Vacant

I went to an anime convention last week and managed to obtain some cool stuff. The venue was selling toys, games, and memorabilia of the like, and I managed to snag a couple of things with the money I had saved from my job. Those items were a figurine, an Aggretsuko backpack, and what I came here to talk about: an Eternal Alice Rondo DVD case. 
The set had the complete series on two separate disks (since there were only thirteen episodes and apparently, it only ran on TV for three months), and it came in a nifty little cardboard sleeve with all of the characters on it. I watched the entire thing, and if you want my personal opinion, it’s not very good. I won’t get too into that though, as it's best for you to watch the show yourself and formulate your own opinion.
The plot follows the protagonist, Aruto, as he writes a character for a series of books he really enjoys. It turns out that his version of “Alice,” the character from said books, is real, and there’s a whole other world of Alices that fight each other in order to steal precious storybooks from their hearts. When all of these storybooks are assembled, it forms the third volume of the book series, “Eternal Alice,” and the one who possesses this title is granted one wish. 
Now that I’ve gotten the plot out of the way, I found something in the second DVD. A “special features” section containing a lost episode of the series, or as it’s listed in the disk, “Episode 13b.” After looking on various forums, wikis, and other informative anime sites, I couldn’t find anything about this. The length was around ten minutes. 
Upon pressing the X button on my controller to start the episode, I was greeted with three seconds of a screen choked with Japanese text. I should’ve expected this, as there isn’t a dub for the series as far as I know, so I grabbed my phone and used an image translator to read what the header was saying.
“Direct video presentation test - ‘Vacant’” 
I’m assuming that was meant to be the title of this episode. The rest of the text underneath was just information about how long the episode was, which studio it was produced by, etc.
The episode begins with no opening, then fades to a birds-eye view of the city that Aruto lived in. It was a foggy, slightly windy night, and he sat in his room, staring out of his window while Kiraha, his sister, slept in the room next to him. The subtitles showed up at the bottom of the screen, and he spoke to himself as he stared at the moon. 
“I miss you already. I wonder what you’ll do in that Wonderland of yours, now that everything’s gotten better.”
He looks back at Kiraha from his open doorway, resting her head upon a pillow. 
“Is it better, though? Can I even live with myself?”
Spoilers ahead. To give context, in Episode 10, it’s revealed that Aruto made Arisu as a substitute for his sister, and he has to force himself to choose whether he wants to be with one or the other. It’s pretty weird to watch. 
Aruto gets up and stands over the bed Kiraha is lying in for a moment, the sound of cicadas echoing from the window. He then slowly walks out of her room to go downstairs, frowns slightly, and whispers something before shutting the door.
“You’re too important to me, you know that?”
The scene cuts to Wonderland, the area that Arisu now resides in after Episode 13 ended. There she was, standing in the middle of the sunny, grassy field, smiling warmly. The wind blows, causing the trees to shake, and leaves to fall. 
Transparent scenes from past episodes fade by as a despairing music box chimed. These scenes ranged from Arisu meeting Aruto for the first time, meeting his sister, and hugging him, before telling him that he can visit her at any time through the book he finished. 
A lone tear falls from Arisu’s eye.
“There’s no fight left, it’s over. Now what?”
She walks down the grassy path, continuing to talk to herself.
“Thinking won’t show them how sorry I am. I know that this was the only way to finish the story, but… stealing? Fighting? Was this supposed to be some scavenger hunt? It felt like pure war.”
She sits on a hill, and sighs. The voices of the other Alices telling Arisu to “stop” and begging her not to take their stories echoed through her head. She didn’t know what to think about right now. Where have the other Alices been this entire time?
Just then, the entire setting darkens. Like clouds over the sun. A single, folded piece of Papyrus paper falls onto her lap, catching her by surprise. Inside contained scratchy handwriting. 
“私に従うか、それとも苦しむか。(Watashi ni shitagau ka, soretomo kurushimu ka/Follow me, or suffer)”
Confused, Arisu stands up and scans the area, looking for who could’ve possibly dropped the note, then she spotted someone. A white-haired woman, with a blue and purple dress, standing there, facing away from her. She then starts running off, into the direction of Wonderland’s castle. Arisu shouts.
“Hey, wait! Stop!”
She starts hopping over to where the figure is headed to, watching out for twigs and logs so she doesn’t trip. Arisu tries to get a good look at the dashing figure, but her hair seems to be covering most of her face. Arisu shouts some more, asking her where she’s going and why she’s running. The figure ignores her.
After a fifteen second chase sequence, the scene cuts to Arisu rushing into the library. The interior is packed with books nestled into cozy shelves, alongside stairs that towered her height, and a singular column in the center. It looked very similar to the library from Aruto’s hometown, the only difference being that this library had a fireplace built into one of the walls, and it was lit up. Maybe the library scene was reused from previous cels, or parts of the episode were unfinished? I’m not too sure.
Standing in front of the centered pillar was the feminine figure, head slouched downward, staring at her own two feet. A close-up of the side of her head is shown, with her heavy breath reverberating throughout the area. Arisu speaks.
“Show yourself. I mean no harm.”
The woman finally turns around to face Arisu, and the camera slowly panned upward from her knees to where her face was supposed to be. For the reveal, there was no face. It didn’t look like there was a head either. Just a pitch-black orb, topped with short, white hair.
Then, she spoke. Her voice had some sort of evil effect, like several pitches of the same recordings were adjusted at different lengths and mashed together. 
“Do you, now?”
The sight made Arisu jolt in horror. She’d take a step back out of surprise, and her gasp echoes throughout the library. She’d open her mouth in an attempt to speak, but all it could do was twitch at the sight of what she was seeing. The woman with the darkened face snaps her fingers to get Arisu’s attention. 
“Well? Aren’t you going to say something?”
“Are you… an Alice?”
“What did you think I was? Have you ever seen me here?”
The figure slowly approaches Arisu, all while sticking her hand directly into what was once her face. It goes in, and out comes a long, heavily rusted key blade. The weapon made a long “shing” noise as it was slowly pulled from her black hole of a head. 
She continues walking towards Arisu, but then she stops, and the end of her key blade dings against the marble-patterned floor. She shivers in place, her breath becoming choppier the more she stood. Arisu speaks, barely able to muster a sentence.
“So you’re… an Alice, huh? I thought the fight was over! I thought this was resolved! Do you want my storybook?! What are you looking for?! I’m lost! Please, tell me…”
The camera slowly zooms in on the woman’s upper body, as transparent graphics faded in and disappeared every few seconds. These pictures had groups of characters strewn about and trudging through a starless, jet-black void. Some of these characters were fought by Arisu in the series, and a few others came from the outro. 
While this was happening, the void-faced woman gave a monologue. 
“The books. They were our origins. Tearing out the most important page takes away what makes us Alices people. Sure, you gave the book back to the ones who have lost… but that means nothing. Editing the writing means nothing. What about people with outcomes like me?”
“Because of you, I’m an empty husk… nothing but a shell! I have a semblance of thought, but all I can remember is your greedy, filthy hands taking what was rightfully mine!”
Cut back to Arisu, struggling to stay calm as this figure speaks.
“You want to know the best part? I was the only one that took initiative! Everyone else hobbled like zombies and gave up, constantly moaning and groaning. I saw the light above me. I built myself a tower from their carcasses!”
“I’m going to show you how it felt. But, before I do… do you have anything you want to say to me? Anything of significance?”
Arisu’s pupils were entirely constricted into tiny dots. She’d clench her teeth, and stumble in place, about to pass out from realizing what she has done. She slouches her head over, and says the only thing she can think of.
“...I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“This war went on for so long, and we were all fighting over one thing! All this time, I wanted to use my wish to bring things back the way they were, to where we all could leave each other be! I never knew you were going through this torment for so long, I swear-”
“IS THAT ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT?!”
In a fit of anger, the woman slams her keyblade against the hardened walls of the library with all her might, in an attempt to intimidate Arisu. This only made her fumble to get her key, and quickly kiss it. A reused voice line from the first episode is heard. 
“My heart’s key. Mirrors key. Ride the flow of Story. Release your power!”
Cue the transformation sequence, but heavily shortened and without the music. Afterwards, Arisu gets into a protective stance, her key blade pointing towards the empty shell of what was once an Alice. The woman continues to scream at her with every ounce of her being.
“WHY IS IT THAT YOU CAN GET YOUR WAY, AND YOU ARE ABLE TO OBTAIN FRIENDS AFTER DESTROYING THE LIVES OF OTHERS, WHILE I CAN’T?!”
A fight scene begins. The music that played wasn’t even close to how the others sounded. It was quicker, electric guitars were a part of the instrumental, and it overall sounded quite ambitious. 
I will say this. For an anime I didn’t like, the fighting choreography in this scene had a lot more effort than the previous ones. It was less floaty, and full of speed. It was like watching a samurai sword fight in midair. The void-faced woman began swinging at full force, with Arisu parrying each hit. 
Some of the techniques that her opponent used weren’t really used in this show before. She didn’t just swing; she thrusted the blade like a fencer, threw her key at her with full force, and even tossed it in the air before kicking it straight at her once it came back down. 
The battle lasted a decent amount of time. Around three and a half minutes. Pages of books from the shelves flew, and small craters were formed into the walls. During the fight, Arisu was begging this woman to stop and try to hear her out, but she refused to listen. Various scenes from previous episodes involving Arisu jabbing the key into the hearts of other Alices would show up at random intervals, before immediately resuming back to the fight.
Arisu was eventually knocked down, and the woman made haste towards her at max speed. Before she could even get her swing in, she was caught by surprise when Arisu stood up and jammed her key blade through her chest. 
Her arms went down by her sides, and her head would gently lean to its right, feigning a loss in Arisu’s eyes. Arisu would take this time to take deep breaths, but just as she was about to speak, the hand of the husked Alice would clutch onto the handle of her blade.
“Do you have cotton in your ears?”
With brute force, she yanks the key out of her chest, and slashes Arisu across the cheek with her own, leaving a dirty, infectious gash over it. Arisu yelps and presses her hand against the gash in an attempt to prevent it from bleeding out. 
That attempt at protection was short-lived, as she felt the rusted key from the other Alice skewer through her chest. Arisu didn’t bleed out, as the hearts of other Alices acted as doors to their personal stories, but instead of light illuminating from the crevice like it usually would, it was surrounded with dirt, and a small patch of Arisu’s skin wrinkled around it.
Usually, there’s a scene where a character says this command to open the door to another Alice’s heart. This woman doesn’t say anything, yet the unlocking sequence commenced anyway. The pages from Arisu’s story flowed out into a figure eight, she would scream, and every page would connect together into a book before Arisu collapsed on her back. She begged. 
“Please… give… back…” 
“What, do you think this is some game of seek and find in your backyard? Shameful.”
The vengeful specter looked at the book’s cover. Sleek and dark red. Just like the ichor that she wanted to drain from her sworn enemy. She spotted the lit fireplace nearby, crackling and sparking whirls of vermilion. As the woman made her way over to the fire, Arisu tried to beg once more, through quiet mumbles and coughs. No response. 
Then, before the wraith could even toss the book into the fireplace, she freezes and begins to shiver. Just looking at the fire reminded her of what she truly was. A distant memory, back when she was a child. The camera zooms into the fireplace, and the same music box from Arisu’s debut in this episode plays once more.
Fade to another flashback sequence, this time taking place in a small home. A little girl, holding a teddy bear, would sit in front of her father. Her face wasn’t shown, and neither was her father’s. 
“Why did Mommy have to die? Why was I so hard on her?!”
“It’s not your fault.”
“NO, IT IS! All I ever did was think about myself and all the things I wanted! And I lost her! I could’ve been there to stop it! They could’ve taken me instead! But I just had to tell her to buzz off before she went to the store, like a brat!”
The little girl cries her heart out onto her father’s shoulder for a moment, but then, his hand gently presses against her shoulder.
“You want to know what Mommy told me at the doctor?”
“What?”
“She told me to tell you that she loved you with all her heart, and that she wanted me to make sure you were safe as long as I could.”
“She… really said that?”
“Of course, she did. Even before she passed, she had her thoughts set on you and I. I’m sure Mommy would’ve been very sad if you were in that situation.”
A moment of silence occurs, then tears fall from the little girl’s face, still unshown. 
“Do you… forgive me, Daddy?”
“Of course I do… but I want you to remember something, okay, sweetie?”
“What is it?”
“Show kindness to everyone, whether they’re skinny, fat, whatever they may be. You don’t know when your friends, or I, won’t end up being here anymore.”
“...Daddy… I’m sorry.”
“I am too, sweetie. I am too.”
Pictures of the little girl doing activities with her mother (whose face was actually shown in some of them) faded in and out. These pictures had them go to a park, play together, and watch a red-skied sunset. 
The scene quickly cuts back to the vengeful wraith of a woman standing in front of the flames. Instead of throwing Arisu’s book in there, she collapses on her knees, and streaks of inky tears spill down her neck to the floor. 
Arisu, after lying on the floor in a weakened state for a short moment, forces herself to sit up.
“Are… are you okay?”
“I made a promise.”
“...”
“As much as I want your head, and even if I won’t get the justice I desire… I can’t do it. I have nothing else to tell you, but just know that from this day forward…”
The woman slowly turns her head to Arisu, and says one last thing to her.
“...you’ll live with what you’ve done.”
“Wait, WAIT!”
Just like that, the specter dissipates into dark vapor, leaving behind Arisu’s book. Arisu was left traumatized by the encounter, to the point where she had nothing else to think about at the moment. She slowly crawls over to her storybook, and holds it close to her. She cradles in a fetal position, alone, in the now smashed, rubble-filled library, softly whimpering to herself.
The scene fades to black, and the credits roll. “Ki-oku-baraen, ka-ori-nomaede jiku-jikuto…”
You should’ve seen my face. I was astounded and surprised by what I had just watched. I mentioned before that I really didn’t like this show, but this episode really subverted my expectations in a way that I couldn’t have predicted. I may not know the true reason why “Vacant” went unreleased, or how an unpublished test DVD managed to make it into a convention venue, but I surely don’t regret buying it when I had the chance.
The only thing that had me confused was why that Alice looked the way she did, and why others had the same appearance. I wondered what it could’ve possibly meant. However, after thinking over it for a moment, I remembered something being mentioned from the third episode.
During a scene where Nami, one of the Alices, has her heart unlocked and her storybook taken out of her, Aruto attempts to copy the text in his own writing. He mentions that when an Alice loses her book, a “black hole” takes its place.
It’s never brought up afterward.
Category:Lafawnda's Reading Hour
Category:Anime
Category:Beings