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A review by reddyrat
Alice 19th, Vol. 1 by Yuu Watase
4.0
I approached Alice 19th mostly blind. I've read a few good reviews of the series, but really knew very little. I was definitely impressed with the first volume. In one sentence, I would summarize the volume and perhaps the whole series (I don't know yet) as one about a girl trying to find her voice framed around a stereotypically shojo silliness.
Alice is a nice girl. I use that bland term, because she comes off as bland to other people. She's so afraid of being hurt or hurting others that she lives to please. She's a wallflower who smiles through life's troubles to avoid getting hit in the face. Poor Alice has a lot of deep-seated resentment towards her pretty, popular, perfect, peppy older sister who gets everything...even the guy Alice is in love with.
Along comes a magical bunny who gives Alice immense power. Bunny tells Alice that she's strong, she's special, that she needs to stick up for herself. It's somewhat ridiculous notion, but it allows the more serious subtext of the volume to come through. Alice begins to find herself in this volume and I assume will do so even more as the volumes to come. Unfortunately, finding her voice comes with some major bumps in the road as we quickly discover.
Another thing I really liked about this volume was the sidebars by the mangaka (the author). They were substantive columns about human nature and the development of the story. A lot more interesting than the typical mangaka sidebars which consist of the author telling everyone what horrible drawers and writers they are and apologizing to the readers for torturing them.
Alice is a nice girl. I use that bland term, because she comes off as bland to other people. She's so afraid of being hurt or hurting others that she lives to please. She's a wallflower who smiles through life's troubles to avoid getting hit in the face. Poor Alice has a lot of deep-seated resentment towards her pretty, popular, perfect, peppy older sister who gets everything...even the guy Alice is in love with.
Along comes a magical bunny who gives Alice immense power. Bunny tells Alice that she's strong, she's special, that she needs to stick up for herself. It's somewhat ridiculous notion, but it allows the more serious subtext of the volume to come through. Alice begins to find herself in this volume and I assume will do so even more as the volumes to come. Unfortunately, finding her voice comes with some major bumps in the road as we quickly discover.
Another thing I really liked about this volume was the sidebars by the mangaka (the author). They were substantive columns about human nature and the development of the story. A lot more interesting than the typical mangaka sidebars which consist of the author telling everyone what horrible drawers and writers they are and apologizing to the readers for torturing them.