The Twisted Wonderland anime has just wrapped up with its final episode of the season. As a long-time player of the game, I watched the anime adaptation to see some of my favorite scenes acted out on the TV.

While I wasn’t disappointed, the Twisted Wonderland anime made it glaringly clear that it cannot use everything from the game. Like any ongoing game, there are events and additional stories that keep players logging in while the team develops the main story. The Twisted Wonderland anime will only focus on telling the main story. As of writing this, the anime is confirmed to adapt the first three parts, with the next season expected sometime in 2026.

While this is fine, a part of me laments the anime didn’t incorporate the additional stories that come from the character cards and in-game events. For example, Halloween is Twisted Wonderland’s biggest event. Every year, players look forward to the Halloween event for a new story that allows us to explore more of the game’s world. While I doubt the show will animate these stories, it won’t stop me from hoping we’ll get an OVA in between seasons.

A Treat for Veteran Players

The anime is an almost carbon copy of the game’s manga. Like any other anime adapted from a manga, there were some changes, but for the most part, each episode was a 1-to-1 recreation. I loved that the anime used the game’s assets or made references to them throughout the show. Hearing the music from the title screen mid-episode had me checking my phone to see if I had accidentally opened the app. Watching the characters fight with magic and hearing the in-game voice lines for team-up attacks had me pointing at the screen like Leonardo DiCaprio.

I didn’t expect the anime to use the Heartslabyul original song that came out for the Twisted Wonderland 3D concert, Blazing Jewel, earlier this year as the ending credits song. That was a treat, and I’m looking forward to hearing the other dorm songs for the next seasons.

Head-scratching Moments

As an eight-episode season, I thought the show would rush through crucial plot points. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. However, there was one major issue with the presentation. Throughout the season, the show constantly used a key scene to hit viewers over the head with. The constant use of flashbacks to Riddle and Trey’s childhood throughout the season cheapened the big reveal. We kept seeing the same scene over and over again throughout the series. By the time we reached the scene where this information mattered, it felt lackluster.

In the game, Trey briefly mentioned it, but we didn’t see the full extent of it until we got Riddle’s flashback. In the anime, we kept seeing flashbacks every other time Trey would talk about Riddle. It’s almost as if the director didn’t trust the audience to piece together that there was something more to the story.

The show also took some creative liberties to make Riddle more antagonistic than he was in-game. There was a scene where he sat in a dark office monologuing to himself. It made me burst out laughing from how comically evil the anime wanted him to behave. I understand the show needs clear-cut good vs evil to entice new viewers, but I found it absolutely silly.

Good for Everyone

Overall, the Twisted Wonderland anime was a fine adaptation. It’s a good way for new viewers to experience the surface-level story. Hopefully, it sparks an interest in new fans to read more about the characters through their side stories to get a more nuanced understanding of the world. As I hold my breath waiting for season 6, I look forward to seeing seasons 2 and 3 in the next year. Twisted Wonderland is now streaming on Disney+.