Shiro to Kuro no Alice 白と黒のアリス – Prologue [White & Black World] + Final Thoughts

This game has two heroines with two different sides of the Black Route and the White Route.

White Route – Airi, a normal high school girl, encounters a man known as a black rabbit, Rain. Suddenly, he takes her into a world called the Black World and told she must become queen of this said world.

Black Route – A sudden coup d’état takes place in the black world where, Luna, rules as the queen. Her two aides, Rain and Snow, decide to take her to the White world while a new queen is taken to the Black World.

—
White world
—

Chapter 1
—

A ordinary 16 year old girl named Airi wakes up in her classroom after having a strange dream about a girl that looked like her. Her friends Miu and Azuna ask her if she’s okay since she seems out of it. Her friend Miu likes to tell fortunes and does so for Airi, telling her to be careful since it seems her life will “change”. Apparently there’s a murderer who targets young girls on the loose so all the more concern from her friends. Anyway, after school the girls all go shopping together and Airi spots an unfamilar guy wearing their uniform. But he just casually walks away after saying nothing. After that, the girls head home and she feels like someone is watching her. When she approaches the guy who is, he’s a white haired man. Her friends apologize on her behalf but Airi can’t help her incongruity.

Chapter 2
—

A few days later Airi still feels a strange incongruity of being watched. She spots the black haired man again and feels like he’s watching her. She tries to disregard it though and believes she feels uneasy because she’s tired. One day after school, its starts raining and as she’s about to head home she spots the black haired man again. He stands in the rain without an umbrella and tells him his name is Rain and he’s come for her. Airi tries to run away and ends in up in a closet where Rain was headed to anyway.

He leads her inside a mirror where they’re taken to another world. Rain explains her world is the ‘white world’ while the one she’s taken to is the ‘black world’. He tells her she’s to become the queen of the black world and she is completely confused. She asks what the hell is talking about. Meanwhile, while they are seemingly being chased, Airi tries to get of the situation but Rain knocks her out.

Chapter 3
—

Airi wakes up in a luxurious bed and a guy named Nello greets her. He’s the March Hare and the one who got her new “Alice” clothes. Airi tries to ask him how to get out but then Rain appears. He explains to her that the role of Queen was given to her because she is originally born into that world but was sent to the White world where she grew up. And since their previous Queen was banished, she was the only one with Royal blood to take the throne. Just as Nello is about to leave, Airi dashes out the door. She runs out of thr castle, trying to find a way back to her world. She encounters the Cheshire cat, Minette, on her way. She asks him where the way out is and he pojnts her in a direction, calling her ‘Alice’, their new queen.

Airi trusts him and runs into the forest, meeting a sleepy mouse who suggests going into the mirror in the castle. So Airi goes back to the castle and encounters Rain again. He finally explains that their previous Queen was banished due to an unjust decision she made and their gardener being killed. This made the citizens revolt against her and want a coup d’état. Apparently Airi has ‘Alice’ in her blood which gives her the power to rule their country. Its in a state of chaos because there’s no queen.

So the next morning Airi gets an invite to a tea party from Nello. Minette joins as well as Rain escorts her to a table full of sweets and tea. Apparently Rain was the one who suggested it since he wanted to cheer up Airi. They enjoy their tea party until dark and they suggest having another sometime. Rain tells them its almost time for when Airi will be officially shown to the public as their new Queen.

Chapter 4
—

Airi is taken to the court room by Rain who tells her she must make a judgement as the new Queen. Someone painted over a white wall with black paint. People start yelling out for the person to be given the death penalty. Rain tells Airi to issue a judgement for the man. Obviously not finding his crime serious, she tells him he’s not guilty and to clean up the paint. After that, she tells Rain she’s not suited for becoming a Queen and that they should get their old queen back. She finds out the previous Queen is her twin sister and is now banished into the white world for a crime she’s not guilty for. Airi in a rage says she’s going to go look for her so tries to leave and find the mirror where she originally came into the world from. When she finds the room, two bears named Dam and Dee prevent her from entering the mirror. And so, Rain literally carries her back to her room and tells her there’s no way she’ll be able to go back to her world.

Rain | Minette | Nello

—
Black world
—

Chapter 1
—

Luna the queen of the black world, wakes up in court after day dreaming. A gardener who cut the roses off the hedges is being judged in the courtroom. When asked for a ruling, Luna instinctively says the death penalty. Although she changes it to him being imprisoned, the citizens get riled up over her judgements. This makes Rain and Snow realize her power is starting to have affect on her judgements. That same night, the gardener escapes his prison by the help of someone, but that someone ends up murdering him.

After this, the town has gathered to start a coup and kill the Queen thinking she was the one who murdered the gardener. After realizing she can’t stop it, Snow takes her to a room with a mirror. He explains its the entrance to the white world, a world completely different from the black one. Luna asks why she’d need to go there and he tells her that her “Alice” aka her power is going out of control, which she had previously noticed. So he takes her to the mirror and they both go to the white world together.

Chapter 2
—

When they make it to the other side, Snow tells her she’ll be fine here to supress her power since there’s no concept of magic in the white world. He tells her she can stay until order is regained in the black world. So she goes outside of the closet and sees three people there. They all recognize her and call her “Luna” asking her if she’s wearing cosplay lol. Snow tells her its the affect of her “Alice” that makes them believe she’s someone else they know.

Snow shows her to her new room which she immediately tells him she doesn’t like. He remodels it to suit her tastes (all red colors) and tells her that this is where she’ll stay from now on. When the sunset comes, Luna is surprised since the black world never had a sunset, making her realize she really is in a different world. Although, Snow hasn’t told her, his true intention is to keep her in this world and have her adapt to it forever.

Chapter 3
—

Luna wakes up and Snow prepares uniforms for both him and her to take classes. When they go to the cafeteria for food, they encounter Kanon there. Snow introduces Kanon to Luna as someone from the same world as her who will also be looking out for her in this world. He also slips in they’ll be classmates which doesn’t sit well with Kanon since Snow never told him he’ll be taking classes. So after class, Miu and Nazuna ask if Luna want to go shopping, which she declines since she doesn’t want to get used to the customs of their world. Kanon says he hates the sweets this world has so Snow suggests a macaroon shop near the school which Kanon reluctantly agrees to. Luna declines yet again though and Kanon calls her obstinate lol.

As Luna walks down the corridor, she spots a man watching her from a distance. Snow appears introducing him as Jack, the captain of the trump troops. Although, good with a sword, he’s very shy and timid. Luna tries to ask him about what happened in the black world but Snow calls his name, silencing him. Suddenly, Minette appears and introduces himself to Luna as well as Nello who all came just to visit. After class, Luna talks with Nazuna and Miu. Snow notices that Luna looks down, so he invites her to a tea party with him, Jack, and Kanon on the roof of the school. On the day of the tea party, every sweet has stawberries, which is Luna’s favorite food. Kanon complains about it but Luna is all “well if you won’t eat it I will!” 😂

Chapter 4
—

Luna wakes up and overhears Rain and Snow talking about the circumstances in the black world. Finally, Snow explains that Luna’s twin sister named Airi is now claiming the throne. Luna begs to go back but they tell her she can’t return until her power subsides. This brings Luna to the question “who murdered the gardener?” and as she starts suspecting Rain, she follows after him as he leaves. She makes it to the room where the mirror is and the two bear guards Dee and Dum block the way. Snow tells her that her mother was born in the white world and came to the black world while following rabbits. He explains the tragedy of twins and how they are always separated to different worlds and switch places when the queen in the black world goes out of control due to their “Alice”. This causes Luna to finally accept it since her mother was a resident of the same world.

Snow | Jack | Kanon

—
Tea Party (unlocks after you do all routes, I guess its post Rain/Snow’s route???)
—

Airi and just finished their coronation ceremony with both worlds finally stabilized. They start talking about how they miss their friends Nazuna and Miu. Rain and Snow explain how they can’t visit the white world though since they’d both need to be there for the black world to be stabilized. So, they conduct an idea privately from Luna and Airi. Meanwhile, Luna and Airi are piled on with work as queens and don’t get a lot of time to spare. They notice everyone acting strange and decide to confront Rain and Snow about it. Rain and Snow then reveal to them that they planned a tea party in the white world cafeteria and invited their friends Nazuna, Miu, and Ryohei. In additon, everyone took part in the party with Kanon making clothes for them, Jack making a cake, and Minette making a medicine that makes two copies of Luna and Airi so they can visit the white world. Rain and Snow also take care of Luna and Airi’s work so they can chill and Kanon shows them their clothes made for the party. ((I WANTED TO SEE THE TEA PARTY?? Why no scene of it??? 😭))

Final Thoughts:  This is coming from someone who doesn’t really like the overused concept of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ but I actually found this game to be quite enjoyable. If you think the whole biting aspect is for pure fanservice, it’s really just the plot. Also, Luna gets to bite into some of the guys so its not just the guy sucking the girl’s blood. I think what really saved it for me though is Luna. I don’t hate Airi, I think she has quirks some heroines really could use to differentiate them from others but… she annoyed me in certain was and ESPECIALLY in Nello’s route I don’t even want to go there. It didn’t help that my least favorite routes were the white routes. Which sucks cause it made my overall experience of the white routes not so great after Rain. I thought he’d end up being my favorite but…….. then I played Kanon’s route huhuhu…. Rain’s route unfortunately felt unfinished in comparison to Snow’s. I almost felt like he wasn’t given enough content and got shafted. Minette’s route was just so disconnected from the plot, I just wasn’t interested. Kanon, Jack, and Snow all had great routes plot-wise I think they’d win. I really liked Rain’s character but the plot was… meh.

Story – I wasn’t ASTOUNDED by the plot but it was certainly more interesting for that overused ‘Alice in Wonderland’ trope. My biggest complaint is that some things were scattered and the conclusions for certain things were too vague. Minette’s route for one didn’t really connect with the plot at all. And the ‘true route’ would most likely be Rain/Snow with Snow’s route revealing more than others. I definitely think the story could’ve been revised in a better way for a better conclusion but… it wasn’t all bad. If you like ‘Alice in Wonderland’, it’s definitely the same vibe and setting. It was interesting they had two different endings dependent on which world you choose to end up in. Although, one annoying thing this game did was randomly make something up for the purpose of saving a said character’s outcome (mainly for cheap ways out to a better outcome which I find unrealistic).

Characters – I think a lot of the characters are certainly memorable and fun but some were… not so much. Minette for example didn’t stand out to me much. His personality felt overused generic cutout and I didn’t really find his character all that appealing. I found the characters I liked the most being in the black routes. It really depends on what characters you find likable but I think for the most part the characters are, but it was just that some routes left more to be had. There surprisingly weren’t a whole lot of sub characters which I honestly didn’t mind. As for the heroines, it was interesting to have two of them, but Luna definitely has a more imprinting personality.

Visuals & System – I definitely think this game has their art going for them. There’s a lot of vibrant colors and sparkles used in the CGs and backgrounds. I loved the designs of the heroines too. I didn’t feel like there was much inconsistency with the art but sometimes I did feel like Luna looked a bit less like her sprite picture sometimes and a bit too innocent like Airi? But overall I think the CGs were very pretty. I was hoping for moving sprites but at least I did get heroine sprites which was nice. In addition, there was extra letters written by the guys to read which were cute but I do wish they were voiced.

Music – The background music didn’t really stand out to me much but it did give me an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ feeling. I really liked the insert song they used at the beginning. They only used it for that small sequence though… kinda strange. Aside from that the OP and END is pretty catchy. I kept letting the ending play whenever I’d finish a route because I just liked the song lol.

Final Thoughts:  I played this game with no expectations for what was to come. I honestly got it on a whim (I was actually close to cancelling it) because I really wasn’t sure if I’d like it. In the end, I don’t regret buying it and I do wish I got some sort of limited edition. But that being said, the main thing I enjoyed about this game was Luna and her routes. I almost wished Luna was the sole heroine because I didn’t really enjoy Airi’s routes aside from Rain (mainly because I love kuudere personalities…). So what frustrated me the most is that the fantasy aspect that I liked in the black world, was where Airi had her routes and I didn’t enjoy them that much because of the characters or their lack of development (but it is clear that the two heroines tie in with the plot). But Luna’s routes, which were in the white world were actually more interesting because of how Luna acted and the personality of the black route characters. In addition, I think it would’ve been in this game’s favor if they gave Luna and Airi voices since when they both speak and they’re silent… it’s just kind of off from the player’s perspective. Seriously Otomate, these heroines should have been voiced. I would’ve LOVED to hear Luna say the certain things she’s said in this game haha. With Luna being such an Ojou it was fun to watch her reactions in the white world (esp when she’s afraid to enter a convenience store lmao). With Airi, she was mostly just being depressed, which I get to an extent but her personalty didn’t make for an interesting experience in some of those routes. Overall, I think what saved this game for me was Luna and her routes because unfortunately, Airi’s routes just weren’t as impacting nor as fun. It was also clear some route endings were rushed or uninspired because of the way they had to end some of them and having to give each route a White World end and a Black World end. So yeah, my overall feeling of this game is kind of a mixed bag. It’s like half of it was really great but then the other half had me tearing my hair out of either boredom or frustration. That being said, I do think it’s one of Otomate’s better titles this year. I certainly don’t think it was a flop and the concept is more interesting than a lot of the overused shit I’ve seen.  I don’t think neck biting or blood sucking will never not be a thing in Otomate’s eyes but at least there was some blood sucking action for the girl this time around. Even if it is an overused thing nowadays…