Alice 19th, Vol. 1

by Yuu Watase

Book Overview

Alice Seno is a seemingly shy and meek girl who always seems to be outshined by her older sister Mayura. One day, Alice has an encounter with a mysterious and magical rabbit girl, and her life is turned upside down.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591162157
• ISBN13: 9781591162155
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Viz Media
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

It Makes No Sense-How Can I LOVE Something I Usually HATE?

I'm just asking you quick: please don't descriminate because it says kid's review. I'm older and smarter than my age. Okay. I'll say it straight out. I'm your typical-ish girl american teenager, who hates (I wish I could triple-bold that) any sort of Manga or Shojo or whatever kind of book this is. My friend has made me try many, many series and I have hated them all. She almost gave up hope: until she tried Alice 19th. I was bored anyway, so I decided to try it. WHOA. This first one is very good - not the best in the set, but still very good. Alice is hard to describe. She's not quite shy. She just holds back her feelings, because she doesn't like hurting anybody else's. So, she hides behind her beautiful sister Mayura, and is hardly ever noticed. She likes cell phones and email and all of that, and rarely has long discussions, or emotional ones. The biggest feeling she hides back is her love of Mayura's boyfriend, Kyo. Kyo and Mayura are both in the archery club, and seem to be deep in love, but Alice loves Kyo, too. Being herself, she holds back, which later causes a whole world of trouble. Then, she sees a rabbit just lying in the street. She hears voices, saying, "Who cares? It's just a stupid rabbit," or "I'm not killing myself for some bunny." She runs out to save it, and does-but now the car is coming for her. It just so happens that Kyo is there, and he saves them all. Then, the rabbit turns out to be a magical Girl-Bunny creature, who I think is extremely cute. She tries to tell Alice about her Courage and the Lotis words, words with powers that can save people from the darkness in them all, but Alice doesn't really seem to care. Until she tells her sister Mayura she wants her to dissapear. Why? Because she does. All of the books are about The Lotis Words, the dark, the love she has for Kyo, Alice's unapparent courage, but the main plot is how she and Kyo must team up in order to save Mayura, who they both need in their own way. I have read all the books of the series, and I'm actually going to buy all seven at some point. While some areas of this book are not so well done, in my humble opinion, this is a piece of work that is original, filled with action, more than a little romance (which, come to think of it, I don't love either), and definitely a very cute bunny. The characters that appear are hilarious, adding some comedy to the serious situation. I love certain quotes in the book-they make me laugh all the time. FINALLY,AND I HOPE YOU READ THIS PART, THESE ARE THE MOST ADDICTIVE BOOKS EVER, EVEN IF YOU HATE THEM. YOU CANNOT STOP READING THEM. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. If you just heard about this somehow, or if you are bored to death, you should find a place to borrow this book or buy it sometime. This is definitely the best (and only) book in whatever category this is I have ever read.

Watase has captured us all yet again!

I'll say this right away-- I'm not really a Watase fan. Fushigi Yugi was cool, until it got to the ninth volume, and I stopped reading it (it totally turned me OFF). Then I picked up Ceres: Celestial Legend and I found myself disliking the main character (she's kind of a bimbo with no morals). And then I found Imadoki! Nowadays... and I totally fell in love! I bought all the books at once (and there are only five, so it was pretty easy on my wallet), and I found myself reading them over and over again. After Imadoki I decided to give Ceres another shot, and now I like it okay. Then I found out about Zettai kareshi! (He'll be my boyfriend) so I read translations over the internet, and this was followed by Appare Jipangu, which is one of my favorite mangas. It was after all this that I picked up Alice 19th. Yuu Watase's manga stories all have similar themes: sex, love, horror, and violence. Alice 19th cuts down on the sex and violnece and turns on the horror and love, and it is one good manga. Alice Seno is a shy girl with a crush on an upperclassman, Kyo Wakamiya. She constantly feels overshadowed by Mayura, her older sister, whom is pretty and popular (quite the opposite of Alice). One day, Alice spots a white rabbit in the midle of a busy intersection and she saves it's life. Shortly afterwards, the rabbit, who turns out to be a magical rabbit called Neozeka, tells her that she is a master of the Lotis words and that she has the ability to save the world! As she adapts to this, Alice tells her siter, Mayura (who has now become her crushes girlfriend) that she wishes she would just dissapear, and this is exactly what she does. Mayura is now no where to be found, so Alice teams up with Kyo, the handsome but aloof boy she loves, Frey, a super cute Norwegian boy who wants to marry Alice (and flirts with every girl he sees), and Neozeka, the adorable rabbit girl, to find out what has happened to Mayura, and become Lotis masters (with tons of humor along the way!). This managa is really cenosored for Yuu Watase,and it could be for teens, but the rating keeps kids who could read this from reading it. It's really funny, and Watase draws really cute guys (especially blondie Frey). The romance isn't obsessive, with questions of morality and all that, and there are a few plot twists along the way. I definetly reccommend this story.

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best Manga ever!!!!! Well the basic story revolves around alice; A meek, quite heroin who is completely in love with Kyo. You see she was walking to school, and saw a bunny in the middle of the road. No one else cared, but Alice couldn't just let it die. So she jumped and caught it as a car was hurdling towards it. She would have died if Kyo hadn't pushed her out of the way. See she knew Kyo from her sister's archery class, but never had the courage to talk to him. Okay the bunny turns out to be a half girl/bunny who's there to tell alice about the lotis words(long story, you'll have to read it). Now back to Kyo, her sister is also in love with him! But Kyo doesn't know who he likes, plus Alice just can't tell him how she feels. You'll never be able to put this down untill the end, where you'll want to reread it over and over (I've already read it 12 times). It's a story of love, mysterious forces, and gut splitting comedy( I laughed so hard I fell off my bed, and in some parts cried despearetly).

Yû Watase's greatest work yet

Alice 19th Volume One was the most enjoyable Shôjo series I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The art is improved from Ceres, and is very beautiful. It draws in a bit of the Magical Girl genre, but not too much. It has a bit of a western feel to it, making it much different than Watase-san's previous works. The characters all look different, and seem more like real people, unlike in Fushigi Yuugi. The storyline is decent, and very original. Watase-san throws in comedy when also being serious at the same time, and shows things from two different points of view. The translation is good, and one of VIZ's best, in my opinion. This is an enjoyable series for both Guys and girls, and is recomended.Koenma

Very good!

When I first picked Alice 19th up I was thinking to myself, "Hummm... Yu Watase ... not my favorite author... too romancy..." But I bought it anyway just to give it a try since I had with Ayashi no Ceres and Fushigi Yuugi(by the way . . . if you see the FY anime, I highly recommned Japanese with Subtitles otherwise you'll hate it! But the manga's cool)Well I was instantly pulled into the story by Alice's dilemma with her own feelings becauase unlike Miakas or Ayas it just seemed more real and palpable. There were parts where I actually wanted to tear up because they tugged at my heart strings. And now I'm anticipating the next volume, because this one just leaves you hanging there with a small twitch in your undereye. But don't let that throw you off, because if cliffhangers discouraged people, Lord of the Rings would have never become to popular. It's a very good manga, the story line has a few cliche's that resemeble Watase's previous works, but otherwise you'll see no resemeblence between Aya/Miaka and Alice. Watase's art as also matured and perfected in it's beauty. If you thought Fushigi Yuugi was gorgeous, you'll fall head over heels in love with the Alice artwork. This is an A class manga that any girl, and maybe a few open minded guys, can really get into. It deals with real problems while also incorporating magical fantasy into the mix. As a fan of Japanese Anime and Manga for over seven years now, I highly recommend this as a must have for any manga fans collection.