Hey everyone! Recently I have finished reading the manga Gakuen Alice and let me just say, that was a wild ride. For people that have never heard of it, here is a quick summary from Mangafox in case you are curious:
"Mikan Sakura grew up with her grandfather on the countryside of Japan. When her best friend, Hotaru, transfers to a prestigious school in Tokyo, Mikan follows her. The school is actually an elite Academy for gifted people with "Alices," an ability that is unique depending on the individual being. Once Mikan arrives to the gates of the school, she encounters an Alice teacher named Narumi, gets enrolled due to a series of events, and is told that she possesses a rare Alice. Despite her initial view of the so-called greatness to the school, Mikan slowly discovers that beneath the grand facade of the Academy, there is a never-ending stream of lies and buried secrets. The school's increasingly manipulative and sinister actions towards her make it a dangerous place to be. Little does Mikan know that her enrollment in Alice Academy set the gears in motion to an even greater tragedy."
- Mangafox
Very vague summary, but it does the trick. Well, before I give my final thoughts, in case y'all did not read the title this does contain spoilers :+1: . So without further ado, here are my final thoughts on the ending of Gakuen Alice.
The Negatives
If I had to describe the ending to this manga in one word, it would be "incomplete". Gakuen Alice is one of the best shoujo manga I have ever read, and yet the ending was just...meh. I
In the last chapter, Mikan is reunited with almost all of her friends from Gakuen Alice once she regained most of the memory she had lost after leaving the school. Everyone is grown up and honestly I did shed a few tears with the reunion. However, despite all the good things with the reunion, the last chapter was not about that happiness, which is the main reason I am not satisfied with the ending. The basis of the chapter was instead about the missing Hotaru.
While it is nice that the question of what happened to Hotaru was not dropped out of the story, I did not like how the entire last chapter of Gakuen Alice was used to bring it up. Sure there were the occasional happy reunions of Mikan with her friends and family, but it's like there was always a dark cloud over that with the mention of Hotaru. If there was another arc and it was not the last chapter, then it would fit. But unfortunately, we are left with a cliffhanger as Mikan, Natsume, and Ruka go off on a journey to find her and her brother. It just does not feel right to me, especially when we don't know what happens. Instead of the story being complete, it feels kind of like the manga that gets cancelled before being fully completed. The mystery of Hotaru makes sense but is the largest source of my dissatisfaction.
The other thing that bothered me was the fact that Mikan basically blew off everybody's sadness of her leaving with what she said in the picture above. I know it makes sense for her to say this considering her personality and stuff, but for her to make the statement to just forget about it just gave me a bad feeling since the others most likely felt horrible over what had happened for years. It just feels too rushed how Mikan forgave them that quick after regaining her memories.
The Positives
On the other hand, this ending was completely heartwarming. Just seeing Mikan be able to meet everyone once again is so touching. Reunions like that always make me happy so when I saw that I was ecstatic. The fact that all the students and teachers kept Mikan in their hearts just gave me the best feeling. It's one of the best parts of the ending in my opinion.
There was also lighthearted humor added in despite the missing Hotaru which was a good factor. It helped make the chapter seem less sad and brought a happy tone. The funniest moment in my opinion was the moment when Mikan saw Tonouchi-sempai once again. The guys' response were priceless XD
Overall, the main thing I both liked and disliked about the ending of Gakuen Alice was that it was realistic. Usually in shoujo manga, the endings tend to be overly cliché with the main character ending up with her dream man or woman and everything just being full of sunshine. However, with this ending, there is some sadness built inside it that makes it completely understandable. For example, yes Mikan regained her memories, but she did not regain all of them, like the ones of her parents. There was also the matter of Hotaru, which is sad in itself. There is just a realistic sadness that shows that life isn't always happy. It always brings me joy to see a manga show this. Despite it feeling incomplete, this fact really made the ending worth something.
P.S. The fact that Mikan was able to be with Natsume once again is amazing :heart: .
So now that y'all know my thoughts on this ending, what are your thoughts? Did you find this ending to feel incomplete or do you feel different. Either way, thank you all for reading!