Mad Hatter

The Mad Hatter is a minor supporting character in the Shiro Ari series. He's the owner of The Mad Tea Party and an inventor. He and his subordinate, March Hare, make up the neutral party 'the Hatters.'

After the attack on the Mad Hatter's cafe by the Jack of Hearts (and partly also for selfish reasons) the Mad Hatter has since aligned himself on Alice's side.

## Appearance

The Mad Hatter has mostly been portrayed as an overweight man wearing an oversized, black top hat with a pair of purple-rimmed goggles around it obscuring his face. The overweight version of him wears a white lab coat and a blue, polka-dotted jumpsuit underneath it.

This is not his actual appearance, however, and it is revealed that it is either a costume or a mechanical fake that the Mad Hatter had constructed to obscure his identity. In actuality, the Mad Hatter is a slim man with long black hair (one side being pinned up while the other is left down) black eyes, with a black teardrop symbol on his left cheek.

His actual appearance wears the same lab coat and the same goggled hat obscuring his face, however, he wears a more unorthodox dress shirt, jeans, and dress shoes instead of a jumpsuit this time.

## Personality

The Mad Hatter has been noted to be an eccentric and rambunctious man, often being very overexcited and jovial even in the most dire of situations. He completely contrasts March Hare's calm and serious attitude through that, and also because he doesn't seem to be all that attached to anything that doesn't interest him. According to the March Hare, although the Mad Hatter will put 100% into whatever he's interested in, he won't even glance at the things that don't do that.

Additionally, although it isn't highlighted much in the manga, the Mad Hatter seems to like playing hooky and taking long breaks from running the cafe.

The Mad Hatter also seems to like toying around with people using his inventions, such as using his Suicide Puncher to punish March Hare (and the people around him at the time) for breaking the mirrors that he created for the maze. He also seems to be extremely invested in his hobby, lamenting whenever he couldn't finish something and even joining in on the succession dispute because his hobby is limited due to the time loop.

## Backstory

The Mad Hatter, at some point in time, was put under an attempt at his life by the March Hare. However, instead of killing March Hare, he took him in when he managed to outsmart and capture him. Although his motivations on doing so are unknown, it is known that he (with March's help) was able to open the Mad Tea Party when they were brought to the kingdom of Mirror.

At some point in time, the Mad Hatter became acquainted with Alice when the succession disputes are happening.

## Relationships

### March Hare

As his subordinate, March Hare is ironically the more responsible one of the two- often having to drag the Mad Hatter back to work from playing hooky, or being the one to make the responsible choice most of the time (asking Alice for repair costs, instructing the Mad Hatter on what to do, etc) the Mad Hatter, in turn, relies on March Hare a lot in terms of business management.

However, their relationship is a lot more complicated than that. Although it isn't disclosed very well how the Mad Hatter feels about March Hare, it is implied that the Mad Hatter thinks that March Hare's violent actions are actually what he feels, and doesn't believe that March Hare actually views him as as a higher power or not a garbage bag. This is difficult for March Hare, as he believes that the Mad Hatter views him as a plaything and wishes that the Mad Hatter would view him as an equal instead.

### Alice

Some time in the past, the Mad Hatter and Alice managed to meet and now the Mad Hatter owes Alice a few favors (why that is isn't exactly disclosed). They have a neutral relationship, but Alice and the Mad Hatter are comfortable enough with each other to confide complicated secrets, feelings, and discreet plans that they are hatching (mostly the substitute Alice plan).

The Mad Hatter also views Alice as interesting and amusing after the appearance of Snow White, even using his desire to root for them as one of the reasons why he decided to join Alice's side.

### Snow White

As noted by Snow White, due to his knowledgable nature and friendliness, Snow White seems to feel a sense of security when she's around the Mad Hatter, describing him as almost fatherly (as a reference to her own father) The Mad Hatter, on the other hand, calls Snow White 'the little girl' and is often amused by her acts of kindness towards himself and towards others (most notably, Alice. Probably because it stirs up his crush on her, and Alice's actions become amusing to the Mad Hatter whenever that happens)

Although the Mad Hatter is characterized as somebody who likes toying around with others, he does seem to care for Snow White, and has a certain sense of morals. This is especially shown in chapter 19, where he got shot while protecting Snow White. Though this might not be the case, since it is likely that what was shot was a fake body and the Mad Hatter was left completely unharmed.

## Trivia

* The Mad Hatter's original counterpart is The Mad Hatter from Alice in Mirrorland
* For all of his friendliness, the Mad Hatter is still a bonafide genius, being able to come up with plans and invent unorthodox machines and such.