Gakuen Alice

I totally love this series. There are 121 chapters out so far, so you'll be busy enough waiting for the next one. 122 comes out on Nov. 5! 😀 DD It's not one of those manga series that you get hooked on and then no more chapters come out. It's really cute.

The main characters are 10/11 yrs old, but that's a good thing because not only do you get an outsider's look, it's also completely unbiased because the characters are so innocent. It's also great fun to watch the slow progression of romance. ^~^ (It's hilarious to see Luka/Ruka--his name gets a bit sketchy sweat drop-- and Natsume try to be romantic towards Mikan, because she's really dense.)

Besides that, though most of the main characters are 10 or 11, you also see main character in middle school and high school. It might bother some ppl that they're so young, but the characters all have really mature sides to them, so their age doesn't take away from the story at all (their age never bothered me). Besides, if they were teenagers I feel like it would be just another shoujo manga. It would be way to dramatic if they were. But they're not, so it's a nice fit. 🙂

There's a good aspect of humor, from Natsume's slightly perverted additude towards Mikan to Hotaru's inventions. Also, the facial expressions are hilarious! :3 (Especially Mikan's!)

Mikan's additude towards life and her friends is basically "never give up, because the sun is shining behind those clouds"... she is really loyal and sweet. (Though she can be a real RAWR kind of person if you provoke her. That's basically Natsume and anyone who thinks their better just because of their Alice. XD Or anyone who tries to hurt her friends.) Everyone in Mikan's homeroom class is really well bonded. Very sweet, though there is a bit of a dark side to the manga.

Great manga, I totally recommend it! (The anime veers off a bit but not really badly. If you want the anime, watch the subbed version. I don't like the voices in the dubbed, and it's nothing different besides the fact that it's in English.)

I totally love this manga.

I think that their age just makes the impact of what they have to go throu greater :3.

There are lots of characters, and each one of them is well thought out :3.
There's lots of mystery and darkness, but just as many funny parts ^-^ I think the story is really complete. The characters are so naive, yet have to expierence and have expierenced really terrifying stuff. I love the art, and there are some scenes that are like xD stuck in my mind. Like Ruka's and Pyo Pyo's. They just make me go LOL everytime i see one xD.

I really reccomend this : 3

okay i'm updating my review.
At first i loved this manga to pieces. I loved all the unique characters and the world that the mangaka created. Then at some point it started to get noticeably more dark toned and the humor vanished. I thought okay, its just story development. Yay! But then it seemed like the author was just trying to pack so many ideas in and then everything went downhill. The plot got messy, and extremely confusing. Also, the art very noticably declined. Trying to emphasize the seriousness and emotion of the characters does not mean making every character cry in each panel for 10 chapters straight.. Basically, she tried to hard to make it tragic. She should have stuck to the old Gakuen Alice which I deeply miss 🙁
And just another note-- i think its cute how its childhood love, but the things they do are too mature for their age therefore making it a bit unrealistic..They act like they are in at least middle school.

I saw the anime, and that made me totally want to see what happened, so i started reading- and got totally hooked. I was wondering why the author made them that young, but then realized that if they were older they wouldn't be so innocent and nice, and some of the characters would probably be way mean or perverted or something, and it really doesn't matter this much i guess cuz i really love the Mikan and Natsume pair, and they are kinda mature because of all they went through. And if you guys read CCS (cardcaptor sakura) they fell in love when they were about 11 too (in GA remember they celebrated Mikan and Natsume's 11th birthday). I find this a really nice anime and hope it goes on for some time without getting boring. I especially love all the facial expressions, whether it's serious or comical (my favorite- it's always so funny at times 🙂 I also hope the romantic side of this progresses as well. This is just a great manga, with great illustrations and storyline arcs, great character personalities, and being a shoujo romance fan, great couple (fyi- MikanxNatsume) TOTALLY RECOMMENDED 🙂

I first saw this as an anime and I loved it so much. I couldn't have enough so I decided to read the manga. However, scanlations are hard to come by so for now, I stopped. It's really really long now but I will get back at it once it's finished and the scanlations too.

So far, bypassing their ages, it is a very very good read. Who would've thought that something so cute at first would turn out to be so dark, so heavy. I totally commend the mangaka.

I don't know. I'm not at all bothered by their age. I'm reading it as "literature", so to speak, and I personally think the effects would be less if they were older. Had they been in their teenage years, it would be all angsty and stuff, the innocence all vanquished. That's only my opinion, of course.

The plot's nice too -- although being confined into the shoujo realm guarantees more or less cliches and predictability. It's good that the author bind 'em all up in the present and slowly unfurl the stories of the past -- those events that keep 'em all connected.

While I believe there are better illustrators than the mangaka herself, I think Tachibana-sensei's knack for humor outshines them all. With the very comedic facial expressions -- or lack thereof -- she can pull almost everything off, even in the midst of a crisis situation. The unchanging visage plastered upon Mind-reader-kun, the foxy eyes Natsume has... great for the lulz.

If only the characters were older, it would make more sense for the love triangle. At that age, oh please, save me the agony.

Otherwise, i enjoyed this story immensely.

The author is really intresting. She incorprating several styles for this manga. Like having arcs, little magic, horrible suffering, and drama.

Though one may say they think of the past too much but the fact of the matter is the whole plot and situation relies on the past! The main plot is stop the evil and corruption that the school has. It was firmly pointed out in the very beginning. Well that is the plot in my opinion, this manga is a tricky one, that what makes it so addicting. You never know what is next

Even tough this is one of the best shoujo series i've read so far, I don't know if I can still keep on reading it.

To see elementary school kids suffer an unbearable treatment for no reason, with people who want to, but can't defend them properly, to see 8-10 years old kids having to protect each other with their lives so that they can still be together, and still not see any change or light in their futures.

To read 100 chapter of this, with only rare comedic moments to break the almost eternal pain of the characters (specially Natsume and Mikan), to be on the limit of crying every chapter because of the injustice of this., it's almost unbearable for me.

Very, very sad manga.

This is one of my most favorite mangas. The development of plot isn't rushed or delayed. It's been going on for 17 volumes, and there haven't been any parts that have been dragged on at all. There is a love triangle, but throughout the 17 volumes, it proves to less than the main focus. It's not the focus at all. It grows and such but blends into the plot naturally. I very much disagree with those that think of this as cliche. In my perspective, there are plenty of other shoujo manga that are more cliche- no depth to the story besides the obvious falling in love. This manga explores the darker themes of self-sacrifice, pain, and such while still having the tinges of comedy. It seems to be much more childish at first but once you get going, it's really deep. The age-group focus in this manga is a tad unrealistic, but given the children's living circumstances, you can put it into a realistic views. I actually kind of like the age-group focus because the characters show their naivete at times that make the scene very impacting. It's a very deep and well-played out plot. It's one where it seems like it was planned from the beginning, each event happening having a point, unlike some other series where it seems like it's going to go one direction then goes into another or one where the action doesn't build but instead things happen in small arcs then completely end. Highly recommended. <3

I have to say that I don't believe the anime would be that good in terms of plot. Volumes 1-5 would only explore the comedy, cliche parts of the manga, and the plot wouldn't be developed yet either.

I really like this manga, mostly because I have a soft spot for cute stuff, but mikan, even if she is unintelligent, and pretty much a cliche shoujo heroine, she does have spunk and is a very likeable character. Of course, I had to buy volumes 4 and 5 in English to cover the scanlating gap, but it was worth the 20 bucks I spent.

But the storyline was good.
I totally don't agree to what Higanzakura has said.
It wasn't a kodomo manga sort of things.
Plus, what the author wants to draw, you can't stop it right.
If you don't like the manga, just don't read it.
And don't write any stupid comments like that.
It's really like hurting for the author if he/she sees this.