A little cliche, romantic, but awfully sweet. This story focuses on how flawed the characters are (particularly Alice and Elliot), pointing out the flaws we see in ourselves as well as the flaws we see in others. We all fall short of our ideals and the ideals of others. But at the same time, there are people who look past our flaws, or do not see our flaws at all, and love us anyway.

Note: Alice in the Country of Clover is the sequel to Alice in the Country of Hearts; both of which are based off Otome dating games. A phenomenon called 'moving' takes place, which is why the name of the country changes, and results in a few new characters appearing but a few old characters disappearing. The first dating sim resulted in a manga (by the same title) that spawned many different spinoffs. This is one of those stories.

This spinoff has 1 volume. ( )

Alice struggles with her growing love for Elliott, the March Hare and Blood's right-hand man. Her efforts cause Elliott to think that she's actually in love with Blood, the man Elliott admires the most. Peter and Elliott get into a fight, and Elliott freezes up at a crucial moment and gets shot. After nursing him back to health, Alice decides to finally be honest about her feelings.

Meh. Elliott is violent, a bit dense, and kind of bland. He's defined by his love of carrots and his devotion to Blood and is therefore a completely boring love interest. The romance also has an edge of ickiness, since Alice loves him in a way that makes her think of pets and little kids.

Because Elliott is so boring, the Alice who loves him is pretty boring and bland as well, despite her insistence that she has a dark personality. All hint of the overarching storyline (Alice's memories of her sister and tutor) is absent here. The best thing about this volume was the artwork. Iwaki is good at “shocked eyes” Alice.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )