soon run into Vivaldi, and the pleasant atmosphere once more perplexes Alice. However, this mystery doesn’t last for long, as Blood reveals that Vivaldi is his older sister. It turns out they were given their roles even though they didn’t necessarily want them, forcing them to try to kill one another. When her time in the garden comes to a close, Alice realizes that the vial is almost full, and that she will soon be able to return home.
The time finally comes for Alice to leave, but only Vivaldi is able to bring herself to see her off. When Alice awakes in her garden, she looks fondly back on the dream that she had in Wonderland. However, unwilling to remain just a dream, Blood appears before Alice and grabs her. As Peter did at the start of the series, he prepares to take her back down the hole. When Alice tries to resist, Blood makes her drink from the vial, once more reusing Peter’s methods. In preparation for Alice’s return, Nightmare reseals her memories, and we catch a glimpse of Alice’s sister in a coffin. As the series closes, we see Alice return to her status quo life in the Country of Hearts, where very little seems to have changed.
In Summary:
With this volume the series comes to a close. Unfortunately, it sure doesn’t offer much in the way of closure, and seems content leaving quite a few loose ends. Despite all the foreshadowing surrounding him, the character of Peter remains more or less an enigma. There is something of a climax to the relationship between Alice and Blood, and it does draw some nice parallels to the first volume. However, even that feels heavily weakened by the indecisive ending. Meanwhile, there is a cool reveal as to Alice’s memories, but Alice herself never has to deal with it and it’s left as more of a nod to the readers than anything important. All in all this is an okay volume with some rather nice scenes, but it seems like a real shame that this is supposed to be the ending of the series. With any luck, maybe the creators will revisit this world in order to actually bring things to a proper close, but for now this final volume remains something of a disappointment.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: June 26th, 2012
MSRP: $18.99
