アリスと蔵六

ALICE TO ZOUROKU

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
12
RELEASE
June 25, 2017
LENGTH
25 min

DESCRIPTION

The fantasy story begins with a group of young girls who hold a power named "Alice's Dream," which allows them to make their imaginations come true. These girls have been locked up and treated as research subjects. Sana, one of these girls whose specific power includes the ability ignore the laws of physics and physically manifest anything she can imagine, has escaped. Afterwards, she meets an old man named Zouroku, who dislikes disruptions in his everyday life.

(Source: Anime News Network)

Note: The first episode aired with a runtime of ~44 minutes as opposed to the standard 25 minute long episode.

CAST

Sana Kashimura
Hitomi Oowada
Zouroku Kashimura
Akio Ootsuka
Sanae Kashimura
Aki Toyosaki
Shizuku Ichijo
Ami Koshimizu
Yonaga Hinagiri
Akari Kitou
Asahi Hinagiri
Natsumi Fujiwara
Cleo Kureo
Shuu Uchida
Hatori Shikishima
Shuu Uchida
Kouichi Kitou
Masaya Matsukaze
Noriko Yamada
Yuuki Hirose
Ryuu Naitou
Houchuu Ootsuka
Miriam C. Tachibana
Mamiko Noto

EPISODES

Dubbed

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RELATED TO ALICE TO ZOUROKU

MANGA AdventureAlice to Zouroku

REVIEWS

MadMan0Writer
75/100
Alice to Zouroku starts off strong, but then it becomes a terribly boring slice of life kind of show.
Summary

In Wonderland, Sana was born and was given a body to roam the world in. But that wasn’t all she was given. She was also given the power to create things based off her imagination. A power which eventually didn’t remain hers alone but spread. Naturally, as government and agencies invested in combat caught wind, they began to snap up these beings. Even try to make some of their own.

Which is what the first 5 episodes are about. The battle over controlling what are known as “Dreams of Alice” users. However, starting episode 6, it is about Sana’s life with her foster family. Her, what I guess can be called foster dad, Zoroku is a florist. His granddaughter, who watches Sana often, and has a hand in raising her, is Sanae. Together, they provide Sana’s first taste of normalcy and what it is like to be in a family. Chores and all.

Highlights

Sana’s Relationships

I’m a bit of a softee. So to have us meet this young child, probably around 10, walking around in a raggedy looking hospital gown got to me. Especially when this old man nurtures her and takes care of her like she is his own. Then, on top of that, you got Sanae which treats her like her cute and naïve little sister. Someone she wants to share everything she has learned partly to see her reaction. To perhaps relive her own reaction to things.

And while it isn’t a huge focus, in the grand scheme of things, her relationship with Yonaga and Asashi was beautiful too. They gave her the platform of what it means to be human, to have friends, and you can tell the separation from them, as Sana often says, “Frazzled” her.

Minnie C

As noted in the summary, the show in the first 5 episodes is a completely different program from the 7 which follow. In the first 5, there is this place called “The Facility,” there are battles, villains, and one noteworthy woman known as Minnie C. She, to maintain control and retrieve Sana for the facility, shot her. A grown ass woman shot what essentially is a child in order to keep her dream of maybe being in her husband’s arms again.

But that isn’t the only thing Minnie C brought. She also had epic battles with Ichijo, who works for a special program within the Japanese government. The kind where, if Ichijo was a bad guy and not someone who supported the rights of Dreams of Alice users, Sana wouldn’t have a chance.

Low Points

It Drops The Ball After Episode 5

When you see those two, be ready for this show to become a real bore.
Starting episode 6, things become very slice of life. Sana gets into a routine Zoroku requires of her which means getting the paper, watering plants, and things of that nature. Which is fine at first. You consider if the calm before the storm. However, when the would be storm happens, it is some new Dreams of Alice user freezing people and this making Sana frazzled.

It isn’t the members of the facility having a resurgence, or their sponsors which include foreign governments. Nope, it is a child barely older than Sana becoming some watered down villain. One in which, following Minnie C, was such a disappointment. Not just because she isn’t evil, but she also felt unnecessary.

I mean, to me, if they were going to present peace and no new villain, why not focus on all the Dreams of Alice users we met? Why not dive deeper into the dark past of the twins Yonaga and Asashi, who apparently killed their father? Why not tell us what the hell happened to the grey haired boy? Why instead introduce two new characters when there were a few who we barely, truly, got to know?

On The Fence

Establishing Normalcy

As noted, establishing normalcy on this show became a double-edged sword. On one hand, it showed what Ichijo was fighting for on behalf of Sana and the twins. However, on the other hand, after episode 5, normalcy became the bain of this show. It was like getting to eat the meat, have your dessert, and then be forced to eat the vegetables. Of which you take your time, move them around the gravy or meat juices to make them edible, then force yourself to swallow.

Overall: Mixed (Stick Around)

I’d recommend watching just the first 5 episodes. The way this series is made, you can end episode 5 and it’ll feel like a natural season finale. Going past that is like watching 7 OVAs which are completely unnecessary. Well, outside of maybe episodes 6 & 7 in which Sana and the twins reunite and Sana becomes a member of Zoroku’s family, officially. As for the rest? They really destroy that positive feeling the first 5 episodes may give you.

Hence the Mixed label for this is one of the rare shows, for me anyway, which starts off strong and consistent, but then completely falls off. Which, if you read each episode’s review, I try to be optimistic about, but once Hatori and her friend come in, reality hits. Goodbye rose colored glasses. Someone just tell me how many more episodes I have to go.
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beanwolf
60/100
Plays both sides of cute and dark but falls short in the middle. Some cute family moments, but mostly forgettable.
Yet another entry in the "My magical girl show can't be this dark" series of shows, with a heavy focus on the importance of family and what it means to be human. I have to give credit where credit is due even if this still feels kind of like a stamp-out riding on Madoka's wave: this show is smarter and more heartfelt than it seems from the outset. Our main characters form a very non-traditional but believable family dynamic. Sana in particular has the trait of complete honesty through total ignorance that never fails to be endearing, while Zouroku's dedication to serving as the family figurehead and protector despite his age is also a joy to watch. For every gruesome or dark moment (and there are a LOT), there is a heartwarming one to balance it out.

Unfortunately this is where a lot of the non-aesthetic positives end. The show suffers from a clean line narrative split, having two separate "mini-seasons". While this isn't inherently a negative, the pacing issues and changes in overall tone are stark and off-putting. In the first half, the plot screams by with heavy doses of action, while the second half grinds to a halt and focuses more on cute family moments with sprinklings of existential dread until the very end. Throughout both halves, there are major issues with character motivations with almost every major character outside the first half's main antagonist and Sana herself. Zouroku's drive to do anything seems to come from nowhere other than that he hates "crooked stuff", and the goals of the two seemingly warring factions and their underlings are seemingly nonexistent. Sanae is also particularly useless other than to provide a motherly figure for Sana while still creating a more "broken" (and therefore predisposed to greater view sympathy) family structure, and could likely be completely removed without consequence. Overall, the show really can't seem to decide if it really wants to get dark or if wants to be a cute comedy that just plays with trend of dark magical girl shows. The whole package would have been much stronger if it could have decided, and kept an already shorter series to one narrative arc.

When it comes to the visuals, J.C. Staff did about as good as a job as they normally do, albeit with some really, REALLY terrible CGI in the early episodes (that car chase still gives me nightmares). The character designs can't really decide if they want to Madoka or Alien Nine, sort of skirting the line and not being particularly powerful in either way. If I had to give any major aesthetic props to the series, it would be the first half's fight scenes, the second half's Wonderland sections, and the general effect composting for Dreams of Alice powers. Audio is good but doesn't have any standout tracks or moments, and does its job well enough. VA for Zouroku is really the only standout out of the bunch, with the rest being your usual smattering of anime tropes and typical voices.

For me, Alice and Zouroku really aired at a poor time to make much of an impact. At this same time it was airing, I was in the progress of rewatching Madoka + Rebellion, and I couldn't help but compare the effectiveness of this sort of "cute plus dread" vibe that they both sort of give off. Alice and Zouroku is much more muted in this, and focuses a lot more on the importance and signifigance of family, but that sort of "this is cute but something is wrong" feeling is always there. If you're someone that prefers something that really tries to play both sides, then this series might be better for you, but as someone who would rather watch two series that went harder in one way or the other, I can't really wholeheartedly recommend it.
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kamina1124
97/100
"The power of imagination makes us infinite"
This show is nothing short of breathtaking

(If you don't feel like reading the whole review and just want a summarized version of my thoughts skip to the bottom. I will have a summary of my thoughts there.)

Alice to Zouroku is a story about a group of magical girls who are being saute-after for their powers by a secret organization hell-bent on studying and controlling them. However, one girl, Sana,

manages to escape and come across a stern elderly man named Zouroku Kashimura.

Sana looks to Zouroku for protection, somewhere to hide. One event leads to another and Zouroku ends up housing Sana temporarily. From then on both characters get to know each other and slowly over time, the two become more familiar and friendly with one another. All the while, occasional incidents arise involving the organization attempting to recapture Sana. However, this is where one of what I believe to be the shows strong point shows itself. Instead of a huge epic magical fight, ending with a dramatically flashy climax, the show develops Sana's character in such a way that even though she has these amazing powers, she is still a kid, and knows very little about the world. Therefore, many of the shows significant moment similar involve Zouroku solving it himself, a lot of the time in the form of diplomacy rather then jumping straight to emotion driven aggression. Most of the time, Zouroku guides Sana and teaches her many lessons in the process. How to act, how to respond to certain situations, what to look out for, etc. She will fall back on her powers as a first resort when she is in trouble, but Zouroku shows her that there are other ways to solve your problems besides for action. Along the way, Sana meets more magical girls who also learn that a peacful life may be exactly what they wanted. A life of just being a kid. I believe this is one of the shows messages. That a kid should just be allowed to act like a kid. All of the children Zouroku comes by have magical powers and are involved in this secret orginization in some way. All of them have been apart of that life since they were born. But zouroku still manages to show them that they know very little about how the world work and should take the time to learn and also relax so they can be a kid instead of a warrior or some science experiment. In essence, this show is simply about an old man teaching life lessons to a super powerful magical girl, and it works so well. It might be one, if not my number one favorite magical girl show. I recommend you give it a look if you haven't already.

Pros:
Plot- Takes some cliches and puts a fun and exciting twist on them, overall it is enjoyable and keeps you invested in the characters and their relationships, as that is where most of the focus is.
Characters- It would be an understatement to say all of the characters are extremely engaging and developed well.
Music- I have been listening to the ed and op for the past 4 hours straight. (I'm not joking)
Animation/Design- Simplistic but colorful and vibrant. All of the characters are energetic and the some of the landscapes/settings are really creative and captivating.
Voice Acting- All of the characters voices fit their designs to a T
Would there be any reason I wouldn't recommend this to someone- No, can't think of one.
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