Miyuki-chan in Wonderland (1995)

Acclaimed manga creators Clamp (a trio of female artists) put together a seven-chapter series about the adventures of a high schooler named Miyuki who finds herself in multiple dream worlds where she encounters many attractive women who pursue her romantically.  The series is a yuri manga which is a subsection that focuses on lesbian relationships.  The first two chapters, "Miyuki-chan in Wonderland" and "Miyuki-chan in Looking Glass Land" draw their inspiration from the works of Lewis Carroll, while the remaining five chapters tell separate stories in different realms.

The first two chapters were combined to form an anime special titled Miyuki-chan in Wonderland.  Like the manga, there is very little plot as Miyuki just encounters character after character, all portrayed by scantily-clad attractive women.  Much criticism has been leveled at both the manga and anime, saying that it is not indicative of Clamp's best work and only serves as a cheap attempt at humor and sex.  This may be the weirdest adaptation of Alice in Wonderland thus far.

Original Source Breakdown

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - MAJOR REFERENCES
Miyuki wakes up late for school and hurries down the street.  She is passed by the White Rabbit on a skateboard who causes her to trip and fall down a large hole.  Miyuki finds herself in front of a large door with the Doorknobs teasing her on how to get through.  Once inside, Miyuki encounters a tea table with a Drink Me cake that hints that she should drink the tea, which causes her to shrink.

Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - MAJOR REFERENCES
After the tea party scene, the Cheshire Cat appears in a tree and tries to pursue Miyuki.

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - MAJOR REFERENCES

After drinking the Drink Me tea, Miyuki finds herself on top of a giant flower, inside a tea strainer with the Hatter, Hare, and Dormouse.  They give her some tea that makes her grow larger.

Chapter VIII: The Queen's Croquet-Grounds - MAJOR REFERENCES

Miyuki finds her way into the Queen's gardens where she finds the gardeners painting the white roses red (the roses are also presented as humans).  The catch is that all of the cards want to be punished by the Queen of Hearts this time as the Queen...likes to punish people.  She chooses to capture and punish Miyuki instead who escapes as the White Rabbit skates past her. She wakes up, back in her bed, late for school again.  She passes by the White Rabbit once more, suggesting it will all happen again.

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter I: Looking-Glass House - MAJOR REFERENCES

Miyuki passes through her bedroom mirror as her reflection tries to kiss her.  She is picked up by the Jabberwock (it took me a long time figuring out who that character was supposed to be) before being dropped into the sky.

Chapter II: The Garden of Live Flowers - MAJOR REFERENCES

Miyuki falls onto a floating sky garden and accidentally lands on a Talking Flower.  Another appears to free her friend and both of them tease Miyuki.

Chapter III: Looking-Glass Insects - MINOR REFERENCE

Miyuki escapes from the garden and finds a Butterfly (not necessarily of the Bread-and-Butter variety, though).  Miyuki likes the Butterfly as this is the first character that doesn't try any funny stuff with her.  She accidentally sighs too hard however and blows the Butterfly away.

Chapter IV: Tweedledum and Tweedledee - MAJOR REFERENCES

While not named Dee and Dum, two twins appear during the Wonderland portion of the story after Miyuki gets through the door and before she drinks the tea.  They appear as fighters and challenge her to a battle.

Chapter VI: Humpty Dumpty - MAJOR REFERENCES

After falling from the sky garden, Miyuki lands on a giant chessboard and meets Humpty Dumpty who explains the rules of the chess game.  Miyuki must play against her own reflection in a game of life-size chess.  Rather than taking the role of a pawn this time, Miyuki controls all the pieces.  She eventually defeats her reflection and ends up back on the other side of the mirror.  However, despite being back in the real world, Miyuki's reflection turns to make a face at the viewing audience.

Review:

I'm not quite sure how to review a work such as this.  There is not very much substance to it as everything is just a set-piece to parade these characters in skimpy outfits.  It feels like a story actually could have been developed further out of it had they devoted more time to each scene and made it an hour or so, but for now, it's just a quick series of repetitive moments.

Miyuki winds up in a strange new place, she meets a strange new character, they say something that references their role in the story, they try to hook up with Miyuki, she screams and runs away, and the same dopey music cue plays.  Sometimes there is some "subtlety" to the plot, like the interesting turn in which Miyuki must play the chess game against herself.  And the encounter with the Butterfly was a nice change of pace from the rest of the story.  And, sure, the presentation of the Queen of Hearts with her subjects, while an obvious joke, did hint at some cleverness.

But altogether, this is a naughty cartoon filled with naughty humor that skirts the line between PG-13 and R as there is a lot of suggestion, innuendo, and groping but nothing explicit.  It's as if someone just felt that an adult Alice in Wonderland anime was going to be made sooner or later so they might as well make it and get it over with.  There is so much more that could have been done with this in a dramatic sense that I feel as if an opportunity was wasted.  All of the attention went into the artwork and none into the emotion of the story.  It's silly fun if you're into it, but it's pointless if you're not.

2.5 out of 5 Skimpy Costumes