who is the monster, you or me?

A fanlisting is a group of people who like something; ie a group of people who like Wolves. All a fanlisting is is a list of fans to do with that particular person, item, or object; it joins together people with similar interests.

         alice 19th

Alice 19th (also known as Arisu 19th, the Japanese pronunciation of Alice), is a seven volume manga series by Yuu Watase. The manga is mainly shoujo, focusing in on relationships, but also follows themes of various parts of the human psyche, and the power of words in general. Even though it's more catagorised as being a drama and romance, there are, to me, definately elements of the 'mahou shoujo' genre with characters transforming, but it's more mature. The subject as a whole is completely intended for older readers, but it definately has reminents of all those younger girls in sparkly costumes.

The story begins by following Alice (hence the title), a first year freshman. Alice feels overshadowed by her older sister, Mayura, and believes herself to never have the courage to confess to her senpai, Kyou, that she likes him. On the way to school that morning she spots a rabbit sat in the middle of a road, about to be run over - Alice acts after hearing all the negative energy of the people around her, running out into the road and only being saved from being knocked down herself by, who else, but Kyou. Events eventually transpire to reveal that this rabbit, Nyozeka, is searching for a master of the Lotis Words. She recognises Rangu in Alice, the nineteenth lotis word meaning courage (again, the title). The journey thus begins for Alice, and, to most people's surprise, Kyou, as she first rejects the Lotis but then must learn to use it properly as she accidently banishes her sister into the darkness by all the pent up negativity in her heart being unleashed. It's a race against time for Kyou and Alice to master the Lotis, and, save Mayura and, save the world from being taken over by the dark Maram Words...

         seno mayura

Is Alice's older sister. Alice always feels overshadowed by the excellence and brilliance that Mayura radiates - she's strong, stands up for herself, and it's clear she's going to get the guy. Under that, though, she's always caring for Alice - constantly. Events build up to Alice saying she hates Mayura aloud, and, as a Lotis Master, this throws her into the darkness. With one last counsel, Mayura goes to Kyou, but he refuses to commit to her wishes - and when Alice turns up, Mayura finally fades into the dark, away from them, and being taken away by the Maram words.

She ultimately gets taken by Darva, the leader of the Maram, probably due to her status as being Alice's sibling. The avatar of Darva is eventually the sacrifice to bring it back into the human world - whilst Mayura plays around trying to destroy Alice and Kyou, this is really fulfilling Darva's will, and she is slowly corrupting herself in the process.

By the end of the series, Mayura is saved and brought back by her sister and best friend; we see her in the final pages looking pleased at Alice and Kyou finally being able to be together, and walking off into the distance of her new life.

         why

I love Alice, but at the same time, I love Mayura. She's one of the few 'antagonists' that I like to any extent at all; she's probably the only one that I really love and appreciate; because, Mayura's not evil. She's not; personally, she is just misunderstood. She reacts to her sister taking her boyfriend quite harshly, but you can understand it. You can also really understood why she does what she does - there's a lot of unspoken doubt and sadness towards Alice from Mayura herself. For one thing, each time Alice tries to talk to her, Mayura always briefly comes back, before the Maram pulls her back in to tighter clutches. And let's not forget who threw her into the darkness in the first place - Alice. So Mayura has never been evil.

I think sadness also has a role to play. She holds the grudge of being thrown into the darkness at the same time as losing her boyfriend. She did everything for Alice and Alice just says she hates her. Kyou rejects her for that person who said hated her. Her two most important people turning against her; it's not too much of a wonder how she changes.

In some ways, I think Mayura actually matures the most out of all the characters, and has the most soul-searching adventure. It takes her a while, and a lost of persuasion, but she comes to realise and rights her wrongs - forgiving Alice and Kyou in the process and returning home. That's, ultimately, why I love her; she's human enough to change, human enough to hate, human enough to realise her mistakes.