TV Recap: Disney Twisted Wonderland: The Animation Episode 5 — A Very Scary Unbirthday to You!

The Unbirthday Party has finally arrived in Disney Twisted Wonderland: The Animation. The sixth episode primarily adapts two more chapters of the manga (Chapter 12: “One-Man legion!” and Chapter 13: “A Helpful Surprise!”), while finishing a few pages into Chapter 14: “A Foolhardy Duel!” Ace and Duece continue to butt heads with Riddle, as his fury leaks more blot into his magestone.

Episode 6: “An Army of One” - Written by Yoichi Kato, English Adaptation by Madeleine Morris

The Ramshackle Dorm mirror presents another strange dream to Yuken Enma (Yōhei Azakami/Jonathon Ha). In this one, the Queen of Hearts (Shinobu Sato/April Windhell) discovers that her roses have been painted red. Furious, she calls for all of her card soldiers to lose their heads. The dream wakes Yuken up, who hopes it wasn’t a bad omen for the Unbirthday Party.

Yuken, Ace Trappola (Seiichirō Yamashita/Max Mittelman), and Deuce Spade (Chiaki Kobayashi/Hunter McCoy) arrive at Heartslabyul House for the party, greeted by not one Cater Diamond (Tatsuyuki Kobayashi/Michael Sinterniklaas), but a dozen of him, thanks to his signature spell. He’s surprised to see Ace and Deuce in their formal wear, and Trey Clover (Ryōta Suzuki/Johnny Yong Bosch) steps forward to confess to delivering their clothes to Ramshackle Dorm. Cater uses magic to give Grim (Noriaki Sugiyama/Ben Diskin) a special bow for the party. Now that they’re properly dressed, the Caters formally welcome them to the Unbirthday Party.

The garden looks spectacular, but Ace’s eyes are quickly drawn to all of his housemates who have a magic-binding collar like his. “We had a situation,” Cater says. That’s all he has time to share before the horns blow, signaling the housewarden’s arrival. Students flank a red carpet like card soldiers as Riddle Rosehearts (Natsuki Hanae/Paul Castro Jr.) arrives in style.

Riddle inspects every detail of the Unbirthday Party, beaming with pride that every rule has been followed, down to a doormouse asleep in a teapot. He leads a pre-croquet toast, and the Unbirthday Party is a peaceful affair, until Ace approaches Riddle’s table with the apology tart. When Riddle learns that it’s a chestnut tart, he becomes instantly furious, saying this violates rule #562. Deuce is shocked to learn that there are a total of 810 rules, and Trey shares that he only memorized up to #350. Trey tries to calm Riddle down, but it doesn’t work. 

Yuken asks how vital this particular rule is, since it seems so frivolous. “Everyone hates these rules, they’re ridiculous,” Ace spats, calling Riddle an idiot. When Riddle asks the other Heartslabyul House students if they agree with Ace, they all cower in fear, except for Deuce. Riddle brags that since becoming housewarden, no Heartslabyul students have been held back, so he deserves their loyalty. Cater asks Ace and Deuce to apologize, but they refuse, backed up by Yuken and Grim. When Grim calls Riddle a tyrant, the blot in Riddle’s magestone grows, pushing out a blast of red magic. 

Being loyal soldiers, Cater and Trey begrudgingly kick Ace, Deuce, Yuken, and Grim out of the party. 

As Riddle tries to start the croquet tournament, Cater asks Trey if he’s okay with all of this. We see a quick memory of Trey’s childhood, playing with Riddle and watching as his friend got in trouble with his mom.

The boys sit around the Heartslabyul gazebo when a floating head appears. “You all look so dashing in your little collars,” the purple cat-eared boy tells them, spooking Grim. The rest of his body appears, and he introduces himself as Artemiy Artemiyevich Pinker, aka Chenya (Kento Hama/Daman Mills). He reveals that he was a childhood friend of Riddle’s, asking them to talk to “four eyes,” meaning Trey, about Riddle’s past. Having caused enough mischief, Chenya disappears the way he arrived, humming “Twas Brillig.”

Back at Night Raven College, the boys sit around the Library talking when Trey finds them, sharing that he blames himself. Ace and Deuce tell him they met Chenya, and Trey opens up a bit about their past. Riddle’s parents are exceptional healers who demanded perfection from their son. Riddle’s childhood was strictly regimented around his home education, including what he ate and who his friends were. As a result, he mastered his signature spell by age 10. “I don’t have the heart to scold him,” Trey concludes.

Ace accuses Trey of being a bad friend to Riddle, saying he will end up friendless and alone if someone doesn’t help him. Ace is so loud that Headmage Dire Crowley (Mitsuru Miyamoto/J. Michael Tatum) appears to remind them to be quiet in the Library, but he heard everything, and suggests that Ace challenge Riddle to become housewarden if he’s so unhappy. He reveals that Riddle won the position in a duel. Deuce is inspired to try to dethrone Riddle, too. Crowley offers to preside over the battle, adding that non-magical attacks are forbidden. As he leaves, Trey shares that this is a bad idea.

That night, the Ramshackle Dorm mirror presents Yuken with another dream. Alice (Sumire Morohoshi/Hynden Walch) is on trial, and she calls the Queen of Hearts a tyrant. “Off with her head,” the Queen of Hearts orders, and her loyal soldiers attack the girl on the stand.

Back at the Heartslabyul Garden, Yuken wears his kendo armor and lent his helmet to Deuce for protection. Crowley asks Riddle to remove the boys' collars for the duel. Riddle asks them to fight together to save time, since this duel risks delaying tea. Crowley signals the start of the duel by dropping a mirror, letting it shatter.

“Off with your head,” Riddle shouts, instantly putting collars back on Ace and Deuce, who just lost the duel. “You couldn’t even last five seconds,” Riddle smiles.

Bonus Short: Twisted Wonderland Mini Theater

This week’s chibi short takes place in Scarabia House. Houswarden Kalim Al-Asim (Kazuki Furuta/A.J. Beckles) has been inviting other students over nonstop to feast on delicious food prepared by Jamil Viper (Kaname Futaba/Nazeeh Tarsha), who puts his foot down as Ruggie Bucchi (Aoi Ichikawa/Zeno Robinson) from Savanaclaw arrives, starving and with empty containers to take leftovers home. Kalim decides to try cooking for the first time, and Ruggie begs Jamil to take over before Kalim ruins all the food. In the end, we see Jamil exhausted, bullied into cooking a feast for Ruggie, who takes a huge sack of food home with him.

To be continued in Episode 7, streaming December 10th on Disney+ and Hulu.