Manga Review: Gakuen Alice Vol. 2

                                                    Gakuen Alice Vol. 2 Review

This volume starts off where the last one ends with Mikan being accepted into Alice Academy while she is happy about it at first she soon begins to learn that things aren't as nice as she thought they where at the academy with her being told she isn't allowed to contact anyone outside the academy for a while and she finds that there are still quite a few classmates that aren't willing to welcome her into the class. Mikan than goes on to earn the no star class ranking which is the lowest possible ranking which is something that is unheard of for students who are not babies to earn which makes her life at the academy difficult but after a brief time of feeling sorry for herself Mikan becomes determine to make the best out her situation and not complain.

Later on Mikan learns that once each week the students of Alice Academy meet in ability type classes that mix the elementary school and the older students together in one according to the type of alice that they posses the types include latent, technical, somatic, special and dangerous, the first three are the most common types. Mikan is the special type class which is the class assigned to those with alices that don't fit into any of the other categories which makes Mikan as well as a lot of the other students at the academy think of the class as the rejects of the school. On her way to her special ability class Mikan runs into Natsume who seems to be running from someone therefore he holds her against a wall with his hand clamped over her mouth this encounter both angers Mikan and makes her a bit curious about who Natsume is hiding from. A group of older students end up taunting the two and Natsume leaves Mikan to be bullied by them but she is soon saved by an older student named Tsubasa Andou who is also a member of the special ability type class so he walks her to the class and it turns out that while the class may be seen as weirdos by the rest of the Academy they see each other as family and this leads to Mikan feeling like she belongs for the first time since she's arrived at the academy.

After talking with Tsubasa about how her class is out of control and he suggests finding away to channel the class's frustration at the academy into something less destructive than bullying Mikan organizes at dodge ball game where alices can't be used. Most everyone wants to be on the same team as Natsume which means pretty much everyone is against Mikan which makes the match difficult for her but in the end the match ends in a tie and the class is in much better spirits. Expect for Natsume who was forced into doing a job that no one else knows about shortly after the game.

Throughout the volume Mikan is told that the teachers at the academy can't be trusted and that she is being watched by the school in much the same way that Natsume is being watched but Mikan refuses to give up trusts in the academy until she learns that Narumi isn't sending her letters to her grandfather but rather burning them instead. Mikan briefly becomes distrustful of Narumi and tries to break free of the academy in order to tell her grandfather that she's alright but she is almost kidnapped outside of the Academy but she is saved by Narumi who is hurt in the confrontation. Mikan ends the volume deciding not to give up on trusting people quite yet despite the academy showing it less to be quite untrustworthy.

This volume did a good job of introducing new aspects of the academy both light and dark ones but not too dark so far and it did a good job of showing us how Mikan adjusts to the sudden changes in her life. The artwork is good throughout and overall I just really enjoyed this volume. Please tell me your thoughts on this volume.