Overview (Spoilers Below):
Yu is summoned to the magical world of Twisted Wonderland and finds himself facing a monster.
Our Take:
What do you get when you take some of Disney’s greatest villains and transform them into anime characters? You get one of the most twisted and surreal Disney-related ideas ever to appear in our lives since Kingdom Hearts. That idea I’m referring to is Disney Twisted-Wonderland, a rhythm-based mobile game that has players exploring a magical school and meeting students inspired by the Disney villains we grew up with. With its successful run on mobile devices, the franchise expanded to not just manga but also the world of anime via an original net animation.
This brings us to Disney Twisted-Wonderland the Animation, which not only seeks to adapt the game but also the manga. This is evident in the first episode, in which the protagonist, Yu, is summoned by a magic mirror to the enchanted school Night Raven College. Unfortunately, unlike in the game, viewers cannot rename this character, but they will encounter elements related not just to the game but also to Disney itself. One specific element worth noting is that Twisted-Wonderland combines Disney and Harry Potter, notably through the school’s dorms and its leaders modeled after Disney villains. In this case, the episode introduces the Heartslabyul clan, led by its Housewarden, Riddle Rosehearts, who resembles the Queen of Hearts based on his strict demeanor. This indicates that the first season will draw on the franchise’s first manga, “Episode of Heartslabyul”.
While the pacing was a bit shoddy at times and the settings were limited at first, “Stranger Waking” shows potential as the series attempts to faithfully adapt the source material that conveys its Disney flair through anime aesthetics. However, with a total of eight episodes in its first season, it also provides the challenge of exploring its world-building and characters in such a short time. Granted, they are planning to make it three seasons long, with each season covering a specific manga, but how much each season will cover remains a mystery. Until then, I would consider myself impressed so far by its animation style, humor, and voice cast for the dub, notably Paul Castro Jr., who suitably captures Riddle’s intense, short-tempered rage, akin to the Queen of Hearts.