The Hype for Disney Twisted-Wonderland Is Bigger Than I Imagined. By a Lot.

On the Sunday evening of Anime Expo 2022, while attempting to navigate the sprawling expanse of the Los Angeles Conversation Center, I heard a bewildered man recounting a panel to his friend. “People were screaming their heads off!” he was saying. “I wasn’t expecting that! I had no idea it was that popular!” I spun around and asked, “Are you talking about the Twisted-Wonderland panel?” His reply was empathic: “YES!”

If you’re not in this fan club, Disney Twisted-Wonderland is a mobile game that infuses a graphic novel base with rhythm games and turn-based RPG battles, and saw its release in Japan during the pandemic. The basic details of the game are enough to make any nerd raise an eyebrow or two and then run to their phone.

Twisted-Wonderland is an officially licensed collaboration between Disney, whose reputation certainly precedes them, and Aniplex, the anime production company responsible for mega-hits like Demon Slayer, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War. And it’s written and drawn by Yana Toboso, the creator of Black Butler. Even the voice actors are full of anime heavy-hitters. For example, Natsuki Hanae, who voices Riddle Rosehearts, is best known as Tanjiro in Demon Slayer. In fact, Hanae’s two appearances at AX were for Twisted-Wonderland’s and Demon Slayer’s panels. (He seems like a lovely and cute man.)

Is there an English Version of Disney Twisted-Wonderland?

So this game, which many have never heard of Stateside despite that the English localized version was released here in 2022, is the result of two international entertainment powerhouses getting serious. If your brain isn’t already exploding, wait until you hear the premise: You’re a student transposed to a magical school where all the houses—ahem, I mean dormitories—were based on Disney villains. We’re talking the hits here: Scar, Maleficent, Hades, Ursula, the Queen of Hearts, Jafar, and the Queen from Snow White. None of them are in the game, but their whole vibe emanates through the characters of their respective dorms and their garb. It’s a wild, wild thing to exist, and I’m very glad it does.

That being said, when the game came out, I played it for an afternoon and was reminded that phone games aren’t really my thing. I noticed that most outlets seemed to lose interest after those first few days, too (as is typical). Twitter also seemed to go quiet on it. So, I assumed that the game just didn’t stick too hard outside of Japan. To an extent, I was right—Twisted-Wonderland got a very mild reaction during Aniplex’s general industry panel at the con. But, mostly, I was wrong, because it turns out the audience playing Twisted-Wonderland is very passionate about it, and they succeeded in filling up most of the room the panel took place in. You could classify the audience as “niche,” but it’s a bigger niche than I thought, and they are very, very passionate.

So, I was shocked during Aniplex’s Disney Twisted-Wonderland panel, as I sat there with my phone’s memo app open on my knee, my mask-obscured mouth agape. I had felt similarly during the Good Smile x VShojo panel earlier that day, the main difference being those were mostly man-screams, and these were mostly woman-screams—and much more animated screams, at that. Any time one of the game’s seven houses was introduced, there was bonafide fangirl screaming like you’d expect for Kpop stars. I swear to glob, one girl in front of me seemed like she was about to hyperventilate. I attended panels for heavy hitters like One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Demon Slayer, but the only panel that rivaled Twisted-Wonderland for sheer excitement and passion was Chainsaw Man’s. It was that hype.

Is Disney making a Twisted Wonderland anime?

And the hype is only going to get bigger. An anime version of the game was confirmed in winter 2021 and will eventually make its way onto Disney+. The Twisted-Wonderland anime will therefore be the second stage in Disney’s big plan to break into the anime industry, following up on their first foothold, Star Wars: Visions. A date hasn’t been set for the Disney Twisted-Wonderland anime yet, but I find myself quite excited to watch it. Mobile games may not be my thing, but a silver-throated man with Queen of Hearts vibes who is just one of many such characters going to Disney Villain school!? How is that not the stuff of a ridiculously fun anime?!

(featured image: Aniplex / Disney)