Alice Academy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alice Academy | |
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| 学園アリス (Alice Academy) |
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| Genre | Magic, Fantasy, Shōjo, Comedy |
| Manga | |
| Authored by | Tachibana Higuchi |
| Publisher |  Hakusensha |
| Serialized in | Hana to Yume |
| Original run | 19 February 2003 – ongoing |
| No. of volumes | 11 and 1 official fanbook (current)[1] |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Takahiro Omori |
| Studio | Group TAC, Aniplex |
| Network | NHK     Animax |
| Original run | 30 October 2004 – 14 May 2005 |
| No. of episodes | 26[2] |
Alice Academy (学園アリス Gakuen Arisu?) is a manga by Tachibana Higuchi, currently being serialized in the Hana to Yume shōjo manga magazine[1], which has been adapted into an anime series, produced by Aniplex and Group TAC, spanning 26 episodes, which originally premiered on NHK BS 2, between October 30, 2004 – May 14, 2005, and was translated and dubbed into English by the anime television network, Animax, who has broadcast it in its respective networks within Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and other regions.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Story
Gakuen Alice or Alice Academy is the story of a 10-year old girl, Mikan Sakura, who is devastated when her best friend, Hotaru Imai, transfers to a special school for "genius" kids in Tokyo. Mikan runs away from home to seek out her dear friend, and soon finds that the school Hotaru transferred to, Alice Academy, is specifically for children who have special powers called "Alices".
In the story there are many types of Alice including controlling the natural elements, reading people's hearts, creating weird mechanics, creating illusions, neutralizing other alices, animal pheromone, and much much more.
The five main types of Alices are:
- Potential Types - Alices that are super powers(flying, mind reader, illusion, etc)
- Technology Types - Alices that are based on Technology
- Physical Types - Alices based on the body of humans, animals, and other things;
- Special Ability Types - Alices that don't exactly fit in the three types of Alices above; and
- Dangerous Types - Alices that are obviously dangerous, some say that they work for the academy,and some say that they are the sweepers group.
After a teacher at Alice Academy, Narumi, discovers that Mikan has a unique Alice, she is admitted into the school, marking the start of a big adventure.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Classmates
Note that the names are in Western order (given name before surname).
| Character | Nickname | Age | Gender | Alice | Seiyū | |
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Mikan Sakura (佐倉蜜柑 Sakura Mikan?) | Polka-dots, Ichigo-kara (Strawberries girl) | 10 | Female | Nullification | Kana Ueda |
| Mikan Sakura is the protagonist of the story. An energetic, good-natured girl, but time and again her clumsiness lands her into trouble. She is an orphan who used to live with her grandfather in the country. When she was in second grade, Hotaru transferred to her school from the city and had a hard time fitting in with the others due to her being a genius. At first, Mikan didn't really want to be friends with Hotaru, but when they entered a dance competition and won it together she decided to be Hotaru's best friend. From then on, she cared deeply about Hotaru and they were both close as sisters, even though their personalities are the exact opposite. When she heard that her school was going to be demolished, she led a protest to stop it, since it contained so much memories of her and Hotaru. However, no one joined her.
She was shocked to hear that Hotaru was moving back to the city to go to an academy for young 'geniuses' like her. When she heard rumors that students were like slaves in Alice Academy (and the possible fact since they gave out money for sending children to the school), Mikan left her grandfather and her home to go after Hotaru by herself. She was then accepted to Alice Academy by Narumi-sensei and could attend Alice Academy with Hotaru and many new friends with extraordinary powers. While she is below average in academics and the school's star ranking system, she has strong willpower and a happy-go-lucky attitude. Her "alice," or magical ability, is the ability to nullify the alice of others, which is the reason why the academy keeps an eye on her. Seems to be a very up-an-at-it person much to annoyance of her down-beat friend. She's the only girl that Natsume called by her first name. She was originally a '0 star'(the lowest rank in the academy's star-ranking system), but then moved on to being a '1 star' after she and Sumire rescued Natsume from Rio. |
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Hotaru Imai (今井 蛍 Imai Hotaru?) | 10 | Female | Invention | Rie Kugimiya | |
| Hotaru Imai is Mikan's best friend. She is extremely intelligent and rational. During the story, though she may appear to be rather cold and indifferent on the surface, it is apparent that she genuinely cares for Mikan. Her keen observations of Mikan's mistakes and shortcomings leaves others wondering if they are really best friends. Although she was raised by her parents and is a super-genius, she is a bit mean, especially towards Mikan. She assumes a big-sister role to Mikan and is sometimes the voice of reason to her. He alice is the ability to invent, and during her time at the country with Mikan and her grandfather, she created many strange but useful inventions, often made to look like animals. She went to Alice Academy because since they gave out money, and wanted to pay her old school's dues so it wouldn't be demolished. She wanted to go for the position of 'Honor Role Student' so she could go home and see Mikan.
She also tends to be fairly "sassy" through the many sorts of things to the bullies who punish Mikan. She has some goofy points though; her constant eating habits and her greedy side that causes her make inventions that need a toll payment. Hotaru breaks the fourth wall by teaching the audience about her inventions. The other characters see her explaining her inventions to apparently no one. She has the same alice as a middle school boy although he is a '2 star' and she is a '3 star' (the 2nd highest star rank in the academy, next to 'specials' like Natsume). She also has an older brother who is one of the "principal students" or student council president of the middle school division. She's also knows that both Natsume and Ruka have crushes on Mikan and made Ruka bring her some food during the "Last Dance", threatening to tell Mikan if he didn't. She also takes pictures and Ruka showing his affection for animals so she can blackmail him occasionally. She is an unwilling member of the "3 geeky sisters" composed of Anna, Nonoko, and her. |
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Natsume Hyuuga (日向 棗 Hyūga Natsume?) | Black Cat, Natsume-kun | 10 | Male | Fire | Romi Paku |
| Natsume is a genius but always ditches class throughout the story. He is thoroughly unhappy with the school, and is suspicious of the intentions of adults'. It seems that he is involved in top-secret missions for the academy. He is paired up as Mikan's "partner" by the school's buddy system. He possesses fire alice which is classified into dangerous ability type. Generally moody and silent, but seems to have softened only to Mikan. He also has feelings for Mikan, and this is evident when he throws an apple at Mikan and Ruka on the stage, who were about to kiss for the play. This is Natsume's first real sign he likes Mikan. Later in episode 20 during the "Last Dance," Natsume notices that his friend Ruka likes Mikan so being the good friend that he is, he pushed Ruka towards Mikan and left the two behind eventhough he likes her. His past remains veiled although during anime, there are hints that his family has died in the fire in the village, which may have been due to Natsume's fire alice, but in the manga through Ruka's narration, the fire that burned the village was caused by his sister who had the same fire alice, but he took the rap for his sister, his father was injured but it was not serious. Throughout the story he constantly suffers from this conscience, dilemma concerning with the danger of others because of him (Persona seems to threaten to harm his friends, and possibly his sister whom Persona kept captive if he neglects his duty which is to use his alice for the academy's business/politic affairs), and a physical illness developing due to frequent use of his alice (his alice condition category is that he has unlimited access and power of his alice, however his life span will shorten each time he uses his ability). Natsume kisses Mikan on the lips in volume 9 of the manga, during the Christmas party. | ||||||
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Ruka Nogi (乃木流架 Nogi Ruka?) | Ruka-pyon | 10 | Male | Animal Pheromone | Miwa Yasuda |
| Ruka is Natsume's childhood friend and often referred by Mikan throughout the story as "Ruka-pyon". He has a gentle and pleasant personality that balances out that of Natsume's. His animal pheromone alice allows him to get cozy with animals, a fact that he is embarrassed about and he is often blackmailed by Hotaru over pictures taken of him showing his affinity towards animals. Despite this, he carries a rabbit with him often. Also has affections for Mikan proven when he was ready to get kissed by her in a play although he usually stays away from girls. Although the kissing scene was ended when an apple thrown by Natsume comes into play. After the play, it was evident that he wanted to be Mikan's "Last Dance" but he was too shy to ask her and the upperclass girls who were jealous of Mikan didn't help at all but they did dance during the festival. In the manga, Ruka only kisses Mikan once on the cheek. | ||||||
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Sumire Shoda (正田スミレ Shōda Sumire?) | Permy | 11 | Female | Animal Transformation | Chiwa Saito |
| Sumire is the self-declared president of the Natsume and Ruka fanclub. She has a dog-cat alice which gives her enhanced smell and hearing capabilities, as well as sprouting cat whiskers and dog ears and the desire to walk on all fours. Her brother is also known as 'seaweed head (Hair?)' by Mikan in the anime. To the viewer she seems to be the biggest fan-girl. | ||||||
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Yuu Tobita (飛田裕 Tobita Yū?) | Iinchō | 11 | Male | Illusion | Fuyuka Oura |
| Yuu is the class representative, known as "Iinchō" by the majority of the class. He has the Alice of Illusion, and frequently helps out Mikan. | ||||||
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Nonoko (野乃子?) | 10 | Female | Chemistry | Ai Nonaka | |
| Nonoko is a classmate of Mikan's. She has the alice of Chemistry and likes to experiment with dangerous chemicals. A member of the "3 geeky sisters." | ||||||
| Anna (アンナ?) | 9 | Female | Cooking | Rie Kanda | ||
| Anna is a classmate of Mikan's. She has the alice of cooking and makes up various dishes for her friends. She can make some of her dishes come to life. A member of the "3 geeky sisters." | ||||||
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Yome Kokoro (心読君 Kokoro Yome?) | 9 | Male | Mind reading | Megumi Matsumoto | |
| Yome is a young boy from Mikan's class. He has the alice of reading a person's mind and repeating them out loud. He uses this against Mikan as she was being attacked by another student's telekinesis. He is not really bad but can't help using his abilities. | ||||||
[edit] Faculty members
| Faculty members | Age | Gender | Alice | Seiyū | ||
| Narumi (鳴海?) | 27 | Male | Pheromone | Akira Ishida | ||
| Homeroom teacher of Mikan's class. He teaches Japanese and often deals with Natsume when he gets in trouble or tries to break out. He has the pheromone alice, which allows him to seduce other people, or make them faint. Mikan calls Narumi "father" because she misses her grandfather but Narumi is too young to be a "grandfather" so Narumi ask Mikan to call him "father" instead. Later in the manga, it is found that he harbored unrequited feelings for Mikan's mother and also proven that he is not Mikan's father but he made a promise to Mikan's mother that he will take care of Mikan during her stay in the Academy. When he was a student at Alice Academy, he did jobs for the academy like Natsume. He was the upperclassman that Rio looked up to. | ||||||
| Misaki (岬?) | 27 | Male | Plants | Takahiro Sakurai | ||
| A teacher of biology at the academy. Seems to be stoic in his expressions yet cares for the students. During his first meeting with Mikan, he helped her and introduced her to the academy. He has the alice to control plants, and is often annoyed by Narumi, who steals 'bean whips'. | ||||||
| Serina Yamada (山田瀬里奈 Yamada Serina?) | 29 | Female | Sight | Miho Yamada | ||
| A mysterious teacher at the school. Almost always seen with her crystal ball. Especially since her alice is of 'sight' which enables her to see things happening anywhere at present time. She is seen often with Narumi. | ||||||
| Noda (野田?) | 32 | Male | Time-travelling | Mamoru Miyano | ||
| He appears later in the series. He has the alice of time-travelling. Seems to like appearing out of nowhere. He is the moderator of the Special Abilities Classes. He often cannot control when he is going to disappear or appear. His ability control device is a bangle he wears on his wrist. | ||||||
| Jinno (神野?) | 38 | Male | Lightning | Hiroshi Matsumoto | ||
| Teaches math. A cold-hearted teacher who does not hesitate in using his alice of lightning to punish his students, he is least trustful of Mikan. He is the reason for Mikan's 'no star' rating in the beginning. In the end, he softened up and adapted Mr. Narumi's style of teaching. He may look tough but he gets scared by ghosts easily and releases a large amount of electricity in the process. | ||||||
| Persona (ペルソナ?) | Male | Dissolving | Shinichiro Miki | |||
| A mysterious teacher. Wears a mask at all times, in fact. Seems to be the source of much of Natsume's troubles. His Alice is making objects dissolve. There was only one time he was seen without his mask. He disguised himself as a substitute teacher in one of Natsume's exams to see who was the cause of Natsume's change (but he was found out easily by Natsume). Also wears a lot of ability control devices. | ||||||
[edit] Others
| Others | Age | Gender | Alice | Seiyū | ||
| Tsubasa Andou (安藤翼 Andō Tsubasa?) | 14 | Male | Shadow Manipulation | Makoto Naruse | ||
| A junior high school student who is one of the first persons to be kind to Mikan. Has the alice of manipulating shadows. Belongs to the Special Abilities Class with Mikan. They met when he saves her. He annoys Natsume because he is very close to Mikan. In the past, he caused trouble for the school so he was marked with a "Seal/Mark of Obedience" in the shape of a star on his left cheek. The only one who can remove it is the person who put it and he has to follow that person or else... He now behaves. Also, he may be one of the persons who really understand Natsume's rebellion against the academy and his wish of freedom. | ||||||
| Misaki Harada (原田 美咲 Harada Misaki?) | 14 | Female | Doppelganger | Marina Inoue | ||
| A friend of Tsubasa and likes to pick on him a lot. She also belongs to the Special Abilities class and is one of the most normal looking people there. She has the doppelganger alice which can multiply herself into two or more. She is very up-beat. She danced with Tsubasa during the festival. | ||||||
| Sono Kaname | 14 | Male | Making stuffed animals coming to life | |||
| Tsubasa's best friend. Possesses the Alice of placing souls into stuffed animals (or making stuffed animals come to life). He has poor health and his usage of his Alice also affects his lifespan. Despite this, he still makes dolls for it's his way of proving to himself that he can make people happy (he was a very lonely kid with no friends due to his condition) and the dolls he made serve as "evidences of his existence." | ||||||
| Youichi Hijiri (聖陽一 Hijiri Yōichi?) | 3 | Male | Using bad spirits | |||
| Attached to Natsume, but seems to dislike Mikan at first, later he is seen to grow very attached to Mikan and once even kissed her on her cheek. Has the alice of using bad spirits. He is a very bright three year old. Natsume likes him. He loves "Cloud puffs," the best selling candy in Central Town. | ||||||
| Azumi Yuka | 29 | Female | Steals and converts others' alices | |||
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A member of the Anti Alice who Mikan resembles. Azumi is Mikan's mother, who is referred to as 'That Person.' Reo obviously stays in contact with her as he says things like 'check her profile'. Azumi was a part of the Anti-Alice organization, and it is likely that Mikan is not her granpa's relative. In the past, Noda-sensai accidentally went there and saw her carrying a baby, he never saw her face, but the baby was possibly Mikan Sakura. Azumi's Alice is supposedly a special alice, but 10 years ago it wasn't given a field, and her alice was to steal another persons alice and to convert it into a stone alice. Nothing else is known about her, but she is 29 years old, and most likely still alive. |
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| Mr. Bear | ||||||
| A mute teddy bear with a freedom-loving soul. Commonly referred to as "Bear." Despite its cute outward appearance, it is extremely short-tempered and as a result frequently lashes out his incredibly quick and heavy punches to any stranger that approaches him. Only listens to Kaname, its maker and Kaname's friend, Tsubasa Andou. Yuu best describes this creature as a 'homicidal stuffed animal'. | ||||||
| Piyo | ||||||
| The gigantic mutated chick under the care of the Elementary Class B students. | ||||||
[edit] Music
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Opening themes |
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| # | Transcription | Created by | ||
| Pikapika no taiyou | Kana Ueda | |||
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Ending themes |
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| Transcription | Created by | |||
| Shiawase no niji | Kana Ueda and Rie Kugimiya[2] | |||
[edit] Video games
Gakuen Alice ~Kira Kira Memory Kiss~ was released on 22 June 2006 for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. There is also a Game Boy Advance game that has also only been released in Japan.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Alice Academy (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2006-12-06.
- ^ a b c Alice Academy (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2006-12-06.
[edit] External links
- Aniplex's official website for Gakuen Alice (Japanese)
- NHK's official website (Japanese)
- Animax East Asia's official website for Alice Academy (English)
- Animax South Asia's official website for Alice Academy (English)
- Official Gakuen Alice ~Kira Kira Memory Kiss~ Playstation 2 Game Homepage (Japanese)
- GA Fansite (Focuses on NxM)
