Hello all, this is tickles.
After much literary struggle, the second volume of my shounen series has been completed. Although I didn’t expect Alice’s story to take this long, it just all added up to a lot… except there wasn’t much exploration of the world outside of Livia’s vicinity, but perhaps some of you will recognize certain parallels with certain situations in the real world. I think I made it obvious enough, but, I also deliberately didn’t match those parallels to a tee. Maybe there’ll be a chance to explore some more of the world at a later time when I’m not just exploring the characters.
The Jupiter sisters took a surprisingly extensive amount of screen time in this story. Well, only the twins. Somehow, they’ve become a bit too central to the show, usurping the Elites who have more of a sidekick role like Eon and Caius. To be fair, they are sidekicks. Interspersing focuses on different characters did develop the relationships, so despite a supposedly Alice-focused volume, a lot of the Alice-related characters got their turn in the sun to push the story forward. Each of them will definitely get their own main spotlights in later novels, so please look forward to that.
For Alice, she falls in the typical born-into-privilege-but-hates-their-responsibilities archetype. To be very honest, this archetype’s been used over and over, but the struggle to overcome societal barriers is always an appealing idea, which is why good (making a normative statement here) archetypes are defined by its literary persistence. The archetype is there, but how it’s used and portrayed is what makes the character refreshing and stand out. Alice’s conflict vs. society is one that’s on a certain level shared with Kato’s too, which made them quick to understand each other. Nothing like a heart-to-heart comradeship to cement their relationship.
As for her individual character, her abrasive nature is one I really enjoy portraying. Through the dense shrubbery with prickly thorns, there’s a cute flower in the middle of a small clearing that is her kindness. She’s really not out to be evil, she’s just a bit confrontational (hehe). I knew from the start that this was the kind of character for Alice; a rude girl to contrast to someone of her stature, but it wasn’t until I remembered somebody I knew who also had this character to her, that I finally understood how to execute on this portrayal. I particularly enjoyed making her hesitate and muddle around the same things over and over despite appearing to be a very strong-willed woman, which gave her character a sense of realism instead of being subject to an instant fix found in a fantasy world; she was strong-willed, but just not in the areas she needed to be.
The pendant was the first part of her character that was laid down, and that idea came to me in a dream. In it, she waited for a miracle atop an electrical pylon in the middle of a thunderstorm, in a Frankenstein-esque scene. That miracle, of course, is related to her former significant other from her childhood. In chasing after this miracle, she had to put her family duties to the side, until the day that miracle was truly out of her grasp. Then Alice returned to earth from her dreamlike flight and had to once again deal with her family, namely arranging a marriage with Gilbert.
Her relationship with Gilbert isn’t one that’s too difficult to understand. It’s a result of an unfortunate set of circumstances for Alice, and of course it’s an archetypal situation that’s been portrayed many times over. I’m actually on the fence on how Gilbert’s character should develop and progress further into the future, and as a result I thought his character was somewhat weak. Despite that, he’s already a lot better than who he was originally a long time ago, which was a character that heel turns from Kato’s enemy into friend, something that wasn’t too realistic the more thought you put into it. The many nuanced details of their showdown guaranteed the death of that path.
This is also the first standard novel-length piece I’ve finished. In contrast to the first volume, which was akin to a pilot project more than anything, this one should be closer to what you would find in print at a bookstore. Proud? Of sorts. It is a passion project, after all. I’ll see you next time.