Fushigi no Kuni no Alice (ふしぎの国のアリス, Fushigi no Kuni no Arisu) is an anime adaptation of the 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which ran on the TV Tokyo network and other local television stations across Japan from October 10, 1983 to March 26, 1984. The television series was a Japanese-German co-production between Nippon Animation and Apollo Films. The television series consists of 52 episodes, but only 26 were broadcast in Japan and in the United States.
Contents
Overview
A young girl named Alice follows a White Rabbit into a hole, only to find herself in Wonderland, where she meets many interesting characters, including the mysterious Cheshire Cat and the terrible Queen of Hearts.
The beginning of the series adheres more closely to the original novel, whereas later episodes adapt the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, starting with episode 18.
One departure from the books is that Alice returns to the real world at the end of each episode, and goes back to Wonderland at the beginning of the next episode. These transitions between the two worlds are depicted as dream-like, and it usually takes Alice a moment to notice her surroundings have changed.
Characters
Alice (Tarako; Aya Beher (Tagalog dub)): In contrast to her novel counterpart, she is depicted with red hair instead of blonde (though it is described as blonde by her fellow characters), a hat, and a red and white short neck top dress similar in design to her Disney counterpart's blue and white dress. She appears younger due to her anime design (as this is the same case with Dorothy's anime depiction in the anime adaptation of the Wizard of Oz).
Benny Bunny (Masako Nozawa): Alice's rabbit companion in her adventures throughout Wonderland. Found when Alice buys a magic hat in an old shop, Benny turns out to be the nephew of the White Rabbit, so he gets along fairly well with most of the Wonderlanders. He is always uncomfortable whenever they have to go to the Jabberwocky though, as the dragon is set on making rabbit stew out of him. He is also the only character in the series not originating from Lewis Caroll's stories.
The White Rabbit: Benny's jittery uncle and one of the Queen of Hearts' associates. He has white fur as his name implies, and often worries about being late for his duties.
The Cheshire Cat (Issei Futamata): A striped cat with the power to vanish himself and others. In most versions, the Cheshire Cat is portrayed as a smart aleck, but here he's a bit of a bumbler.
The Queen of Hearts: The usual instigator of the current adventure's problem, the Queen shares the same Rubenesque figure of her Disney counterpart. She wears a yellow dress and has a sloping, pointed nose, a contrast to her counterpart's flat face and red and black gown. Another difference that separates her from most other depictions of the character is that she is the most human out of all of them; she can be reasoned with, and while she does threaten with beheadings, she usually only sends offenders to the dungeon for a few days.
The King of Hearts: The Queen of Hearts' pushover husband and a good friend of Humpty Dumpty.
The Jabberwocky: A moody giant dragon living in a castle, beyond the forest. A loner of sorts, he doesn't like visitors that much and usually keeps to himself. Now and then he seems vaguely bent on cooking Alice's rabbit companion Benny Bunny, but he is in the end more grumpy than dangerous, and seems good-natured all in all. Sometimes he ends up helping Alice with her troubles. It is possibly hinted at in "The Little Flute Player" that he may have had a lover in the past.
Music
The series uses two pieces of theme music for the original Japanese version. The Japanese opening song is called "Yumemiru Wonderland (夢みるワンダーランド Dreaming Wonderland)", and the Japanese ending song is called "NAZO NAZO yume no kuni (ナゾナゾ夢の国 Mysterious Dreamland)", both sung by the Japanese vocalist Tarako (also the voice actress for Alice).
Disco-style theme music used in European dubs is composed by Christian Bruhn, originally with German lyrics, "Alice im Wunderland".
Episodes
Through the Looking-Glass
The Queen's Picnic
Bird's of a Feather (The Shy Duck)
Washing Day
Wool and Water
Alice and the Dawson Twins
The White Rabbit Leaves Wonderland
The Strange Trainride
The Corkscrew Mouse
The Weathermakers
The Giant Kangaroo
The Balloon Ride
Cloudland
An Unpleasant Guest
The Little Flute Player
The Honey Elephants
Little Bill in Love
The Pearl of Wisdom
The Fixit Pixie
The Family Portrait
The Magic Potion
Octopus (The Vanished Light Fairy)
All Things Nice (Many Colored Candles)
The Non-Birthday
Monkey Business (The Chimpanzee's Child)
The Knight's Battle
Queen Alice
English releases
UK VHS Releases
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (VC1176): October 1, 1990, episodes: "Alice's Family" and "Down the Rabbit Hole"
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Vol. 2 (VC1188): October 1, 1990, episodes: "The Pool of Tears" and "The Caucus Race"
International English release
Recently, it was announced that Studio 100 had licensed the anime for an English release and it is distributed by Dreamscape Media.
