Epimondas

This short backstory tells the history of Suiginto, #1, and Shinku, #5.  Oddly enough, and with a strange bit of ironic twist, Suiginto is already an Alice at the start.  From the qualifications described as to what makes Alice, Alice, Suiginto fits those best before she gets her upgrade.  She is sweet, cute, vulnerable, lady like, dependent but not a bother, pretty, social, and well, she is nearly perfect.  It is never made clear why she was made first but not finished as can well be implied by the nature of their story.  It becomes somewhat clear as well, that before Shinku meets Jun, she is far from perfect or an "Alice".  In fact, she in some ways resembles #4 or #1 (after the upgrade) more than either pre upgrade Suiginto or post Jun, Shinku.  Why these facts are not made clearer but merely implied for the viewer to draw these natural conclusions from is unknown.  Then again, maybe getting a glimpse of what "Alice" is supposed to be is part of the reason.  Maybe she was incomplete because she would lose that vulnerable innocence or because she would never become Alice if she were complete.  Perhaps she was the model by which all the following dolls were meant to follow in with an understanding of what "Alice" is.

The battle itself, is in reality a farce, judging by the qualifications to become "Alice", it would be impossible for any winner of such a contest of violent, self serving, brutal, life and death singular combat to ever produce a perfect ideal of beauty and passion that is "Alice".  Thus the "Alice" game was apparently never told to the dolls as to either it's rules nor it's nature.  It is simply impossible to become an ideal being by such means.  The contest was therefore rigged from the start to result in no winners.  Part of this story takes place sometime during the mid second season.  It is actually one of the dolls telling Jun about Suiginto and Shinku's past.  The greatest irony is perhaps that no one realizes that "Alice" already existed and had come into being then vanished.  No doll had such an attractive or appealing look as when Suiginto was crawling toward the rocking chair after Father vanished.  Given the way he vanished though, he is either a stage magician or some sort of real magic user.  The way he reappears is murky at best if it is even true, yet it subtly implies as well that Father may in fact be Jun.  Why and how Suiginto changes may not be totally clear, neither is the sad fact that she never realizes she had already achieved "Alice"-hood.  Prejudiced or teasing or protection behaviors are usually not enough to change a person's whole nature so completely around to the opposite.  Her new role was an anti "Alice" however.  It is odd in a way too that the most complete, humane, and sympathic character in the whole series is at least for a short while, Suiginto.  Was this intentional?  It is hard to say.  Was she meant to become "Alice" so soon? I also can not say for sure.  Did the writers even know or realize that they basically created "Alice" in her before her upgrade?  Also I am not sure.  The truth however is, a so called perfect maiden, has flaws.  Her flaws are part of her perfection and charm, thus, Suiginto hits the concept on every level like no one ever did before in the entire series.  Think about what I said, if people were truly attracted to absolute perfection:

Humanoid robots would not be so creepy

Julia Roberts would never be the mega star she is

Jennifer Grey would never have fallen to relative obscurity after her plastic surgery that altered her cute imperfections.

Rock Hudson would never have been such an important actor with his famous chin dimple, yet that imperfection was perhaps part of the reason for his rock star fame.

I could go on.  You might suggest Marylin Monroe alters that concept.  Yes in some ways that does, but her surgery honestly was not as drastic as say, Jennifer Grey's.  I do not believe all her imperfections were removed and some may have been added, aka her mole?  If perfection was so important a physical quality to achieve some upper echelon apex of existence, then Marylin would not have either kept or aquired a mole.

Need I say more?  Thus, I can conclude that Alice, already existed at least for a time.  I do not recall a complete description but it was suggested and the full description I believe was left to the imagination perhaps implied by and inferred by the prior descriptions as a foundation.  The angel wings, were part of that implied meaning.  No pure white winged angel would ever exist if that meant such pain had to be evoked to create her and more so by her own hand in order to morph into said angel.  

What is perhaps somewhat confusing and a bit disappointing is that no one in the entire series ever seems to realize or truly grasp what Alice is or is supposed to be nor the fact that by doing the contest they will become further from the ideal of Alice than ever before.  Jun breifly makes a few comments about it in season 2, but it is sort of a case of either too little too late or too soft and quiet to make any impact.  Morals, it seems are a bit blurred or maybe fogged in the series since I never really did sense any kind of speaker for morality.  Though a couple got kind of close: Pre upgrade Suiginto, Post Jun Shinku, Jun, and Nora.  That is it and how much they impart that sense varies.  

It is worth watching especially if you watch season 1 and 2, it helps clarify a few things.  Though, it may matter when you watch them.  I would suggest between season 2's episode 4/5 (after #2 shows up (the girl with the umbrella and violin)) and hmm before about episode 10.  Any more specific than that is uncertain.