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  • D.

Alice & Zoroku (2017)


In this 12 episode series, a blonde child born from Wonderland escapes from a research facility. While during her escape with many pending her capture, she is aided by a mysterious woman who tells her to "go to a large city and make a commotion". By following her new directions she teleports to Shinjuku. That is where the story about  Sana and Zoroku Kashimura begin. 

Zoroku a grumpy and uptight old man who is also a "single father" figure for his granddaughter. Who someone ends up entangled with Sana. She tries to make a deal with him by revealing her past of being experimented on due to her powerful abilities known as 'Dream of Alice', which is a human that possesses supernatural powers to create anything from imagination alone. While Zouroku decides not to get involved in this, he ultimately gives Sana lodging, clothes and food in return that she help with his work as a florist and not use her powers. Later on, he fully commits and adopts her as his own daughter. 

In the beginning, the first episode (was about 45 minutes long) until the fifth episode it appeared to be a sci-fi plotline with all the action that was happening. (There is a manga that I have not read yet) It would have been nice to get more information about the research facility and the children who lived there along with Sana besides the Hinagiri twins, Asahi and Yonaga. But also who was the little boy who imagined a toy in the agent's car? 

The series climax doesn't appear until the eighth episode "The Evil Witch." Hatori, a troubled girl who believes her negative family dynamics are her fault, starts to manifest, Dreams of Alice, believing she is a witch and that she is the only one capable of such powers. Her specific ability is being able to tell anyone what to do and they follow it without realizing it was she who planted the seed. One day Hatori and her best friend, Ayumu decides to run away because she is not sure was is her reality anymore. They enter the marketplace of Shinjuku and use her power to freeze everyone in place but Sana. Once Sana realizes it was Hatori's doing she is "frazzled" and furious. All of this causes Sana to plot her revenge, which causes Wonderland itself to expand and cause more Dreams of Alice to appear around, along with trapping her within her birthplace. 

The series could have had more potential if it contained more information about the characters and the occurrences of DOAs. But ultimately it was not a story about that, it was the story of a young girl who was trying to find herself in a world that she did not yet understand. A girl who gained an older sister who wanted her to be happy. A girl who gained a father figure who wanted to keep her safe and provide her the best life. A girl who fixed and rekindled her friendships and established new ones. A girl who has a mentor who is similar to herself. Sana was her. 

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