Daydream Sanctuary Features

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Kuroshitsuji II: Ciel in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is such a popular children's novel that it has been adapted to various media. From anime and manga adaptations along there's already quite a number of them, including the Kuroshitshuji series.
Even though it was pretty awkward for a boy to play Alice's role no matter how you look at it, this classic fits Kuroshitsuji very much. Ciel in Wonderland had been one of the most fun Alice's Adventures in Wonderland I had ever seen~

I've read the original novel (I don't remember it that much because it was like.. years ago ^^;) and believe it or not, Ciel in Wonderland hadn't been that different from the original material. There were changes of course to make it Kuroshitsuji-ish and also to not exceed the time limit, but this OVA had still followed many of the original storyline (They're just done the Kuroshitsuji way) and generally, both of them are ridiculous yet so full of meaning.
This is why those titles blend so well together (Heck, the setting's both in England, and most likely the same time period). Both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Kuroshitsuji don't make sense... which makes them so crazy yet fun~ They may appear silly and childish, but behind all those there are also a lot of symbolisms, serious matters, and dark themes.

Ciel in Wonderland had great casting! Majority of the characters got a role that fits them so well~
  • Ciel as Alice
    Both Ciel and Alice are children of nobility... they are very curious but also get annoyed pretty quickly. Both of them could be mean without even realizing it, but they're not really bad kids either. They both don't understand what's going on in their adventures.... though Ciel is just confused while Alice really just doesn't get it, haha! But despite that, they manage to escape from danger and become triumphant in the end, hehe.
  • Sebastian as The White Rabbit
    Sebastian's obsession to being on time makes him so appropriate to the role xD Yay to super rabbit that can run on water! Hahaha!
  • Lizzie as The Mouse
    I don't find any similarities between Lizzie and the original, haha! She took on the role of the "Alice crying" part instead of Ciel... too bad... perhaps a crying Ciel is too awkward to see, haha! Come to think of it, Lizzie would actually make a good Alice.... if only she's a bit cruel, hehe.
  • Paula as The Dodo
    The only similarity I see between them is the dumbness maybe, haha! Bot oh boy, she's on sexy dodo, haha!
  • Viscount as The Mock Turtle
    The Viscount is too hyper for this role but.... both of them are very very very talkative. Haha! The original got me bored while this one had been amusing xD
  • Grell as The Cheshire Cat
    BEST CHESHIRE CAT (PERVERTED VERSION) EVER!!!! xD Bwahahahahahah! Grell's sooooo perfect for this role. He already has the mischievous grin, the naughty eyes, and the kitty-like gestures. He's so confusing that you don't know if he wants to help you out or cause you trouble xD Oh my god, his stripper dances are so WTF... got me laughing so hard xD Bwahahahhaa! That's why I think it's so perfect for him, both Grell and the Chesire Cat are FREAKS! Grell was being freaky in both the cheshire cat way and his own way.... epic!hilarious xD
  • Soma as The Duchess
    It was awkward to see Soma stroking Grell... but at least they kept the original of the Duchess owning the Cheshire Cat even if their relationship's not like that in Kuroshitsuji, hehe.
    Soma's alright for the role.... he looks awkward in a drag... and the duchess looks weird in the illustrations anyway. Interesting that Soma got the Duchess' mood swings in this adaptation somehow xD
  • Agni as The Cook
    This fits Agni~ The pepper obsession! And everyone sneezing nonstop and he still doesn't get that it's because of his pepper. It fits xD
  • Lau as The Caterpillar
    This fits Lau sooooo much. He mindf*cks you on thinking that he knows the answer and willing to help you when he actually doesn't then acts cruel towards you but turns out to know something and is pretty nice after all but later seems to be not really the case and... yes! HE'S THAT VAGUE xD Hahahaha!
  • Ranmao as a mushroom
    Oh my god... the boobs and a$$ stuff were really awkward and perverted but yeah, in the original, Alice was also told that the sides of the mushroom could make her shrink or grow.
  • Fortunately Ciel wasn't obliged to eat/bite/devour Ranmao's you-know-what.... that's hell more disturbing. Bwahahahaha!
  • Undertaker as The Hatter
    The Undertaker's also very perfect for the role (He is already MAD and has The Hat) except that I don't think he's that obsessed to tea parties like the original Hatter was, haha!
  • Oh I'm glad they didn't remove the Hatter walking on the table part... and also the "quizzes" thing xD I liked those parts~
  • William as The March Hare
    Aaaww... why wasn't William being as delirious as the original? Well, I agree that it would've been awkward but.... I'm sure it would also have been interesting, haha!
  • Ronald as The Dormouse
    Ronald's a lazy dude.... fits the sleeping character on him so much xD Haha... though it would've been nice if he had many lines in this OVA.
  • Madame Red as The Queen of Hearts
    The role already fits her with just the color xD Haha! And yay to the popular line "Off with his head!" Hahaha!
  • Aberlin as Bill the Lizard?
    I'm not sure if Aberlin's playing as Bill... but his tail seemed to be a lizard's tail to me. The lizard had been involved when Alice was in jumbo size.
  • Bardroy, Finnian, Maylene, Tanaka as Fish-Footman, Frog Foot-man, Flamingo, Hedgehog
    It looks like minor characters just got cast as minor characters in the original as well, ahahaha. The footmen were able to do something similar to the original's though. The flamingo and the hedgehog were the ones that got a complete change of role in this adaptation (They couldn't include the croquet in this adaptation, huh).

Both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Ciel in Wonderland are very very silly and make you lost on what exactly was going on because many things just happen (and aren't explained).... the difference though... if Alice's Adventures in Wonderland make you go "What the heck?!"; Ciel in Wonderland (and Kuroshitsuji in general) make you go "What the f*ck?!" bwahahahaha!
Yes, they're both weird and crazy, but Kuroshitsuji's style uses a lot fo fanservice xD There had been a lot of fanservice in this OVA to please/delight/entertain fanboys and fangirls especially the pedos and perverts. So Kuroshitsuji humor is more of the modern method and mature level, haha!

At first, seeing Ciel in a drag again made me think that this OVA was just pure fanservice, but it turns out that it actually has a connection tot he storyline of the second season! If I understood correctly, this occured in Ciel's consciousness as Sebastian tells him a bedtime story right after he had just retrieved his young master's soul.
Oh Kuroshitsuji, you're full of surprises as usual. And there you go again on revealing that there's actually something serious and amazing after all the ridiculous stuff you shove on us xD
I really love this two-part DVD special. I enjoyed watching this a loooot =3 (but I'm still very disturbed on the scenes with Ranmao the nipples were almost visible for pete's sake... wtf)
I'm still sad that the season two characters didn't make an appearance in this OVA =( Can't they make a sequel of this? (OH PRETTY PLEASE WANT MORE ALOIS SO BADLY xD) The original did have a sequel after all! Then just entitle it as "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Ciel Found in It" =3
Or even better, make an Alois in Wonderland:
Hhhmmm.... that doesn't seem likely to happen though. *sigh*

~ Images scanned by spacexat, chan-chanz, or are from animepaper