Posts in Gakuen Alice Category
February 12, 2005
Mikan and Sumire keep chasing after Reo who's kidnapped Natsume. Sumire finally shows her alice this time, one where she goes Neko/Inu Mimi Mode and gets the abilities of a cat and a dog. But they find themselves in deeper trouble after getting kidnapped themselves and held in a warehouse next to the sea...
I can't do much here besides echo what Garten said, but anyways. Animation could've been done better this time, but the story developments that we get make up for it as we learn about the dark side of Gakuen Alice that Natsume, the "Black Cat", has experienced. You can understand why he'd hate the school after hearing what Reo said, perhaps even side with Reo's organization that's opposed to the school. It certainly isn't always a welcoming place like the festival going on now would make it look. btw, after reading this part in the manga I started liking Sumire a lot more. She didn't seem like just a stuck-up brat after this happened ;) And if you were paying attention this time you noticed Hotaru's brother, but he and Hotaru's relationship is something to talk about later on. Anyways, looks like we'll wrap up this little arc next time, hopefully with things a bit better as far as animation.
Head over to Memento for a more complete summary of this episode by Garten ;)
The transition to that darker tone that I and Garten have been talking about keeps on moving this time, with Natsume's pretty dangerous "work" finally revealed. At school, Mikan is all excited about the upcoming school festival, where each alice group makes their own attractions and such. Mikan gets inpiration for what the 特力系 should do after seeing something about an RPG on a magazine Natsume was reading, but her fellow members have no motivation to do anything because they aren't allowed to do anything for the festival thanks to Jinno-sensei :P But Tsubasa and the rest come up with a plan and finally do get approval. We also hear that a famous graduate of Gakuen Alice, Leo, will be making an appearance at the festival... Mikan and Natsume have a good bit of time just by themselves this time, and Natsume talks to her a bit more than he has before. It must be a requirement for shoujo heroines to try and get guys like Natsume to get a bit softer than they are ;) But after Mikan leaves Natsume to go back to the tokuryoku-kei he collapses and ends up in the school's hospital with Ruka and Hotaru there with him... We last see a guy talking on a phone that hears what's happened to Natsume..
I don't know what Ruka-pyon chasing after Hotaru had to do with anything, though, other than a bit of comic relief. The tone next time should be much more serious, though, and I'll leave it at that. We'll see how they handle it since until last time the tone was pretty bright and cheerful, glossing over the darker things..
I'll send y'all over to Garten for a detailed summary of what happened this time. There were some funny happenings this time -- Mikan taking on opponents to practice using her 無効化 alice and failing spectacularly -- but those darker elements that were glossed over earlier finally make an appearance this time. Natsume being called a 人殺し murderer, the woman walking through the snow carrying a baby, Jinno-sensei's true colors coming through as he singles out Mikan for ridicule in class and uses his thunder alice against Hotaru later.. Though things are a bit jumbled up and out of order compared to the manga (the "Furuba effect" as Garten calls it), and I after reading through the manga I wish they hadn't just skipped over these things in the previous episodes. But I guess they did so to keep the light feel as compared to the darker, more dangerous Gakuen Alice that is portrayed in the manga as things go on. But, we will be getting to more of that judging from the short episode summaries in Newtype - episode 13 will start that story I talked about last time if any of y'all read that spoiler. Hopefully things will be a bit more faithful to the manga in the future :)
The students get their monthly allowance based on their 星階級 star ranking, and go to Central Town to buy things. As a 星なし no-star Mikan only gets 5 rabbits, though. And if she wants to go, Jinno-sensei will only allow it if she takes her partner, Natsume, with her. Speaking of Natsume, he's a bit different than usual today. He's taking care of a little boy, Yoichi (3 years old), that's in the same 危険能力系 kiken nouryoku-kei as he is. Of course, since Natsume's taking care of him, Yoichi has picked up his thing for insulting everyone. And his alice? Controlling spirits :)
They all go to Central Town and Mikan's amazed by what she sees there. But she ends up wasting her 5 rabbits... She meets up with Luca-pyon (who's holding Yoichi) and the Kokoroyomi (can read people's minds) kid are eating this cotton candy-like thing called howalon. Mikan so badly wants to eat it, but doesn't have any more money so she has an idea...
Put on a play, "The Little Match Girl", and earn some money that way. It turns out to be a pretty comedic version of the story, but people love it and Mikan earns enough money to buy some howalon. She's in Heaven :) She gives one to everyone that helped, and even gives one to Natsume as well...
And now that I've read the manga, I'll be in the same spot as with Tsukuyomi, since I know what's going to be happening next :) Or well... it doesn't seem that what should be happening next will be happening next, something that really changes the tone of the story. I can't say any more than that :) But if you must know (highlight to read), the operative word is 誘拐 yuukai, kidnapping, and there's also the appearance of an organization made up of former students who are now opposed to Gakuen Alice, only called "Z" (pronounced "zet") (btw, other people who've read the manga, please, no other spoilers in the comments for now since you can't hide them like I can. Thank you :). And while we're talking differences here, there was something important that Natsume said and thought about in the manga that wasn't said here, a hint of his past. His character overall is not quite as developed as it is in the manga at this point. But, we've still got 16 episodes left, they'll have to get to that stuff eventually.
And, you're right Garten, the first part of the next ep preview isn't anywhere in the manga, but the part with Mikan doing special training with Nodachi is (see volume 4, chapter 17).
Mikan once again gives a letter to the fruity Narumi-sensei to send off to her Grandpa, but for some reason she hasn't heard from him. So she gets a girl with a divination alice to see what Grandpa's doing.. she's right on, but Mikan has to do a ridiculous dance with her before for some reason ;) Hotaru helps out with another invention to actually project what's been seen by the girl.. and Mikan's hunch was right, Grandpa hasn't been receiving her letters. To figure out what's going wrong, Mikan gives Narumi-sensei a letter with some gadgets on it that Hotaru made to see wherever it goes.. they find out that Mikan's nullification alice has become something of a taboo since an incident... and it ends up that Narumi-sensei has been putting away Mikan's letters in a desk drawer. Upon learning that Mikan rushes into the room and demands to see her Grandpa.. but there's not a thing Narumi-sensei can do.
So Mikan goes back to her room to be by herself for a bit.. but Luka-pyon and the rest have another plan to get her outside the school walls. However, it doesn't quite work and Mikan almost gets kidnapped (again) before Narumi-sensei saves her. They go back to Narumi-sensei's place for the night and Mikan ends up wanting to stay with Narumi-sensei. She wants to call him "Grandpa" at first, but Narumi-sensei says to call him "Father" since he's not that old.
Poor Mikan... There was a picture of Narumi-sensei with someone (see screencap above). Wonder who that could be? And what was that incident that caused Mikan's alice to become taboo? Much left to be explained.
As usual, see Garten's entry for some things that have been changed from the manga. I should be able to get the manga in a couple of weeks :)
Zero star Mikan once again has to do the dirty work, cleaning dishes, but as usual things don't go too well. She's late to class the next day, then in PE when she thinks she has a chance to win a race a kid with a super speed alice beats her. Then Sumire has to add some insult. Not very fun..
While Mikan's sitting all alone, the fruity Narumi-sensei comes and explains to her that there's going to be a joint class where students are separated into 4 different major groups based on their alices. Narumi-sensei explains the different groups to Mikan. And they go something like this:
潜在能力系 senzainouryoku-kei: This group includes your usual super-human abilities. Like Tobita's 幻覚 genkaku, or seeing through things, or the 瞬間移動 shunkan idou of the girl earlier who teleported. The atmosphere of this group is on average pretty normal since the abilities are so orthodox.
技術系 gijutsu-kei: Includes alices used for creating things, like Hotaru's 発明 hatsumei alice. Tend to be "my pace" types in this group.
体質系 taishitsu-kei: Luka and Narumi-sensei with their pheromone alices are in this group, along with mainly physical abilities like super speed.
Most of the students are in those three classes but there's one more:
特別能力系 tokubetsu nouryoku-kei (or 特力系 tokuryoku-kei for short): Includes whatever doesn't fit in the other groups. Including Mikan's 無効化 mukouka alice. This group is said to be a bit weird... and Mikan didn't want to be in it.
Now there is a fifth group, the 危険能力系 kiken nouryoku-kei, for those with dangerous alices (like Natsume's).
On the way to the tokuryoku-kei class Mikan runs into Natsume, who's being looked for by a guy in a dark coat and a mask... he eventually goes away, but then some of the students in the middle school show up. Natsume gets pissed and sets one of them on fire (quickly put out). Then they take Mikan and tease her, thinking her to be Natsume's friend. Of course, Natsume doesn't care what happens. Eventually, another sempai, Andou, comes and stops them using his Shikamaru-like ability to control shadows. He's a part of the tokuryoku-kei just like Mikan so he shows her the way to class. And what's waiting there? A party for her :) Turns out the people in the class aren't all that bad. The sensei she had seen earlier who had told her that she was one of his students turned out to be the teacher of the class (and a "time tripper", which was why he was disappearing earlier). So Mikan feels for the first time since coming that she's found a place she can belong :)
Mikan gets a rude awakening from Hotaru (ouch) and goes off for her first day of school at Alice Academy. On the way she runs into Tobita and the fruity Narumi-sensei, and they explain a bit about the school using Tobita's alice. It's a pretty darn big place, big enough to have its own town (dang). They also tell her that she can't see her family, but she can send letters.. Then Natsume shows up a bit pissed off and fights with Narumi-sensei a bit...
Narumi-sensei introduces Mikan to her class and Tobita explains the "Star" system they have in place there. Higher number of stars, the better privileges you'll have. Tobita and Hotaru both are 3 stars, one below the top. And at the top? Natsume (somehow).. Mikan's rank hasn't been assessed yet. After that she needs a partner.. Hotaru refuses, holding up a sign in protest, so Narumi-sensei decides for her... It's Natsume?
In math class Mikan finally learns how many stars she has.. After Sumire and her buddies have some fun with her, making it seem like Mikan's doing things to the teacher, the teacher, seemingly mad because of it, decides her rank.. 0, zero, none, nada, stars -- 星なし hoshi nashi. But it seems like he had been intending to give her no stars from the beginning...
The life of a zero star sucks.. bad room, bad food, bad facilities, so on.. and Mikan is about to tell her grandfather in a letter that it sucks.. but after realizing that there are a lot of kids at Alice Academy that don't want to be there and she actually wanted to be there, she finally gets some confidence and decides to make her way up. Hotaru drops by and offers some advice.. no matter if you're 3 stars or zero stars you're still who you are.. awwwww, she can be nice :) She then proceeds to smack Mikan with another one of her crazy inventions when she comes to give her a hug...
So Hotaru is still Hotaru after all. Guess it's her own way of showing affection, lol ;) I counted four times she beat Mikan using one of her wacky inventions this time. But she did get back at Sumire (that was hilarious) for what she did to Mikan so I guess it evens out ;) Anyways, that's a pretty tough system they've got there.. poor Mikan. And with Natsume as her partner? Man, talk about some bad luck... About Natsume.. What were those scars on his neck? hmm.. still much to be found out about him and everybody else as well, ain't there? ;)
Oh, btw, y'all please go and wish Garten good luck on the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) that's coming up soon. がんばって！ (I probably should have taken it this year, but oh well...)
Garten wrote up a nice long summary for this episode (prolly better than I could do) so there ain't much sense in me doing a long one :)
Mikan, Tobita, and Hotaru run into the axe-wielding Mr. Bear. He ain't as nice as Mikan thinks he is, as she quickly finds out. After getting the daylights punched out of her Mikan's saved by one of Hotaru's inventions and they all get away.. only to be chased by a giant chick. Luka, Natsume's buddy, could control it if he were there, so Tobita uses his illusion alice to lure him there. Luka agrees to do his thing using his alice (animal pheromone).. and it's rather cute. No wonder he didn't want anybody to see it ;)
After that Natsume shows up, rather pissed off that they tricked Luka and he uses his flame alice to make things a bit hot for Hotaru and Tobita. He demands that Mikan show her alice... but she doesn't know how.. So she leaps towards Natsume.. there's a big explosion-like thing that stops him.. Fruity Narumi-sensei shows up to do his thing and also to congratulate Mikan on passing the test. Her alice is one that protects herself from danger.. it was what nullified Narumi-sensei's alice and also stopped Natsume's as well. Nifty :)
This one was full of laughs. Mr. Bear is a riot. He really went to town on Mikan ;) And Mikan was hilarious as usual this time. I already knew what Mikan's alice (and everybody else's) was because it was listed on her character page ;) but anyways, to the more serious things... Luka mentioned that Natsume didn't want his alice at all, and rather hates the school.. guess the reason behind that is something to be learned later. I haven't read the manga yet so I dunno what's going to come up next. Should be fun :)
Mikan is bullied by Natsume and his buddies some more. The class rep, Tobita, tries to stop it but isn't successful. Hotaru doesn't do a thing to help.. The very stuck-up head of the Natsume Fanclub, Sumire, demands to know what Mikan's alice is. Mikan doesn't know... a kid with an alice that lets him read minds starts reading Mikan's mind and repeats what he hears to the class. Now everybody knows that Mikan has no clue whatsoever what her alice is... Hotaru finally steps in and uses her horseshoe gloves to beat the guy who was teasing Mikan up.. But she still seems rather cold to Mikan..
Afterwards, Tobita takes Mikan around the school a bit and to Hotaru's laboratory. Hotaru's alice is invention, btw. Hotaru isn't there, but a robot of her is. And so is a robot of Mikan that Hotaru made to tease and beat up on ;) Hotaru finally comes in and, as usual, Mikan is all over her.
Upon returning to the classroom, Natsume and Sumire tell Mikan they'll acknowledge that she has an alice if she goes to the North Forest and returns safe. Of course she goes, bringing Tobita with her. They kinda get stuck in a bog, but Hotaru comes to the rescue on her duckmobile (for a price). There aren't any ghosts in the forest, but there are weird things.. like a teddy bear with a big axe.
See Garten's entry at Memento for the perspective of someone who's read the manga. It does seem a bit like X-Men as he says.. Hotaru was still as cold as ever this time, seemingly not wanting to help Mikan at all, unless it could benefit herself. But we'll see... and yeeesh, Mikan cries a LOT ;)
See where this little journey into the forest takes them next time :)
The fruity (as Momotato says) Narumi-sensei gets Natsume under control and he takes Mikan in to the Alice Academy. While he goes off to tell the higher-ups that Mikan is coming, Mikan stays with the still out cold Natsume. Mikan worries about whether or not she can trust Narumi-sensei. I don't know if what he did earlier to Natsume was sekuhara, though... ;) In comes the biology teacher, Misaki-sensei, so he talks to Mikan a bit to try and reassure her that Narumi's a decent guy. He also tells Mikan what Narumi's "Alice" is.. very fittingly.. he can use pheromones to control people. Mikan still has no clue what her Alice is. So Misaki-sensei leaves and tells Mikan to press the red emergency button if Natsume wakes up..
But Natsume already has her before she can do anything. And he's not too nice a guy. One of his buddies, Luka, comes flying in to join in. Narumi and Misaki come in to stop them... but not before Mikan loses her skirt. Polka-dotted pantsu, eh? ;)
Mikan cries a river over what Natsume did to her, but Narumi gives her her new Alice Academy uniform. Very kawaii~. He also brings some of her classmates... and among them is.. yup, Hotaru, still seemingly as cold as ever. She finally does give in and lets Mikan give her a hug. They go to class B, where there's a wide variety of Alice's being used.. flying, drawing things in the air, so on. Mikan gets a seat.. yup, right next to Natsume. Not a good idea to fight with him and his buddies, though..
Over on Memento I saw Gakuen Alice compared to Kodomo no Omocha, and that seems pretty valid. Natsume seems to be just as bad as Hayama, and Mikan is just as chou-genki and crazy as Sana. Though in that one Sana and Hayama got friendly.. but we'll see about it, since it's pretty clear that Mikan loves Hotaru more than anybody else out there. Though Hotaru doesn't really treat her nicely. Guess she's the type that has trouble showing emotion.. But anyways, I've enjoyed these first two episodes (even gotten used to the op) so I'm definitely looking forward to more of Mikan and the rest ;)
