Alice in Wonderland is a strange book from an era that produced many strange books. Based largely on author Lewis Carroll's love of chess and other logic games, the book is equal parts mathematical whimsy and bizarre quasi-opium den imagery. Alice has been translated into a series of unsatisfying feature films, including a halfhearted attempt by Walt Disney to cuten the anarchy in the 1950s. Alice also inspired huge chunks of Jim Henson's underrated Labyrinth, and was the subject of one of Dave Fleischer's Betty Boop cartoons. More recently, Carroll's imagery was co-opted by the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane and Tom Petty.
Miyuki-chan in Wonderland is a Japanese spin on the tale. Done by the renown CLAMP studio, Miyuki features many of the CLAMP trademarks, namely the willowy character design of the female characters and the more cartoony doubletakes of the clutzy lead character. In Magic Knight Rayearth, perhaps the best known of CLAMP's creations on American shores, this contrast is exploited quite nicely. Miyuki isn't as strong for several reasons.
Clocking in at just around half-an-hour, the OVA is far too short to fully explore the options inherent in the decision to inject sex appeal into Miyuki. There are plenty of fadeouts and abrupt cuts, almost as if the OVA is a pilot for a feature film. This is in sharp contrast to the almost dreamlike metamorphing of one scene into another as in Carroll's books. The short running time, however, allows the use of a catchy, repetitive, video-game like soundtrack.
As for Miyuki herself, she is a clumsy schoolgirl with a habit for being late. Any parallels with either Sailor Moon or Sailor V are probably intended. She is also amazingly naive, and the humor of the film derives from Miyuki being placed into one seductive situation after another. Frankly, this starts to wear thin quickly, as does the novelty of having one beautiful woman after another appear dressed in what look like skimpy Halloween costumes. This, in fact, consitutes the entire plot of the OVA, which may explain its short running time. Nothing happens except for each Lewis Carroll character (from the Red Queen to the Mad Hatter to the Cheshire Cat) to attempt to seduce Miyuki.
Oddly enough, there's very little actual nudity in Miyuki although there is plenty of coy sexual posturing. It's almost as if CLAMP liked the idea of making a sexy version of Alice but shrank from carrying through on the concept. Still, there's enough adult material in this OVA to make it totally unsuitable for children. Then again, I could never understand how something as frightening as the original Alice could be considered a children's book to begin with.
Miyuki-chan in Wonderland is probably worth seeking out for CLAMP or Lewis Carroll completists. Anyone else will probably be left wondering what the shouting was all about. CLAMP could've developed this into something far more interesting and exciting; CLAMP is even capable of producing the most successful version of Alice if they really tried.
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