Alice 19th

Title:  Alice 19th
Mangaka:  Yuu Watase
Length:  7 Volumes (Completed)
English Translation?  Yes!  All 7 released by Viz Media.
Demo/Genre:  Shoujo/Fantasy/Romance

Alice Seno has always lived in the shadow of her older sister Mayura.  They have both fallen for Kyo Wakamiya, and Alice is heartbroken when the two of them begin dating.  After rescuing a white rabbit (that ends the Alice in Wonderland references), Alice learns that she is potentially a Lotis Master, one who can draw out the power in words.  When Alice and her sister argue over Kyo, Alice screams out her wish for her sister to disappear, and her powers make it so.  Nyozeka (the anthropomorphic white rabbit) explains to Alice that her sister has become lost within the darkness of her own heart, and it is up to Alice, as a Lotis Master, to dive into the Inner Heart and save her.

How did I find this series?  I had read other works by Yuu Watase and investigations into her other titles led me here.

I am a fan of Watase-sensei's art style, and it shines through here.  Something I particularly love is that for a shoujo artist, she draws the grotesque really well.  There are some rather twisted images that appear late in the series, and she does wonderfully, in my opinion.  I found that the character models in A19 had a bit more diversity as well.  All in all, I was very pleased with the art in this series.

I really liked the lead characters.  I don't always identify with Watase-sensei's female characters, but I found Alice to be one of her more interesting protagonists.  She's young and naive, but she's also courageous and determined.  I felt that Kyo was particularly well done.  Sure, it's cliche to have the handsome male lead have a shady family history, but it's cliche for a reason:  if done well, it works.  It was easy to empathize with Kyo.  Mayura played the part of villain for much of the series, albeit the manipulated sort.  While I understand that she is meant to have been consumed by darkness and that that would give one a degree of tunnel vision, I would have liked to have seen some added depth to said darkness.  Instead of it just being, "You stole my boyfriend, and now you're gonna pay," there could have been a "I've envied you my whole life, and now you've stolen my boyfriend, too," kind of spin on the story.  Basically, it was just a little too shallow.  Alice spent her life jealous of her sister.  Mayura could do no wrong.  Wouldn't it have been interesting to read how Mayura was also jealous of Alice, perhaps because she didn't have the pressure of the being the older, more responsible one placed on her? I'm just running with ideas here.  I guess I'm just trying to say that I think it was a missed opportunity for more character development.

Which brings me to my next point:  this series suffered from some serious lack of character development in the supporting cast.  Watase-sensei introduced three new characters pretty late in the game.  I would have loved to have spent more time with them and gotten to know them.  To me, it seems a little pointless to introduce characters in a story that won't be given pasts and personalities.  More missed opportunities...

Ok, as much as I've complained, now allow me to explain why I loved this series!

It was very original.  I really loved the whole concept of the "Inner Heart."  It was an alternate reality, or shared-consciousness if you will, that reflected what was in someone's heart.  In order to cleanse someone of their own darkness, Alice and Kyo had to dive in and battle back that darkness with the light of the 24 Lotis Words.  I loved the imagery of the Inner Heart (which brings me back to how much I enjoy Watase-sensei's art style).  The romance was also very sweet, and fairly mature (emotionally, not graphically...).  Alice is only 15 years old, but she understands that she can't pursue Kyo while he's dating her sister.  She tries to prepare herself to give him up so that her sister can be happy.  After the two of them split, she finally musters up the courage to be honest with Kyo about her feelings, but when circumstances still prevent them from being together, she handles it very well, putting the task at hand as her first priority.  I loved that she didn't fall apart without him.  She loved him, and she wanted to be with him, but she wasn't going to lose herself over him.  I had the same respect for Kyo.  As I mentioned before, he had a troubling history, and it shows in his character.  He had to grow to know and understand himself throughout the series, and I enjoyed watching his journey.

Overall, I really liked this series.  Yes, it's flawed, but so many things are done so well that it didn't dampen my feelings for A19.  Would I collect it?  Yes, and actually, I'm in the process of doing that right now.  At the time of this post, I have five of the seven volumes of Alice 19th, with the sixth on its way.  I would definitely recommend this series to shoujo fans!