Gakuen Alice (manga review)

Genre: supernatural, shoujo, school days
Mangaka: Tachibana Higuchi

Synopsis: Follow the magical adventures of Mikan at Alice Academy! Young Mikan runs away to Tokyo following her best friend, Hotaru, who has been enrolled in an exclusive, secretive private school for geniuses. But it turns out that the Alice Academy is a lot more than meets the eye. Whether it’s Hotaru’s gift for inventing gadgets, the cranky Natsume’s fire-casting ability, or Professor Narumi’s control of human pheromones, everyone at the school has some sort of special talent. But what ability, if any, does Mikan possess? Mikan is going to have to rely on her courage and spunk if she’s going to stay in school, or even stay alive!

Opinion: I picked this series up after seeing it on the shelf for a long time and always being curious. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read a story about a bunch of elementary kids and their issues. But it turns out that the whole “little kid angst” is only a small portion of a supernatural story of children with powers, called Alice’s, who are forced to go to a school and remain there for a very long time with no contact with the outside world, including their parents. Because of the bad rumors flying around about the academy, parents tend to flee and evade the “recruiters” who come in search of their gifted children. Mikan, however, decides to run away from her home with her Grandfather in order to follow her best friend Hotaru, who voluntarily gave up her freedom so her parents would no longer have to run, to the academy. So as you can see, there is a very serious side to this story, but at the same time the lighthearted side pokes fun at polka-dot underwear and clumsy kids. Each child at the academy holds a burden, feels alone or is used by the academy to do their “dirty work” and thus the story flows as to the friendships formed within the academy, how the issues are resolved, as well as a medley of interesting activities similar to an “Alice in Wonderland” style of absurdity. A carnival ride powered by telekinesis? An “illusion” based haunted house? A giant (and hungry) chic and…a teddy bear with anger issues? Over all, the uniqueness of the storyline and the mystery surrounding the students as well as the (very hot) teachers and senior class members had me reading 8 volumes in two days. I never bored of the odd twists, and the only thing I could find wrong with the manga was the occasional “dragging on” of something that was obvious from the beginning. (Realize it already!) Otherwise, I highly recommend this manga as a good, fun, crazy read.

Okunen rating: 4.5 out of 5