TAISHO x ALICE episode 1
DUALICE(TAISHO x ALICE episodeI) is a fairytale visual novel in which YOU must save your Prince Charming!
The game is fully voiced in Japanese (excluding the main character).
As you progress through the story, you will be asked to make choices at key points that will lead you to different endings. You will take on the role of the fairytale heroine in order to rehabilitate your chosen love interest and guide him to his “happily ever after”!
At the end of the prologue, you will choose your prince and enter the Looking-Glass World. Each love interest has his own standalone story set in an alternate universe where the relationships between the characters will vary.
*Episode 1 features two love interests: Cinderella and Red Riding Hood.
[STORY]
Once upon a time, in a topsy-turvy world…
In the beginning, you find yourself lost within a world of utter darkness. Your memories are gone; even your name is a mystery.
But just when the bitter loneliness threatens to break your spirit, you meet Alice—a blond-haired, blue-eyed young man who promptly christens you “Arisu.”
Like you, Alice cannot remember anything beyond his own name. Ignoring his protests, you drag him along with you through the darkness… until you happen upon a massive mirror made of crystal.
You stumble through the glass and into the Looking-Glass World, an antiquated fairytale dreamscape that feels oddly familiar…
There, amid a colorful cast of gender-swapped fairytale characters, you take on the role of the heroine and join them in their twisted tales.
How will the story end? It’s up to you!
ONCE UPON A TIME, your parents arrange a marriage between you and a man named Cinderella.
But there’s no way you’re marrying a guy you’ve never met! So you sneak over to his cafe to spy on him… only for him and his brothers to mistake you for a beggar and give you a job you didn’t even know you wanted!
From now on, you’ll live under the same roof as your potential future husband, all while he has no idea of your true identity. Will his love blossom before the clock strikes twelve?
ONCE UPON A TIME, you receive a threatening letter in the mail from someone identified only as “The Wolf.” Thankfully, Officer Red Riding Hood has come to your rescue! Except… he wants to keep you under 24-hour surveillance?!
It’s just the two of you, all alone in your mansion. But how can you romance Officer Handsome when he keeps you at arm’s length?
And who is “The Wolf,” anyway? You’ll need to work together to solve the case—and perhaps you’ll melt his frosty exterior along the way!
【VOICE】
CINDERELLA — Daisuke Hirakawa
RED RIDING HOOD — Tomoaki Maeno
KAGUYA — Toshiki Masuda
GRETEL — Takuya Eguchi
SNOW WHITE — Syouta Aoi
WIZARD — Wataru Hatano
ALICE — Yoshitugu Matsuoka
WOLF — Natsuki Hanae
HUNTSMAN — Tomohisa Hashizume
Game Discussion
Steam User 8
Overall, it’s a really great game, but there are a few things that bug me—mainly the heroine’s dialogue. I’m not sure why the localization team chose to sprinkle in random Japanese romaji like tasukete or sono toori mid-sentence. I understand it’s a Japanese game originally, but I personally prefer a full English translation without the unnecessary romaji. It just feels out of place and disrupts the flow.
Then there’s her obsession with finger guns. Once or twice would’ve been fine, even quirky. But when it’s repeated so many times, it starts to feel forced and a little annoying.
Maybe it’s just me—but as someone who isn’t overly upbeat, I sometimes feel like the heroine is overreacting in situations where a calmer response would make more sense. Her energy feels a bit too much at times, almost overbearing.
That being said, the game excels in many other areas. The background music is beautiful, and the storyline is compelling. I especially appreciate the auto-save feature at every choice point—it’s incredibly helpful for avoiding bad endings or for those trying to unlock all the routes. Just jump into the auto-save menu, and you’re good to go.
On a side note, Cinderella’s route has quite a few translation issues. Ironically, in sections where Japanese names should’ve been preserved—like when Alice gives names to Arisu—we instead get random English names like Jordan or Casey, instead of something more culturally appropriate like Nagisa or Makoto. Yet, in scenes where romaji isn’t needed at all, the translation unnecessarily throws it in.
As I mentioned before, I’m not a fan of the heroine’s personality. She often comes off as overly assertive and self-important. Personally, I prefer heroines who are more soft-spoken, adorably clueless, and modest.
Steam User 3
A refreshing FL, pretty art, amazing voice acting, pretty good en translation and interesting storyline that actually make me sympathetic for both of the ML here. I really like the way FL of this game respond to the characters, the way the interaction goes is actually really good.
I like the Red Riding Hood's route more eventho i dont quite like the decision that the FL made.
Steam User 4
Taisho x Alice is one of the best otome VNs I've ever played in my entire life ever because of the amazing story, characters, voice-acting, music, art-- everything. If you are interested to know what this game is about I'm afraid you won't get the answer immediately in the first two routes however, in the upcoming episodes the story gets much darker and you will uncover the truth about the whole story. I've reread this story at least 4 times now and my advice for new readers, you should keep in mind for some of the lines they said and I suggest getting the bad endings as well.
Steam User 1
Started playing this coz Alice reminds me of Scara from genshin hahah. So im pleasantly surprised that other love interests like Red, Snow White and Kaguya etc are interesting as well. I had quite a lot of fun especially in Red's route!
It is pretty long winded and wordy, some concepts feel quite outdated and stuff.
But overall, its packed with humour, love and filled with various emotions.
Our mc helps the love interests to tackle their different flaws or problems.
MC is more of a giver in this, she does joke around and stuff but she feels more like a caring mother towards the li which i find funny. She does have a more dominant personality but idk its a pretty typical asian mom kind of feel (she cooks alot, and cares for other constantly, kinda like Tohru from fruits basket but a more outgoing version).
Side characters are few and they arent exactly fleshed out but they are definitely loveable.
im a sucker for these fairytale twists and stuff, this game felt whimsical and beautiful from start to finish (definitely had silly moments and parts where i rolled my eyes but most otomes do)
Cinderella Route:
I found myself skipping mostly coz i felt points that were already talked about were being talked about again and again. Felt repetitive at times. Cinderella is a kinda nice guy i guess, i didnt really find myself liking him thatttt much, tho his backstory and all that make me understand him a bit more. I only started liking him slowly maybe towards the end. I liked the relationships he had with his brothers and all
Red Route:
I just finished his route and i gotta admit that i really liked it! I went in blind, didnt know anything about him but both him and the plot were pretty interesting! I did figure out most of the plot twists quite early but it was still fun. I did laugh alot at his cute side and i also cried a few times and i really felt for all the characters in the story. I liked it
Alice:
His route is not now but i just wanna give a shoutout to my best boy muah (please dont smack me Alice TT)
Ive only played episode 1 so i dont know whats gonna happen afterwards.
Overall i enjoyed it!
Not sure why i yapped so much here TT
Steam User 0
taixali 1 is available with 2 love interests and a pretty good amount of playtime, i played one route + prologue and it took under 7 hours on AUTO mode.
very standard JP otome game!
pros
-good gameplay time
-great art
-interesting albeit insane plot
-MC is one of my favourite otome heroines, she has a unique personality, and a lot of her lines make me keel over and laugh.
-characters are well developed and funny
-stacked VA cast + very well-voiced.
cons
some of the translation is.. rather poor at some points?
-MC speaking in romaji(?)
-translations, where when you listen to the JP the translation is completely off, albeit getting the point across.
-unnecessarily long prologue with filler
-not as many CG's compared to other mainstream JP otomes
-ui can be confusing, make sure you change your name before you start.
however i will say that the translation did make the game funnier. i laughed a lot while screensharing to my friends so there's that!
overall i recommend the game! whether onsale or off i genuinely do think it's worth it, especially as an intro to other otome games or whether you enjoy otome/VN's already!
Steam User 0
༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶
I ADORE this game! Especially the opening song! In this game, you get to choose between Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella as love interests, and they have so much character, unlike other otome games I have played! So much depth in these characters it is incredible. The music, the art, the voice acting: chef kiss! This is definitely one of my favourite otome games. I look forward to the rest of the games :D
Steam User 0
Funny and lighthearted. The heroine Yurika has a refreshing bold personality. Storyline is what you would expect out of a fairy tale themed otome, nothing deep and a little cheesy. I preferred Cinderella way more than Red, his story development made more sense to me. Great start to the series and keeps you interested for the other episodes.