THEM Anime Reviews
Home Reviews Extras Forums
AKA: 鍵姫物語 永久アリス輪舞曲(ロンド), Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo
Genre: Disturbing magical girl thing
Length: Television series, 13 episodes, 23 minutes each
Distributor: Currently unlicensed in North America
Content Rating: PG (fanservice, mild fantasy violence)
Related Series: N/A
Also Recommended: Card Captor Sakura
Notes: Based on a manga by Kaishaku that was serialized in Comic Dengeki Daioh (which also popularized the far better Azumanga Daioh), itself very loosely inspired by "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll.
Rating:

Kagihime Monogatari - Eikyuu Alice Rondo

Synopsis

It is usually known that there are two Alice books in the world. However, there is a third book, entitled "Endless Alice", of which is torn apart, the pages of which reside in the minds of girls. One face among the crowd of readers is Aruto Kirihara, who enjoys Alice books a lot. He even imagines his own Alice who, oddly enough, is seen outside his window (act shocked). This Alice will lead Aruto to a world unlike any he's ever seen before.


Review

I have to give this series some credit since it has a unique concept. Too bad it mangled it beyond recognition with just about everything else other than the artwork and animation.

First off, I need to mention the characters. Aruto Kirihara (aka Ray Ayanami) is a male character caught up in this odd mess who is found to be able to copy the heart stories (as they call them here) of these girls without having to fight them (more on that later) and also boasts a major resemblance to Rei Ayanami of Neon Genesis Evangelion (hence the joke on his name). Arisu Arisugawa (the imagined Alice) has hair so long it would make Yugi Motou cry, and breasts so large she would get free membership to the Eiken Club (but then again, all the Alices in this anime have these things, so it's a moot point). Kisa-chan, whose name slips my mind, has a very unhealthy obsession with Kiraha-chan in that she collects everything she uses (flower petals, sandals, the like) and she also loves her (good lord, some yuri prospecting). Aruto's sister also happens to be an Alice and shares most of the aforementioned characteristics (with the exception of being related to Aruto).

Now for the music. For this anime, apparently some of the most manipulative music was implanted in the right spots and almost serves to make you rewatch the episodes. The OP was the downer, since it was backed up by a rather bizarre opening video that was a little bit too Kawaii. The ED was at least tolerable, but that should be taken with a grain of salt and doesn't rely on manipulation, which makes one hate the rest of the music.

Nice artwork and brilliant animation, just like most things I've watched, add fluidity to this anime, especially to the action scenes and may be the high point of the anime. I thoroughly enjoyed the artwork with the scenes and the animation as well, but the artwork was marred by some of the weirdest subtitles I've ever seen.

The plotline is a rather odd thing that renders fanservice an unavoidable sin. In the aforementioned fight scenes, the Alices transform a small key into a key weapon (taking a portion of the heart story of Kinomoto Sakura), afterward the two "Alices" use these key weapons (usually swords, though one had a scythe) and try to stick the other in the heart with the key end. Unfortunately, the part they need to hit is in the same camera view as their breasts, making the breastshot numbers rise (along with the occasional up-the-skirt shot), making one wonder if the camera is perverted. Outside the fanservice laden battles, the plot runs similar to Card Captor Sakura (I'm wondering if the two are related) with only a mere few knowing about the Alices (mostly girls with one guy, same as CCS). Not too original in that area.

What is a disappointment is that this has the potential, it really does, to become the flagship of Dengeki Daioh's Anime Crossovers Team, but misplaced the crew this should have gotten. Unfortunate, since this makes Kagihime my least favorite anime.

Roses are red, the streets are gray. Congratulations Kagihime, you just dethroned Demon Lord Dante.Jake L Godek

Recommended Audience: Parental guidance suggested. The fanservice is all over the place and the breasts could not be any bigger.

Now we know where the brains of the creators were when they were doing this anime.



Version(s) Viewed: digital source
Review Status: Partial (3/13)
Kagihime Monogatari - Eikyuu Alice Rondo © 2006 Kaishaku / Picture Magic / Trinet Entertainment
 
© 1996-2015 THEM Anime Reviews. All rights reserved.