#Snkna

[jokobub]

The Great Thing About HNKNA Being An Otome Game

I had an epiphany a few months ago. I’ve talked before about how many pitfalls HNKNA experiences by nature of it being a dating simulator, and how a lot of the cooler parts of the story and lore are overshadowed by the core romance mechanic and how I’m not a big fan of it, blah blah. But I’ve also seen way too many modern Alice in Wonderland adaptations as a result of my ridiculously long-term Kuni no Alice hyperfixation, and allow me to say that there is one thing that it nails that nothing else can even come close to touching— Alice herself!

The Kuni no Alice series brings about what I think is the best modern interpretation of Alice I’ve yet to see in any media I’ve consumed. She’s quick-witted and brings the attitude, but she cares. Her reactions are realistically absurd and there are few moments throughout everything where she feels out of character or unrelatable. And I think the otome genre is crucial to why that is.

By nature, dating simulators don’t have strong protagonists. They’re supposed to be a blank canvas for the player to project onto to achieve their goals. Am I calling Alice flat? No, quite the opposite. Her story is set in a Victorian-inspired fantasy land with lots of guns and danger and a strict social structure, but it’s intended for a modern audience, and when connection with your protagonist is the key to connection with your story, a modern audience means a modern Alice.

The modern Alice is one of the hardest characters to write.

In most instances of an adapted, cool, edgy Alice in Wonderland, the most insufferable character on screen is, in fact, Alice. This is true of the Disney films, SyFy’s Alice special, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, etc. More often than not, Alice Kingsleigh, Hamilton, whatever you want to call her, is a young adult frustrated by life in an oppressive society who will only accept her if she acts in a hyper-specific way, usually at the risk of being institutionalized should she fail to comply. She argues with her parents, who want her to get married, and all of this turns her into a spiteful girl who is always on the defensive.

It’s insufferable to watch.

The character of Alice is too often portrayed as relentlessly mean, but under the guise of empowerment. The audience is tired of weak-willed women, so the director hunches Alice’s dress up passed her ankles and gives her a sword, an attitude, and an ugly man to kiss without her parents’ involvement. Biologically engineered to shatter every well-known gender role established in Victorian England and basically nothing else, movies and TV deliver their “strong female protagonists” in the form of a curt, unchangingly rude version of Alice whose words and actions are supposed to be justified by her circumstances. And god, does it fucking suck!

You can't connect to this Alice, this armed and ready, sharp-tongued, "curiouser and curiouser" Alice who lives in a world that practically clears a narratively untouchable path to every foot she plans to step on. Personally, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The misunderstood to confused, to disgruntled, to aggressive pipeline is overplayed to the point where the Alice of any and all modern interpretations has become, essentially, the same character, forced to loop the same 6 emotional plot points from now into eternity, no matter how many coats of science fiction you put over it.

(Yes, there is a part of me that understands this comes from the fact that Alice is most often written by money-hungry, corporate studios, led primarily by men, who do not understand feminine audiences, or how they want to see themselves represented in media. I get that. And Alice Liddell is not safe from that. But consider: she's my babygirl.)

Am I saying the character of Alice can't be mean, can't say fuck, can't have a sword? Of course not!!!! Give women swords!!! But I am saying that every time a director phones it in with that "Oh, I know that book" budget and gives a British blondie trust issues, a prophecy, and a quirked up, top hat-wearing sidekick to have unfulfilling sexual tension with, i lose my wings AND my marbles.

Enter: our Alice Liddell.

What do we have with her, really? Well, the protagonist of a mid-shelf otome game, which has sequels out the wazoo, a movie and 2 stage play runs, but still somehow only enough translated media to fill a single Barnes and Noble shopping basket about halfway. Thanks QuinRose.

But for real.

Alice Liddell is written, from the ground up, as an otome protagonist. As such, there are narrative must-haves that she can't shake. She needs to be relatable to the modern young adult, even if she's supposed to reflect the Victorian female experience. This would usually be the Achilles Heel of an adapted protagonist: you, the player, get to watch in horror as your favorite whimsical Main Girl is watered down into a bowl of nothing soup for the sake of projection and selling more copies of a game with eye candy catboys and toxicity glorification.

HOWEVER,

(stay seated girlies don't go yet)

This necessary mundanity that is baked into Alice's character, inseparable from her very being as the taste of weed in a brownie, is what singlehandedly saves this adaptation and makes her objectively the best. Unlike in a lot of cinematic adaptations, she's not meant to be the (failed) vehicle of a "deeper narrative" about the strength and roles of women in society. She doesn't exist for any higher purpose, she isn't the chosen one who will declare "Damn The Man" and force the world to listen.

Alice is a girl doing everything she can. She's experienced profound loss. She's self-deprecating. Snarky. She's been through break ups, gotten even with bullies, cuddled with her cat on a Sunday, everything that doesn't matter. The crux of her character is that she's been burned by life and love, yet she can't truly give up on them. Hers is a story of healing, of adaptation and getting back up when life kicks the shit out of you. No matter how sharply she speaks, Kuni no Alice's Alice almost always acts from a place of concern and love for others. She crucially never wields a weapon, reacting to the violence of Wonderland with that extremely jaded "holy fucking shit, what the fuck?" energy that I think any of us would bring to the table, given the circumstances. She's not her community's """lunatic,""" she's not sailing the high seas sideways, she's not on drugs, or destiny's favorite, or anything like that. She's new in town! She's sick of these people! She just wants to go home and read!

She's you. She's me. She's a clusterfuck of a damaged girl, trying to sort out what matters, find her passion and move forward without letting her past stray too far from memory. She's someone whose self-importance and perception by others is foreign to her. She wants to matter, wants not to be left alone by the people she loves, but god forbid she ever admit it.

QuinRose gives us Alice Liddell, suffering failgirl, not Alice Liddell, conceptual landmark, and that was the best possible route anyone could have taken with this character. Alice is the main character, but she is not a hero, and that's a fucking genius move.

thanks for coming to my ted talk. i love u alice.

#hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #alice in the country of hearts #wonderful wonder world #kazh.txt #ndposting #alice in wonderland #sorry had to milk all the tags i could #i'm the world's biggest alice stan #if i kinned i would kin her #shes me #im her #my baby #spade no kuni no alice #snkna

[banderskrad]

#its 4am #how. #anyway #hyperpop art #hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #snkna #clover no kuni no alice #anniversary no kuni no alice #art #joker no kuni no alice #spade no kuni no alice #digital art #artwork #boris airay

[arnethmyndraavn]

[Spade no Kuni no Alice] Machine Translation Patches (White & Black) Download

White World Screenshots

Black World Screenshots

This is a machine translation patch which was created by running the dialog files for both games through Google translate. The game should be mostly understandable but there will occasional nonsense translations or cut off lines. very basic JP knowledge makes some of the translation oddities easier to understand.

Patch should work on emulator and modded Switch

Patch Downloads: White: DL Black: DL Please note that the patch for White World is much larger since the game has one large asset bundle that contains all the code/levels rather than multiple smaller ones like Black World.

100% Save Data Downloads: White: DL Black: DL

Installation instructions are included in the patch README file

Some mistranslation/oddity examples, some are kinda funny. (These are old screenshots from before I fixed the color of character dialog boxes and backlog portraits, they are fixed in the actual patch)

#spade no kuni no alice #snkna #hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #alice in the country of hearts #patch #otome game #machine translation #mod #reverse engineering

[thesparkthatlightsthemoe]

THAT’S RIGHT GIRL! DEFEND YOUR PIECE OF CLOWN MEAT!!!

#snkna #spade no kuni no alice #hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #joker #julius monrey #peter white #i've waited my whole life for this moment

[nocturne-of-illusions]

Happy Spade Black Release Day!!!

For those who missed the release countdown voices and illustrations, here's a zip containing all of them. Enjoy!!

#heart no kuni no alice #hnkna #spade no kuni no alice #snkna #046 text

[fragileblackrose]

This new outfit is growing on me but I cannot get over the glove that only covers his fingers and knuckles 

#HnKnA #Heart no Kuni no Alice #spade no kuni no alice #SnKnA #My favourite fashion disaster

[kamil-a]

Fighting for the crown?” “Yes, to be sure,” said the King: “and the best of the joke is, that it’s my crown all the while! Let’s run and see them.”

sopping wet beaste

#something something the next radish is 9 steps away #my lovely art #snkna #snkna spoilers /// #hnkna

[dearotome]

Candy-Colored

IT'S A CANDY-COLORED BEDROOM. STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE. ALKSDJFSLDFJ

#otome entry #Candy-Colored #spade no kuni no alice ~wonderful black world~ #snkna spoilers #snkna

[moonlit-sweet-dreams]

*FOAMING FROM THE MOUTH*

I AM SOOOOO NORMAL ABOUT THEM ABSOLUTELY 100%

#Guess who finally checked out the SnKnA Black World CGs #BTW this NOT a shipping post #I just happen to really really love Ace and Alice as separate entities #And also Ace really only shows his vulnerability around like 2... maybe 3 people so you really only get moments like these in his route #Seeing Alice look so happy and cute makes that weird kitty cat petting urge thing that humans do kick in for me #AND ACE OH MY GOD #in the 4th one he looks so so so soft and it makes me kick my legs happily hehehehehe #Most of my CG browsing was just me squee'ing at Alice and her outfits #Shes so cute I could scream into and then eat a pillow #Also Ace's mask got an upgrade I see!! More circus-like in nature funnily enough #ANYWAYS who gave them right to make my highschool girl-self literally implode from cuteness #Nights' Chatter #SnKnA #spade no kuni no alice #spoliers #dont tag as ship plz thank you if you do reblog for whatever reason

[snarksearching]

HELLO HNKNA FANS !!!!

Do You want to join a Valentine's Day gift exchange??? Well today's your lucky day ! @kamil-a and I have joined forces to organize a lovey dovey gift exchange for this upcoming Valentine's Day.

Sign ups will remain open until around January 9th !

( Both canon/canon and oc/canon works are allowed ! )

#hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #alice in the country of hearts #hnknavalentines23 #hnkna valentines 23 #cnkna #dnkna #alice in the country of diamond #alice in the country of clover #alice in the country of spade #snkna #hnkna oc

[enchanted-twisted-dream]

If you live in Baltimore, fuck you!!!

It’s about time I got back into this series. Take my stupid sketch 

#hnkna #spade no kuni no alice #alice in the country of spade #snkna #alice liddell #Joker #hnkna fanart #fanart #sketch #heart no kuni no alice #otome #meme sketch #Enchanted's Scribbles #my art #Snapcube dub #Daydreaming is intrusive and it said to think about alice again lets go #TIME TO ROT I GUESS #Also! Hi again HnKnA people I missed you #i spent like an hour tops on this so yeah #also i cant remeber if joker runs a casino or just a bar in spade alas my memory fails me once more

[jokobub]

You guys don’t understand the ways this dress is permanently altering my psychology. This fit goes absolutely crazy. I’m quaking in my fucking boots she is EVERYTHING TO ME. EVERYTHING. I’M SO NORMAL ABOUT ALICE LIDDELL. THIS KH ASS COLOR PALETTE IS EATING MY NEURONS BY FORCE. I NEED a CG of her in this dress, ambient and shining in a league of her own, if I don’t see her sparkling I’ll DIE!!!! RIGHT NOW!!!

#hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #spade no kuni no alice #snkna #alice liddell

[banderskrad]

ALICE, WHERE IS HE?

awawawaa I was two steps away from not catching him because live on my computer froze and I realised that at the last minute

#hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #clover no kuni no alice #joker no kuni no alice #snkna #art #alice liddell #spade no kuni no alice #anniversary no kuni no alice #julius monrey #ace

[arnethmyndraavn]

Some select screenshots from my ongoing playthrough of Gray's Route in Spade Black World (common event stuff too). Just some small things I liked. Translation is from my machine translation patch.

Anyway, I really enjoyed Boris and Gray fighting over who gets to take Alice's luggage to her room. The mental image of Boris absolutely destroying passenger luggage in a cat like manner is great. Just tossing it around, clawing at it, then promptly losing interest in it.

Gray's room is pretty bare so Alice asks what kind of stuff he likes.

I'm really enjoying the new outfits. They just look so good I had to include them.

Gray's cooking makes a reappearance and Nightmare's suffering is so great it breaks the textbox.

#snkna #spade no kuni no alice #hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #alice in the country of hearts

[thesparkthatlightsthemoe]

Spade no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Black World~ Alt Outfits Part 1

Source: https://otomate.jp/spade_alice/black/chara/

#spade no kuni no alice #snkna #hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #i think i like gray's the most #it's cool that the train station crew are coordinating their fashion #not a fan of alice's new outfit #she's had way better alt outfits than this

[ceruleanwhore]

Looking for Scans

I am but a poor English speaker with limited options in this fandom but I want to try translating some of the manga that never got officially translated or scanlated online. In college, I took a medieval literature class in which I was translating Old English poetry into Modern English (for reference, OE is literally German and has nothing in common with English), so I have experience doing translations with a language that I don't know. I want to test it out but I looked all over and I can't find scans of any of the books in Japanese anywhere on the internet, so I was hoping some kind soul could help me.

#hnkna #cnkna #jnkna #dnkna #snkna #www #wonderful wonder world #heart no kuni no alice #clover no kuni no alice #joker no kuni no alice #daiya no kuni no alice #wonderful twin world #wonderful mirror world #spade no kuni no alice #alice in the country of hearts #alice in the country of clover #alice in the country of joker #alice in the country of diamonds #alice in the country of spade #omochabako no kuni no alice #shinsouban clover no kuni no alice #shinsouban hearts no kuni no alice #manga #light novel #scans #scanlations #translations