Familiar Diversions
I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.
Currently reading
Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz (vol. 1) story by QuinRose, art by Mamenosuke Fujimaru, translated by Angela Liu
Alice has chosen to stay at Gowland's amusement park, so she's upset when the move to the Country of Clover happens and she's expelled to a strange forest of doors. She finds temporary refuge with Blood and is reassured to see Boris (the Cheshire Cat) again. Boris is convinced he was expelled from the amusement park so that he could be with Alice. He helps her find a job but can't quite convince her that he's serious about her. He keeps coming on too strong, and all Alice can think about is how much it hurt to be rejected by her tutor, and how much her cat Diana (I'm pretty sure this was an editing error, since she becomes Dinah in a later volume) would run off if she paid too much attention to her. Boris is very catlike, after all.
This is a really nice Country of Clover starting point, since you can actually see the move happen. However, the theme of this volume is “Boris comes on too strong.” I'm not sure where on the scale he'd fall if I put all the guys in order of most physically affectionate to least, but he'd be pretty far over on the “physically affectionate” side. The short at the end, which featured him starting to forcibly undress Alice so that he could listen to her heartbeat (Wonderland residents have ticking clocks instead of beating hearts), was a bit much, although at least he realized he'd gone to far and apologized.
The twins show up too, and demonstrate a new ability – they can age themselves up and become sexy adults. Which is super weird after getting to know them as mischievous boys in the Country of Hearts.
At one point, Boris says something like “Everyone here likes you...even if you feel like being bad.” I think it sums up a lot of these volumes pretty well - everyone likes Alice, no matter who she decides to choose or how far she opts to go with that person.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
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