NUSRAT JAHAN

Gakuen Alice, or more popularly known as Alice Academy, is probably one of the most underrated mangas out there. Like most Bangladeshis, you have probably watched the anime in ANIMAX but missed out on the amazing manga full of adventures and major feels.
I too started out with the anime. I watched it back when I was in the sixth grade and I would not lie: it really was not in my “favorites” list. The story was cute, the characters were funny and interesting, and the lead Mikan Sakura did become my role model (I know I sound like I am contradicting myself), but the anime did not really suck me into their world and make me wish I could be with them through their hurdles and adventures. While the anime seemed more suitable for a 12 year old, considering that a lot of the actual story had been cut and censored to suit the young audience, the manga delved deeper into a more adult storyline.
Gakuen Alice has an unusual foundation and a fascinating first episode which lulls you into the belief that you are up for a sweet ride. Cute characters, farce comedy, magic, and elementary school kids that seem like the Japanese version of the Hogwarts kids. However, in the end, the anime disappoints you so bad that you feel that distinct feeling you get when your ice cream falls off the cone, into the mud.
Now let’s talk a bit about the plot, shall we? Mikan Sakura is a jolly young girl who grew up with her grandfather on the outskirt of the Japan’s capital. When Mikan’s best friend, Hotaru Imai, transfers to a fancy school in the city, and stops maintaining contact with her, she decides to run away from home to visit her best friend. The school turns out to be an elite Academy for gifted children with unique abilities called “Alices”. After Mikan arrives at the gate, she encounters a teacher of the school, Mr. Narumi, who decides to enroll Mikan into the school because he noticed that Mikan posses a very rare Alice. Mikan also runs into the perverted trouble-child of the school, Natsume Hyuuga (the love of my life) and his best friend Ruka Nogi. Despite her initial view of the elite school, she discovers the truth behind school’s grand fascia, which involves a web of lies. The school soon becomes a dangerous place for Mikan to be for its sinister and manipulative ploys against Mikan. However, as she continues to remain in the school, she discovers the twisted history behind her heritage, her connection to the roots of the school, and her many Alices. Her stay at the Academy gradually becomes a fight of survival and endurance, where in the middle she also learns the true meaning of love, family, and friendship.
The anime has a few episodes that tried to incorporate the first 28 chapters of the manga (very poorly), but their failed attempt at merging some of the events is what lead to the disappointment. The manga’s dark undertone with graphic violence, blood, and death, that makes us feel a plethora of emotions, are completely left out of the anime. The anime also leaves the love triangle between Mikan, Ruka, and Natsume unresolved. The mystery behind Mikan’s birth and the past of the Academy’s principals are not even touched, let alone revealed in the anime. The anime portrays Reo as the antagonist while the manga has the Elementary School Principal. Basically, when compared to the manga, the anime is completely empty.
If you have watched the anime first, the show probably got away with the plot-gaps. However, if you read the manga and then watched the anime, be prepared to be utterly disappointed.