学園アリスmanga review
Gakuen Alice Manga Volume 9

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SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With Christmas nearly here, it is time to make giant cakes. Mikan is visited by a girl named Nobara, who has an ice Alice that she has difficulty controlling and who is in the dangerous Alice class, but has slipped out to see Mikan. She gets to truly enjoy herself for the first time, but Persona comes and gets her.

Christmas comes and with it a party and fun. Mikan finds herself flustered when Luca gives her a kiss on the cheek for what she did for Yo-chan. She finds herself in deeper waters when she “teeth-kisses” Natsume by accident, which causes quite a commotion. Things don’t get any better at the masquerade ball when Mikan is asked to dance and loses her mask in the process. Her partner is none other than the head of the elementary school with a warning about not losing something precious to her.

Mikan attempts to retreat to collect herself, only to encounter Natsume, who irritates her into feeling better. Natsume decides to properly kiss Mikan to find out what kissing is all about. That leaves Mikan more flustered and a rift opens between Luca and Natsume. That gets resolved after Christmas when the three find themselves cleaning and trapped in a classroom during a power outage.

Nobara again escapes her junior high area to see Mikan again, whom she has become quite fond of and vice versa. Mikan is quickly escorted away by Tsubasa because she has other work to do. Natsume isn’t thrilled by her being here but she has a message for him about the head of the elementary division being the one who danced with Mikan.

Meanwhile, Mikan and her special ability class do their cleanup and find writings on the wall behind a bookcase, including a “Yuka” and “Sensei” under an umbrella, signifying love. Instead of getting rid of this, the class ends up adding more.

Thoughts/Review: I was going to try a different style of blogging for this manga, but I went back to my old standard summary/review form without even trying. ^_^; Oh well. I tried to keep the summary brief.

Nobara may be a moe character, but I do find her interesting somehow. I’m guessing that with her ice Alice as well as Persona getting her, she’s going to play an important part in the manga. If this follows the path I think it will, Mikan will make Nobara a stronger person. After all, she’s already snuck out of the junior high area twice to see Mikan.

One of the problems with having not read this manga since I read volume 8 last August is that one forgets things. So now I’m scratching my head and going, “is there something I’m missing about this weird chick who’s marked Narumi-sensei?” The cross under the eye is the same one Persona has. I guess Persona has the ability of disguise as well as disease. However, I suppose I should go back and reread the earlier volumes to see what I missed. I can’t remember if Persona is supposed to be a man or a woman.^_^;

Moving on, I found this volume to have picked up more of its lighthearted nature from early on, in addition to introducing new story elements (Nobara, “Persona” harming Narumi-sensei, the elementary school headmaster dancing with Mikan) and dealing with the love triangle between Luca, Natsume, and Mikan. Curly’s jealousy over hearing about the teeth kiss between Natsume and Mikan was pretty funny. However, “Mindreader-kun” revealing poor Mikan’s troubled thoughts over Natsume or Luca were deliciously funny, mainly because Higuchi-sensei draws him with that “who, me?” look of happy innocence. ^_^

I remember Yuka being revealed as Mikan’s mother but I don’t remember Mikan knowing that. I guess she must have figured it out or something because she wrote her name as a line down from Yuka and Sensei’s “love umbrella.” That implies she knows she’s their kid. Arrrgh! I guess I really do need to reread the earlier volumes again sometime.

So, what role does Nobara play in the future? What has happened to Narumi-sensei? Does Persona change appearance? Whom will Mikan eventually end up with — Luca or Natsume? (My money is on Natsume.)

In the end, this volume is a fun read and made me glad I have volume 10 on standby, ready to read.