It drops you into Night Raven College and immediately makes you pick a dorm, which is exactly the crime you signed up for. Yana Toboso's designs aren't a comparison here, they're the actual credit, and the show leans into that 2000s ornate-gothic look instead of chasing a modern flat gloss. The Heartslabyul stretch is the reason to show up: Riddle Rosehearts enforcing the Queen of Hearts' rules down to the last absurd clause, the collar spell, the unbirthday party, and Yuuken standing there magicless with nothing but nerve. Ace and Deuce bickering their way through every fix while Grim torches something is the correct dynamic, and the writing knows it. Eight episodes for a cast this size means the cameo parade gets more screen time than some of these boys deserve, and yes, you will still pause to catch every one. That's the deal, and you took it.

An ordinary teenager named Yuuken is whisked away to Night Raven College, an elite academy of magic in the world of Twisted Wonderland. With no way home and no magical ability of his own, he stands out at a school that admits only a select few with exceptional talent. He is allowed to stay on campus while a way back is sought, but his new friends soon land him in trouble with the headmage, and his future at the school looks grim. Now everything depends on getting a pair of quarrelsome first-years and a fire-breathing monster cat to work together. The result is a fantasy adventure based on a rhythm mobile game.