Alice in Cyberland, the Sequel

In my blog post on the original Alice in Cyberland, more than three years ago, I commented on the mystery of the missing second episode. The laserdisc release included a preview for a second episode. It even included a release date. But the second episode never appeared on home media. What happened?

In a lengthy comment in early 2019, Jam provided links to several Japanese web sites by Konaka Chiaki, the author of the Alice in Cyberland game scripts. Konaka said that both episodes aired on TV, but the second episode looked so bad that it wasn't released on home media. Then in late 2021, jta5768 pointed out that the TV broadcast had been captured and posted on YouTube. He added, "It would be cool to see the second episode subbed!" That's all it took.

Alice in Cyberland episode 2 picks up where episode 1 ended. High school students Alice (the pink-haired one), Julie (the orange-haired one), and Rena (the green-haired one) are still "diving in" to Cyberland to ward off bad guys and play hooky from school. On one of these visits, Julie encounters a young boy named Charlie and is sort of smitten; she wants to know more about him. (On the Internet, no one knows you're a shota.) Meanwhile, Alice puzzles over a powerful piece of software that appears as a sword; she tries to trace its creator. Rena just hangs around, not doing much of anything.

Alice finds that the sword was created by an ingenious but lazy programmer, Bill Atkin, who wants nothing more than to relax in his own virtual world as a sea turtle. Atkin has created a generalized anti-malware weapon that can wipe out any self-replicating program. This becomes relevant when the gang traces Charlies origin to the Hellgate Inc, the all-powerful software company. The CEO, Henri Hellgate, created Charlie, a self-replicating AI. If Charlie reaches maturity, he will clone himself indefinitely and destroy Cyberland. This poses a dilemma for the girls, particularly Julie, who wants to save Cyberland but also wants to save Charlie.

As you can see, the plot is slight. In addition, the second episode is marred by poor animation: in many sequences, the mouths don't even move. It's not surprising this episode didn't make it to home media. Further, many of the signs are in Engrish: Charlie appears as Charie on Julie's wrist display; he announces his presence with the mail message "I has arrived"; and Julie, for that matter, appears as Juri in the eyecatch. Still, those sorts of problems didn't stop the creators of Twinkle Nora Rock Me, now, did it?

Through its game roots, Alice in Cyberland shares some DNA (same author) with the far more famous Serial Experiments Lain. In one place in episode 2, Hellgate explains that Charlie can metaphorize completely. The term is used in Serial Experiments Lain, with the same meaning: to project a digital incarnation of oneself into cyberspace (or as it is known in Lain, the Wired).

The principal seiyuu in this episode are:

• Asada Yoko (Alice) has an extensive resume in both regular and hentai anime. She played the title role in two of the Angelique series and one of the leads in Refrain Blue. She also appeared in Doukyuusei 2 Special: Sotsugyousei and D4 Princess, both Orphan releases.
• Araki Kae (Rena) played lead roles in all the Sailor Moon properties, Yuki Miaka in the Fushigi Yuugi franchise, and Ann, the female lead, in Juliet. She also played Marceau, Yawara's unexpected challenger, in Yawara! The Atlanta Special.
• Miyamura Yuuko (Julie) played the title roles in NieA Under 7 and Akane's High Kick. She also had lead roles in Starship Girl Yamamato Yohko and Those Who Hunt Elves, and she has an ongoing role in the Detective Conan franchise.
• Ogata Megumi (Charlie) played Sailor Uranus in the Sailor Moon franchise, Kurama in Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Akito in Kodomo no Omocha,Shini in Evangelion, Yuugi in the first Yuugi-ou series, Kyuu in Detective Academy Q, Valkyrie in the UFO Pricess Valkyrie series, Itona in the Assassination Classroom series, and Makoto in Danganronpa. She also played Julianna in Megami Paradise, an Orphan release.
• Ishii Kouji (Henri Hellgate) played Fujisawa in the El Hazard franchise, Taiga in the GaoGaiGar franchise, Mitsukake in the Fushigi Yuugi franchise, John Blade in Sin: The Movie, Tanaka in Kachou Ouji: Hard Rock Save the Space, and Garterbelt in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. He also appeared as Hyman in Fire Emblem, an Orphan release.
• Nagasako Takashi (Bill Atkin) played King Enma in the Hoozuki no Reitetsu properties.

The director, Yokota Kazuyohoshi, directed several long series for children, as well as the Maetel Legend OVAs.

Moho Kareshi translated the episode. convexity translation checked. Yogicat timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. Skr captured the web stream, and Eternal_Blizzard edited out episode 1 to create a "virtual" episode 2, as it might have appeared on a home video release - OP, episode, ED. I didn't see the point of redoing episode 1 on an inferior source.

So here is Alice in Cyberland's "lost" second episode. It's mediocre, but so was the first episode: neither compelling nor a candidate for WAOOT (Worst Anime Of All Time). You can get the release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Late breaking news: I chose the wrong "cut point" for the start of episode 2, and about a minute of material from episode 1 is included. (This is what I get for not being willing to watch episode 1 again.) You can get a patch to fix that from here; it uses ordered chapters to remove the redundant material, the sponsor screens, and the eyecatch, none of which would have been included in a home video release.