Alice Kuonji (久遠寺 有珠, Kuonji Arisu?) is one of the main characters of Mahou Tsukai no Yoru.
Profile
Background
Alice's family is not of a magus lineage, and only became one through the blood of magi running in Alice's mother. The elder son of the Kuonji tycoons met and fell in love with a witch while studying abroad. He loved her, and while she accepted that love with some confusion, she was also afraid at the same time. No matter how blessed their wedding may be, the daughter to be born will be a witch. Just as she herself was one, the child of a witch will bear the destiny of inheriting the blood and history of their line without any exceptions.
It is said that a witch must not fall in love with the male that becomes the father of her child because the more they love each other, the sadder the conclusion. While still knowing and accepting this, the Kuonji boy married her and returned to Japan to build a happy family. After Alice was born, her mother died, as if she had fulfilled her duty. Her father, while suffering from the criticism of those around him, deeply loved his daughter and several years later, passed away. All alone, Alice only kept the mansion her parents lived in and chose to live the same path as her mother did. She has been acquainted with the Aozaki family since her mother became a naturalized citizen of Japan. She has been associated with Touko for no less than ten years, and she has only been living together with Aoko for just one year.
Appearance
Personality
While she appears to be a "modern magus" like Aoko at a glance, she is actually the opposite. She is fixated on the one memento of her family, she sees the way of living of a magus as absolute, and everyday life is only being continued because witches "hide their identities to practice sorcery". Solitary, restrained, and stubbornly protective of her pride, she is a girl left behind by time. She is not rich in emotion, but she is surprisingly psychologically unstable and self-abusive. She will fulfill her role as a magus dwelling in town by repelling any external threats together with Aoko, but she normally locks herself up in the Kuonji vacation home, a memento of her father, and rarely goes outside.
She fundamentally doesn't like others, and doesn't maintain contact with anyone besides Aoko. She developed a friendship with Aoko due to her duty rather than personal initiative, but before they knew it, Aoko became Alice's one friend. She is both a teacher and partner to Aoko, and Alice views her in the same manner as well. While Aoko is a friend, Touko is somebody able to understand her. Despite being friendly with both, she doesn't appear willing to stop them from killing each other. She has confusing feelings towards Soujuurou Shizuki.
Role
Mahou Tsukai no Yoru
Mahou Tsukai no Yoru is the story of a princess that locked herself in a castle. It is a tale of three people living together. She has completely ignored the third person that tumbled into her mansion, Soujuurou, and attempted to get him to leave as soon as possible. While Aoko and Soujuurou attend an average high school, Alice goes to a wealthy all-girls school.
Abilities
Alice is a magus in hiding in the present that can be called a witch and lady of eternity. She was bound to be a witch before she was born, so she is already a perfected magus by the age of sixteen. While Aoko ages over time, Alice cannot. She is enlightened both in human matters and in capability, and hence the strongest of the characters appearing, but this also makes her the frailest of them. She is a mage who uses spells from story books, while turning wonderlands into reality, she is an existence that gradually disappears as the world modernizes.
Ploys
She is a wonderland type of witch specializing in the type of witchcraft and medicines found in fairy tales. She uses various familiars kneaded from fantasy, Ploys (プロイ, Puroi?). Ploys are not from the Age of Gods, so they cannot be assigned a number/rank in Regression to the Age of Gods.[1] While she boasts that "My Ploys number 108" with her usual vanity, she only has thirty in reality. She has inherited about twenty Familiars from her ancestors, and created about ten herself.[2] They're impossible from their premise, so they don't reconcile well with normal physical laws following the very natural reason of fantasy and reality not being able to coexist. While magi living in the present are no match on their own for modern weapons because the evolution of weaponry has gone ahead of them due to the various wars, her familiars are monsters that disregard however technology advances. Modern weapons have terrible chemistry with them, so things like automatic pistols won't affect them, likely because they don't understand them, and even rockets won't be able to damage them.
They are unable to communicate with each other, and there's no sharing of order. Whatever doesn't exist in their world of fairy tales and what they don't understand will evaporate without touching them. It is like they're in a conceptual space or conceptual universe, so only magic energy with the same Mystery will work on them. Beyond that protection, they also have a special rule of "tradition protection" that renders simply strong power, strong magic, having little effect. They are unable to be defeated unless their weak point in the fairy tale they were based on is attacked.
Flat Snark
One of her most powerful Ploys is the Flat Snark: Moon's Fat (月の油, Tsuki no Abura?), a powerful being called a Crown Phantasm: Supreme Illusion (至高の幻想, Shikō no Gensō?) created from the abdominal fat of a nomadic god. It is a secret art that can be called a treasure of the magic world that would be a priceless super-rare good if put on sale at the Association in London. It is capable of bringing objects from fantasy and fairy-tale to life. After Aoko destroys it without a trace, it will never appear again.[3]
Six Singing Chocolates
Six Singing Chocolates
The Song of the 6 Pences, Jack in the Box: Six Singing Chocolates (シックス・スィング・チョコレイト, Shikkusu Swingu Chokoreito?) is a storage box that stores twenty-four feathered familiars in the form of chocolates, made using chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, and love. They form a network of birds that monitor Misaki, searching out people about to commit acts of infidelity. The chocolates are infused with magical energy, so they can be melted into wounds as a form of first aid.
Despite being Ploy Kickshaw, they are only at the level of normal familiars, and they have no combat ability. Even a gun is enough to destroy them, and around ten fly into telephone poles and fall to their deaths daily. Should the box be shut, all currently operating birds will immediately turn back into chocolates.[4]
Development
Creation and Conception
Early illustrations of Alice in the unpublished version of the novel
Takashi Takeuchi was the character designer for Alice. Kinoko Nasu says fairy tale magic types doesn't fit in well in the TYPE-MOON lore. Nasu wasn't content with that, so he left an exception with Alice. So as a character she has a special place outside TYPE-MOON's rule of magecraft from the very beginning.[5]
Reception
- In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Alice was ranked 10th and the seventh most voted female character.
References
- ↑
[] TYPE-MOON Fes. Official Pamphlet 10th Anniversary Q & A Booklet:
Q: What do the Quality/Quantity/Composition of Regression to the Age of Gods mean in Beowulf's profile? Do Ploys, Arcueid, and Heroic Spirits have such designations? And what would their number be?
Q: What do the Quality/Quantity/Composition of Regression to the Age of Gods mean in Beowulf's profile? Do Ploys, Arcueid, and Heroic Spirits have such designations? And what would their number be?
A: Regression to the Age of Gods represents the extend at which they are capable of reproducing the Mysteries that existed on Earth before True Magic. Consider it to be like that, their own style of Magical Circuits. Quality represents "how distant from what humans are capable of" their pure Mysteries are. Quantity represents power. The higher the quantity, the greater the degree of influence over the surrounding environment. Since Beowulf only has a quantity of C, he can only display his power to an individual, or over a village.
Composition represents the era of the "Mystery". In terms of magecraft, it would be like Rune, Kabbalah, Black Magic and such.
Ploys are not of Age of Gods, so they cannot be assigned a number in Regression to the Age of Gods.
For Arcueid... Princess Arcueid should qualify. "Quality: B Quantity: A++ Composition: Before Common Era, pseudo-deified natural phenomenon"Ｑ：べオのプロフィールにあった神代回帰の質／量／編成とは何ですか？プロイやアルクや英霊にも同じものがあるのでしょうか？だとしたらその数値は？
Ａ：神代回帰は、彼らが魔法以前の地球にあった神秘をどれだけ再現出来るか、といった基準と思ってください。彼ら風の魔術回路ですね。質は高ければ高いほど”人の手に離れた”混じりけのない神秘となり、量はその出力。量が高いほど周囲への影響は大きくなります。量がCのべオは個人や村ぐらいしかその権能を誇示できません。
編成はどのくらいの年代の神秘を為せるか、というもの。魔術でいうならカバラや黒魔術か......という種別です。
プロイは神代のものではないので「神代回帰」の測定は当てはまりません。
アルクは......姫アルク状態ならアリ。「質:B 量:A++ 編成:西暦以前までの、擬神化される自然現象」といったところ。 - ↑
[] TYPE-MOON Fes. Official Pamphlet 10th Anniversary Q & A Booklet:
Q: How many Ploys (Fairy Tale Familiars) does Alice Kuonji have?
Q: How many Ploys (Fairy Tale Familiars) does Alice Kuonji have?
A: The line "My Ploys number 108" reflects the vanity that Alice often displays.
She inherited about 20 from her ancestors, and created about 10 herself.Ｑ：有珠のプロイってどのくらいあるんですか？
Ａ：「私のプロイキッジャーは１０８個まであるわ」
……というのはあ有珠にありがちな見栄っ張りとして、先代たちから受け継いだのは二十個ほど。あとは有珠が 作るものが十個ほど。 - ↑ Mahou Tsukai no Yoru - The Flat Snark will never appear again. That super-rare good that would be priceless if you put it on sale at the Association in London, that secret art which is said to be a treasure of the magic world, Aoko destroyed it without a trace.
- ↑
Mahou Tsukai no Yoru - All About Ploy: Six Singing Chocolates 
- ↑ 4Gamer Interview with Mahoutsukai no Yoru Staff
| Main characters: Aoko Aozaki • Alice Kuonji • Soujuurou Shizuki Secondary characters: Touko Aozaki • Lugh Beowulf • Tobimaru Tsukiji • Kojika Kumari • Housuke Kinomi • Yuika Suse • Ritsuka Suse • Eiri Fumizuka • Kazuki Yamashiro • Yurihiko Tokitsu • May Riddell Archelot |