Alice In Kyoto Forest Volume 1

Orphaned at a young age, Alice has lived with her aunt for most of her young life, but she's a determined girl who wants to be independent. When she decides to return home to Kyoto and train as a maiko -- eventually hoping to become a geisha -- she finds that Kyoto has changed quite a bit in the eight years since she left it. At first, she's lost and confused, but then... her stuffed toys spring to life and offer to show her around this unfamiliar city and introduce her to the wonders of Kyoto!

Orphaned at a young age, Alice has lived with her aunt for most of her childhood. But her uncle is abusive and resentful, and at fifteen years old, Alice decides to return home to Kyoto and train as a maiko, eventually hoping to become a geisha. But when she arrives back to the city where she was born, she finds that Kyoto has changed quite a bit in the eight years since she left it. Almost as if it's a completely different world...

Alice is certainly not in her world anymore. This version of Kyoto is magical and confusing — and Alice can't seem to find her childhood first love, Ren, the person she believes summoned her to this Kyoto in the first place. Strangely enough, the Imperial Crown Prince looks startlingly like Ren... but if he summoned her here, why doesn't he recognize her? On top of all that, Alice realizes she must discover her heart's true calling in order to remain in Kyoto Forest. If she doesn't find a purpose, she'll rapidly grow old and eventually disappear altogether! Stories and fairy tales have always gotten her through the sadness of her rootless life back at her aunt's house. Perhaps it's time to rely on them once again, here in magical Kyoto Forest.

The world is divided into two factions: humans and monsters called katawara. Despite being a katawara, Tama loves humans and vows to protect them from evil, even if it means fighting her own kind. Her stepbrother Jinka, however, hates humans, despite mostly being one. The siblings are joined by a cowardly swordsman named Shinsuke, who wants to learn how to become strong. The people they meet, places they see, and creatures they battle will be legendary!

She loves meat and fried foods, and eats only karaage bento. Wearing exclusively clothes with weird characters printed on them, her fashion sense is practically non-existent. No confidence in her own looks. Extreme social anxiety. She speaks with a country drawl, and even her name is unusual. But then Mame (born in Tottori prefecture) was discovered by an intimidating, bespectacled rookie manager, and now begins the arduous task of getting her ready for auditions! The road to Top Model looks awfully steep from here.

After 300 years, the gods that imprisoned Senzou the black fox for his arrogance finally set him free. There is only one condition — he can't have any of his supernatural abilities back until he successfully helps a tanuki pup named Manpachi become one of their magical assistants. Unfortunately for Senzou, there's no cheating when it comes to completing his task! The magic beads around his neck make sure he can't wander too far from his charge or shirk his duties, and so... Senzou the once-great Fox Spirit must now figure out how to be an actually-great babysitter to a mischievous little tanuki or risk being stuck without his powers forever!

Super serious Asahi Suzumura and laidback, easygoing Mitsuki Sayama might seem like an odd couple, but they made a deal; they'll vacation around the world and when they get back to Japan, they'll get married. As they travel from country to country, the different people, cultures and cuisine they encounter begin to bring them closer together. After all they're not just learning about the world, but about themselves too.