AZ

 AZ

Little Red Riding Hood (CV:Noto Mamiko) was eaten by the Bad Wolf, it is a story that everyone knows. In the same town that Little Red Riding Hood lived in lives a boy (CV: Hoshi Souichirou). He lost parents and older brother (CV: Ishida Akira) when he was still younger. A few years later, in order to find the truth about how this happened he travels into the forest at the edge of town. In his basket he carries blood red wine and a gun to shoot the bad wolf. But when he meets the wolf (CV: Hirata Hiroaki), he is different from how the stories portrayed him...



AZ is written by Ninomiya Ai (Are you Alice? Teidenmushi), and is a distorted version of Little Red Riding Hood or Akazukin in Japanese, which probably explains the title. I didn't think it could be darker than a story about Alice? trying to kill the white rabbit and discovering the warped relations between all of the characters and the first Alice, but this is definitely darker. Possibly because it doesn't have the humorous dialogue that the Alice series has, and definitely because of one specific theme.

AZ tell two intertwined stories, the one of little red riding hood and that of a boy that lives in the same town, and whose's parents have been killed by his older brother. Both stories follow the same pattern; there is a force at work that changed their story in history.

We all know the story of red riding hood; little girl goes into the forest and gets tricked and 'eaten' by the bad wolf. The most obvious interpretation of this is probably clear to anyone. Now we go and change a few things; Red Riding Hood kills her mother and the wolf is her father. Get the theme? It made me feel unwell at least.

Different but likewise for the boy. Throughout the story he likens himself with red riding hood and his brother with the wolf. Following the same pattern, it is not the wolf that killed anyone but red riding hood, meaning he himself killed his parents. How I love the memory loss plot device...



Ninomiya Ai delivers a dark and twisted fairytale with this. What still seems to be alright in the beginning becomes more and more warped near the end. I like the way both stories parallel each other, it makes certain realizations all the more chilling. This really makes me hope that she will re-write other fairy tales some day as well.

Oh and 'red wine' will probably look different to you for a while.