Story and Characters: 2 (Dreadful)
I'm seriously not trying to be mean, but I feel like I just read an average fanfiction with characters that just resemble the Heart no kuni no Alice ones. Yes, Julius is stubborn and pessimistic but he would never push his reponsabilities regarding Alice onto somebody else or even less try to make her be overly-depedant of him, Ace usually tends to either make me daw or creep the hell out of me, but in this case he did none, he was just used as plot device to be there at the right time at the right moment and that was his whole point and then Nightmare, don't get me started on Nightmare, he can often be a deus ex machina but he'd never meddle to this point, it's not his issue to solve, he's supposed to just be there to clear Alice's thoughts when she's confused and yet he became this Jigsaw-like "let's play a game" type of mastermind. Just whut? lol Alice on the other hand, while she did keep her energy, she threw her whole doubts and guilt over the life she left behind out the window because Julius somehow became her Prince Charming. Yes, that Alice, that Alice that stated would have liked to push Prince Charming off his horse, that Alice; her whole issues got solved because lovuh! All hail, lovuh! That was never the case with Alice in other volumes that I read, of course, which is why I'm particularly salty.
Art: 7
It's the best part of the whole volume. They are pretty cute, at times they look weird in certain angles, but it's ok.
Overall: 3
I was horrified by it. I felt the story and the characters horribly butchered into a shallow fairytale fantasy. I really have no issue with different interpretations, I don't expect them to be all the same or religiously follow the game, but it was even more shocking when I learnt that the author actually played and loves the game and I felt like she just brought the resemblance of the characters out and made a fanfiction. It's disappointing...
At this point, in regards to Julius, i won't tell you to not read this, but I really recommend you the Anniversary no Kuni no Alice- The Clockmaker volume by Mamenosuke Fujimaru instead which felt the closest to the Julius that I know and loved from the game. I am really not biased towards this author, but it seems to me that she does better to bring out the story and the characters and she does it good, not always, but most of the time she does.
