Fushigi no kuni no Miyuki-chan

After I watched Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland", and it made me remember the Disney version, I came to actually like the story, and did research on it, including "Through the Looking Glass".

When I read about this, I was pretty interested, even if I'm a girl. My plan was to finish watching "Elfen Lied", and then on to this. I tried to lower my expectations, trying not to think that this would be 'pure gold,' because I wondered if this would be a disappointment. And I was (very) right.

When I viewed the first episode on YouTube, the beginning felt a bit like "Sailor Moon", but I guess that was because this centers around a girl. When Miyuki and the bunny girl fell down the hole, I giggled, because of the "Yeah, yeah!" Since this is an erotic fantasy, I wasn't surprised with Miyuki's encounter of the door girl, with how she had to get through. When she entered Wonderland and met the Tweedle twins (I can't remember their names -- something like Cho-Li), I guess that was pretty interesting.

But pretty soon, I realized this was a rushed anime. There was this corny song that was being played throughout. I tried to ignore it, but it really fit the speedy pace. As Miyuki was being seduced by woman after woman, my interest was lowering more and more, I guess because this simply just wasn't entertaining nor funny.

It's always something like: Miyuki: "Um, excuse me..." Parody of AiW character: "Oh, hello there, pretty girl." Miyuki: "Do you know a way out of here? I'm lost." Parody of AiW character: "Here, let me..." *tries to seduce Miyuki* Miyuki: "Hey, stop it!" *on to the next scene*

Half-way through, I just paused the video and decided not to see the rest of this 2-episode series.

By the way, Miyuki looked ugly, and those women looked lazily drawn. I bet the manga was even worse -- it only lasts for 11 pages!

If you're not the kind of person who likes to watch fast-paced films with bland comedy (and annoying music), then this is not for you, either.

Miyuki-Chan in wonderland is a Barbarella-like satire of Alice In Wonderland. Miyuki herself, for all intents and purposes, seems to be a teenage Japanese girl, except she has long blonde hair, which in Japan is unusual.

Every single character in the entire movie is a pretty girl in some sort of fetish costume, and most if not all of them seem to be lesbians. The White Rabbit, for example, is a playboy bunny on a skateboard. The Queen of hearts is a dominatrix. And so on.

It seems to me, each chapter could have been extended, and Miyuki-Chan could/should have been submitted to all the things the other characters clearly wanted t do to her, rather than giving her a chance to run away before they could really do things to her.

This two episode OAV is hilarious! Miyuki is a straight arrow teenager who takes the place of the Alice character in Lewis Carroll's classic tales. All of the other characters, from the Cheshire Cat to the White Rabbit, are replaced by gorgeous, seductive women. The first episode is a short parody of Alice in Wonderland while the second is a loose adaptation of Through the Looking Glass.

Filled to the brim and overflowing with lesbianism jokes and sexual humor, this video is something that is definitely not for kids. However, it doesn't go so far out that it becomes offensive, as nudity is extremely limited.

The one fault I could find with Miyuki-chan in Wonderland is that it's too short. The two episodes put together are only about thirty-five minutes long and could probably have easily been stretched out to a full hour at the very least. Nevertheless, this video is worth watching and despite the tone of the jokes, has been found funny by friends of both genders.

The two-episode "Miyuki-chan in Wonderland/Mirrorland", with each episode clocking in at barely 13 mins each, is definitely too short to take on the breadth of Lewis Caroll's two novels "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass". But even so, within itself it seemed very rushed. Scenes felt truncated or edited, leaving me wondering if this is indeed a cut version (for what it's worth, I'm talking about the only version currently available on DVD, released by "Section 23" in 2002).

In just about every scene, just when things start to get interesting (as some character makes a humorous lesbian pass at her), Miyuki screams and runs away, and then we're on to the next scene. After a while you begin to see how unimaginative the story is despite the tremendous potential of Lewis Caroll's original source as well as this irreverent yet unique spoof.

Not overt enough to be erotic, not subtle enough to be witty, not cohesive enough to be an engaging story, and with the same goofy song on infinite repeat throughout the whole 26 minute spectacle, "Miyuki-chan in Wonderland" suffers from being "not enough" on many levels. While the illustration will hold your attention (all beautiful women wearing some sort of fetish attire) and while a few corny gags are predictable but worth a laugh, such as the Dominatrix Queen saying she's going to punish the guilty party, prompting dozens of undersexed girls to shout "Punish me! Punish me!", this short animation will likely remain a curiosity rather than a cult classic.

Incidentally, the entire animation can be found on YouTube, so don't waste your money on buying the (26 min) DVD like I did. Unless, like me, you're just a Wonderland fanatic who must own all versions of the tale, good or bad. I even had to buy Tom Petty's video collection for his Wonderland based video "Don't Come Around Here No More". Now where can I find that 1976 porn version I've heard about?