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Alice On Deadlines Vol. 1 by Shiro Ihara
01/05/2008 . Source: Joules Taylor 
pub: Yen Press/Orbit Books. 192 page graphic novel. Price: £ 5.99 (UK), $10.99, $12.75 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7595-2351-7. Buy Alice On Deadlines in the USA - or Buy Alice On Deadlines in the UK  check out website: www.orbitbooks.net and www.yenpress.co.uk
There's a Japanese colloquialism, well known amongst anime and manga fans, that applies here. That term is 'ecchi'. It is the panty-thief. The voyeur who lurks on breezy street corners hoping for an updraft of wind to lift a schoolgirl's skirt above her waist. It's after midnight Carry On films and Page 3. It's lewd and naughty and sexy and salacious but oddly innocent for all that. It involves groping, but no actual sex. Misunderstandings and double entendres but no real violence.
'Alice On Deadlines' defines the word ecchi. Alice is a student at a Catholic school and as such wears the school's fairly all-enveloping uniform, a red dress with a long skirt, long sleeves, high neck, all edged with white lace and over that, the girls wear a black corset which cinches the waist in tightly and pushes up their breasts which, in accordance with ecchi mores, are far too big for their innocent young bodies. Under the dress they all wear another standard ecchi icon, stockings, some like Alice's, held up by garters, some by lacy suspender belts. It goes without saying they all have the usual big, sparkling manga eyes, cute faces and flowing hair. Of course, they're all ripe little virgins, sheltered from the world, unaware of their allure...
On the other side (pun intended), there are the shinigami, literally, 'gods of death', although we'd call them Reapers here in the west. They are sent to collect souls who refuse to move on after the body's death. This isn't an uncommon theme of manga/anime. One of the most notable series' of the genre is 'Yami no Matsuei' ('Descendants Of Darkness'). But the shinigami in 'Alice On Deadlines' are...a little unusual...
Take the main protagonist, Lapan. He is, quite simply, a letch of the highest order. When we first meet him he's reading a dirty magazine instead of working. He's lazy, pretty much incompetent and has caused havoc on his missions in the past. This last is why, on his latest assignment to collect the soul of an evil shibito, an undead entity, he is ordered to assume the form of a skeleton so as to curtail his habit of 'playing around' as his boss puts it. The skeleton is already in place and just waiting for him to assume possession of it...
Unfortunately, he overshoots and ends up in Alice's body, while the poor girl's spirit is transferred into the skeleton. Now, being in a female body doesn't bother Lapan. Its happened before and he rather likes Alice's F-cup breasts. It also makes it easier for him to approach women he fancies - all of them, which of course opens up the plot for a little lesbian action. But Alice is, quite naturally, not at all happy to be inhabiting the skeleton, especially when the shibito, who's taken on the form of a priest at the school, eats Lapan's work order and passage papers which means he won't be able to resume his true body and hence allow Alice to get back into hers for a whole year.
That's just the first story in the book. I'm not going into details about how Lapan-Alice tries to chat up a boy real-Alice has a crush on or how Ume..third eldest son of the shinigami organisation's CEO (I think). is in love with Lapan and determined to get him back as soon as possible by any means possible. If anyone has read Fake, he's a JJ Adams clone, with the same stalkerish attitude. He also has two bodyguards who bear a suspiciously close resemblance to the Matrix Twins but with completely reversed temperaments, which had me chuckling aloud. Of course, there's Lapan's never-ending pursuit of the pretty girls surrounding him and skeleton-Alice continual attempts to keep him under control.
I have to admit up to now ecchi hasn't exactly been a favourite genre of mine, but this manga is an awful lot of fun. It's extremely humorous in places and occasionally horrific. Lapan is, after all, a shinigami, and has to work while trapped on Earth and memorable if slightly manic characters. It's also full of ecchi-characteristic semi-nudity, underwear and up-skirt shots, of course. Absolutely NOT recommended for anyone under 16 (it has that Older Teens rating for a very good reason) or for anyone not on at least nodding terms with the manga phenomenon as a whole. This is not a book for newcomers. But for otaku who haven't tried manga comedy or ecchi before, this is certainly worth a look.
Me? I'm quite looking forward to the next volume. Lapan and Ume both in female bodies with Alice's ambulatory skeleton trying to preserve her body's innocence? Could be highly amusing!
Joules Taylor
http://heartsown.biz/
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