Disney and Japanese anime come together once again in a new animated series, Twisted Wonderland inspired by the popular mobile game. Like the storyline in the game, the series takes place in a fantasy world where seven of the most iconic Disney villains are legendary heroes, and the magic mirror brings magic students to a school divided into groups named after each of those villains.
The premise is intriguing, and Disney’s characters lend well to an anime inspired world, but while the art and animation are beautifully done, the story is convoluted and still feels more like a video game than a narrative series.
This review covers the first two episodes of the series.
Twisted Wonderland releases October 29, 2025 on Disney+.
Official Synopsis
When a high school student is whisked away to a world of magic, he must steer clear of danger and work with his classmates to try and return home, in “Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation,” a new anime series debuting October 29 exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu.
In the enchanted world of Twisted-Wonderland, seven legendary figures known as the Great Seven have been immortalized. Based on seven iconic Disney Villains: the Queen of Hearts, the King of Beasts (Scar), the Sea Witch (Ursula), the Sorcerer of the Sands (Jafar), the Fairest Queen (Evil Queen), the King of the Underworld (Hades), and the ThornFairy (Maleficent), the acts of these individuals would eventually inspire the creation of seven magical dormitories at Night Raven College – an elite academy for budding mages.
Unaware of any of this, Yuken Enma, an ordinary high school student from Tokyo, suddenly finds himself transported to Night Raven College and immediately begins alienating its residents. Unable to wield magic, unsure of the customs, and stunned by the new reality he finds himself in, Yuken is forced to navigate this strange new world, searching for a way back home. Constantly finding himself tangled up in adventures with his troublemaking new classmates, Ace and Deuce, will Yuken be able to find his way home before incurring the wrath of the Rose-Red Tyrant – Riddle Rosehearts?
Review – More Video Game than TV Series
It’s always a challenge to adapt a popular video game into a TV series or movie. There’s an even bigger barrier when that adaptation involves a western studio trying to adapt Japanese anime. Much like the popular mobile video game, Twisted Wonderland features Yuken Enma, a college student in Tokyo who is unexpectedly transported by the Magic Mirror from Snow White to a fantasy world where seven legendary Disney villains are worshipped and a magical college, Night Raven College, is established in their honor.
Much like Hogwarts, Night Raven College is divided up into different schools, each named after one of the iconic villains – the Queen of Hearts, Snow White’s Evil Queen, Maleficent, Ursula, Jafar, Scar and Hades.
As the series opens, Yuken, a kind and inspiring college student, finds himself stuck in the magic school of the Queen of Hearts. However, unlike the others brought over by the Magic Mirror, Yuken can’t do magic. When he tries to explain the error and leave, the school is interrupted by a strange, talking, magical cat, Grim. While Yuken can’t do any magic, Grim has been desperately trying to find a way to get into Night Raven for years. Neither Yuken nor Grim belong at the school, but for opposite reasons – Yuken is a human who can’t do magic while Grim can do magic but isn’t human. The school’s headmaster decides that both must leave, but Yuken is allowed to stay while they figure out how to get him back to his own world.
Thanks to the source material, the art and animation of Twisted Wonderland looks good. There’s a classic anime look and feel that straddles the video game and animated series line well. The character designs are unique, though many of them often look a little too similar to easily differentiate. It would have been nice to see a little more variation in the look of the different characters, but given the fact that the series is adapted from the video game, there are certain understandable limitations. As someone who has never played the game, it was challenging to follow the various characters randomly thrown into the story, especially at Night Raven.
The first two episodes seem to align with the story in the prologue of the game, where Yuken and the audience is introduced to the Villains world, still trying to learn what wonders the strange land entails, and which characters can be trusted and which can’t. Aside from the headmaster, who is a particularly strange looking character with a bird-like mask, Yuken meets two other students at the Queen of Hearts school – Ace and Deuce. Aptly named after playing cards, the two get into trouble with Grim, which eventually leads the unexpected quartet to go on a side quest in order to please the headmaster and avoid expulsion.
It’s the well worn structure of the story that gives it the video game feel. I may not have played the source material game, but anyone who has played any kind of narrative video game will recognize the structure of meeting unusual characters, getting into unexpected trouble and being forced to go on a side quest to push the story along.
The first episode alone is difficult to follow for those unfamiliar with the story of the game. It takes a while to set the stage, and when Yuken falls into the fantasy world, there are suddenly so many different characters that are tossed into the story that it’s disorienting. There’s very little reason in the first episode to care about Yuken, Night Raven or any of the characters in the fantasy world. They just appear and are largely uninteresting. The second episode is when the story finally seems to get its footing, establishes some important details about the school and streamlines the characters by focusing on the handful the audience needs to care about at this time. Unmotivated viewers may consider dropping the series after the first episode, but those who give it another chance in the second episode will likely find enough there to keep watching. How satisfying the story is after that remains to be seen.
Rating – 2.5 Pocky
Ron is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POC Culture. He is a big believer in the power and impact of pop culture and the importance of representation in media.
