Alice in Murderland

 Alice in Murderland is a twisted take on the most well-known well-known work of literature, Alice in Wonderland. Alice, a high school girl actually named Stella, throws a tea party, a family tradition. Her family lives in a mansion in a forest, the whole family dressed up as a cult fairytale like her younger sister is little red riding hood and her mother is the Queen from Alice in Wonderland and her father is The Mad Hatter. In this “Tea Party” all the children have to fight to the death for an heir to the Kuonji estate. To stop them from refusing not to take part in the Tea Party battle royale, the Queen puts something in the tea that if you don't drink at least once a month, you'll die.

In this version, the Mad Hatter and the Queen are in a relationship being the parents, which is slightly unexpected from the original, but I guess it works with the context. After that the parents set off a trap door pulling everyone into a different world, there's a constant metaphor of Alice falling down a deep well from all the hardships she has to go through, when Stella snaps she transforms into a blond hair and blue-eyed Alice a ruthless killing machine. It has aspects of understanding the importance of family ties between Zeno and Stella. The manga is highly reminiscent of shoujo art styles because that is the genre it’s focusing more on with the shipping of Zeno and the girl, like a lot of shoujo anime with female protagonists.

The manga is fascinating with all the story that you would want to find out, but like what is the secret behind the Kuonji Family? Why does Stella turn into a killing machine? Is it because of the tea or the family? And I was really intrigued by how Yuki Koari would adapt Alice in Wonderland in this gothic horror manga. Stella goes further down the rabbit hole in this manga. All the metaphors from the fairytale and how they are conveyed in this manga is really cool because it takes a well known but makes it original and reinvents, making it a true underrated read.

The mother sets them up because her tea has herself in it, so if they don’t drink it once a month, they die. Then they get kicked down the rabbit hole into the new world to fight for the new heir of the throne, when her step-brother Zeno gets stabbed is where she snaps and turns crazy badass which turns the innocent tale into a dark fantasy which is brilliant. Even, bandersnatch and adds other fairytales too, the horrific creature in the original is a power that they can have that steals people’s life force from them. It brings a unique and fantastic reality of something that everyone knows but does a 180 and makes it really enjoyable and fun to read.

Although, it is primarily a shoujo manga; with meaning, it focuses on Alice that has an infatuation with Zeno, even when he changes into a different person from being revived. She is still madly obsessed with him, which is why my main problem is how generic of a character she is, when she is in normal mode, but I love the yandere type characters. Above all, I don't really have any negative criticism apart from the two. Even though under 2000 readers, it has a 6.9 out of 10; probably because of the generic shoujo troupes that hold the story down, but that doesn’t ruin the whole manga for me.

It’s not just a complete remake of Alice in Wonderland, but it also has its own original characters and story to it which is how Kakei no Alice holds its own as an original concept because it just has the inspiration around the cult story but develops itself own originality in it which is a super genius from the creator and why it stands out for me. The manga also has the compulsory moe character being Melm the loli character who dresses in onesies, mainly a beaver one but first reading I thought she was a tomato loli lmao. At the tea party, there’s peace and everyone goes back to normal, but when it’s over, they must hunt for another victim for the month. A good thing about the show is the characters all have an alter ego that they turn into when they fight, so the bonds get broken in Stella’s head, and she turns crazy again. Which could be generic since she does it over and over, but in anime and manga you must remove your disbelief as that’s how anime works :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:.

The thing about this piece that it does correctly is it’s not afraid to make characters expendable, which not a lot can do; with this story basically being a battle royal of the family. It can be heavy hitting that her alter ego goes crazy and kills them while also having monologues of their flashbacks that make it more impact when they fall. Shoujo is not really my ballpark, but I can disregard it for a good story, just like this one but with this insanely underrated manga. There’s always criticism that can be made, which is the romance aspect of the manga because technically he is a brother figure, but she loves him and has the usually generic shoujo bishi guy for fanservice which I guess is smart for the demographic.

I love how throughout the manga you discover what characters are based on, like one guy being a white rabbit or the girl being a red riding hood. It makes it fun to read that you can relate this story to something familiar, making it always light interest when going through the manga. When the manga is not being very serious or shipping the two lovebirds, it has lighthearted slice of life parts where they have fun, which is probably to make you more attached to them when they fight later. So, it is good that the manga is not fully serious all the time, which is why I found it very entertaining.

What did stand out was the art of the manga is very gothic-esque that I was really blown away by because it adds another level to the thriller side to it as it fits perfectly with everything, making it very psychological. It being in one of my favourite styles of art really makes it stand out and made me read it in the beginning, which I am glad I did. It has so many questions that it leaves for the audience to want to know, so they read until the end like is there a way around the gauntlet, what is the parents really up to, and more which makes it even more suspenseful and intriguing to read. I’d definitely recommend you read this, if you like gritty mangas.

Thanks for Reading!