Alternative TitlesEnglish: Alice Academy Synonyms: Campus Alice Japanese: 学園アリス
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 26
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Oct 30, 2004 to May 14, 2005
Duration:
25 min. per episode Rating:
PG - Children
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 8.081 (scored by 6325 users)
Ranked: #2932
Popularity: #445
Members: 10,956
Favorites: 521 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
comedy magic school shoujo |
SynopsisSakura Mikan and Imai Hotaru are best friends, and Mikan is shocked to find that Hotaru is transferring to a school in Tokyo for gifted students like her - Alice Academy. Mikan hears rumors that the students are like prisoners there, and worried what would happen to Hotaru, she runs away to head to the school herself. She finds out all the wonderful things about this school. And she heads into a great adventure!! |
Related AnimeAdaptation: Gakuen Alice
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Reviews
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Skadi
58 of 85 people found this review helpful
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26 of 26 episodes seen
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| Overall |
6 |
| Story |
4 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
3 |
Gakuen Alice has an interesting premise and a charming first episode which lulls you into the belief that you are in for a special treat. Cute characters, slapstick comedy, magic, and elementary kids give you a distinct Harry Potterish feel. However in the end though that special treat ends up tasting like it was dropped in the mud.
As I mentioned the premise is interesting though quite farfetched. There are plenty of familiar themes and if you have watched school comedies (really who hasn’t practically all of them take place in school) there won’t be anything all that groundbreaking. The story overall has some inconsistencies and major annoyances and flaws that make it when taken in its entirety not very good. Despite its cutesy look and comedy, Gakuen Alice does deal with some serious themes. One of these is bullying. Mikan is treated pretty horribly much throughout the series but more so in the beginning episodes. While if done properly these situations can be funny, for me they just weren’t. In some ways I liken the humor to something like Inukami!, though Gakuen Alice is not perverted the way that series is but it has the same overuse of cruel humor that just outstays its welcome.
Alice Academy seems like a hell on earth. The setting and the overwhelming number of the characters are completely unlikable and despicable. The way these kids are treated, forcibly taken from their homes, not allowed to see their families, and the fact that the great majority of the students and teachers come across as horrible people. They are spoiled, mean, emotionally scarred; all the things you would expect from kids who had been traumatized this way. Yet I am supposed to feel sympathetic towards the school or that I am supposed to find the cruel bullying hilarious. I didn’t. The very fact that it was even played for laughs was offensive to me.
Despite my almost total non-enjoyment of the first third of the series eventually things start getting on track. There is a tremendous amount of plot buildup from the beginning until about the last few episodes. We get a lot of what I found very interesting romance between the main character Mikan and the dangerous Natsume. The subplot about how Natsume is being used by the very shady and seemingly cruel Alice Academy is very compelling. Throw in Mikan's mysterious mother who was an infamous student in the school and the drama with Mikan learning to use her "Alice" and be accepted by everyone gives the plot depth. However, all of this is wasted by the most glaring story problem; the lack of a satisfactory ending to the series. Don’t worry, it’s not one of those endings but the series probably needed another 12-15 episodes to get everything wrapped up. The end feels rushed, overly simplistic, and ultimately a bit of a slap in the face to my intelligence. Other subplots are basically just ignored or poorly explained. Even though the series could have benefited by being longer, there were a lot of episodes wasted on pointless fluff storylines that did nothing to advance the story.
The lone shining light of Gakuen Alice is Mikan. She is a wonderful character full of optimism, cheerfulness, and love for everyone no matter how horribly they treat her. I really wanted to just cry for her. She is used as the butt of every joke while almost without exception she is tormented and bullied by everyone, including her own "best friend". While this could have made for some good comedy, and don’t get me wrong there are some funny moments, the jokes are overused and often just in bad taste. Because of this I felt more anger and annoyance than I did smiles and laughter. Though most of the bullying and tasteless cruel humor against Mikan goes away eventually, it definitely outlived it's usefulness. However just seeing Mikan and her personality and sure brushes off all this adversity and soldiers on is kind of inspiring.
Mikan's "friend" Hotaru was someone if I could have physically gotten my hands on I would have drowned her in the bathtub. Sure she’s the emotionless robot type personality and how she behaves often fits this archetype. You do get flashes of the deep affection and feelings she has for Mikan both as a friend and perhaps something more. However most of the time this is ruined by a subsequent act of cold blooded cruelty. Though she makes some strides towards the middle-end of the show they managed to ruin all this in the last episode. She is voiced by Rie Kugimiya who is my favorite seiyuu in a rare non-tsundere role. Though even she couldn’t make me like Hotaru.
Of the remaining cast, Natsume stands out as the most interesting. He is a scary kid for sure but despite initially disliking him he does come to grow on you and at least you feel made some growth as a person. Most of Mikan's classmates and teachers start out being horribly cruel and come across as assholes and bitches. I felt my hatred of some of them wane as the series progressed but many of them were unforgivable. The best characters next to Mikan were without a doubt her friends Tsubasa and Misaki in the Special Abilities class she joins. Since many of the people in that class were bullied as well you feel that they have a breakable bond and lasting friendship. They were the only people in the story I felt really cared for Mikan at all and showed her any kindness.
There isn’t anything amazing about the art and animation. I did like Mikan's character design but a lot of the art was pretty bland. Shaft did do a great job in animating Mikan's emotions though. I just love the silly facial expressions, crying rivers of tears, and other silliness. The OP/EN animations and songs are pretty cute as well. I think they matched the personality of the lead perfectly though the EN didn’t match the tone of the show. It was too sweet and cute when contrasted to how unfunny and depressing much of the series was to me.
Despite not really enjoying most of the series if the story had been concluded better I probably would have rated a point or two higher. If you like slapstick and physical comedy you might like this or you might not. It has moments of brilliance and a spectacular leading character but otherwise it is a very flawed and average program. read more
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kira_sakura
40 of 66 people found this review helpful
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26 of 26 episodes seen
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| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
Wow! Gakuen Alice or Alice Academy was my very first anime ive watched. I know it seems childish but dont ever jugde a book by its cover, especially this one.
back then when i had no idea what anime was, my friend insisted that i watch alice academy with her. at first i thought it was just a annoying cartoon but then i saw kids with alices. alices are like magic powers the kids are born with. there are different kinds of alices like technoligy, fire, nulification and many more. each student has their own alice which makes the anime more interesting.
this anime is good for people who like some action, magic, school life, a little bit of romance and it doesn't matter whether your young or old. Gakuen alice made me enjoy anime so i highly insist you guys watch it. read more
Recommendations
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gakuen alice and kodocha are similar, gakuen alice is like lighter I guess and not as hyper. the sanaxhayama and natsumexmikan are similar for the romance.
The characters seem alike just a bit by their personality, true they don't have Alices but it's just a suggestion
The heroines of these series are extremely similar in both their personalities and their outlooks on life. Mikan and Sakura are both elementary-school girls who find their school life difficult because of their crazy classes, especially one troublemaking boy. They succeed in solving their problems using their optimism, never-give-up attittues, and unique skills.
Sana and Mikan has the similar personality. Aside from that, they both are dense in terms of love. And the main male characters: Natsume and Hayama are both cool type, yet secretly love the girl.
The story line is similar too, like in the beginning, were both classes are really corrupted, but the main character will change it to the good way and make it peaceful. Both Mikan and Sana carries a huge problem on them, but they'll do their best to solve those problems.
And lastly, these two anime are more on friendship. Eventhough GA doesn't have much love, but they're really similar in terms of friendship.
Both are about kids in elementary. The energy in both series is fast paced and exaggerated, and feature cool male leads. Very cute, and very similar. Even the main characters in both look alike.
I think you'll like Kodocha and Gakuen Alice; they are so alike in so many ways its not even funny. The main character cares for the main guy character, tries to help them out in what they can. The main character tries to prove something to the guy main character and its gets out of hand with a bunch of laughter, and a lot of sadness. Just watch it and you'll know what im talking about. ;D
Similiar characters and comedy. Sana and Mikan are almost the same (both twintailed and hyperactive), and same goes for Akito and Natsume (usually serious and cold but also very angsty and little perverts).
Both anime have kids as protagonists, are set at school, deal with friendship, and have romance. Kodomo No Omocha has more drama than Gakuen Alice, and the latter has magic instead of music.
Both of them have a female protagonist who ultimately just helps out the male who they of course fall in love with. But in Gakuen Alice or Alice Academy it is currently only season 1 and so nothing major has happened and the only way to know is to keep reading the manga.
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Kamichama Karin features kids with the power of gods, Gakuen Alice features kids with special magic powers. Lots of things happen while they are at school. And well, Karin and Mikan (main protagonists respectivly^^) look alike and their characters are quite similar too. Same goes for other characters! Humor is quite alike, and of course the kawaii-ness factor is very, very high in both shows....means frequently appearing animals and various frilly costumes for the girls, cute/cool outfits for the boys.
A girl with pig tails and a special power, a boy with powers that wreck his body, and various similar voice actors. If you liked one, you would surely like the other because they are so similar in plot and characters and cuteness.^_^
It's very similar! You gotta love Gakuen Alice & Kamichama Karin
The girls both are similar they both are rookies when it comes to their powers yet sometimes they can manage.They both are very caring and when you want to pick at fight they will both beat you.With the help of their friends they always have evreything they could possibly want.This anime has romance as well but it has more romance than this one so far at least (I`ve only seen 12 eps.) They both have it hard sometimes but they break through.These animes are both adventurious and mysterious.Something else that they have in commen both have no parents,they both have pigtails,they both can out mouth someone,and both shows have 26 eps.
Because the character are similar...Karin-Mikan, Kazune-Natsume
Very similar for characters, comedy, and genres.
Both involve magical girls (and boys), are set at school, are long 26 episodes, and have the same sweet, cute, childish mood to them.
Karin & Mikan and Kazune & Natsume are definitely very alike, not only their characteristics, but also their relationships.
its cute. and it both involves girls with powers that they arent familiar with. they both discover their true powers with the help of friends and find some sort of love on the way.
both have magical girls.. a bit on the slow side ( but lovable ! ) trying to make something of themselves
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Opening Theme"Pikapika no Taiyou" by Ueda, Kana
Ending Theme"Shiawase no Niji" by Ueda Kana & Kugimiya Rie
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Fansubbing Groups
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Related ClubsKamichama Karin, the "everything you like" club, A.S.A (Adiktus sa Anime), Claim a School Delinquent, Comedy Explosion, The Kugimiya Rie Club, Gakuen Alice Manga Club, Dying Will Bullets!!!, Gakuen Alice, Wonderland, Anime Pairings FC, `Anime Music Downloader`, Oshingaku Club, We Love Mikan Fan Club!, School Anime Club, Boys & Girls, anime random 101, Battle Arena, School Life Anime Club, Purple Eyes FanclubShoujo Wonderland-少女アニメと漫画大好き, Random Anime & Manga Club, Sakuranbo, We are Random, [S.C] School Claiming., Magical Girl Fans Unite!!, ~:: Natsume Hyuuga ::~, NatsumeXMikan, Gakuen Alice, Romance Anime/Manga Fanatics, Gakuen alice , The French Fries of the Rainbows, Best if Buddies, Haha!, The Nonaka Ai Association, T.U.A.E : Those united against exams a.k.a Exam haters society, MikanxNatsume FANCLUB!, Animax Asia, Alice Academy, Fantasy Romance, ~ Takai's LEAGUE ~, Blonde-haired Anime/manga characters, Anime/Manga Club, I WANT A COOKIE!!!, Romance Lovers, ♥Cute Anime Lovers♥, magic knight rayearth , Long Black/Dark Haired Guys, ~ONII-SAN... Big Brothers club~, Battle of Anime, April Birthdays!!, ♥ Lucia/SakuraKobato's fanclub ♥ ~ Kobato Hanato and Sakura Kinomoto are the best characters for her ~, - ~ Miyano Mamoru Fanclub ~ - , ~~~~talking about beautiful boys~~~~, Fan Fiction Guild, RukaXMikan, Magical Girl Romance Club, Anime Mix RP, MALs Comedy Club, elemental high, FIRE POWER, The Hotaru Imai club, MikanxNatsume FANCLUB!, [HIATUS] Teach A Character [HIATUS], -˜~ _EclipsE_ ~˜-, Anime Experience, Mole=Moe, ♣ FREEDOM club ♣, The Lighthearted Anime Club, Short Hair Fanclub, Claim a Smart Character Club, Childhood Memories/Flashbacks {Claimation} [CLOSED Temporally], mikan sakura fanclub ♥, Secret Paku Romi Fan ClubXD, Shoujo Anonymous, We Love MASKS!!~, Tsubasa Andou FC, Claim a club:D!!!!!! - closed because i wanted to close it..., Supernatural Skill & Special Weapon Club, A~World Society, Claim anime best friends ~, Kana Ueda, Pocky Daisuki (I love Pocky)!, Ultimate Anime Pairs see all
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