MJ Review: Gakuen Alice Volume One

[Eric]

Title: Gakuen Alice
Volume: 1
Mangaka: Tachibana Higuchi
Originally Serialized in: Hana to Yume (Hakusensha, Inc.)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, School Life, Shoujo, Supernatural
Licensed by: TokyoPop
Price: $9.99

Mikan’s best friend Hotaru’s cold attitude makes her seem like a bad choice for a best friend, but Mikan loves her anyway. When Hotaru leaves unexpectedly for the prestigious and mysterious Alice Academy, Mikan is devastated. Then she learns that students who go to the Alice Academy are rarely heard from again and she decides to enroll in Alice Academy so that she can be with Hotaru. However enrolling might be easier said than done and will take all of Mikan’s courage and tenacity just to pull it off.

Higuchi’s fantasy manga about a group of very special elementary school students seems likely to throw readers into a sugar overdose, but she manages to carefully walk the fine line between sweet and sappy. Her characters are appealing, though they all pretty much fit into their own manga archetypes common to magical girl stories. What is refreshing about this tale is Higuchi’s way of handling the magical girl plot. Without giving away too much, I can say that, while I think Mikan counts as a magical girl, she is unlike many of the others in manga.

Higuchi’s art is as sweet as her plot, though her characters do sometimes look a little too similar to be able to easily tell them apart. The nice thing is that her elementary school students really do look like elementary school students, not like dressed up dolls as in some shoujo manga. Unfortunately, TokyoPop’s publishing isn’t as crisp as needed, making the pages look overly dark and muddy and blurring the effectiveness of the images.

Several slightly off-color jokes and some cartoon violence are probably what earn Gakuen Alice its 13+ rating, but other than that Higuchi doesn’t stray far from the sugar. This funny little tale should appeal to fans of manga fantasies and comedies, such as Ultra Maniac or Azumanga Daioh.

Reviewer: Snow Wildsmith
Proofer: Eric Turner
Editor: Lissa Pattillo