#i think tsukasa is the only other alice allusion character i can think of that's a guy.

[ozlices]

ok now that the rage is out, actual rational reason for why this pisses me off so much.

if my love & devotion to pandora hearts didn't make it clear enough, my favorite niche of media is alice in wonderland inspired works. if i know something is inspired by aiw, i'm gonna at least look into it automatically. dunno why, honestly. but, it's been like this since i was SUPER young.

that being said, im obviously p versed in alice in wonderland inspired media. i haven't consumed them all, i'm sure there's many i'm unaware of, but. i've consumed enough to confidently assure alice in borderland is the first time i personally have ever seen an alice in wonderland inspired media portray alice as a guy, while still having him be named alice.

and, like! it's honestly SUPER clever to get away with doing this by having alice be ryohei's last name instead of his first. because, obviously, 'alice' is not typically a male name. it can be bc gender is a concept yada yada, but. like. u get what i mean.

so, like. baring that in mind. if somebody who has absolutely zero concept of how japanese pronunciation works stumbled across alice in borderland, & watched w the english subtitles... they'd have no reason to question if 'arisu' is meant to be 'alice'. bc. why would it be? they're expecting 'alice' to be a female character.

& so, like. it honestly rly fucking sucks that this really interesting way of taking the alice in wonderland inspo & portraying its references as it does gets completely sacked & made out as pointless by having alice not be referred to AS alice.

& even more so bc additionally, the white rabbit is a woman in the show. so, we have these two prominent characters from alice in wonderland being swapped. but, like. that doesn't even get to be properly appreciated bc they don't let u know alice IS alice. it genuinely just comes across as 'huh, weird this show named alice in borderland, & that's v clearly inspired by alice in wonderland, has a MALE lead & his name is arisu. weird this aiw inspired media has no alice.'

tbh part of me wonders if that's why they decided to go w that decision. to blatantly erase how silently groundbreaking it is to have an alice in wonderland inspired work where alice is still named alice, but is a guy instead of a girl. the silent way that breaks down gender stereotypes and such. but, nope. that all gets lost.

fucking bullshit.

also yes ik im v stupidly passionate abt this, but again. aiw-inspired works is my FAVORITE niche genre of media ever. my favorite series of all time is literally an aiw-inspired work. ive never seen an aiw-inspired work do this. not saying no others exist, & if they do, pls lmk! but. yeah. it does suck the only example ik of doing this gets stomped by refusing to let alice be named alice.

#mine #i think tsukasa is the only other alice allusion character i can think of that's a guy. #but. like. he doesn't count against my point bc his name isn't alice. #& he's also meant to represent multiple aiw charas. not JUST alice. #so. yeah. this is the only media ik where alice is still named alice & gets to be a guy & they just do not let him stay alice #it's weird & feels lowkey v shitty. for the aforementioned dismantle of how silently groundbreaking that decision is #& how clever it is to get away w it by having it be his last name #esp since obviously. in japan u typically refer to someone as their last name until u know them well. #so. just. HNNNG. bothersome. #it doesnt actually keep me up at night but it does like. bother me. a lot. #idk how that decision even got approved w how much it actually fucks up the viewing experience of a completely #uneducated viewer when it comes to knowing anything abt how japanese words are pronounced but. #tbh the only explanation i can think of for it IS they just didnt want u to know he's alice. bc they're cowards. which is weird but. #idk. literally no other reason to do that. u can't even like. try to claim it's for accuracy sake. #bc it's. literally not accurate. if ur gonna translate the name of the series completely into english. the namesake chara should also #have their name completely translated. to avoid confusion. #UGH OK IM DONE BACK TO ACTUALLY WATCHING AND ROTTING AWAY IM SORRY IM JUST RLY PASSIONATE ABT DUMB SHIT #alice in borderland