Manga Review: Alice & Zoroku Volume 1 by Tetsuya Imai
Reality-warping superhuman beings exist, but the government is keeping them a secret, stashing any they find in a hidden facility to be studied as “Dreams of Alice.” The most powerful of these is Sana, the Red Queen, who can summon up anything she can imagine, if she has the energy she needs. Sana has no memories of a time before she woke up in Wonderland, a “magical place” below the facility.
However, Sana has heard from the other children in the facility that there is an outside world, and she wants to see it. Therefore, she escapes! But having been a very sheltered little girl, Sana has no skills for surviving on the mean streets. She finds herself in a convenience store, staring at the goods for sale, but not knowing how to obtain them. The clerk, an immigrant with poor Japanese, asks an elderly customer to help find out what’s going on.
This man is Zoroku Kashimura, a custom florist with a strong ethical sense. It’s not that he’s unkind, but he’s very stuck on people doing the right thing. And he’s not at all happy when Sana starts doing seemingly magical things. And when other little girls start chasing his car and causing havoc. Once the chase ends, Zoroku gives all the girls a good scolding.
Things get even weirder when all of the destruction caused by the chase just…resets…when no one is looking. All the video recordings are gone too. But Zoroku reluctantly agrees to take Sana in…as long as she promises to stop abusing her powers.
Despite the childish appearance of one of the main characters and her pursuers in this chapter, and the Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass references, this is a seinen (young men’s) manga. This allows it to go into more mature themes than are generally covered in kids’ manga. Thankfully, at least in this volume, that doesn’t include sex (but Sana is non-explicitly nude in a couple of scenes.) Rather, Zoroku’s hard-earned life wisdom and connections are vital to the story.
After Zoroku takes Sana home, the girl meets the old man’s granddaughter, Sanae. (The names are probably a coincidence. Probably.) Despite some silliness because Sana doesn’t have a lot of control over her powers, Sanae is able to cope and help Sana learn some basic living skills (these don’t include the proper way to apologize, which becomes an issue later.)
We also meet Zoroku’s old friend (even if they don’t get along well) Ryu Naito, who works for the government, and his assistant Shizuku Ichijo. Naito is a laid-back fellow who seems a bit irresponsible, but is willing to investigate the mysterious facility. Presuming, of course, the facility doesn’t track Sana down first.
And there’s that unknown voice in Sana’s head that told her how to escape in the first place. Is it someone we’ve already met? A person who remains hidden? Or a manifestation of the Red Queen’s power?
The series was popular enough to spawn an animated adaptation, which I have not seen. Zoroku is an interesting enough character to carry this first volume, but it’s not clear if the story will go for a more battle-oriented plotline or focus more on the relationship between the leads. Recommended to urban fantasy fans.
And here’s the cartoon trailer:
