Alice Goes To Japan

Intro

Released by ADV way back in 1995, this little known or even talked about OVA had me strangely intrigued. Then I hit the play button.

The Story

On this disc, we are treated to two very short features taking the classic story of ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and turning it into something far less entertaining and far more twisted. In the first of the two features, our heroine Miyuki wakes up in her bed and realizes that she is late for school. Right after leaving her home, she gets transported to Wonderland and if you’ve ever seen or heard the story, it’s essentially the same thing except in this version, Miyuki goes through the whole thing in fifteen minutes but still manages to meet every character from the story… only in this version, all of them are scantily clad women and I gotta say that I’ve never seen the Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts looking so good!

In the second feature, Miyuki is once again transported to a new world only in this case it is to the mirror world where once again everyone she meets is a scantily clad woman and she isn’t going to get to go home until she beats herself at chess and her clothes are on the line.

The Good And The Bad

Ok, as you can tell this release wasn’t exactly story driven… in fact, there really isn’t much of a story to it at all. There really is nothing to this anime except for 30 minutes of fan service and if that’s what you’re looking for then you’re in for a great time. But if, like myself, you prefer your anime to have more substance, depth and something that even vaguely resembles a point, you’re going to be pretty disappointed with this title.

While the character design and animation actually looks really good for it’s age, it’s still much too little to save this anime.

Music

There really isn’t any music really to speak of in this title except for a very catchy closing theme that I really enjoyed. If you do happen to sit down and watch this anime and find some way to sit through all 30 minutes, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a listen of this song. It’s easily the best part of the entire OVA.

Dub vs. Sub

There is no dub track on this DVD, only a sub track which was more than decent.

Extras

There are also no extras on this DVD.

Overall

Um, yeah. Well… it’s definitely interesting and twisted but with each section only lasting fifteen minutes, it gives it no time to develop or even execute a story and this anime doesn’t even bother trying. All this OVA has is 30 minutes of pointless fan service and so if that’s what you’re looking for. Go for it.

Never before have I exercised my right to give an anime only one star but in this case, I think that I’m being pretty generous.

Parents be warned that while there is no actual nudity, there is plenty of implied nudity and women who are practically naked so you be the judge on if you’re ok with your teenager seeing that.

Final Grade: 50% - F







©L.B. Bryant 2005