Otakuism

Story:

Aruto Kirihara is completely obsessed with the Alice books written by Alternative L. Takion, going so far as to even write his own sequel to them. His sister Kiraha Kirihara can not understand his passion at all and constantly tries to interrupt his work to impress him. Late one night Aruto sees a mysterious girl flying through the air and thinks she must be Alice. Later he sees her again at school but finds out she is not his Alice but Arisu Arisugawa. She does have a secret about Alice though, about the secret third book, Never-ending Alice, that was never published. She fights other girls who love Alice to steal the stories of their hearts and complete Never-ending Alice. There’s also another secret, that whoever completes Never-ending Alice will have their wish granted. Aruto is drawn into the dark world of the Alice-users who stake their very lives on obtaining their hearts’ desires.

Impressions:

I reviewed the first volume of Eternal Alice Rondo last January and have finally read all of it now. Looking at the whole thing, I have to conclude that this is a very surprising and messed-up story. The moe-archetypes and mahou shoujo cliches that fill the work on first glance are completely turned on their heads in later volumes, exposing dark jealousies and sick personalities. Broken dreams and sexual fantasies dominate the characters till you realize there’s more insane people here than even Evangelion. One could even see the story as a criticism of moe ideals with its portrayal of the harsh real world vs. fantasy and pleasure. Fantasy and the role of a creator are also big themes in the story, taking up a big chunk of the fourth volume as the characters discuss writing and its implications. It’s hardly academically ground-breaking, but interesting in its own way and the way its applied to the story.

However, that’s probably the main flaw with Eternal Alice Rondo. The story isn’t exactly anything new, but is executed in a very surprising way, to the point where I was reading more to find out what dark secrets would come up next. On the other hand, most of the plot is ridiculous when deeply thought about, with the back stories of the characters given more thought than the actual characters. The many fights are rather boring and confusingly drawn. There’s definitely a lot of fanservice here that is fine at first, but seems really incongruous with the story later on. The manga does end with some closure and a lot of surprises, but features a cop-out on the last page that I’d rather not think about. In the end I enjoyed Eternal Alice Rondo a lot, but that’s based more on my own preference for weird, dark manga. It’s a good manga for people looking for something very different, but you have to read past the first volume to really see the story for what it is. I doubt you’ll look at bunny girls or Alice the same after reading this manga.