Story:
This was an anime that caught my eye from the very beginning. The way it presents itself could be alluring to anybody, yet the story felt as if though it lacked any creative direction. Our main character, who goes by the name Sana, is basically an experiment with luck on her side. After her escape from the depressing facility, as if by fate, she meets and ends up being taken care of by Zouroku. Like most people, Sana cannot escape her past and is forced to go head to head with enemies... and then the second half of the story begins. This is where it essentially fell apart for me. Rather than focusing on what caught everyone's attention to begin with, it lowers itself to carefree almost slice-of-life-like daily events that do not seem significant initially. Another girl somehow magically attains the Dreams of Alice power and the last third of the show basically revolves around her and the birth of her friendship with Sana. This ended up achieving two things: Sana is no longer lonely, and we see a glimpse of the impact the Dreams of Alice has on the world - or at least Japan. However, at what cost did this underwhelming ending have on the show? Let's not forget how the expansion of Wonderland was ceased all at the push of a button, literally.
Art:
In terms of art, J.C.Staff has done better. With that said, it does portray a sort of childish atmosphere, and I can see why they went with this. I don't recall seeing dips in quality, either. For what it was trying to achieve, I would say it did a good job.
Sound:
The music was different from what we normally hear. Overall, I would describe it as a happy-go-lucky adventure in itself. It mirrored the show, or to be more precise, Sana's personality.
Characters:
When it comes to character development, I doubt there's much "development" a child can achieve in a show. But with Sana, we basically start from ground zero. As Zouroku mentions, everything is a first with her. Their relationship together can be seen as a grandfather and his granddaughter, or possibly even a parent and their child. His constant help really emphasizes how little she knows of the world, and throughout the show we end up seeing how she gradually learns. In comparison to the child characters, the adult characters received little screen time. If the show was longer, we could have gotten to know them a bit more. The show mainly focuses on the children, with the exception of Zouroku, and the things they learn throughout this journey. Zouroku himself is an honest man who wants nothing to do with corruption or what isn't deemed as the "honest life." His real granddaughter, Sanae, is painfully just there in the background most of the time. She seems like an airhead, but in reality she's just always cheery - much like Sana is.
In the end, there wasn't much to the story and characters as I thought there would be. If the show was expanded into more seasons, then I could understand. Unfortunately, it looks like they decided to give it its own ending. The final scene with grown-up Sana seemed rather cryptic as the fog that surrounded her and flowers she held immediately made me think she was at a graveyard, which possibly hints that Zouroku died about a decade later.
To me, the whole show seemed like a waste of a decent plot. Nothing was really achieved on a grand scale. The exception would be the Dreams of Alice being spread to other people, but we never really got to see more into that other than it happened. But who knows. Maybe that's not what the show was going for. Maybe it was just a story about a girl who desperately wanted a happy ending.
Final score: 4/10.
