Season 1 of the anime first aired in 2004, but we are willing to wait 20, no, 30 years later to have the rest of the original manga animated.
By: Nicole S. Castro on August 4, 2022 at 14:41 PHT
If there is a shoujo anime from the 2000s that we're begging for a season 2, it's Gakuen Alice (also known as Alice Academy).
Honestly, do we even need to review the plot when there's no way we could have forgotten about this show? Just kidding. Enjoy the nostalgia trip with us.
About
Gakuen Alice (Japanese: 学園アリス), also known as Alice Academy or Alice School, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tachibana Higuchi. It was serialized in the shoujo manga magazine Hana to Yume from 2003 to 2013.
The TV anime adaptation produced by Aniplex and Group TAC totaled 26 episodes that aired from Oct. 30, 2004 to May 14, 2005. The anime was translated and dubbed into English by the anime television network Animax and broadcast on networks throughout Asia.
Plot and Throwback (anime)
Gakuen Alice stars the seemingly ordinary Mikan Sakura (CV: Kana Ueda). At the beginning of the anime, she dearly misses her best friend, Hotaru Imai (CV: Rie Kugimiya), who has transferred to a prestigious school in Tokyo called Alice Academy. Mikan decides to follow Hotaru and learns the academy is a place for people with rare abilities called "Alices." After a series of incidents, Mikan finds herself enrolling into the school because she possesses the rare Nullification Alice which protects her from the effects of other Alices (and initially prevented her from realizing she too had an Alice).
With Narumi L. Anju (CV: Akira Ishida) as her homeroom teacher, Mikan joins Class B. At first, she has a rocky relationship with most of her classmates such as Natsume Hyūga (CV: Romi Park) and Ruka Nogi (CV: Miwa Yasuda). Mikan is looked down on due to her initial No Star status. But thanks to her optimism and bravery, she is promoted to Single Star and gradually earns her classmates' respect and even Natsume's and Ruka's romantic feelings.
But the happy school life in Alice Academy turns out to be a mere façade. Mikan eventually discovers the tragedies lurking in the academy that are also tied to her past. As she uncovers more and more secrets, her friendship with everyone at the academy as well as her romantic feelings for Natsume drive her to defeat the main antagonist, Kuonji, the Elementary School Principal.
How did the anime end?
AND. THIS. IS. WHY. WE. NEED. A. SEASON. 2!
The 26-episode anime ended with a light-hearted episode of Mikan thinking she would have to part ways with Hotaru again because the latter was planning to enroll in an overseas project for a year. It turns out Hotaru is only moving to another dormitory inside the academy to house her inventions. Mikan is happy to be able to remain with Hotaru and proclaims that she loves Alice Academy.
So, yeah. We need a season 2 featuring the truth about Natsume's and Mikan's pasts, the progression of their relationship, as well as the bittersweet finale involving Hotaru (ehem).
Summary
Despite the mere 26 episodes, Gakuen Alice was a delight to watch because of how unique Alice Academy was. Students had a world all to themselves inside the school, with all of the usual events like school festivals getting a twist because everyone had unusual Alices. The visual aesthetics of the anime were adorable and gave the [false] impression that this series was a purely light-hearted show.
But as manga readers know, the world of Alice Academy takes a darker turn when Mikan realizes the extent to which gifted students like Natsume are manipulated by people like the Elementary School Principal. We need a season 2 to give justice and prove to the rest of the world that this show is not just a feel-good shoujo anime. Prayers, anyone?
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NICOLE S. CASTRO
Author
Nicole is based in the Philippines and works as a freelance Japanese Translator/Interpreter and copywriter (English). She is a JLPT N2 passer who watches anime to "study" for N1. She has a long career history on LinkedIn (with primary focus on media and translation), but her anime watchlist is much, much longer.
