#255: Alice in Cyberland (1996)

Studio: Vega Leisure (Episode
1); Kyoe Sung Manufacturing (Episode 2)

Director: Kazuyoshi Yokota

Screenplay: Chiaki J. Konaka

Based entirely on the videogame by Glams,
Inc.

Verbalize Solid: Yoko Asada as Alice; Kae
Araki as Lena; Kikuko Inoue as Rucia; Yūko Miyamura as Juri

Viewed in Eastern with English Subtitles

As soon as ago we envisioned coming into
an isolation tank fat of water to enter cyberspace, to defeat hackers masquerading
as monsters, as defined here in the outlet credits animation to this obscure
production. Alice in Cyberland on this sigh case here’s a tie-in to a
videogame which came at the the same time. With the standing worked on by Chiaki J. Konaka, higher identified for his work
on Serial Experiments Lain (1998) and
The Huge O (1999-2003), the sport was once
a Eastern-only dash sport from Glams,
Inc., who additionally co-produced the anime. They’ve unfortunately no longer a
prolific checklist of titles below their belt, and I half suspect with the chronicle of Alice in Cyberland, luminous in terms of
the 2d of the two episodes having been M.I.A. in existence, that they took
a threat at a time where many groups who had never made games jumped onto the
usual Sony Playstation bandwagon. With
the sport and anime released in 1996 together, they unfortunately burnt out, no longer
releasing fundamental extra else barring a couple extra games including for the Sega Saturn.

Twenty years into the long term,
from this anime’s liberate, and the titular Alice is playing virtual actuality
games together with her female friends. Organising a multi-media franchise, the principle
twenty-plus episode can no longer produce fundamental but set up her, that with an estranged
father, she is a stereotypical anime female lead but one with a skill for
laptop programs and going thru hackers. Here’s beneficial in a future, for all its
technological advancements, that has higher subject from hackers. Satirically it
is the 2d episode, which was once once presumed lost as we salvage into, which
defined the context to provide sense of all this, that admire Serial Experiments Lain, the records superhighway has change into an gigantic entity
where folks can exist interior it as virtual figures, predating the truth of
advancing abilities in its dangle exaggerated approach and with the skill to be relevant
accumulated. On this case, the topic for episode one is cyber-anarchists from
Eastern Europe. It’s miles an uncommon decision, and it does level to a cartoonish air to it,
where in causing anarchy to significant abilities in Japan, they’re centered on sabotaging
college swimming pools by hacking the disinfecting system for the water, and playing
tune thru folks’s headphones to motive violent memory erasing amnesia. The diversified
creep influence on here’s creep as a magical lady story, only with an records superhighway
theme, so there is an air of total fantasy to this premise accumulated, making an strive to
produce a version of this sort that is decades aged into a brand unusual era of abilities.

There could be a virtue to this, where
we are in a position to literalize cybercrimes with an records ingesting tentacle monster, alongside
providing me with my favorite trope of surreal unearthly worlds the
protagonists are sucked into. With its title here’s nodding to Alice in Wonderland, the later reveal
would possibly perchance need been embraced further, as Alice has bought emails from a
mysterious figure title Lucia who involves her abet and affords her the skill
to freely enter Cyberland, emphasizing this as a extra cartoonish steal on the
subject than the metaphorical and abstract nature of Serial Experiments Lain’ symbology. As with moderately a great deal of anime, it’s a
premise that has moderately a great deal of promised, its steal on the magical lady form of its
time, in particular with the crowbarring of terms admire “disinfection sword” to
combine the two, but cute as an conception. Even in a work which does accept as true with fan
provider, corresponding to the female leads looking admire their idealized and most
gorgeous ideals in the online world, it additionally has a frosty female lead as for
all her goofball moments here’s a truly perfect and laptop savvy protagonist
ready to salvage the hints to snoop after cyberhackers, which is modern in its
dangle approach abet at a time when the records superhighway was once a brand unusual and thrilling conception
alongside virtual actuality in the west and the east.

It’s miles however a teaser, which
skill loads was once left off the table, in particular as in the version I was once ready
to explore. Alongside the goofier slapstick in the sport decrease scenes you gawk previewing
the diversified piece of this production, there are preview to diversified Glams Inc. games including for the Saturn, emphasizing this anime was once
continuously going to be an advertisement for the sport. It’s miles here that there was once
additionally the reveal that the 2d episode, previewed too, was once no longer readily
accessible to explore. Handiest truly becoming accessible online from October 2021¹,
you change into aware that something went very sinister with the production of this
anime for the worse, no longer wonderful as Glams.
Inc has only about a releases after this length in the videogame console
abilities. (In response to Chiaki Konaka himself, they even went bankrupt²⁾.
The first episode is smartly interesting, with usual personality designs by Daisuke Moriyama, the creator of the
usual Chrno Crusade manga later
tailored into the 2003 sequence from Gonzo.
At first set up nothing is reputedly amiss with the 2d episode, beginning with how
episode 1 ends with repeated photos, and explaining loads of the context of
the field, only to reach its first usual scene and every thing to make certain. The
production dropped in a approach I accept as true without a longer considered barring some of the most
notoriously ignored anime I accept as true with gone out of my diagram to explore.

Colorful how the later episode was once
reputedly lost to time, that likely explains why it has no longer gained the infamy
for its animation quality. Beginning with the amusingly darkish opening where, at a
young folks’s fantasy zone, a figure is deleting anything in his route and traumatizing
them online, without a red dragon or princess safe from disintegration, soon my
consideration was once drawn to the animation quality even in terms of the faces of the
leads being differently drawn. Animation faults, in particular TV sequence where one
has to salvage the episodes carried out immediate, accept as true with existed with identical points, of less
than stellar depictions of characters’ face, admire they’re melting off their
necks, and the ingenious quality visibly having to steal shortcuts, that are
on the total no longer this frequent and are eliminated in the stylish day for bodily media
releases. With completely respect for the animators on this, it’s creep that
this was once a) rushed and/or b) undermined by an sad production catastrophe,
neither helped that here’s a promise of a account that is puny. There was once a
excellent alternate between two diversified studios for animation production between
episodes; episode one was once by Vega
Leisure, whose most excellent work is throughout the Doraemon franchise, an gigantic one in its
living of birth, but even with the 2d company employed for the 2d episode, Kyoe Sung Manufacturing has a prolific
career into the decades afterwards³. It as a substitute affords the sense
that, having to abet produce the 2d episode, no person is to blame but an
sad circumstance where folks were compelled to provide and liberate a
closing episode with this level of quality to it.  

With each and each written by Chiaki Konaka, the 2d episode accumulated
affords an titillating premise, of man-made intelligence being ready to mix in
with folks, but with the hazard that this one can replicate infinitely and
will deserve to be deleted to live essential anguish to cyberspace, even if
thru a skill skuzzy premise of a young boy one in all the secondary female
leads is smitten with. Alongside the sense of this being a dry rush for Konaka to steal this premise further, and
that the guidelines are simplified here thru a monster of the week standing, thus
fighting it from getting extra account for, the topple in animation quality is so
wonderful it undercuts the attention-grabbing recommendations. Even when you happen to provide salvage a wide
talking turtle, which is funny in particular as it’s a nonchalant and grievous programmer
named Invoice in cover online, few would salvage past however pointless the episode
is by its discontinue, and how that that you would possibly perchance no longer salvage pass the quality topple in production to
the principle episode.

The one lasting legacy to Alice is Cyberland is the inspiring realization
this was once a predecessor to Serial
Experiments Lain itself straight. There accept as true with been plans for a sequel to the
online sport with Chiaki Konaka²
which never came to be, but alongside Serial
Expeiments Lain coming in its living, the protagonists of Alice in Cyberland returned in a wholly
diversified context. There would possibly be an Alice Mizuki, one in all the principle characters, additionally
voiced by Yoko Asada who plays the
usual Alice, in Lain as an
significant personality to the titular lead, alongside a Juri and Reika admire the
two diversified female leads from the older work in diversified roles.  It’s a appetizing discovery that this forgotten
production, the sport and the anime, managed to relive again as clearly Konaka realized something he wished to push
with the premise. Serial Expeirments
Lain, while of its era, has lasted as a relevant and startling sequence that
has lasted, while Alice in Cyberland
is an titillating nineties obscurity. The production issues with episode two
are tragic, but even that raises so many inquiries to what took living to Glams, Inc., one in all the a gigantic sequence of who came at
each and each an titillating time in Eastern videogames and in the anime industry only
to fade so immediate afterwards. Their chronicle would be charming to learn
a ways extra of, but what we got no longer no longer as much as was once this curiosity.

========

1) Quoted from the overview of Alice in
Cyberland, printed before every thing on September 2nd 2018, from the weblog Collectr’s Blog and one in all its later
weblog revision updates:

“Update October, 2021: the total Alice in
Cyberland TV broadcast showed up on YouTube, episode 2 intact. The everyday is
no longer as exact as the laserdisc, but or no longer it’s exact adequate. Now to discover a translator…”

2) From the page on Alice in
Cyberland 2 Seventh Protocol, from Chiaki
J. Konaka’s living on his career, Alice
6, written 2nd September 1999. It mentions as smartly that that subtitle “The
7^th Protocol” was once inherited by
Serial Experiments Lain, which does indeed connect the two, as it becomes “Protocol
7”, a key McGuffin to the account.

3) Anime News Community’s page on Alice in
Cyberland, which is the encyclopedic page for the anime to consult with been
two animation production studios on the venture, Vega Leisure for episode
1 and Kyoe Sung Manufacturing for episode 2.