Alice to Zouroku: Season 1/ Episode 11 “The Queen and the Witch” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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With a reminder that children have feelings and perhaps how Sana came to be, the penultimate episode of Alice to Zouroku leaves you without excitement for the finale.

Summary

Being that nothing strongly is worth noting to the point of multiple topics, I’m going to lump everything together. So, what you need to know is that Zoroku, Icihjo, and Sanae have entered Wonderland to find Sana and Hatori. Also, upon trying to use her magic, Ichijo gets swallowed into a hole. Making it so Sana and Zoroku are now relying on the direction of a spotted pig to find Sana.

Speaking of Sana, and in extension Hatori, they make their way out of that ravine and end up in a mansion. In that place, Hatori speaks about the relationship she used to have with her mom before it got ruined by her failing her elementary entrance exams.

Sana isn’t sure how to console her since she didn’t have a mom. She basically was born in Wonderland back when it was probably no bigger than the room they were sitting in. So, pretty much, she spent a long time alone until Wonderland made a way for her to enter the real world. Since then, it seems she, alongside other Dreams of Alice users, have become Wonderland’s ears and eyes.

For, in Sana’s mind, or the way she explains it, Wonderland is a living and breathing thing. A burgeoning world which has curiosities and wishes to understand how the real world works. Either as a means of inspiration or just for knowledge.

Commentary

There was an attempt at giving this show some heart and I kind of appreciated it. Granted, this was my face for most of it:

But they did try. However, I remain so bleh about Hatori to really get in my feelings about her missing her mother. For I keep thinking that there could have been so much done with the Dreams of Alice users we already met. So I’m bitter that this girl who came out of nowhere is getting all this screen time. Like, just with the twins alone, I would have loved to see their family issues played out rather than just recounted.

Though, I will admit, when it came to Sana I was led to question some things. For example, could it be this woman isn’t her pseudo-mother but who discovered her? I have always wondered this because it felt like an important part of the plot that just got dropped. But considering how this anime went from an action oriented one to a slice of life, wrapped up a storyline dealing with a place which raised and tested children for military use, to what it is now? Well, perhaps expecting follow-ups or proper conclusions to anything is too much to hope for.

I mean, we still have yet to hear what happened to the grey haired boy.